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Tim Rogers.
 Tim Rogers isn't in a great mood, and understandably so. "I've just got out of hospital the other day after an operation so I'm a bit sore," he explains. "It was for a hernia - I asked them to fix my nose but they got it wrong. I did some shows in Perth on the weekend and it was a very bad idea. But it's very difficult to resist doing shows, they're a lot of fun..."
It's been a tough ol' year for our Tim. There was the now infamous alcoholic meltdown onstage in Tasmania on New Year's Eve; a public acknowledgement that his fondness for recreational substances had recently been rearing its ugly head more times than he'd like; and increasing rumours about his personal and professional relationships. Fortunately, there's been no substance to the latter; anyone who was at the Gov a month ago to see the all round smiles and hear the new songs will tell you that rumours of You Am I's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, when it comes to doing what he does best, Tim Rogers is on a roll. This year has seen You Am I contribute to the Hoodoo Gurus' 'Stoneage Cameos' tribute album and the band are currently in the studio preparing their seventh album for release in March; and Rogers is also touring with his 'other' band, The Temperance Union, in support of their recently-recorded double-album, 'Dirty Ron' and 'Ghost Stories'. "I just can't help wanting to make music," Rogers explains, "so when there's a time off from You Am I, well, I don't like to take time off..."
I point out that in the three long years since the last You Am I release, Rogers has released two Temperance Union records.
"That wasn't a plan at all," he says. "But I was living with Ian [Kitney, the 'Union's drummer] at the start of the year, and living with him was a real impetus to getting a new Union record together because I'd missed playing so much. I kind of got on a bit of a roll."
We get onto speaking about drummers, and I run past him my belief that, for all the jokes that get made about them, drummers maketh a band. "Absolutely!" Rogers exclaims. "Bad drummer, bad band."
Not that Rogers should know much about bad drummers, because as he says, "I've been absolutely blessed, I am so fortunate to be able to work with both Rusty [Hopkinson] and Ian. And I do write with them in mind. I can kind of imagine or hope what sort of style those guys might come up with. I haven't thought about it a great deal, funnily enough, but there's a certain kind of brutality about You Am I because of the volumes that we play at which is great, and the Temperance Union is something different."
Ask Rogers to compare the two bands, and not surprisingly, his response suggests that each does different things for him. As you might expect, he can do things with The Temperance Union that his long history with You Am I just wouldn't allow.
"There's less expectations," Rogers says simply. "There are certain [You Am I] songs I like playing 80 times a year but I don't like playing 200 times a year."
The new Union record features some of Rogers' most personal songs. Indeed, I suggest that his writing has evolved from early You Am I observations about his family and others to wearing his heart on his sleeve about his own frailties and trials and tribulations.
He's slightly taken aback at the thought.
"I am so over myself! I really am. I'm trying to get away from that sort of writing," he says, and it sounds like a man who's just plain weary of the introspection that the past year has possibly bought. Not that its going to stop one of the hardest working men in Australian music appearing live on a stage somewhere near you soon...
Peter Strelan
 | Tim Rogers & The Temperance Union play at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel on Thurs 1 Dec. |
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