“Why can’t a queer male want to be a punk rocker with flowers in their hair?” That’s what singer-songwriter Greg Gould asked himself when Sandi Thom asked him to rerecord her hit I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker for the song’s 20th Anniversary.
Gould says the opportunity to record and tour with Sandi Thom happened, “Literally, the power of Instagram”.
“I was scrolling one day and saw that she was doing a remix competition for the 20th anniversary of the song. I was like, I remember that song, so I hit follow, and the next minute, she follows me back,” he told QNews.
“Then she sends me a message saying, ‘Hey Greg, checked you out. You’re amazing. I’m actually looking for an Aussie artist to re-record Punk Rocker with me. Would you be interested?’ I was blown away; the song was number one around the world. In Australia, it was the highest-selling single of that year.”
“So she recognises Australia as the country that loved it most, and that’s why she was looking for an Australian artist. To be honest, I was really surprised because I’m an interesting choice for that song. But then we talked about it. It opens it up to queer people, and why can’t a queer male want to be a punk rocker with flowers in their hair? It doesn’t have to be a woman?”
Thom had already lined up to perform on television in Australia before the end of the year, and as the pair got talking, they decided to put some shows together, and a tour was born.
The pair will perform at Avoca Beach, Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin and Melbourne.
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Where were you when I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker was released?
It was Thom’s debut single, released in October 2005.
I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker topped the singles charts of Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, but critics hated it.
But the negative press couldn’t stop the song from finding its way into listeners’ hearts.
Even now, typing this article, I am taken back to driving around in my car with my friends singing along to it.
“I had just left school when the song came out,” Gould said. “I mean, everyone remembers the song; it was massive. Punk Rocker was different from the kind of music I was singing back then, but it was such an earworm. I used to listen to it on my Sony Walkman.”
“I feel very lucky to be someone who was brought up in a much simpler childhood, and I wish that I could give the kids today a little piece of the world without social media, without iPads and phones.”
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“We had that, and that’s kind of what this song is about. It’s even more relevant 20 years on, you know, without the computers, without social media, without all those things. I wish I was a punk rocker, meaning I was back in that time with just flowers in my hair, a much simpler time.”
That was what Gould was thinking about when he recorded his vocals for the 20th Anniversary track of the song.
‘Sandi Thom was the first viral pop star’
Not only are Gould and Thom preparing for their Australian tour in December, but they’ve been working on a new song together.
“We are actually going to perform it on tour,” Gould said. “That’s the beauty of a tour like this. People get to experience not only that song they love but music from both of us.”
This week, the pair announced the supporting artists joining them at the ticketed shows during the tour.
They include Red Roy, Charlotte MacPhail, Little Green, Vanessa Ellen, Tarryn Stokes, Marshall Hamburger, Prayer Corby, Tika and Homeward.
The free and ticketed shows run from December 6 to 20th.
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“When we started talking about where to perform, I pitched her the idea of not just doing ticketed venues and doing a few queer venues,” Gould said. “She actually said she would prefer to just do all the queer venues. She’s looking forward to partying with all of us.”
“Sandi Thom was the first viral pop star. She broadcast from her webcam before social media. So when we talk about going viral, she was the first. Which is very cool.”
Find out more about Sandi Thom and Greg Gould I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker 20th Anniversary tour here.
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