Al Montfort: Unofficial Australian Of The Year

Somehow, despite playing in seven different bands, Melbourne’s Al Montfort failed to secure the title Australian of the Year in 2013. But the fact that a campaign sprung up to nominate him is a telling sign of the man’s famous charisma. TIM SCOTT explores his musical and personal life in depth.

Early last year, posts from an anonymous group called Al Montfort for Australian of the Year started appearing in my Facebook feed. Subtitled ?The music. The mullet. The man. The legend,? the page featured quotes, photographs and anecdotes involving Melbourne musician Al Montfort posted by friends and fans.

?Al has a rare charisma about him,? reads one. ?Whether you’re a close friend or a distant admirer, his presence (even just the mention of his name) is enough to put a smile on your dial.?

Another posted, ?Whilst in India late last year, Al ?went native.? There is now a small group of denim-jacket-wearing, mullet-sporting locals in South Goa who swear by the magic of ?Mr Al.?? One photo shows Montfort during his trip to India, wearing a turban and sitting next to two older men in a modest living room.

The page surprised nobody more than Montfort, who at first suspected his Dick Diver bandmate Rupert Edwards may have been behind it. ?Rupe messaged me asking, ?Have you seen this?? And I’m like ?What the fuck?? It turns out it wasn’t Rupe but someone else, which makes it even more flattering and funny.?

Al didn’t win Australian of the Year. He was beaten by Sydney Swans footballer and indigenous Australian spokesperson Adam Goodes, but that he was nominated for an award for which the criteria includes someone with a ?demonstrated excellence in their field? and an ?inspirational role model for the Australian community? speaks of Montfort’s popularity and friendly charisma.

There’s no doubt Montfort has demonstrated excellence in his field. He is involved in seven bands that span fast hardcore (Straightjacket Nation), party-punk (UV Race), charming indie pop (Dick Diver), cold and driving synth-punk (Total Control), lo-fi folk (Lower Plenty) and damaged noise-punk (Eastlink). Earlier this year he released an eight-song solo tape recorded during his time in India.

Much of his week involves playing shows, practising and writing songs. Ask him a simple ?What’s going on?? and his reply leaves you feeling exhausted. Total Control have a new LP that will be out in May, Eastlink’s record is due in March/April, Lower Plenty expect an album by mid-year, Dick Diver are recording in April for a tentative September release and UV Race are filming their second feature film.

One person that best understands and appreciates this work ethic and productivity is Daniel Stewart, who has been playing alongside Montfort for 10 years in Straightjacket Nation, UV Race and Total Control.

?He has a discipline/work ethic that would buckle the shoulders of anyone else in Melbourne.?

?Al’s social grace is impeccable and he is capable of balancing any difficult dynamic with patience and understanding. He has those rare and elusive qualities of tact, curiosity and wonder, and a discipline/work ethic that would buckle the shoulders of anyone else in Melbourne.?

Born in East Melbourne in December 1986, Montfort spent his first 10 years in the inner-north suburb of Northcote before moving to Yarragon, a small town outside Warragul, when his parents separated. Montfort felt the shift from an inner-city Catholic school to a rural public school. ?I went from one of three white kids in class – a class full of Greek, Italian, Arab and Vietnamese kids – to Yarragon, a town with no diversity.?

The middle child to an older brother and younger sister, Montfort says that while he wasn’t raised in a ?musical? family, his father’s records, especially the blues (both good and bad), featured prominently. ?He loved Chain, all the ?70s revivalist stuff. Some of it was good and some of it was really fucking horrible. But he had a lot of boogie and stuff. Some of that was good. We’d pilfer his records. We got some good stuff. No child support, just records,? he laughs.

His mother made him take piano lessons early but he gave up, as his interests at the time were purely footy, pop music and punk music. Later he took up the bass through a deal at school where 20 dollars a week included bass hire and lessons. ?Some guy called Alex was teaching me. He was pretty good. He would say, ?Bring any music you like in? and I’d bring in Limp Bizkit and RHCP,? he laughs. ?I got into punk then I got into nu-metal. Then I went back to punk.?

