Playing In Two Bands, On Two Tours, At The Same Time? 'No Drama' Reckons Wally Kempton

You play punk rock in the Meanies and guitar pop/power pop in Even. Which band is a truer representation of you as a person?

I’m a bit from column A and a bit from column B. Both bands are rock bands really, not for me to put either of them in any other sort of pigeon hole. I love the shit out of both of them and get a thrill playing in both.

How did you end up in both these bands, anyway? 

I started out as a Meanies fan who became their booking agent and manager after a couple of gigs. When their original bass player left to pursue a life in the real world, I kinda just moseyed on in at the invitation of Link, much to my delight. The guys knew I played bass having seen the band I was in previously, the Naked Children, and just figured it made more sense than looking high and low for a newbie. I didn’t really know what the fuck I was doing but I’m a quick learner and it was, and still is, a shit ton of fun.

As for Even, I’d known Ash and Matt for a few years already from when I was booking the Tote and them being in a band who played there a lot called The Swarm. Ash was at a Meanies show at the Punters Club when we’d just returned from a rather gruelling US and European tour and we announced we needed to take some time off before we killed each other. He thought I might be a good fit for his new project while I was in Meanies downtime. Once I heard what he’d already demoed I said ‘where do I sign?’. It was killer and I’d have to be a loony to not jump in feet first.

Incidentally, before I even booked the Tote I was a booking agent elsewhere and one of the earliest gigs I booked was the pairing of The Swarm and Link’s band the Brain Donors. This was before I really knew anything about any of them and as it happens I’ve spent the rest of my life with the poor bastards.

The two bands toured Europe together in 2002 - how the hell did you manage that?

That was a rather intense time indeed. Especially the Spanish part as I was tour manager, driver, member of both bands and party animal each and every day/night for a few weeks straight. The secret regime may have to stay a secret to not incriminate myself or the others on the tour…. It was no drama switching from Even mode to Meanie mode each gig. Although one night I almost missed an entire even set as our sound guy Clem and myself wandered off for a feed after soundcheck in Bilbao and got our times completely mixed up. Good old language barrier… luckily we were eating el fresco and our Spanish tour manager walked the streets near the venue looking for us, found us, expressed in no uncertain terms that I was meant to be on stage 15 minutes already. Most embarrassing and in my confused state I did think I was on stage with the Meanies and not Even when we started our truncated set!

We ended up touring together as a result of the Fierce Festival in the UK. Don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore. The organiser was a dear friend of mine and the concept was Antipodean bands only so he got a lot of help and contacts from yours truly getting the whole line-up together. In return he included both the Meanies and Even on the bill and extra touring came from that initial booking. After 10 days in the UK and a few weeks in Spain, the Meanies returned home but Even based themselves in the UK for the next six months.

With the Meanies you've played with the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and with Even you've supported the Dandy Warhols - what are your personal highlights in regards to bills you've shared? 

HOW long have you got? ...

(At this point, Ash Naylor jumps in with an Even/Dandy Warhols memory: "Wally motioned to jump out of a window at a hotel in Adelaide one night to which Brent De Boer exclaimed...."Wallaby...chill"....not realising that the double-glazed window could not, in fact, be opened at all. Instantly a new nickname was born, ‘Wally Chill’, to coincide with Dandies already dubbing Wally the 'Mayor Of Australia' due his hosting of epic post-tour bbq's on numerous occasions")

The Meanies released their fourth album last year and Even are set to release their eighth album this year - how do you keep it interesting for yourselves after so long?

Quite simply, we have just gotten better. Better musicians. Link and Ash are always improving as songwriters and producers and we have all gotten better at being in a band, dealing with each other’s personalities and idiosyncrasies.

Even are due to play four shows in four days in August (rescheduling from the Queens Birthday Weekend), covering all four points of the compass in Melbourne. Being a booker/bass player, we figure this was your idea? 

Apart from not being able to play as often as we’d like due to band members’ overall outside commitments - and in more recent times thanks to an annoying fucking virus sweeping the world - it was a rare weekend where we were all here and could go to town. And that town happens to be fucking amazing and vast enough to be able to pull off four shows in one weekend across all four points of the compass.

Even and The Meanies are playing all over the place this June, July and August. For all the info, check out theGuide.