When you’re 49 years old and still in a rock band, you need to look after yourself.
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That’s what Peter “Blackie” Black from the legendary Australian independent band The Hard-Ons has discovered.
He helped form the rock band – one of the main drawcards at next weekend’s Hy-Fest rock, punk and metal festival – way back in 1981.
With the exception of three years in the 1990s, the band has been a going concern and Blackie said he needs to make sure he keeps fit so he can perform onstage.
“I work out constantly,” he said.
“I’m jogging, going to the gym – I reckon the older you get the more maintenance you need.
“I do remember a while ago playing a show and being gassed and being really ashamed of myself, thinking ‘I can barely lift my arms. I have to lift up my game’.”
Unlike loads of other musicians, Blackie said drugs and alcohol have never had an effect on his playing – mainly because he doesn’t touch them.
“I just don’t get a kick of that that shit,” he said.
“Plus I love my music to be really pure and I feel if I get stoned or drunk I’m not hearing music properly. I’m not hearing it with all my senses. It’s just dull.”
While Blackie drives a taxi to pay the bills, he still keeps busy with music. As well as the Hard-ons, he has another band, a solo project and is planning to release a song a day for 2016.
“My love of music, if anything, it amplifies each day, it doesn’t diminish at all,” he said.
It’s why he's still part of the Hard-ons more than 30 years later.
“I’m still doing it because it’s still artistically viable,” he said.
“I’m still getting a buzz from it and I still feel like I’ve got plenty to offer the band.”
As for the name The Hard-ons, well that’s just what happens when you form a band when you’re 15.
“We formed when we were in high school - when you’re a kid you’re silly, you think these things are tops,” Blackie said.
“Back then none of us would have thought we’d be pushing 50 and still in a band called The Hard-ons.”
Hy-Fest is on at the University of Wollongong Unibar on December 5, from 1pm. Tickets are available at yoursandowls.com.au