BY MICHELLE HERBISON
AUSSIE musician Shane Howard has taken little opportunity to test his golf skills after beating his older brother in his first game.
“He took me when I was very young to be his caddy and I beat him. He never took me again,” the former Goanna front-man laughed.
So it is apt that Howard will refrain from the greens at Barwon Heads’ 13th Beach Golf Links when it hosts Music to a Tee and the Hundred Hole Hike on 23 January.
More than 20 amateur golfers from across the state will tee off at dawn and push themselves to the limits by playing 100 holes of golf in one day without using golf carts.
The Karingal event will raise money for people with acquired brain injuries, a cause Howard is happy to support in his own way by performing alongside Reg Mombassa and Pete Doherty’s Dog Trumpet, Michael Stangel, Sally Dastey and others.
“It’s important to be useful as an artist and do something to help people out when they need it,” Howard told the Independent.
Despite dedicating most of his life and career to campaigning on Aboriginal issues through his music, having recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of charting hit, Solid Rock, Howard said he remained passionate about “any number of causes”.
“I just have to listen to the news and I’ll find 10 things to complain about.”
The south-west Victorian spent the past year focusing on writing and renovating his house, taking a well-earned break from the touring circuit, he said.
“It’s been an interesting year. Rather than building songs I’ve replaced it with something a bit more tangible for a while – it’s been great to do something physical.”
Howard will perform at the Barwon Heads event with his trio, featuring John Hudson and Ewan Baker, with whom he had been performing country shows recently.
The trio would perform some new songs and old favourites, as well as exploring a string of album tracks rarely performed live “for one reason or another”, Howard said.
“You try not to write things as filler and have a reason for the songs that exist,” he explained.
More information about the event is available at karingal.org.au/events.
