THEY shared their first Tamworth Country Music Festival together and now Mental As Anything will return to the city to perform during this year’s big event.
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The band, who have been together for more than 40-years are looking forward to playing some of the fan favourite hits and some new material at Wests’ Leagues Club on Tuesday, January 24.
“We haven’t done a concert for a few years now in the Tamworth festival week so it’s going to be pretty exciting,” Frontman Greedy Smith told The Leader.
“We used to play at Wests’ and do the Graveyard Shift on a Saturday night – Keith Urban supported us one year.
“It’s good to be part of the festival atmosphere and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Smith said this year’s festival crowds could expect to hear all their favourite and familiar hits including Living It Up and If You Leave Me along with a few new ones in between.
“The main thing is we do our songs, we sing our songs and we get it right,” he said.
Smith said he believed the group was timeless in the sense that they did not have to compete with pop culture when they formed in the mid 70s and did not have the pressure on them that other bands do today.
“We came up at the right time,” he said.
“People were really focused on music back then.
“The live music scene was really good, people weren’t competing with discotechs and dance clubs and video clips hadn’t really taken off when we first started.
“We were pretty much putting a new single out every three months and for some reason quite a few of them are still played now.”
The band are currently celebrating the success of their new single Goat Tracks, which they look forward to performing at the festival.
Smith said he and his band mates would frequent the Tamworth festival during their early years of forming.
They enjoyed attending the local talent quests and the atmosphere.
“From our first time at the Festival as a punter, we’ve played in Tamworth many times over the years and It’s always been an event,” he said.
”When you think about constantly touring Australia for 40 years, Tamworth is one of those places that sticks in your head.
“As a place to tour, it’s always been pretty much at the front of our schedule.”