1 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: From The Australian. This is the weekend edition of The 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: front I'm Claire Harvey. When I think of a rock drummer, 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: he's smashing the snares and swilling the beer. But Midnight 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: Oil's drummer Robert Hurst, a famously energetic player, defies the cliches. 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: Hurst is a thoughtful and talented songwriter, a drinker of 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: Camomile t and he helped write the band's era defining songs. 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: He's also been battling pancreatic cancer for two years, a 8 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 1: secret he's revealed today in the Weekend Australian magazine to 9 00:00:41,680 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: our music writer Andrew McMillan. This is Rob Hurst and 10 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: creating these musical works of art. Hurst was one of 11 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: the writers of these famous Midnight All songs, and although 12 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: the band's most famous member was charismatic frontman Peter Garrett, 13 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: it was Hearst shaping this unforgettable sound. Rob Hurst is 14 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: a legend by any metrics. 15 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 2: He's one of the greatest drummers in Australian music history, 16 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 2: not just through the popularity of Minna Oil, but the 17 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 2: innovation and power of his playing. 18 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,919 Speaker 1: This is Andrew McMillan, The Australian's music writer. 19 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 2: Early on in the band's career, the stage crew took 20 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 2: to nailing his drum kit to the floor, otherwise the 21 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 2: instruments would fly off the stage. He just hit with 22 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: ferocity and gusto. That was almost unmatch I dare say 23 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 2: in Australian rock and roll. But besides being the drummer, 24 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 2: he is one of the key songwriters in Minna Oil, 25 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 2: alongside Jim Ojeini, the guitarist. 26 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: We often assume it's the lead singer writing all the hits, 27 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: but for Midnight or Will just like in Excess and 28 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: Cold Chisel, That's not necessarily the case. In the Oil's case, 29 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: some of the band's biggest hits came from the back 30 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: of the stage. Here's Rob Hurst in conversation with Andrew. 31 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 3: I do feel very happy amongst that group of Australian songwriters. 32 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 3: I've always admired it just quietly chip away songs and 33 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 3: try to get them as good as possible. That's great 34 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 3: after all these years to have something where you can't 35 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 3: just dust it off and go okay, job done. Master that. No, 36 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 3: you never do, in fact quite the country. You try 37 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 3: to always write something better than the last thing or 38 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:56,119 Speaker 3: the thing before. 39 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,679 Speaker 1: The magic of Midnight Oil was to take ideas that 40 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: back in the eighties were pretty radical and make them 41 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: into pub rock bangers. Indigenous rise, reconciliation, environmentalism, corporate greed, politics. 42 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 3: Everyone in the band expressed the activism, the politics, the 43 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 3: urgency of certain issues they wanted to get off their 44 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 3: chest in a different way, and with Jim and I, 45 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 3: Ed was always trying to write really strong songs that 46 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 3: meant something. Songwriting is one hundred percent more potent if 47 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 3: what you're writing about something is clearly something that the 48 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 3: author or composer was passionate about, but not in a 49 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 3: didactic way or a proselytizing way. How can I do 50 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 3: it where you actually get people thinking and bring people 51 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 3: with you. We realized early on that if it didn't 52 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 3: have a killer hook, melody, big chorus grade beat and 53 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 3: then delivered, you know, through these massive speakers tings, it 54 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 3: was not never going to be absorbed. 55 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: Rob Hurst got the real politic partly from his dad, Peter. 56 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: He also had a hugely influential lecturer, Barbara Tucker, while 57 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: studying law at Sydney UNI. But Hurst's art was shaped, 58 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: perhaps most powerfully by his mum, Robin, My mother. 59 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 3: Was an avowed socialist, and she'd regularly get to trouble, 60 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 3: she said, by talking her mind, but she stood aground 61 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 3: underneath it. She was tough, but pretty big, hard was so. 62 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 2: Lucky throughout her life. At various points, she suffered from depression, 63 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 2: as Rob describes the black dog howls through his family, 64 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 2: and Rob himself suffered through depression as well at various points. 