2010 is already off to a flying start for knockabout garage-rock outfit Regular John, and very soon they’ll play Melbourne’s biggest all-ages event Push Over. Bassist Caleb Goman chats to FasterLouder about the thrills of playing to unjaded fans.

What do you think of Push Over being a drug/alcohol and smoke-free festival? Do you think it brings a different crowd to the event?
I think it’s great. When you tour a lot you see an amazing amount of drunk people. It’ll be a nice change. There’s the myth that you have to be really out of it to enjoy a gig.

Do you find there is a different energy between over-age and under-18s gigs?
Underage kids are very enthusiastic. They aren’t jaded and bitter yet and they aren’t self-conscious about getting into it. They don’t fold their arms and judge just in case it’s not cool to like a certain band. They just rock out. It’s a beautiful thing watching kids go off to live music. Once you get into your 20s you don’t depend on certain albums for survival like you did in your teens.

Any gigs that have stayed fresh in your memory from your days as an under-18?
My under-18s gig days consisted of avoiding Tamworth’s country music festival at all costs.

Was it a relief to have your album The Peaceful Atom is A Bomb out last year, so you could focus on the touring side of things?
I think we were all just happy to have captured our sound and songs at that period of time and to finally get it out there. It was nice to have a bunch of new songs to go and play live and it’s been interesting watching them morph and mould from the album versions into their live versions.

You toured with Karnivool and Kisschasy last year, both bands with a different sound from Regular John. Was that intimidating, or exciting?
We don’t really know what intimidation means. We don’t give a shit who we play with or who we play for. The audiences were completely different on those tours, but it’s not like we changed our act for each one. We’ve always sat somewhere in the middle of being too heavy for pop fans and being too weird for heavy fans. That’s how we like though. We just do our thing and if you dig it, then we’ll give you a wink and show you the secret handshake.

You’ve also done your fair share of festival slots in recent times. Is nailing the festival thing something you think a band has to master?
You’ve got to master playing live, full stop. You should be able to tear the roof off a small club and still be able to carry that energy across to bigger audiences at festivals. I’d say we’ve got the hang of it by now.

Which other bands are you looking most forward to seeing at Push Over Festival?
We ran into Dash and Will and Kisschasy in Tasmania recently so it will be good to see them again.

You won Rolling Stone Magazine’s ‘Rock Album Of The Year’. Was that a good accolade for you guys? Any stories from the awards night itself?
It was nice to win something. Especially as we were up against bands like Wolfmother. You have your head down so long you really have no idea what the perception of your music is. The awards night was pretty quiet for me as I’ve stopped drinking this year and we had the Big Day Out the next day. Though I heard stories from Brock about being on Oxford St at 2am with Mastodon’s bass player. I’m not sure what they were doing but I bet there was beard stroking.

So, what does the rest of 2010 hold after Push Over is done and dusted?
I think there are plans to head overseas for some showcase shows. If I have my way, it will be straight back to the rehearsal rooms to work on new material. I’m very eager to get started on the next album but I’m sure there’s a bunch of other things we’ll have to do first.

Regular John play Push Over on Saturday 7 March at The Old Abbotsford Convent in Collingwood.