MONDAY OCTOBER 16 2017 NEWS FEATURE 11 EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT

Working Class Man. As he finished the album, he re- ceived an offer many rockers would have found too hard to refuse. “During that period I was asked to join Deep Purple, Van Halen and Little Feat, all within a few months, I was the flavour of the month,” he said. “I came back from the studio on the final day and Jane was waiting to go to the shops to buy some things on our last day there and told me Jimmy Barnes ends up in the crowd to look after Mahalia and EJ. during Cold Chisel’s farewell concert “As she left she says ‘By the in 1983; (right) belting out a song way, Eddie Van Halen rang for in 1995 for the release of his album you’. So I call him back and he Psyclone; (below) at home with asks me to come over to his wife Jane. house because he wanted to ask me something. “I explained I couldn’t leave the house because I was baby- sitting, and half an hour later, there’s a knock at the door and MEMORIES AND these two guys come in very worried-looking and Eddie says they’re looking for a sing- SONGS ON STAGE er, David Lee Roth had left the band. I told him I didn’t really JIMMY Barnes will relive his battles with addiction and celebrate want to join another band, I his rock’n’roll success on stage with the Working Class Man: An Even- was just starting my solo career ing of Stories and Songs tour next year. and I’d like to see that through. Tickets for the theatre tour will go on sale on October 23, the same But I was really flattered, I re- day he releases Working Class Man, the second instalment of his ally like Van Halen. memoirs. “I got word when Sammy Barnes set a new benchmark for a spoken word and musical pro- Hagar left the last time they duction with the Working Class Boy tour, which ran from late last year were trying to get hold of me until April and won a Sydney Theatre Award and a Helpmann Award again.” nomination. His memories of a violent childhood bought men and women to REACH OUT tears. Barnes will shift the spotlight firmly on the issues of addiction If Working Class Boy and the and mental health during his Working Class Man companion tour Songs and Stories tour that fol- which will kick off in March and run until June. lowed helped Barnes shine a He has partnered with Lifeline for next year’s shows. harsh spotlight on domestic vi- olence, Working Class Man Jimmy’s Working Class Man: An Evening of Stories & Songs highlights the life-threatening national tour will run from March to May next year. Tickets on toll of mental health and sub- sale 9am, 23 October. See www.jimmybarnes.com for dates stance abuse. and ticket information. Barnes reached out for help. Two decades after the death of his friend Michael Hutchence, he wishes he had insisted the pair catch up after bumping into the INXS frontman the day before he died. The family were living just around the corner from the Ritz Carlton hotel in Double Bay; Barnes was in the middle of a particularly indulgent pe- riod of drug-taking. “I don’t blame myself at all but I remember with Hutch, I was living around the corner from the hotel where he hanged himself. I spoke to him the day before … I’d seen him in the street. He looked tired, worn out. Me too, I was doing my own s--- and fighting my own addictions then,” he said. girls. I now had five other not of the twist in the head- photo in the bathtub. I wore it “We both said to each other grandkids, big ones. And now band tale. “Jane had run away for years and years and then we would catch up at the end I’ve got a great-grandchild. from me because I was too about 10 years later, a Japanese of the week. I should have said They are now part of the fam- toxic when we were first dat- guy came up to me and asked ‘Let’s stop and have a cup of ily. ing. But obviously we loved me to sign an album. I signed coffee.’ I’m not saying I could “And it’s different. They are each other and we were on the the cover, tell him ‘All the best’ have saved him but I could really good people and we’re phone all the time,” he said. and he says ‘By the way, you’ve have been a voice of reason. really close, but of course they “So I went to Japan to visit got your headband on upside “Don’t take your friends for haven’t been brought up by us after recording the East record down…’ granted. Just reach out. Life is so there is a different way of re- and one day I was walking “I tried to explain it away too precious. I’ve been at times lating and we are still learning around and there was these with ‘ah, it’s a southern hemi- when I thought I had nothing how to do it. I am so glad they protest rallies and everyone sphere thing, I did it on pur- else left to give and I had de- are in our lives. And hopefully was wearing these headbands. pose’. No, I’m an idiot.” stroyed everything around me we are bringing some peace to Someone told me they said slo- but I was so wrong. theirs as I try to fix this trail of gans like Fight For Freedom VAN HALEN “It takes a moment of clar- destruction I left behind.” and Death Before Dishonour. When Barnes quit Cold Chisel ity to see how much you have “I grabbed one of them, and and they completed their Last and how much you have to do. depending on how you roll it, Stand farewell tour, he Kids grow up and they still HEADBAND you can display the different launched straight into his solo need you. Partners fall in and Working Class Man also lifts slogans. I thought it was a good career and landed at No. 1 with out of love but they still need the veil on so much of the thing to bring home, I didn’t debut album Bodyswerve. each other. mythology that swirls around know what I was going to do Determined to have a shot “Friends need you here. Barnes and Chisel. Like the or- with it but when I arrived back at the American market, he And you need to get out there igins of his famous headband. in Australia and we were doing signed a record deal there and and do more stuff for yourself. Most diehard fans are well the cover shoot for East, I went to Los Angeles to record You should fight for every aware of the story but maybe thought I would wear it for the his second album For The breath you have.”

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