As well as being a big fan of marriage equality, workers’ rights, social justice and dropping phat beats inside the DJ booth, federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese is also a big fan of the band Sticky Fingers. So big, in fact, that he once stuck his neck out to help the Newtown lads after they found themselves in a scrape, and in doing so, inadvertently saved them from breaking up.
Bassist Paddy Cornwall first credited Albo with StiFi saviour status during an interview with Music Feeds last month, explaining that the almost-Labor-party-leader-that-one-time swooped in like some kind of political Batman when the band needed him most.
“The band came very close to breaking up last year. There was this point where it wasn’t going to go on,” Paddy told us. “…we couldn’t get some visas sorted to get over to our tour of the States. So morale for the band was pretty low and we felt like if we weren’t going to get over there, that might’ve been it for us.”
“But then miraculously, we got it sorted. Anthony Albanese got wise to the fact that we were having some trouble because of minor criminal record stuff like drink driving charges et cetera. But it turns out he was a fan of the band, so he got us all cleared and got us over there.”
And according to the lads, it was during that tour that they all started speaking to each other again, dispelled tensions and realised that they wanted to continue as a band. Cheers up, Albo.
Now, in a new chat with Huffington Post, ur boi the honourable member for Grayndler has shared his side of the story, explaining how he became the Stickys’ personal guardian angel.
“They had a big tour booked and it was getting closer to when they had to leave on the tour,” Albo tells HuffPo.
“Obviously having sold out concerts in the USA is a big deal for an Aussie band. It would have been a disaster for them if they hadn’t been able to tour. They contacted us, I spoke to the U.S. ambassador John Berry who I know, and essentially it got fixed pretty quickly.”
Albs was already a big fan of the band, as has been evidenced by footage of him bro-ing down backstage with StiFi at one of their Sydney shows earlier this year:
And the Shadow Tourism Minister says he was only too happy to go out on a limb for the Stickys, who are also fellow inner-westies.
“It was just one of those things, it just needs a push sometimes. The bureaucracy can sometimes take a long time in the U.S. and Australia.
They are locals, inner-west lads and some of them went to Newtown Performing Arts High. I was aware of the band because of that and my interest in music, and the fact many of their songs are about the inner-west.
“They’ve got a song called ‘Australia Street’, which is the street where my son went to school. There’s an Australian economic interest here as well. Ambassador Berry understood that a successful Australian band is essentially an export. It was a good thing to be able to get sorted.”
So… Albo for PM?
ICYMI: you can catch Sticky Fingers carving it up live during their limited run of national tour dates this month and next plus a bunch of imminent festival dates including Beyond The Valley, Spilt Milk and Southbound, ahead of what they’re spruiking as a huge national tour in 2017.
Watch: Sticky Fingers – ‘Australia Street’
