CornStalk Gazette
June 1999 no 298
THE VIRTUAL PAT DRUMMOND
An Email Conversation with Pat Drummond about performing, And Making it to gig 4000
byline: Alison Cone
Cornstalk: What possessed you to record every single gig you did?
Pat: Well I always had a Mac (The best little computers in the history of the world) and so all of my records were kept there as a matter of course.... and I have kept every Mac since the beginning (from my original 128k .... through to the current iMac) so it was easy to correlate the records since all Macs are fully compatible. I just wondered what the bodycount was midway through last year and asked for a report. I must admit that I was surprised when the projected date turned out be my Birthday though. There must be some kind of cosmic synchronicity in that. So I didn't add any new gigs and 'Bingo' 4000 was The National Folk Festival in Canberra. I even published the full list is on The Website at http://www.lisp.com.au/~patdrum. We've had bulk feedback with fans listing their favourite and least favourite gigs. Some of their anecdotes have been very funny.
Cornstalk: What's your definition of a gig? Is it any time you get your guitar out with a crowd around, or does there have to be a booking (or cash) involved?
Pat: The definition was 4000 professional gigs so, yes, they were all paid and sadly I even knew how much cumulatively they have been worth since that info was stored also. I say sadly, because I haven't the faintest idea where it all is!!!
Cornstalk: Which was the most memorable gig?
Pat: Too many to name. For emotion...The last ever gig at The Rest Hotel, my 11-year residency in Sydney, where 2000 people turned up to a venue that only held 350; and the subsequent release of the 'Live At The Rest' Album through Sony. For sheer numbers.... The Domain for the Nuclear Disarmament Rallies to 250,00 people. For surrealism...The St Anthony In The Fields Catholic Church Fundraiser where the congregation held Mass in the church then rolled up the Carpets and brought in Tables and ''Eskies'' for a bushdance. For a sheer sense of wonder... The night concert under the stars around a Campfire with 400 Rotarians in the middle of The Simpson Desert. For Luxury...The Kyoto Hilton in Japan 1994 for Celebrate AUSTRALIA..... For Prestige.... The Victorian Arts Centre Summer Series Concert...and so on
Cornstalk: Which was the worst?
Pat: That took some thinking about!
Since I got out of alcohol venues as my main source income about 10 years back there have not been so many really bad ones; since the shows are mainly concerts these days; but I do remember in the pub days being called in at the last minute to fill in for someone at the Blacktown Inn. It was about 12 years ago and at the end of the night I was very depressed.
I'd had no response from the crowd and when I was heading for the door at the end of the night, I was confronted by a group of pretty rough looking blokes who barred my way.
Before I could say anything one stepped forward and after a threatening pause said.
"You're Rooly Good, mate."
"What ?!!" I said
"You're Rooly Good" he repeated, " ...Ev'ryone rooly liked ya...."
"You're joking" I said" They didn't listen... They didn't Clap...
What made you think they liked me?"Well he looked a bit non-plussed at first but then, after a second, he said "Well.... last week they had a piano bloke here, no one liked and someone stabbed him....:
Subsequent enquiries verified his story. I never took another job from that agent again.
Cornstalk: What was your first gig like? Were you ready for it, or was it a shambles?
Pat: It was actually an accident. I went to a Wine Bar called Journey's End to see an act. There were a lot of other players in the audience... Tommy Emmanuel....and childhood heroes of mine like Mike McLellan etc. but, being a 'folkie', the act forgot the gig was on or something and never fronted. I had a guitar and PA in the car and so a friend of mine approached the manager and offered my services....I played a mix of my own songs and covers but I must have done something right because I ended up being there on a Sunday Night for 7 years. The crowds seemed to mushroom and I guess that was the beginning. I left teaching three months later and went full time.
Cornstalk: What have you learnt about music and performing
between the first gig and the 4000th?Pat: That's a book not and article..... but I think that the main thing I've learnt is that success in the music business is only a lit bit to do with Music. There are a lot of very talented individuals out there but they are just not viable as professionals because they are impossible to work with. In the end people do business with people they 'like'; whether it's buying groceries or buying music Even the best musicians in Australia can't afford to forget that. God knows I've alienated a few people in my time (only a few I'm glad to say......) and, in a little market like Australia, people can have long memories and the long term implications for your business are horrendous. Prima Donnas who think that their talent and dedication to their 'Art' justify displays of petulance and arrogance will pretty soon find themselves wrapping Fish and Chips for a living.
Cornstalks: How did it feel, to be up there doing it for the 4000th time? Inspiring? Exhausting? Ordinary? Does the rush of performing hit
as hard the 4000th time?Pat: The Rush always hits hard for me. The ability to retain that sense of involvement with my songwriting has been a pivotal part of my longevity, I think. As to the actual 4000; it fell, as Fate would have it, on the little Cafe Stage to only about 100 people What was supposed to be a 15 minute set was stretched to about 30 minutes thanks to a little insistence from the crowd and (speaking of Prima Donna behaviour) some sheer stubborn resistance from me. The next night in Budawang Pavilion performance 4001 Andrew Clermont and I performed several thousand people and got a huge response quite liked they way that those two gigs summed up the last twenty three years. Everything form the biggest to the smallest; the most wonderful to the most ignominious; the most high profile to the most ignored and somehow by knitting them together ....'I got a life' and I remain enormously grateful to the fans that it was the one that I always wanted.
Alison Cone
Tursacan/Cornstalk Editor
PO Box 2544 Tuggeranong ACT 2901
Ph: 0408 682 292
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