Ask Kevin Bloody Wilson if he plans to call it a day any time soon, and the answer is as blunt as you’d expect.
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“F..k no,” the musician/comedian laughed.
Therefore, the decidedly non-politically correct performer wasn’t satisfied with just undertaking The First of the Final Farewell Tours.
Enter The Second of the Final Farewell Tours... Perhaps.
“I do want to out Farnham, Farnham with the comeback tours.
“I want it to be known as ‘more comebacks than Kevin’.”
Wilson, born Dennis Bryant, has performed throughout the world, from outback pubs to the hallowed halls of the London Palladium.
He originally recorded songs on a cassette tape for his mates, penned about his experiences working in the mines in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
In the early 1980s, he put together a tape called Your Average Australian Yobbo and started selling it. Sales went into the tens of thousands before it was transferred to LP (where it sold even more).
“I retired 32 years ago; I left a real job to do this,” he said of his music. “I’ve never considered it a job at all, just something I love doing.
“I only do as much of it as I want to do, so it doesn’t take over your life. I have a very happy family life.”
Wilson’s record sales now nudge the four-million mark without much mainstream media support.
His music has even been preserved in the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, while in 2010 he was nominated for Australian of the Year.
Wilson said he nowadays sometimes sees two or three generations of clans attending his shows.
“You see nanna take the daughter and the grand-daughter,” he said.
“I thought it was strictly for the blokes when I started doing it.
“Now, blokes bring their wives… It’s about 60/40, males/females in the audience.
“When the women started to trickle in, I thought, ‘f..k, I’ll have to change something’. Then they started requesting certain songs; like yelling out for (the profanity-laden) Santa Claus,” Wilson laughed.
“It’s been an amazing journey.”
Wilson performs at Dapto Leagues Club on May 19.