By Luke Voogt
Melbourne ska rockers The Bennies return to Geelong for a “chaotic“ gig next month following a whirlwind tour across Europe.
The group’s singer and synth player Anty Horgan spoke to the Indy from his family’s beach house at Aireys Inlet after returning to Australia recently.
“(The tour) was unreal!” he said.
The “natural born chillers” played 32 gigs touring from England to Switzerland recently.
The “best mates“ were “living the dream” by travelling the world to play music, Horgan said.
The European countryside and castles were amazing, although sometimes the band’s schedule had been too hectic for sightseeing, he said.
“And sometimes the venue is in the biggest s**thole part of town.”
Despite an amazing tour a few of the gigs were “crap”, Horgan admitted, like playing without a PA system for “odd“ couple “Peter and Kenneth” in the German city of Chemnitz .
“They said they’d travelled three hours to get there,“ he laughed.
“To think that we were halfway across the world and only playing for two people was a bit soul-destroying.
“But even the worst gigs are funny in their own right.”
He expects a much bigger crowd when The Bennies come to the Workers Club on 7 July.
“We generally do pretty well down (in Geelong),” he said.
Geelong crowds knew how to party, which was the reason Horgan and his high school mates started the band in the first place, he said.
“We just wanted to make a soundtrack to our nights. Our gigs are pretty chaotic – there’s a lot people jumping around and partying.”
