Last year, tensions within seminal Australian rock band The Angels hit boiling point. The fractured band, by now split into two separate shadows of their former glory, wrestled over naming rights for their respective ‘Angels’ outfits. After a well documented parting of ways, following Doc Neeson’s struggle after a horrifying car accident, he opted to front a new version of The Angels, as original members John Brewster (rhythm guitar), Rick Brewster (lead guitar), Chris Bailey (bass) and Graham ‘Buzz’ Bidstrup (drums) steered their captainless boat (albeit with John on vocals) along a parallel course.

Finally, as the dust settled on what seemed a mess and a shame, they all came face to face in the mediation room and, amazingly, decided to bring it all back together. “In a way I guess we haven’t stopped,” John tells me, having called me directly from his own mobile, caller-ID nonchalantly left on. “There was a period there where we didn’t know what we were going to do. Doc had left, but then Doc got better. He’s out there again and [we’re] in two different bands. It was getting silly. We had a bit of legal argument about who could do what and that got resolved, really, just by mediation. Once we got in a room together we just went, ‘Shit. What are we doing? Let’s just play again.’”

Reminds me of those outrageous stories you read where after a particularly acrimonious divorce, a couple will get talking at their daughter’s wedding, forget all the angst and remarry. That’s what I tell John. He’s not taking the bait. “The funny thing was,” he replies, “we were never really acrimonious with Doc. We just sort of went our own separate ways. I prefer to think that we just got estranged, drifted apart. Doc was going through some stuff with his health so it wasn’t like, ‘I’m never going to play with you again!’ and then you storm out of a room. There was some tension, definitely, and some legal issues going on, but never that.”

People sneer at reformations and make snide remarks about bands that have split and then reformed. They make allegations of cashing in on DVD and tour dollars, as though a musician should be looking at a retirement from music rather than career longevity. That will be the criticism. How will you react to comments like that? John presents two options: “You can either tell them to go and get fucked. Or handle it in a polite manner,” he laughs. “Who’s going to tell me what I’m gonna do, you know?” This is not a prima donna talking; it’s an accomplished musician, a father of a certain age who has earned the right not to give a shit what anyone else thinks, because he’s done the yards.

“The fact of the matter is, we created a band and some songs we’re really proud of and we love doing it. We are professional musicians so we get paid to do what we do, as much as anybody else gets paid to do what they do. There’s always a financial aspect to it, but it’s not the money that is the reason we do it.” Especially not in this case. It sounds like, genetically, the Brewster brothers never really stood a chance. “My grandfather was a concert pianist, my dad was a cellist and there’s Rick and myself – the two brothers – then my three sons, they’re all playing. That music gene just seems to flow through. When we formed the band, way back when we were young, we never thought about it. But at the age that I am, I do think about it,” John admits, somewhat reflectively. “I’m like, ‘Well, I’m going to be doing this for the rest of my life.’ If the band’s part of that then so be it.”

At the risk of making too big an issue out of our age gap, I tell John, in reverence, that Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again actually came out three years before I was born and as such, there has never been a time where I haven’t had The Angels in my soundtrack. He reacts bemusedly. I’m not sure that he had thought of it like that before. Getting sidetracked with a chat about the late Billy Thorpe’s books, I remark that new music fans may not really appreciate what being in a gigging band was like back in those days; the heady ‘70s.

“I remember when the Angels first started out there were experts running around saying, ‘Well, they’ll last 6 months.’ And here we are thirty-four years later…” he trails off. But, he concedes, “There’s always someone with an opinion you know. We can only do what we want to do and to be honest with you; we’re really excited about it. I think it’s going to be great. Playing with Doc you know, I think of all those early times when we were driving around Australia in an old EH station wagon. It’s a very romantic looking back on it, but when you really look back I don’t know how we did it!

