My name is Julian Schweitzer, I sing and play guitar in my band called Greenthief. I began as a drummer but ended up eating all my previous bands band members so had to take over front man duties, evolution I guess… We are about to embark on two massive tours that run straight after each other. One supporting our new single and the other supporting The Butterfly Effect on their national tour.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
I became obsessed with drums from a very young age, I’m not sure exactly what grabbed me but I was hooked right from the beginning. I remember jamming with friends back in primary school. The music teacher gave us some Beatles charts to play with. It was myself, a trumpeter and a guitarist.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to?
My father took me to gigs ever since I was 12. I remember him taking me to see Superjesus back in their hay day supporting their incredible album Sumo. It was at the arena (Brisbane) and needless to say it was an incredible gig.
‘Fess up. What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
My father only really listens to two bands – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. My childhood basically consisted of listening to these bands. I definitely think Sgt. Peppers… was where the main excitement came from.
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What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Actually my friend’s band – New Manic Spree.
How do you find new music?
For a living I teach music and have a broad range of students. I am always quizzing them what is tickling their ear buds.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Man, I have the most boring answer for this, ready: warm up my vocal chords. Sorry that was pretty lame. I mean, I snort a line of coke prior to every gig.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
The festival would be headlined by the following bands: Tool, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Jeff Buckley would be brought back from the dead, The Mars Volta, QOTSA and Nine Inch Nails. There would be around a 1000 people in an indoor arena and I would have a couch positions 40 metres back from the front elevated 2 metres in the air just for myself. There would also be a Labrador farm on site.
When you’re Rolling Stones Big, what are you going to request on your rider: don’t be shy. We want specifics!
Labradors, lots of them. I love labby’s.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
I reckon Nick Cave would be rad. He comes from a totally different school of song writing to us and this would create a really interesting experience.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Easy, any Indiana Jones installment…
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
We are about to embark on ‘The Epidemic Tour’ in support of our brand new single:
Friday, March 16 | Nimbin Bowling Club, Nimbin NSW
Saturday, March 17 | Kings Beach Tavern, Sunshine Coast QLD
Friday, March 23 | Railway Hotel, Gold Coast QLD
Saturday, March 24 | The Squealing Pig, Ipswich QLD
Friday, March 30 | The Tempo Hotel, Brisbane QLD
Saturday, March 31 | The Irish Club, Toowoomba QLD
Wednesday, April 11 | The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Thursday, April 12 | Yours & Owls, Wollongong NSW
Friday, April 13 | The Basement, Canberra ACT
Saturday, April 14 | The Square, Sydney NSW
Thursday, April 19 | Shake Some Action @ 161, Melbourne VIC
Friday, April 20 | Pony, St. Kilda VIC
Saturday, April 21 | PCYC, Fortitude Valley, QLD (ALL AGES)
Check out our Facebook for more details.
