Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Join Cheryl Lee That Radio Chick on Still Rockin' It for news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
What are they up to at the moment? Let's find out .......
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Screaming Jets drummer Cameron McGlinchey been up to lately? OR Knitting needles and chop sticks, to drumsticks and songwriting
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Get ready to march to the beat of Cameron McGlinchey's drum in this candid conversation with the seasoned Australian drummer. Cameron, known for his work with bands like The Screaming Jets, Palace of the King, and Rogue Traders, takes us on a melodic journey through his vibrant career in the music industry. From his humble beginnings as a teenage percussionist in Melbourne to his insights on self-promotion and staying relevant, this episode is a rhythmic exploration of his life's soundtrack.
We dive deeper into Cameron's musical collaborations and his work with artists like Simon Day of Ratcat and Connie from Sneaky Sound System. We touch upon his EP The Guilt Association, and delve into his role in NoKTuRNL, including his experiences writing and producing songs. Cameron also unveils his latest project with Sean Johnson, his little ones' musical inclinations, and his views on the music industry.
To top it off, we'll be spinning The Screaming Jets’ latest single, 'Second Chance'.
Whether you're a music lover or a fan of compelling conversations, this episode promises to be a harmonious blend of both!
Includes Songs:
Palace of the King - No Chance In Hell (live)
The Screaming Jets - Better
Natalie Bassingthwaighte - Feel The Flow
The Divinyls - Don't Wanna Do This
The Screaming Jets - Second Chance
What has Cam McGlinchey been up to lately … let’s find out!
To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, or for more radio chick stuff simply go to “ThatRadioChick.com.au”.
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Chic Cheryl Lee here. Welcome to the Still Rocking at podcast, where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Today we speak to Screaming Jets drummer Cameron McGlinchey, the last member of the Screaming Jets to speak to. So now we've got a whole set of Jets. Cameron has been in many bands and performed with so many other talented Australian artists, including Palace of the King and Rogue Traders, who will be touring again next year. You heard that first here. Sit back, let's have a chat to Cam. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to that radio chick. com. au. I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today, Cameron McGlinchey. Thank you for joining us today. Drummer extraordinaire of the Screaming Jets at the moment. But you didn't start with the Screaming Jets, did you? Where did it all begin for you, Cameron?
Speaker 3:Ah, just began in Melbourne as a teenager, in the city of Melbourne, as soon as I left school, I found my friends, I found my community and they were fellow musicians in Melbourne, of which most of which are still my closest friends now. It's just been a long journey, trying different things, and the reality is, in the music game most of them don't work, but you just keep trying and then you hit pay dirt every now and then and you just keep nurturing your relationship with your instrument and with your community and with the music business, which is really fraught. So, yeah, I've been so fortunate. Well, you make your own luck. I've played with so many bands and artists and different experiences here and overseas over, you know, I'm 53 and a few weeks, so I've been around the block a few times.
Speaker 2:So where you, one of these young kids, Cameron, that started banging the saucepans at three years old, was drumming, always your passion, your instrument, your thing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, as cliche as it sounds. I think I was that kid and I did use my mother's knitting needles and chop sticks and made kits up. I have vivid memories of it as a very young boy and I got my first drum kit and my first lessons when I was seven. But there is no other musical family members. There's no one else in my family I'm the youngest of five, so it's a big family and there was no one else really particularly musical. But there's a great love of music in our, in our house. So I was kind of the first to go. I was innately drawn to the drums and I still don't know why. Oh, I do know why. It's because of songs. Just certain songs knocked me into some sort of you know, stratosphere and just made me drumming. Just seems this connection to participate in in what I in songs that I loved.
Speaker 2:So, apart from being a drummer, you're also a songwriter and an engineer. As you said, you've been fortunate to be part of some great bands, starting out with Maeder, NoKtuRNL and Rogue Traders. Of course, then the Screaming Jetss hijacked you, didn't they?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean Maeder. It's funny, your Maeder. I was living in Sydney for five or six years. At that time, you know Maeder was, I'd been overseas for two years before Maeder. I just got asked to play on the record and wound up joining the band for a period. It was a Nick is still one of my dear friends. As a band it didn't. It didn't work the way we hoped and there was a whole lot of other aspects of it that didn't work for me. So I moved on. But before that, yeah, I was in so many different bands before that.
Speaker 3:I'm not one very big on social media. I'm not one for maintaining my career and life journey online. You know my age and everything is always inconsistently. You know, all the information about myself and what I've done is so well out of the place and inaccurate because I don't maintain any of it online. I'm a bit old school, I've brought up a bit. You know you don't promote yourself, which is the antithesis of what's needed these days. But that's just who I sort of am. I struggle with a lot of forms of self promotion, but it is an important thing. But you know, as a one mantra my father kind of would give us is you know, you're not as good as what you think you are on your best day and you're not as bad as you think you are on your worst. So it's always stayed, just stayed in the middle ground.