Getting Frenzal Rhomb’s autographs at the Vans Warped Tour was a highlight for a young 11-year-old, but more pilfering of his father’s record collection led him to discovering Devo and The Clash, which were to have a big influence. He started jamming with some older kids who were into metal. ?Fear Factory and shit. I was the only kid around who was playing bass so I got asked to play.?

?I couldn’t afford much. I’d buy a NOFX sticker or maybe a tape or 7.?

Frequent visits to Melbourne with his older brother to watch Hawthorn games would include a stop at Missing Link Records in Flinders Lane. ?Ben wasn’t into music so would just hang out in the corner with his backpack looking at a wall,? he laughs. ?I’d be in there for half an hour or an hour. I couldn’t afford much. I’d buy a NOFX sticker or maybe a tape or 7?.

Fliers from the Missing Link counter led Montfort to all-ages shows at The Arthouse Hotel, at the time Melbourne’s best punk venue. Featuring David Kovess and Max Kohane, Far Left Limit were a melodic hardcore band that took the energy and fury of Minor Threat and Dischord bands but wrote songs that resonated with suburban Melbourne kids attending The Arty’s all-ages shows.

?I’d see Far Left Limit every time they played. Dave from the band was jamming with a new band at The Pink Palace [a Northcote warehouse/DIY punk space] and they were looking for someone who hadn’t been in bands before. I made a good fit,? he says.

?I was actually shitting myself. Far Left Limit were my favourite band. I just wanted to be in a thrash band because I loved Minor Threat and they sent me two mix tapes of bands they wanted Straightjacket to sound like. Stuff like The Fix, Jerry’s Kids, Void and Faith – two songs off each side of the split.?

?Montfort played in his school uniform with a hoodie covering up his school shirt.?

The first Straightjacket Nation show was at The Pink Palace with AIDS, Piss Christ, The Collapse and The Execution. Montfort caught the train from Warragul and played in his school uniform with a hoodie covering up his school shirt. ?I was shitting myself. I kept thinking that I would be found out as not a real bass player.

Their second show was in Sydney, with Montfort having to leave school after fifth period on a Wednesday to get the train to Melbourne and then a ride in a late-?80s Commodore to Maggotville warehouse in Sydney’s inner west to record and play a show.

Montfort returned to tell his bass teacher that he’d joined a punk band. ?He said, ?Oh fuck! I guess just play with a pick. That’s what they do.? He asked if I wanted to continue lessons. ?You probably don’t need them anymore if you are just going to play punk music.? Montfort stopped lessons.

Montfort says that compared to others in the hardcore scene, he was also a lot more into classic stuff like The Stooges and Saints. Stewart and he would discuss ?60s and ?70s rock and roll and, when Stewart introduced him to mid-?70s Cleveland proto-punk band Rocket From the Tombs, it changed how he listened to music.

It was around this time that Al formed UV Race with his schoolmate Marcus Reichsteiner and another Warragul friend, Moses Twotimes. Stewart joined on drums and Georgia Rose and Alex Glasov joined later. The band have so far released four albums and a bunch of 7?s, toured the US twice and are in the process of filming their second film. Pretty good going for a bunch of country punks who continue to polarise some with their take on fun and dumb loud punk.

Montfort says that one of the reasons he is in so many bands is that he enjoys creative relationships with friends. He formed Lower Plenty from the remnants of the duo Green Valley because he wanted to play with Jensen Thjung from Deaf Wish, and Eastlink was formed because he wanted to work more with his Total Control bandmate Zephyr Pavey and UV Race film director Joey Rashid. Eastlink has gone on to add two extra guitarists in Lee Parker and Ben Hepworth, who play in Melbourne bands Lakes and Repairs respectively.

Travel and study has helped politicise Montfort. While he knows he will be playing music for the rest of his life, he is also keen to use his degree in political science in some ways. He travelled to Indonesia to research for his honours thesis followed by a Straightjacket Nation Southeast Asian tour in 2009, which he says was an eye-opening experience. ?It’s different. It’s hard to be a punk there. But I learned that most of all it’s just different. Sometimes Allah is thanked on album notes and then they have some pretty radial politics as well.?

