(Dieses Interview und einen Konzertbericht gibt es auch in einer deutschen Version.)
RockTimes: Hi Toby and thank you so much for another great show. Sabine and I have seen you maybe seven or eight times now and it was always great. You do have some serious songs with serious topics as well but you always manage to send the audience home with a big smile on their face.
Toby: Oh, I’m glad you say that. Thank you so much.
RockTimes: You’re on tour for quite some time now. Being human, there must be days when you don’t feel good, when you feel ill. And then you still go on stage, smiling and putting on a show. Is that being highly professional or does something happen inside you when you hit the stage?
Toby: Yeah, that happens. Sometimes I don’t feel good or I feel ill. Maybe something annoying happened, I got some bad news from home, I was angry about something or whatever. But that usually changes when we’re on stage. You might have to act for the first song but because the chemistry in the band is so great and then the interaction with the audience happens. Something happens there, something magical… and of course the adrenalin kicks in. There’s been days when I nearly couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t stand straight but I still would go on stage. Then you ARE on stage, the interaction with the audience starts and all of a sudden you don’t even remember that you felt bad. The other thing is that I made up my mind a couple of years ago how lucky I actually am. I remember that I chose this and I got to do what I love to do and share it with people.
RockTimes: I really dug the songs from your new album, the ones you’ve played tonight. One of them is called "What You’ve Done" and it’s about somebody who’s not a very nice person, to put it mildly. There’s a few 'F… you’s in the lyrics… (smirking) so I guess this will be your next single for the radio, right?
Toby: Aaah, I don’t know… (laughs). You know, I don’t get played that much on the radio. We’re one of those bands who tour and tour and tour but the radio doesn’t help me in any way. I actually never put any swearing in the songs because what IF the radio will play them? But then I thougt fuck it, it was so suitable for the song. There were no other words I could use to get across that feeling I wanted to get across. So I had to do it… (laughs)
RockTimes: Fair enough.
Toby: Yeah… it’s a good song to perform… it gets all of your anger.
RockTimes: You always had great musicians in your bands. I remember Daryl on guitar…
Toby: Yeah, Daryl is amazing…
RockTimes: …and your long time bass player Tom who couldn’t be here tonight. And tonight’s bass player Caroline Kamp…
Toby: Yeah, she’s very good too, very talented. But when you take the risk to hire somebody over the internet – I mean, you talk to them and you hear them play – you don’t get a guarantee that you will get along with them in real life.
RockTimes: Caroline is dutch as well. Did you get to know her through Josse and Tom?
Toby: No, no, they didn’t know her either. I got in touch with her through somebody else. She sent me some songs and we talked. And luckily we get along really well because that can affect you when you, you know… in the bus, in the hotel, on stage… if you have the wrong person it can get really tough. But again, I got very lucky to work some very special people here and we actually became family.
RockTimes: You can actually feel that, standing in the audience, that you guys have something special going on onstage.
Toby: Oh, I’m glad… and it’s real. It’s very obvious if you see a band on stage and they are having fun – you are having fun. And you can’t fake that because the audience sees through it. I mean you can have a shitty day and you’re angry at a band member, but the minute you hit the stage it’s all gone. But usually we really like each other.
RockTimes: You and your wife are having two kids together. How do combine family life with life on tour? Are they coming on tour with you?
Toby: They came to Europe with me, yes. Right now they are in Strassburg, France. We had a few weeks here before I would do a few shows, go back, be gone for some more shows and so on. There’ll be a few more shows and then we’ll have a whole month together. My wife is very supportive because I couldn’t not see my kids for a longer period of time. Right now I’m on tour and get to see them as well, so I’m very lucky. Otherwise I couldn’t do it.
RockTimes: You speak very openly about being with another woman. Did you ever get a bad reaction?
Toby: I think some people… get confused by it… some don’t accept it. Australia is very backwards when it comes to this. We’re married but it’s still not legal. Years ago I kind of kept my private life private. I was scared I would lose supporters and that I would be judged by my fans. I even had strict rules with my band that they were never to mention that I was gay to anyone in the audience. The moment my son Angus was born, this all changed. I never, not for one second, want my children feeling any shame around their family. I want to show them and teach them strength, honesty and pride in who they are, and make them proud of me. I know there are haters out there. I know there are people so scared of what they don’t know. People who feel they have a right to bully you or judge you and try to change who you are. People who believe being gay is a choice. It is simply not a choice. But we do have choices and I choose to stand up proud!! I’m now in the mindset that if who I am offends you, feel free to fuck right off. That’s ok with me. I am a good mother, a good wife (I hope) and a good person, doing what I love and living my life. And never again will I feel ashamed of who I am. It’s really okay if anybody doesn’t like it, but I don’t care. Everybody has a right to have their own opinion but I don’t let it affect me anymore. I surround myself with positive people.
RockTimes: Right on. Okay, one more thing. I was wondering about songwriting. Does it get more difficult over the years? Especially after having a lot of albums out already?
Toby: Yeah, sometimes it does. I usually go through phases. There are times when I write a lot, then again there was a year or even a year and a half when I didn’t write at all. There are musicians out there who play and try to write every single day. I’m not that person. So when I do write I feel lucky to just let it come through, let it flow and grab that moment. With me, everytime I sit down trying to write it’ll be shit. But sometimes it just comes out and it is what it is and I don’t change much. Apparently if they come through they have been working in me for some time. If that makes any sense…
RockTimes: Yes, that does make perfect sense. Thank you so much, Toby, all the best for the rest of the tour and your new album.
Toby: Thank you for the good questions, they were really different.
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