“I was standing outside the pub and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Hey, mate, what’s your name?’” Mikelangelo says. “He then introduced himself as ‘Dirty Victory, the Bull Rider’, and proceeded to tell me the story of his summer of glory about 20 years ago, when he rode bulls. The names of the bulls were Smoking Bandit, Washing Machine and Junkyard Dog – it was hilarious! I managed to keep enough of it in my head to go up to my room and write a song. Maybe if he’s still down there I can go and play it – because it doesn’t look like he’s done a lot since then,” Mikelangelo laughs.
Our conversation segues seamlessly from Washing Machine the bull to the washing machine dance – a short-lived dance craze that I encountered in some years ago in Canberra (where Mikelangelo grew up), which was inspired by seemingly mundane domestic appliances. “Humans are great in the way they can entertain themselves,” Mikelangelo muses. “We’re up in Cooma at the invitation of this theatre company, Big Heart, who’ve working for about 21 years, going into communities and gathering stories and making shows. They were aware of our work, and wanted us to go around and find stories. It’s been an interesting process trying to find the really interesting stuff, because everyone wants to tell you the history of the Snowys. There was a dude with an old ambulance who used to drive down from Sydney with prostitutes in the back, and guys would just spend all night going in and out of the van. So we’re just trying to find out more crazy stuff like that. So it was great that Dirty Victor turned up.”
The journey of the Black Sea Gentlemen hasn’t necessarily been as titillating as the sordid and colourful underbelly of the building of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, but it has been highly entertaining. Formed originally in 2000 by Mikelangelo to fulfil a desire to play the ‘European landscape’ style songs he’d written, the Black Sea Gentlemen combined aspects of cabaret, Gypsy-folk and spaghetti western.
“It also allowed me to explore my European bloodline,” Mikelangelo says. The Black Sea Gentlemen evolved into a five-piece outfit, with each member of the band accomplished vocalists and performers in their own right. “Each member of the band has their own vignette in the show, so you get to know them,” Mikelangelo says. “We all come from diverse backgrounds, and a love of pop music, which helps in making our music different from Gypsy music.”
The Black Sea Gentlemen has become a regular feature of theatre shows in Australia and Europe. “I’d just like to say – on the record – that I’m a big fan of the support for theatre and the arts,” Mikelangelo says dryly. “It’s certainly helped us over the years!” Recently, the Black Sea Gentlemen headed out west to play shows in regional Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where the reaction was just as positive as the audiences in Edinburgh or Berlin. “In a way we’re all showmen, and we like to connect with an audience, so in a way, people just always get it, wherever we play, so you don’t have to change anything to ‘localise it’,” Mikelangelo says.
Mikelangelo relays a story of playing the Sziget Festival in Budapest a few years ago, where the predominantly Hungarian audience thought the Black Sea Gentlemen were from Russia. “This happens to us quite a bit,” Mikelangelo laughs. “Different Europeans think we are from their country or a neighbouring one – it’s quite flattering really.”
In addition to its recent tenure in regional Australia, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen has been working on a television pilot with novelist Elliot Pearlman. Having broken up Mikelangelo and Tin Star to free himself up to pursue various other projects, Mikelangelo is looking forward to the prospect of transforming into a television star. “Elliot Pearlman is a big fan of the Black Sea Gentlemen, and he’s been talking to us for a few years saying he wanted to write something for us,” Mikelangelo explains. “When he finished his latest novel, The Street Sweeper, he started to work on a pilot. The basic idea of the show is a musical comedy – but a good one! And we get to star in it – which suits me fine! I’m ready for it – and let’s face it, TV needs us as well,” he laughs.
While on tour in 2009, Mikelangelo filmed a number of ‘grooming tips’, which he posted on YouTube. Having done the 30 hour plane trip to Europe on numerous occasions, what are Mikelangelo’s tips on arriving in Europe without looking like someone who’s just spent five years doing hard labour in the Gulag? “I must admit to being one of those people who spend a lot of time in the bathroom when you want to go to the toilet before the plan arrives,” Mikelangelo says. “I take my shaving kit – it’s amazing how having a shave is almost as good as having a shower.”
BY PATRICK EMERY