?Rock dogs should be forced to work. Tim Rogers should work at CUB.?

He works in the factory at Loving Earth, a fair-trade and organic food manufacturer where he is second in command to the union shop steward. ?Rock dogs should be forced to work,? he laughs. ?Tim Rogers should be working at CUB. It keeps your head screwed on. I’d like to think I’d keep my head screwed on regardless, but it’s definitely a good leveller. People who work on only music or art must get so disconnected. Get a job,? he laughs.

Dick Diver is the most poppy of Montfort’s bands. His song ?Head Back?, the closing track on Dick Diver’s 2011 debut New Start Again, has become a crowd favourite and was one of the highlight’s of last year’s Meredith festival when a horn section and costumed dancers wearing cardboard box masks of billionaires Trump, Palmer, Rinehart and Murdoch transformed into colourful butterfly-like dance.

?It may be a feel-good anthem but the first lines are about quitting your job. Don’t work too hard for your boss, and the second verse is about burning the flag,? he laughs.

On the follow-up album Calendar Days, Montfort wrote the lyrics to the dark and slow ?Boys?, a fictional tale of romance at Warragul Regional College. ?You see in high school boys not getting too close to each other because it may be considered ?too fucking gay mate?. The first half of the song is based on a true story and the second half is fictionally me going back to Warragul walking down Queen Street and seeing the two dudes holding hands.?

Though he sometimes feels like some may be missing the point. ?You look up and you see a dickhead at Meredith with a giraffe head jumping about but maybe they get home and the song changes their mind. They get home and say, ?Shit, I’m not going to work at [PricewaterhouseCoopers] anymore,?? he laughs.

Guy Blackman from Chapter Records, who has released both Dick Diver albums, says that Al is so well liked because he’s a true gentleman. ?He understands people and he’s compassionate. He has experienced enough of a lack of privilege to have empathy for others, but he makes caring look casual and fun. He’s a punk in the best sense of the word; he likes doing things but he doesn’t let The Man tell him what to do. He’s also an amazing guitar player, an awesome bass player, an OK drummer and a reasonably good singer.?

Montfort is a true punk, willing to stick up for himself and others for what he feels is right. He opted not to go on a second US tour with Total Control in part because he questioned some of the politics of touring. ?I was having a moral crisis after the tour before that,? he explains. ?We play shows and it’s really fun to tour but it kind of felt indulgent. I was studying politics but I wasn’t really doing anything about it but just following my own kind of rock and roll lifestyle so I decided to sit it out. And it was a tour supporting Thee Oh Sees and I’m like, ?Good band but – yeah whatever.??

Blackman says that working with Montfort has been interesting, challenging and ultimately rewarding. ?He’s questioned what we do, sometimes strongly, but eventually has been satisfied with how we’ve answered his questions. He doesn’t reply to many emails, but he always lets us know he appreciates the work we do for Dick Diver. I think over the last five years we’ve come to an understanding that feels pretty solid and enduring.?

Montford says that one of the biggest lessons he has learned in music is to trust himself and his friends. His Total Control bandmate Mikey Young has recorded, mixed or mastered every one of the records that Al has been involved in. ?He’s just a real good mate. I trust mates more than other people,? he says. ?Tom Hardisty from Woollen Kits and NUN is another guy who I trust when it comes to recording and talking about music.?

Another lesson he has learned is not to overcommit. Easier said than done when you happen to be in seven bands. And what of his girlfriend Amy Hill – what does she think of the time taken up by bands and music? ?Amy understands that. She is creative and involved in other stuff too. She is in like four bands herself [including School of Radiant Living, Constant Mongrel and Backstabbers]. I feel bad. I’m a bad influence,? he laughs.

It is his longtime bandmate Stewart that describes Al the best when he tells me that Al always rides in the passenger seat of a taxi. ?He is interested in people, in their stories and their lives, in the places they are from and the distances they’ve travelled. His curiosity about people is prompted from a genuine love of human contact, a curiosity about the world.?

He remembers the first day of Straightjacket Nation’s Indonesian tour. ?Al rolled up on the back of a motorbike without a helmet on, smoking a ciggie, looking alright. Al is cool.?

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