65 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 2: But Robin towards the end of her life, when she 66 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 2: was eighty five, she got to such a dark place 67 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 2: where she no longer wanted to be here with her husband, 68 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 2: with her family, and as Rob describes it, in her 69 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 2: final year, she drank three different poisons in an attempt 70 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: to end her life, and the third one succeeded. And 71 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 2: Rob told me that one of the last things that 72 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 2: she said to him on her deathbed was don't grieve 73 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 2: for me. She had just come to the end of 74 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 2: her tether and Rob saw the extreme pain, emotional pain 75 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 2: that she was in towards the end. And that's a 76 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 2: pretty sad memory for him, but one that he has 77 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 2: the willingness to speak about now, not just in terms 78 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 2: of honoring her memory, but also thinking of the alternative, where, 79 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 2: perhaps an a strange canon chew sort of way, Robbers become 80 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 2: a proponent of voluntary assistant dying for those who are 81 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 2: tonally unwell, where rather than hang around as long as 82 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 2: possible in extreme pain in some cases, he's a proponent 83 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 2: of taking up that option of the VAD laws to 84 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 2: enable him to have a peaceful, loving end of life 85 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 2: surrounded by those closest to him, rather than what his 86 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 2: mum say that he went through. 87 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: Coming up how this soulful man is facing death. In 88 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: late twenty twenty two, Midnight Oil drew the curtain on 89 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: a forty six year career. Six months after the band's 90 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: final show at sixty seven years of age, rob Hurst's 91 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: post Oil's life took a dramatic turn. 92 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 3: I've been having some kind of vague discomfort, not pain, 93 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 3: in the abdomen and some kind of weird gurgling sounds. 94 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 3: So I went down to the doctor here at the 95 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 3: biomedical center, and a fellow said it's probably lactose intolerance, 96 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 3: you know, take a couple of panadole, and didn't even 97 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 3: send me for a blood test. So a couple of 98 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 3: days later, still thought a bit weird, went to the 99 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 3: GP in Sydney and a few days later and by 100 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 3: the way, should never get a phone call from your 101 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 3: GP on a Sunday afternoon, she said, go straight to 102 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 3: Northern Beaches Hospital. Your liver markers are through the roof. 103 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 3: I think it might be pancreatitis. Went up there, had 104 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 3: a scan, pancreas cancer out of the blue. So quite 105 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 3: a shock to say the least. 106 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: Andrew, how did you find out Robhurst was unwell? 107 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 2: Luck and circumstance. Basically, I was at Cold Chisel's final 108 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 2: show in Sydney in December last year at Kutos Bank Arena, 109 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 2: and just by chance, I was sat behind Peter Garrett 110 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 2: and his bandmate Rob Hurst, who were both there with 111 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 2: their wives, and at various points throughout the show, Peter 112 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 2: was ducking across this next to Rob when they were 113 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 2: an intense conversation, and it kind of happened a few 114 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 2: times throughout the two hours, and I thought, what's Rob 115 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 2: up to? I've no idea since minnight Oil ended, he'd 116 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 2: been silent publicly, so I just wondered what he was 117 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 2: up to, put that request into his manager and learned 118 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 2: that things had not been going so well for Rob. 119 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 3: Hurst. 120 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,719 Speaker 1: Decided it should be Andrew and by extension, The Australian 121 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: to help Spreadharst's new message as far as possible, a 122 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: message of health awareness, and also of his late friend 123 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: Mark Moffatt, an esteemed producer, guitarist and composer who passed 124 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: away from pancreatic cancer last year age seventy four. 125 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 3: So one of the reasons I wanted to talk about 126 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 3: pancreas cancer is tourn a Mark. There hasn't been any 127 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 3: memorial and there are so many people whose lives affected. 