They got me in to play a track and talk about the album and it meant a lot to me.
I’ve been listening to Matinee Idle ever since I found out it was on all those years ago – every public holiday in New Zealand in the afternoon. Phil O’Brien and Simon Morris have this wealth of knowledge and humour that I just love and makes for unique radio.
When I hooked up to Facebook about four years ago I quickly discovered “Idle” had a fan page. There was a large group of people and I made some good friends. There was a lot of banter especially if there was a show on but all year round too. With this interview I felt I was representing the talkative Idlers as much as the Spines or myself.
It was also a rare thing to be on that particular show talking about my own album. Phil had been threatening to have me on for a while and now we had an excuse. I was hoping I could keep up with the rapid-fire one-liners – I was fine on Facebook with the snappy rejoinders but when the pressure’s on I knew I was perfectly capable of saying stupid things. 
So on the day I had it all mapped out. I checked out the bus timetable for the public holiday and knew when to get it. I had a copy of the Epidural CD and wasn’t sure what song to play and in the spirit of the show I chose a perverse song in “Sex Can Be Sad”. I was still mulling this over when I realised the bus wasn’t going up the Terrace at all – it was heading off to Karori. I rang the bell but the next stop was outside the botanical gardens so I got off there and tried to leg it back to the bottom of the Terrace. I was still a bit weak after my recent health problems and my leg was giving out fast – it 
would take me about twenty minutes of agony to make it to the RNZ building and I didn’t have twenty minutes. Then I lucked on to a bus and just made it in good time.
They were really cool and quick as you would expect. It all went very fast and we talked the whole time. I thought Sex sounded good blasting through their system – still not convinced it was the right choice of song but I love the guitar solo.
I don’t know what parts of what we talked about went on air and it probably wouldn’t matter.
Simon had directed a video for Your Body Stays on Radio With Pictures in 1982 and we definitely talked about that
About making the album too.
RNZ have been very supportive of us over the release of Epidural with good reviews and interviews – I don’t know quite how it happened but it’s been brilliant for the band and our confidence.
And being on Matinee Idle.
And playing a song of mine.
An ironic song at that…
The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary