Yuwoah!

The Desert Stars backstage @ The Picadilly Cinema, Nth Adelaide, SA - photo by Tristan Pemberton

The Desert Stars hail from this location - but this is an inadequate way of indicating such origins. Being Spinifex men and  decendants of those who fled the Maralinga atomic testing program, their perspectives on home, life and culture have little, if anything, to do with mainstream Australia. Led by the enigmatic Jay Minning, the band plays authentic ‘Strayan-tinged rock ‘n’ roll, both in and out of their Pitjantjatjara language. Jay pens the songs and lays down rhythm guitar with proper swing. Bassist Justin Currie, the straight man, pegs it to the earth. Ashley Franks drums restlessly, fills tumbling out. Derek Coleman seems to beam in from elsewhere, guitar solos bent out and back into shape, weaving through the fray. I really enjoy the lack of artifice in their performance. There’s no pastiche. Their influences come directly from various cassettes and glimpses of TV that made it to the remoteness. I produced their most recent album, Mungangka Ngaranyi? at Wingellina, 500km north of their home, Tjuntjuntjara. What an experience that was. I particularly love the anthem, Ananguku, a song that proclaims all lands in this country as Aboriginal land. We had a day off in Melbourne, so I took them on a little tour. They were bemused by the Royal Exhibition Building and thought the surrounding parklands looked like England. We wandered down Swanston St (later recognised by Jay, despite the now abundant trees, as the location for the  “It’s a Long Way to the Top” video) then on to Flinders St Station and the river. The previous day, on the freeway to Castlemaine, the creeks, gullies and ancient water-worn valleys drew the most comment. By the Yarra, Jay spoke of how the river comes from the hills and wanted to know where they were. But ultimately, the main agenda was to see the MCG. Not much was said, but I shot a few pics as they took in the bronzed effigies to heroes of the game. The AFL is something of ours that permeated their culture to the core. The next day they told me it was one of the highlights of their lives. The performances were all in support of Gravel Road, a film my band, The Re-mains, appear in as tour managers/facilitators. We traipsed over 10,000km through the wilds of WA with the Desert Stars in 2018, the leg to Broome being captured by my old friend Tristan Pemberton as he sought to find a story from out of the Spinifex lands. Another film could’ve easily been born out of the leg back to Kalgoorlie, but that will have to live in our collective memories. It’s quite the experience. You receive clarity on the gulf between caucasian Australia and Indigenous people. The failure of the recent referendum makes sense. When you don’t know, maybe one day you’ll find out. I thank Fiona Pemberton for getting me out to staff Ilkurlka in 2012. That’s where all this really took off for me. I thank Ian Baird and Brad Kelly. I thank the DS for making me welcome, teaching me things I couldn’t learn any other way. And I thank the Re-mains for working so hard on the tour 5 years back.

“Yuwa” means 'the culturally correct way of behaving'. “Yuwoah” is like saying 'I absolutely agree'. The saga goes on.