Johnny Diesel and The Injectors had just $95 between them when they stepped off the bus in Perth after crossing the Nullarbor 30 years ago.
The hobby group, made up of the remnants of an imploded previous band, played nine shows a week for several months just to get by.
Three decades later Mark Lizotte, better known as Diesel, has hit the road again with his latest Australia-wide tour 30 Year Thang.
Diesel will stop at the Gateway Hotel next Friday, a year after his last visit to the venue.
“If I’m not in the studio, there’s a good chance I’m out touring,” he told the Indy last year.
The show will span Diesel’s career, in which he has won six Aria Awards since that fateful day in 1988.
During that year the band scored a fortuitous slot with Diesel’s brother-in-law Jimmy Barnes on his Freight Train Heart tour, which helped propel them to greater heights.
“Jimmy’s such a passionate and forceful singer,” Diesel said.
“That was kind of like boot camp for me, and it really forged me.“
His musical journey began learning the cello as a child in Arizona and receiving an electric guitar from his sister at age 14.
“I’ve had such a blessed career, and I will be forever scratching my head trying to figure out how I’ve made a career of this,” he said.
He will play his pub classics like Tip of My Tongue, Man Alive, Cry in Shame, Never Miss Your Water, and Come to Me at his latest show.
