Going Mental

By Cherie Donnellan
ANDREW ‘Greedy’ Smith is still going “mental” on stage, much to the disdain of his physiotherapist.
“The physio told me I had to pull my moves in on stage,” the Mental As Anything member told the Independent.
“I’ve got to stop doing the old high kicks but I can’t help it, it’s a habit.”
The 56-year-old vocalist, keyboard and harmonica player said he “drew the short straw with being the idiot” of Mental As Anything, which had a series of Australian hits in the ’80s.
“I can’t stand looking at live footage of myself on stage. I look deranged and uncoordinated.”
YouTube videos of Smith “jumping around” were continuing his embarrassment through new generations but he was still rapt to be a part of the “Twitter Age”.
“I’m a tweeter now. Yeah, that’s right,” he laughed.
“I like when I get sent favourable tweets after playing a show.”
Smith joked that fans liked Mental As Anything better now because he “finally” knew how to play.
“It’s been 25 years since the Fundamental album came out but I’ve finally worked out how to play all the tricky string parts of the keyboard (on hit song Live It Up)”.
He credited new members Zoltan Budai, bassist, and Jacob Cook, drummer, with improving the band’s live sound.
“I think we’re getting to a happy place musically. We combine the feel of our live performances with the particulars of recording to create a strong dynamic.”
Smith reminisced about Mental As Anything’s first tastes of fame, laughing about an American response to the band’s first single.
“The Nips Are Getting Bigger was released and we received a telegram from someone in Chicago who was offended by the song title. Our band name apparently bothered them, too.
“We thought ‘Gee, we must be on the right track’ because our first song was getting complaints. It was, like, woo-hoo.”
Smith confessed playing along to dog food commercials to learn harmonica.
“For some reason dogs and harmonicas went together,” he recollected.
“I’d sit in backyard at night and play for hours to my cat but it hated the sound. The cat would jump up and scratch me on both sides of face.
“I thought we were jamming!”
Smith attributed mate Paul Worsted with the band’s name.
“Once you’re called Mental As Anything it’s hard to think of anything better, so we stuck with it.”
Smith will join Mental As Anything on stage at Deakin’s Waterfront Cafe on August 5.