Rob Hirst | Long Play Series

Drummer, singer and songwriter Rob Hirst is a founding member of legendary Australian band Midnight Oil. Straddling the rock/surf/punk divide, Midnight Oil rode the pub rock wave of the 1970s and 1980s raising audience awareness of the dangers posed by environmental destruction, nuclear armament and our continuing failure to reconcile with our Indigenous and First Nations peoples.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Hirst worked on a number of musical side projects starting with Ghostwriters which he formed with Hoodoo Gurus’ bassist Rick Grossman in 1990. Many of these projects have included other members of the Oils and have allowed the group to explore different musical styles including Delta blues (Backsliders, The Angry Tradesmen) and surf rock (The Breaks).
In this interview with Tracee Hutchison, Rob Hirst discusses what it was like to be an up-and-coming band in the pub rock scene, the process of writing ‘Beds Are Burning’, and touring with Warumpi Band for the “Blackfella/Whitefella” tour in 1986.
Midnight Oil were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.
Interviewer: Tracee Hutchison
Location: Eleven Music, Sydney, 2017
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As part of our commitment to capturing and sharing great Australian music stories, the Australian Music Vault asked some of the country’s most influential trailblazers and unsung heroes to open up about their lives in music.