“We’d finish at Melbourne at 2am on a Sunday, jump straight in the car and drive to Sydney and be setting up at Checkers for Monday night to do a five hour show, having set up the show ourselves. And we’d do five hours for a hundred bucks and you had to do that on the Monday night because if you didn’t pick up that hundred bucks you couldn’t pay the accommodation that week. So that’s how tight it was. It was really tough stuff. I look back on it with a lot of pride and of course you forget the bad side of it – how tired you were and all that – and think of all the fun you had.”

Actually, doesn’t sound that far removed from what young bands are doing now. But there’s still more fun to come for The Angels, isn’t there? Certainly, says John, now that the business side is sorted. “First rehearsal’s tomorrow. We’ve done photo shoots and meetings and stuff but to be honest with you, I’m really looking forward to rehearsal. What we’re really about is playing.”

Playing. They’re not looking back, combing through their career – The Angels are looking forward to the next chapter. It must be weird to be in a band that is considered such a massive part of Australian rock history, when for its members, the focus is on the future; the present.

“The thing is that our songs still stand up. We didn’t really write songs for a [particular] era. We didn’t really write young, sort of lovey dovey lyrics and I think that the lyric and the song – it’s a rock band – it’s still standing up.” He affords himself a thoughtful pause before cheekily laughing, “And we’re playing just as well as we ever did, let me tell ya.” But seriously, “It doesn’t feel like we got something out of the cupboard, polished it up and put it out there again. We’ve been an ongoing band for thirty-odd years. We’re really proud of that. We play with as much passion as we ever did.”

Do you still feel like that ageless twenty-year-old rocking out? “Well, to some extent you do. It never feels like we’re just going through the motions. It’s a terrific band. We all bring something to the party and it comes together as a really terrific band – it’s as simple as that.” Another considered pause, “I suppose it sounds like I’m bragging, but it is.”

The Angels are kicking off their 20-date tour at the 30th Anniversary Golden Stave Foundation Charity Luncheon at the Hordern Pavilion. The Golden Stave has raised over $10 million for children’s charities since 1978. A fitting launch John and I agree. “It’s their 30th anniversary and it’s the 30th anniversary of our _Face to Face _ album, which is a milestone for Australian music, but also for us. The album took us to the heights and we’re celebrating that, so it all feels right.”

So to blow away the reformation cobwebs once and for all, when can we expect to see some new material from one of Australia’s most loved groups? “We’ll take this one day at a time,” says John firmly. “Rick and I have got new music with The Brewster Brothers, but we haven’t written a song yet specifically for The Angels, but following a natural course, it’ll probably happen.”

Well, I tell him, I’m sure there’ll be ideas popping up on the tour. And at least on this tour you won’t have to drive all night and load in by yourself. John laughs, “Yeah, we won’t have to do that again. But it’s nice that we did.” As I am wont to do when I’m talking to an artist I admire, or in this instance, grew up listening to, I tell John that I’m really honoured to have spoken to him this morning. He sounds surprised. “Oh, that’s very nice of you Melanie.”

Wishing him all the best at rehearsal tomorrow, he responds, with the voice of someone heading home: “That’s the easy part of what we do, the playing. It’s gonna be great. You never forget that, it’s like riding a bike – if you’ve got the chemistry that doesn’t go away.”

Catch the re-united Angels at the following venues this winter:

3 Jul – South Sydney Junior Rugby Leagues Club
4 Jul – Blacktown RSL
5 Jul – Revesby Workers Club
9 Jul – Hallam Hotel
10 Jul – Ferntree Gully Hotel, Melbourne
11 Jul – Shoppingtown Hotel, Melbourne
12 Jul – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Melbourne
18 Jul – Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Adelaide
19 Jul – Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Adelaide
24 Jul – Caloundra RSL Club
24 Jul – Caloundra RSL Club
25 Jul – Southport RSL
26 Jul – Norths Leagues and Services Club, Ipswich
1 Aug – Waves – Towradgi Beach Hotel
2 Aug – Panthers Newcastle