Guitarist comes in from the cold

By PETER GRIFFIN

More than 20 years on it's still one of the coolest album covers rock has produced. Guitarist Ian Moss and his bandmates from Cold Chisel on the cover of Circus Animals, lounging around a completely out-of-place caravan. And today Chisel are still considered to be the best Oz-rock band.

Despite the friction among their members and Chisel's relatively short run (they broke up in 1983), the hits still have solid radio play and the band members gravitate towards each other every few years.

"At the risk of sounding corny, there's a definite brotherhood thing which is indestructible," says Moss, who this month joined a reformed Cold Chisel for a handful of gigs in Sydney and Newcastle.

Moss shared vocal responsibilities with Jimmy Barnes, although playing guitar was his main role. But Moss had his own share of solo success with the single Tucker's Daughter and the Matchbook album in 1989.

About to embark on a pub tour of New Zealand, Moss will bring with him Chisel bassist Phil Small and harmonica player and former Chisel session player Dave Blight. Kerry Jacobson (formerly of Dragon) is on drums.

Moss says the set will span songs from all his solo albums, from Matchbook and its less commercial follow-up Worlds Away to the blues rocker Petrol Head and some new tunes. Moss barely touches Chisel songs.

"I avoid trying to be the Chisel jukebox," he says. "It would be silly for me to start singing Chisel songs that I never sang."

Wise move. Barnsey's bellow is all over Chisel's better numbers and they wouldn't sound the same without him. Never one to neglect his Kiwi fan base, Barnes was touring here just a few weeks ago, so fans are likely to be Chiselled out.

The veteran four-piece each have 30-odd years of performing and recording behind them. Back then it was all about art and musicianship. An Aussie flavour of progressive rock emerged in the 1970s when long-haired guitarists poured themselves into extended hippy jams.

"You sat cross-legged on wooden floors in town halls and took whatever you could get if you didn't drink alcohol. You disappeared into musical pieces that went on for 20 or 30 minutes."

They were defining days for Moss and his soon-to-be-legendary guitar playing. But as the 70s progressed, the formula tightened into structured three-minute rock and pop songs. By the late 70s, Cold Chisel, AC/DC, the Angels and Midnight Oil were the vanguard of Aussie rock.

They all realised the importance of shorter, catchier songs and finishing a show. The crowds had an appetite for their loud and energetic gigs and animated frontmen like Jimmy Barnes and Peter Garrett.

"Back then, people went to work, then they went out and saw a band," says Moss. "Midnight Oil, the Angels and Cold Chisel could all perform on the same night in one suburb. Pick a pub and roll up to your gig. Each pub would have a queue around the block."

The Chisel songs reflected everyday life - hitting the town on Saturday night, drinking, living the working-class life and dreaming of escaping it.

That's what Bow River was about. Moss penned the song, which appeared on Chisel's fourth album Circus Animals, while trying to establish himself in Sydney.

It was saying, "Bugger this rat race, I'm going home to where the real people are.

"Even now, there's still part of me that feels like I don't belong here, even though I've been in Sydney for half my life."

These days Moss spends most of his time writing songs, dragging out his jazz theory books from time to time to keep his "mind turning over". He classes Neil Finn as "one of the best songwriters the world has ever seen".

Moss starts pre-production on a solo album in September with a release likely next year. And there's also a good chance more Chisel material will appear soon.

The band's get-together for 1998's comeback album Last Wave of Summer yielded some as-yet-unreleased songs that Moss says are likely to be released. "That stuff is floating around just waiting to be exhumed."

Performance

* Who: Ian Moss Band

* Where & When: Kings Arms, Wednesday June 25; Roadhouse, Papakura, Thursday June 26; Altitude, Hamilton, June 27