Speaker 3:But yes, all of those bands and I'm also in a band called Palace of the King with my great friend Tim Henwood and Stony Johnson and Anthony and Maddie, that's been going. I've been in that for a long. I've been in the Jets for five years nearly now and Palace of the King led me to the Jets also Jon Stevens I've played on and off with for 20 years as well. So I did four months with Jon because one of my dear best mates, John Salerno, who plays drums for Jon Stevens, he had to do another gig, so I jumped in for him and was a Red Hot Summer with the Jets and then also Palace of the King. We did a national tour just supporting the Jets and I'd done that before, ironically, with Maeder, you know, 20 plus years ago supporting the Jets. So I did know them and, yeah, I just was playing with them and they just said, look, do you want to jump in?
Speaker 3:and be his next red hot summer and I was like, of course. Y ou are listening to Still Rocking it the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 2:I think we should listen to a song from one of those many bands that Cameron has been in Palace of the King No Chance in Hell. We'll be back to speak to Cameron shortly about the re-recording of the 30th anniversary All For One album.
Speaker 3:I didn't sort of think about anything long term. But I have to say, musically and I've said this before one of the first things we did was re-recorded All For One, their first record, which doesn't instill a great deal of excitement in me, but I understood why they needed to do it and it's a great way of promoting and celebrating. We all grew up knowing some of their songs and Better, blew me away as a kid and the drum intro and all those things. But I was quite taken aback when I really went deep and listened to that record.
Speaker 3:The drummer, their original drummer, who's a gentleman, Brad Heaney, who I've never met in my life and I wouldn't know him from a bar of soap. But what a player and what a record that was. And it became something I don't know. It became a bit of a mission for me on that record to honour him, because I know how hard the music game is. I know that the Jets have had lots of fractures and I'm not privy to any of it, but I know that they've been around a long time and members have come and gone and there's acrimony and as there is in most bands.
Speaker 3:It is Brad, regardless. I don't know what transpired, why he left or whatever happened. All I know is I listened to that record and went, wow, I was really approaching it, really meat and potatoes. And then I listened to him and he's so similar, like he's a real I mean, I'm interpreting it. He's a real lover and he's got wonderful musicality and real detail, beautiful detail in his drumming, and I've got to approach it the way he did more from 30 years ago as a drummer. He inspired me to sort of really approach the way I do the Jets, the way I play the Jets and then inject myself into it, and he gave me this home base and I wanted to honour him when we recorded that record because you know, as we all know, a great drummer maketh the band, Cheryl. The engine room, that's the one. But he really was a beautiful drummer. And so then after that I just found a vein where I found myself really loving what I do in the band and of course there's a lot of love in the band.
Speaker 3:The Jets are, you know they were when they were young. They were preceded by the reputation as a bunch of maniacs in some ways, because they were a cliche, but they were. You know, rock and roll destroyers, but they were that. They really were a bunch of really young men from Newcastle who were just having a party, but they were, you know, as we all know, great songwriters and musicians and, in my opinion, underrated songwriters, wonderful curators of picking covers that fit and broaden their own horizons and they're a lot of fun. They're obviously not like that now. Dave's a consumate pro and Paul, Jimmy and Scott and they're the kind of band that you get in the van and people don't disappear into a podcast. They really, you know there's a lot of chatter, a lot of back and forth, it's fast, it's witty and it keeps your brain alive, and there's a lot of positive, cheerful, pointless, drively joy, and I enjoy their company, they're a really good great group of blokes to tour with as well, which makes a big difference.
Speaker 2:You just touched on the songwriting. I tried to find some of the songs that you wrote and I found one called the Way you Are by LaTrix.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, I did. I wrote that with a young fella from Melbourne called Lover One. He did a guest spot on that. I've produced and written all of his material and LaTrix is like I think it's Ivan Goff and Andy who's known as Sergeant Slick, and that came through Rogue Traders Management. I do lots of top lines and I've written a lot of songs over the years. I put an EP on Spotify that I made called the Guilt Association, which was episode one, which was all guest vocalists Simon Day out of Rat Cat from when I was living in Sydney and Connie from the Sneaky Sound System.
Speaker 3:I played some shows with a band called Primary back in the day when I was younger, which was a band that she fronted, and she was a great friend of mine and she was lovely enough to sing on that and I think it's song on there is on that EP and I had a whole album and I had a whole bunch of different singers, one of which was Chrissy Amphlett.
