Hoss: A million people seem toalways be wrong

Wed 22nd Nov, 2006 in Features

Melbourne rock legends Hoss play the first Perth shows of their 16-year career this weekend. As well as Hoss, frontman Joel Silbersher has played with The Dirty Three, Tex Perkins and Tendrils... and he’s also proficient when it comes to birthing cows.

The following is taken from a series of emails sent between Silbersher and FasterLouder.

FasterLouder: It’s your first trip to WA in 16 years – how long has it been on the cards for?

Joel Silbersher: 16 years I guess. We are too proud to beg. You gotta ask nicely.

FL: What should we expect from a Hoss gig?

JS: Four men, approaching their middle years but still pretty, bearing down hard on a selection of the better songs culled from five albums. Hoss is a big, mashy casserole of all the harder rock ‘n’ roll stylings from decades past.

FL: Are WA crowds going to be treated any differently? Since it’s been such a long time coming, do you have anything special planned for the shows?

JS: Yes. Not intentionally but you are going to see a different but equally potent band. I busted two fingers and a rib a few weeks back. I was birthing a calf and the mama cow’s c*nt suddenly kind of snapped tight as a vice, hurting my poor flipper. So, no guitar for me. Thankfully our guitar player Jimmy Sfetsos is some sort of evil genius and my misfortune has freed him up to play all kinds of freaky shit. The couple of one-guitar gigs we’ve done have been really great. Explosive. The fellas have more than risen to the occasion. I feel superfluous. Luckily I am possessed of a rare beauty and sparkling wit. I bring the sex and personality… and little else.

FL: The two shows you’re playing over here are in small venues that will no doubt be packed out – particularly the Norfolk Basement, which is known for getting very hot and sweaty. Is this the kind of environment people need to see Hoss in?

JS: They don’t NEED to but it’s the most likely scenario. Haven’t played many stadium shows or awards ceremonies lately. Pubs is what we’re most familiar with.

FL: After five albums, you’ve built up a strong cult following but a lot of people still don’t know who Hoss are. After 16 years, are you still plotting world domination?

JS:  Personally, I have always yearned to be made supreme ruler of the universe but as far as our band ‘grabbing the brass ring’, ‘taking it to the top’, ‘going for gold’, ‘teaching the world to sing’ and all that, it’s never been an issue. ‘A million people can’t be wrong’ is one of the stupidest things anyone has ever said. People buy John Farnham records by the bucketload. People who already own every Powderfinger album will rush out and buy Powderfinger’s greatest hits. The German people, in the cultural and intellectual hub of Europe at the time, LOVED Hitler. LOVED the c*nt, no matter what they say now. A million people seem to always be wrong. Phew! Got carried away. That said, some money and travel would be nice. We are entirely too lazy I think, to ever get very popular. You Am I for example have always slogged it out in a way I doubt Hoss would ever be prepared to or able to.

FL: Over the 16 years you’ve had in the game, a lot of things have obviously changed. Is it hard to keep up with new, younger bands that have grown up with the internet and all of today’s technology at their fingertips?

JS: These would only be issues if we were trying to ‘keep up’, if we wished to somehow compete with the young and groovy. We just don’t give a shit. Really. Or, if by ‘keep up’ you mean keep abreast of new technology well, I’m on this newfangled computeywhatsit talking to you right now ain’t I? Plenty of this stuff is useful. As far as keeping up with what new bands are out there, if you are a genuine music lover and curious and have similarly passionate friends to share your findings with, there’s no limit to how much great stuff (past and present) you can get into. Rarely do I hear some NME-Darling/season’s-hotshit/This-week’s-model stuff that I like but sometimes trendy shit comes along that is alright (that Black Keys Thickfreakness I thought was good for example). I’m not a natural populist but not such a snob that I can’t admit to liking something everyone else likes.

FL: On the flipside, do you feel up-and-coming bands today miss out on anything?

JS: Maybe the ability to make ends meet life-wise without being a massive touring band. I’m sure when I was 18 I believed that the money was going to keep rolling in. ‘Wow, this is only the tip of the iceberg!’. Wrong.

FL: A lot of people know you for your work on other projects – how do you react to people who know your other works but haven’t heard of Hoss?

JS: Again, I don’t care. If they like something I do and hate something else, that’s fine with me. I was in a band called God when I was a kid and a lot of people liked our first single and nothing else we did and loudly told me this. I learnt early to not worry about that. When I started playing with Charlie Owen in Tendrils many rock pigs were confused that I wanted to do music like that and a bunch of people who loved the Tendrils albums wondered why I would still bother with the rockin’ stuff. Some hate the fingerpickin’ solo stuff I do and some like only that. Some love the Dark Horses and hate Hoss and vice-versa. What am I supposed to do about it? I won’t name names but there’s a bunch of bands and solo artists in my town that virtually have ‘please like me, I’ll do anything’ on their foreheads with a little ‘insert here’ sign pointing to their various orifices (orifi?). They are always fucking horrible and their music will rot… fast. You just have to learn to say ‘fuck it’. I need to be able to hear and play a variety of stuff. I’m not a purist and I’ll have a crack at just about anything (maybe not opera though).

FL: What have you been able to take from those other projects that has contributed to the evolution of Hoss as a band?

JS: Well, each project serves a purpose that the others don’t though stylistically, and thematically they may sometimes overlap. Hoss is more fueled by lust and anger than the other things. It all feels good in different ways. The main thing I’ve learnt from playing in the other bands is that I am probably the nicest man alive! The Hoss dudes don’t realise when they’ve got it good! I have to tell them to shut up and keep paddling.

Hoss play the Hyde Park Hotel this Friday (24/11) and the Norfolk Basement in Fremantle on Saturday (25/11).