Perth gig revives Daryl Braithwaite's career

Australian pop legend Daryl Braithwaite has revealed how his once-fading career was revived by a WA university crowd involved with Perth's oldest-registered children's charity.

Fearing his long career was coming to an end a decade ago, Braithwaite said he could barely believe his ears when he stood backstage at the then Floreat Hotel listening to a raging young crowd chanting his name before he had even started what he expected to be just another run-of-the-mill gig.

"We'd come from another gig with Mental As Anything near Nedlands," Braithwaite said in a recent visit to Perth.

"We got to the Floreat Hotel and we were backstage about half an hour before we went on and they started chanting, 'Daryl, Daryl'. I thought, 'This is really weird', and went out and had a look. The place was packed with younger people.

"I thought, 'What's happened? I wonder if they've come to the right gig?' The Floreat gig was like the turnaround. It was one of 'the' gigs that will stay with me for ever."

Among the songs that had the crowd hooked was his classic The Horses, which Braithwaite will perform at the Australian Open on Australia Day.

Unbeknown to Braithwaite until his recent visit, it was after three weeks of summer camps with underprivileged WA children that a group of volunteers from the Uni Camp for Kids organisation had a reunion that night at the Floreat Hotel.

They had just been making videos from their camps, which were run by student volunteers from the University of WA, with several of his songs as backing theme music.

"I was definitely at the gig and recall it fondly," one of the volunteers, Rosie Rock, confirmed.

"It was sensational for all involved."

Braithwaite, at 65, has since become regarded as one of Australia's hardest-working musicians, travelling around Australia and singing at about 150 gigs a year.

He said that about the same time as the Floreat gig, his son Oscar had given him a DVD of US band Green Day and was also inspired by the performance of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong.

"Billie Joe, I just fell in love with him," he said.

"He just comes out and tells the people, 'This is what we're doing'. Subconsciously, I think I took that on after the Floreat gig. I thought, 'This can work'. If you've got the people, you can encourage them and they can encourage you, it just compounds and away you go."

It is 40 years since Braithwaite sang the Cilla Black hit You're My World on the first broadcast of the weekly blockbuster Countdown. It became his first of two solo No.1 hits in Australia and even inspired a then five-year-old Tina Arena into a singing career.

It took another 17 years for his only other solo No.1, but it is the one that has become his signature tune - The Horses, written by American music greats Rickie Lee Jones and Walter Becker.

People even now come to his gigs wearing horse heads and masks.

"It now has a life of its own," he said. "When we do it, my passion for it is just incredible, but that's mainly because I can see these people reacting as well - young people, older. It's eight minutes of a hedonistic sort of thing."

Braithwaite holds great respect for his time with Sherbet, the prominent 1970s band which had No.1 singles Howzat and Summer Love, as the conduit to his successful solo career. He still keenly surfs the WA coast on ventures west, despite a concern for sharks, and has fond memories of gigs across the State.

"We have spent a lot of time over here touring. Roger Davies, our manager, would have us doing all these runs into the regional areas," he said. "Wongan Hills … I've still got the motel key I stole because it was copper. Sorry, Mr and Mrs whoever owned the motel back then."

He said the changing live music scene, particularly with many venues closing, made life hard for bands and artists. But he encouraged them to be tenacious enough to find their way through if they cared enough about their craft.

He was even considering a new musical venture, possibly next year, and in the beat-driven area.

"I think more in the bottom end department, you know, subs," he said. "I've been to one or two gigs where they've had the subs for young people and you go, 'Oh my God, feel that'. Maybe."