Hair Guitar

Sun Herald

Sunday October 1, 2000

PETER HOLMES

The Go-Betweens reformation may have to take a back seat to Nicole Kidman, writes PETER HOLMES.

IN THE British magazine Debris in 1987 Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens wrote a column advising readers on ways to pamper their hair. With a proud mane that betrays his love of actor Robert Redford's cut, it's not surprising to learn that a teenage Forster was almost lost to Brisbane's hair salons.

``In the early 1970s all the interesting shops would be in a couple of the city arcades, and that was the only cool 100 metres in Brisbane," said Forster, who has re-formed The Go-Betweens with Grant McLennan.

``There might be an Indonesian boutique, an import record shop, a vegetarian place and all the groovy hairdressers. I went into one and asked the guy if he'd take me on as an apprentice and he looked at me and went, `No', and I just walked out and that was it. I never went back, but if he'd have said yes I often wonder what would have happened."

It doesn't take much prodding for Forster to welcome you into his fantasy world.

``A Paddington hairdressing salon with collar-length hair, a photo of Robert Redford on the wall, Roxy Music playing, pot plants, Renee Geyer coming in. I get a very 70s vibe off it, and I could almost see myself playing that role. Very tempting."

Thoughtful, mildly eccentric, always impressively-tailored and sounding a little like a slowed-down version of film buff Bill Collins, the 189cm Forster has spent 25 years writing unusual, touching, uneasy and sometimes accidentally hilarious guitar-based tunes.

With a slightly wounded, dramatic vocal, less than perfect pitch and a phrasing style that pays little heed to convention, Forster is a one-off.

``At times it does look like I'm a bit of my own invention, which surprises me," he said. ``Neither of my parents was on the stage. Nor was it a bohemian background, it was suburban with sport-oriented, pre-counterculture parents who listened to Al Jolson and Louis Armstrong.

``A middle-class setting with no art around and out I pop. My brother is an accountant. My mother hints now and then she thinks it comes from my mother's father and my father's mother.

Having disbanded The Go-Betweens after a sterling farewell in a Petersham pub before Christmas in 1989, Forster and McLennan reunited last year to perform acoustically around pockets of America, Europe and Australia.

Journalists were asked not to describe the shows as a Go-Betweens concert.

``If we'd have called it The Go-Betweens people would've expected a band," said Forster. ``In places in America or Europe where we hadn't played before it would've been a problem to call it The Go-Betweens because we wanted to play songs from our solo albums. We didn't want to be tied in."

The new Go-Betweens album The Friends Of Rachel Worth, a collection of fragile, dreamy pop, driving folk-pop and spiky guitar rock, was recorded without former drummer Lindy Morrison, violinist and oboist Amanda Brown or bass players Robert Vickers or John Willsteed.

The decision to hire other musicians may ignite debate among the band's diehard fans, particularly given The Go-Betweens Fleetwood Mac-ish past (ie, band members bonking each other), but Forster could see no other way.

``It never felt like a deliberate act of exclusion," said Forster, ``it felt like, God, 12 years have gone by and what we are doing feels so fresh.

``We knew Adele (Pickvance, bassist) had to be on the new record, we adore her bass playing and singing, and it would almost be perverse to go, `Well Adele, we both want you for the record, we think you're great, we love you, but we've got to go back to 1989 and connect with people we haven't spoken with in 12 years and get them to play on the record'."

Based in Germany with his wife Karin and young child, Forster intends on bringing a fully electric Go-Betweens to Australia early next year. Meanwhile, he has other fantasies dancing around his fertile mind.

``I'd love to act, but I don't know anyone in the film business," Forster said. ``I don't think I'm a classical actor. I couldn't play a Russian count, I have no Scottish accent or Irish accent. I'd very much have to play myself, which is a person in their early 40s, male. That's about it."

A tough guy?

``That'd be a stretch, however I could do a tough guy. But, you see, I couldn't do it with guns. Everyone else uses guns and I don't think I'd be any good at waving them around. I think I'd do it with psychology and body movement."

On a roll, Forster exclaimed: ``You know who I'd be great with? Nicole Kidman. I'd love to have a breakthrough. She's tall, we could go eye-to-eye. It wouldn't necessarily have to be romantic, but there'd be long walks, talking, heads down. I think there'd be chemistry. Can you see it?"

The Go-Betweens' The Friends Of Rachel Worth is available through W Minc/Virgin.