128 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 3: One of the great musicians, had worked with everyone, and 129 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 3: I wanted to get the story of pancreas cancer out 130 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 3: there because it's one of those cancers that most people 131 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 3: don't really register them, hasn't really attracted the attention, for example, 132 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 3: of skin cancers or breast cancers or others, but it's 133 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 3: really on the rise. Also, the lesson for me, and 134 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 3: maybe why I've lasted this long, is because you know, 135 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 3: if you do have any symptoms, just don't get a 136 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 3: simple blood test and it could be life changing and 137 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 3: life extending. 138 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: Pancreatic cancer is particularly aggressive. It's more deadly than skin 139 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: cancer or breast cancer per diagnosis, due to the difficulty 140 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: in early detection. For most patients, a diagnosis calls a 141 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: death sentence. It's just too late to do anything. 142 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 3: I just don't think Anglo Celtic people do death very 143 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 3: well compared to most other cultures. We either don't talk 144 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 3: about it or we're terrified of it. Most other civilizations 145 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 3: in Asia, South America, particularly Southern Europe, they accept death 146 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 3: as a natural part of life, and they celebrate for years. 147 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,080 Speaker 3: I used to joke, you know, when I go, I 148 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 3: organize a Viking funeral, because I got a lovely old 149 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 3: wooden fishing boat, and I thought, you know, maybe with 150 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 3: a carton of grange only seventy two, you know, just 151 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 3: motor off about five kilometers off the coast of New 152 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 3: South Wales, drink the grange and arrange my own Viking funeral. 153 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 3: I thought, that's not fair. It's a really nice wooden boat. 154 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 3: I would have enjoyed that. But you know, I don't 155 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,559 Speaker 3: think the length of your life is nearly as important 156 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 3: or crucial is the quality and opportunity of the life 157 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,679 Speaker 3: that you've had. And in my case, it's been absolutely 158 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 3: better than anything anyone could ever ask for. And so 159 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 3: if my life is attenuated by this tiny little tumor 160 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 3: that threatens to do me in. Then I will still 161 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 3: consider myself incredibly fortunate, a fortunate life. As ab fac 162 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 3: he wrote those years ago, I tear up thinking about 163 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,319 Speaker 3: how kind people have been, bringing food and clothes and 164 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 3: books and checking with me all the time. It's just 165 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 3: been it's been a real sorry, it's been really life 166 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 3: affirming and lovely. 167 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 2: You're clearly loved, Rob. 168 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 3: You don't realize until this kind of catastrophe hits from 169 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 3: the side that's been the joyful aspect of this whole Tralamini. 170 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: As the sun set in Byron and Andrew's interview with 171 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: Rob Hurst drew to a close. Hurst told Andrew the 172 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: metric he'd like people to use when measuring his life 173 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: and work. 174 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 3: From a musical point of view, I would like to 175 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:28,079 Speaker 3: be remembered as someone useful to have around a band. 176 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:31,559 Speaker 3: Deborah Osl would write a book called useful, which I 177 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 3: commend to you. But I really love that term because 178 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 3: you know, in a way it kind of encapsulates what 179 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:49,959 Speaker 3: we should be doing with our tiny, little, microscopic time 180 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 3: on the planet, which is just in the greatest scheme 181 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 3: of things, is so minuscule and so transient is you know, 182 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 3: are we in any way useful for the planner, for people, 183 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 3: for friends, for loved ones? What I like that idea. 184 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,719 Speaker 1: Andrew McMillan is The Australian's music writer and you can 185 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: read his feature on Robert Hurst inside the magazine in 186 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: the Weekend Australian wherever you get your paper, or of 187 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: course you can read it online right now at the 188 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. Thanks for listening to the 189 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: Front this week. This episode was edited and produced by 190 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: Jasper Leek, who also composed our music. Our team includes 191 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: producer Christen Amiot, Leat, Samaglue, Tiffany Dimac, Joshua Burton, Stephanie 192 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: Coombs and me Claire Harvey.