Speaker 3:I'd wrote a song with her, then I was gonna follow it up with another EP, but the Divinyls ended up using that song. I Don't Wanna Do This for their last single, so written, yeah, wrote and produced a lot of songs for Nocturnal, of course, and, you know, over the years played on records for everyone, toured with everyone from Mark Seymour to, you know, Jon Stevens, of course, James Ryan. I don't know lots of incredible music and I'm embarking on another run this year with, who's released this solo record of their own as well, which I'm really excited about, and I've written a lot of songs with her over the years. She's been a great songwriting partner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you've been very busy. Beautiful song, 1000 stars for Natalie as well. I love that one it's a beautiful song.
Speaker 3:I played drums on that, but I didn't write that wonderful Swedish songwriter. Right, I wrote another song on that record, but not that one.
Speaker 2:The podcast with Cheryl Lee well, let's play that song, shall we? The song that Cameron wrote with his ex-wife, co-parent of their gorgeous two children, and Rogue Traders, bandmate Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Feel the flow from Natalie's 2009 1000 stars album. Back to chat with Cameron shortly.
Speaker 2:Our guest today is Cameron McGlinchey, drummer extraordinaire with the Screaming Jets, and I wanted to play you the Divinyls song written by Chrissy Amphlett and Cameron Don't Wanna Do This. Released in 2007, the Divinyls come back single after an 11 year long hiatus. Back to hear what Cameron's listening to in his car after this.
Speaker 2:What's on your playlist at the moment? What does Cameron McGlinchey like to listen to when you're alone in your car?
Speaker 3:That's a really good question. It really varies, but I'm just gonna think off the top of my head. I've been listening to the Nationals New Record, which I think is beautiful. I've been going back, funnily enough, and listening to a lot of retro stuff for me like a lot of Beck. I've been listening to a lot of Beck. I've been going through a nostalgic kind of time, so I'm listening to and a lot of stuff. I've got a new project that I've completed, an album for With Sean Johnson from Palace of the King and a singer, another singer, and that's really mired in that kind of Americana gentile Beck type thing.
Speaker 3:And my kids keep me young too. So my son has got phenomenal taste in music and my daughter has phenomenal taste and both couldn't be different. My son is right into rock and organic sounding music, although he does like Doja Cat's new track, Paint the Town Red. And my daughter really keeps me young as well. And what I've been giving Sticky Fingers a really good bash too lately. Yeah, I don't know they'll keep popping up, but you know there's a few that come to mind anyway.
Speaker 3:But I encourage my daughter, for example, especially as she's a teenager now. I love it when she puts music on because so much of it, I go, huh, what's this? They're people I've never heard of. So she keeps my ear to the ground and I really like that Because I wouldn't do it for myself. You know, as we know, as you get older and radio and the structure of the music game is so different now and she's just on TikTok, like all the other kids, which I am not, and it's amazing how much awesome music there is out there but it's bloody hard to find sometimes. So my daughter kind of is like a bit of a radio station for me.
Speaker 2:Have either of your children shown any interest in following into the music business?
Speaker 3:They're very young, so not necessarily. My daughter is very. You know. She clearly has some genetic gifts musically. She's a beautiful singer and she would be a great actress. And that's not just from her mother's side. My sister's a drama teacher and was an actress and she's definitely got performer in her. But the irony is she couldn't think of anything more horrifying than getting up and performing in front of people. So we'll see where she finds herself. And Hendrix, my son. He learns guitar. He doesn't really understand the concept of practice, but he loves it.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate you spending the time with us. I've interviewed the 4 members previously, as you're probably aware, so now I've got a full set of Jets. Thank you very much. It's been lovely to speak with you. I'm hopping on a plane in the morning, so I'll see you down the front in Darwin.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, alright, look forward to that and I hope you have fun. I'm looking forward to it as well.
Speaker 2:The sunshine is going to be great. It's been pretty miserable here in Adelaide. Would you like to introduce Nothing to Lose or Second Chance?
Speaker 3:I like them both equally, but Nothing to Lose is really great fun to play. Second Chance is too, but for very different reasons. So I suppose Second Chance being the new single will go with that one.
Speaker 2:Would you like to intro it for me.
Speaker 3:Yep everyone, this is Cam McLeanchey from the Screaming Jets, and may I present our latest single Second Chance for your listening pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I'll let you get back on the road.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much, See you have a great day. See you later. Thank you, music.
Speaker 4:So cold outside today, I think I'm gonna stay by the fire. Some things you can never take back. If you do, you're a liar In my heart. I know what's right in my head as a desperate fight. Don't believe in me, you believe in you. You're the only one who's gonna say it's true, you thought about a second chance. You never get them anyway.
Speaker 4:And if one came along right now, do you know what you'd say? It's what you see, not what you get. How I am no regrets Words I've heard I won't forget plays out like an orchid scent. Heart makes me move the distance here. That's what you choose.
Speaker 2:You're with Cheryl Lee that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rockin' It podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.