Acclaimed performer Joe Camilleri’s first manager lived in Kingston and as a result much of his early musical experience was in Canberra, the “living legend” tells NOEL BEDDOE.

To Rolling Stone Australia he is a living legend of music; The Australian Recording Industry Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame as long ago as 2007; his bands have sold more than three million albums…

And on Saturday, November 15, Joe Camilleri, 77, will front The Black Sorrows in a performance at The Playhouse.

His start

“I got recruited into a group called the Pelaco Brothers in the 1970s; they wanted to tour and they thought they needed a saxophone player; we wanted to make art, we were into Zappa, that sort of innovator. 

“We had our audience in inner-city Melbourne – we couldn’t translate that more widely, we came to know we were a Carlton band, other places couldn’t understand what we were trying to do; when I moved on and we formed Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons we got far more into the sort of thing broader audiences could relate to.”

Jo Jo Zep : where did that come from?

“My mother. She called me Zep. That became Joe Zep, then the band name.”

Joe had nine siblings. Two have been lost to him. Does he still see much of the others?

“Sure; we’re close. I have lunch with two of my brothers every Thursday. Yeah. They can be grumpy. Someone’s always grumpy – ‘Where are we going to eat?’ ‘Well, we’re going to eat at this place.’ ‘Well, I don’t like it there.’ ‘Well, that’s where we’re eating.’ ‘Yeah, well I don’t like it there; we eat there I’m not paying, you’ll have to pay!’”

Joe’s father came to Australia from Malta in 1949; Joe and the rest of the family came out in the 1950s.

Made welcome?

“No, it was tough. I went to a Catholic school in Port Melbourne and it was tough. Not just us – there was always someone to put down; if not us then the Italians, if not them, the Greeks. 

“In the end you had to push back; they gave us boxing gloves and that seemed to make what was happening all right, which I could never understand. Eventually, I found a better way, which was happiness; I stay all away from that stuff now.”

Early days in Canberra

A lot of his early musical experience was in Canberra.

“My first manager lived in Kingston, which was mainly an industrial area then. He booked me into coffee houses, nightclubs. 

“I really loved the concerts on the universities. I got that real connection with the audiences on the campus. It’s why I perform, to get that feeling with an audience, we’re making music, they are feeling it, we’re together sharing this experience. And audiences can tell that you’re trying for that connection, not just throwing it out.”

Jo Jo Zep ran its course

“We got to Tasmania. We felt like we’d taken it as far as we could and broke the band up. I thought, well, that’s that part of my life done, me and music are over, so I took a job.”

Doing what?

“Selling vegetables for a stall in Victoria Market.”
A fascinating image – how many Victorians collected their kilo of potatoes from Joe Camilleri never suspecting they’d had one-on-one contact with an eventual Australian cultural icon?

“Then a friend called me – he had a restaurant, why not get some friends together, come play of a Sunday afternoon. So we did that. And we had this audience and, it was clear, they loved what we were doing.”

Eventually they gave themselves a name, began writing their own material, trying to write songs that connected with people in a profound way, building complex, deep musical expressions.

They got to be called The Black Sorrows.

They’ve been around now, with different members, for more than 40  years and they’ve performed around the world.

Joe has curated a new double-CD set, The Quintessential Black Sorrows; it launches later this month. We’ll see him in the foyer after the show, and be able to buy the album.

“I like that part. People come up, might want me to sign books, tell me how many times they’ve seen me perform.”

Something to look forward to – Joe Camilleri, a natural storyteller, is very charming company.

The Black Sorrows, Quintessential Best-of Tour, The Playhouse, November 15. Noel Beddoe bought his first Black Sorrows CD in the 1980s.

Joe will be at Songland Records, Cooleman Court, at 1pm on November 15, to sign copies of Quintessential.