“I’m just in Brisbane at the moment and the drummer Warwick Fraser is in Sydney,” explains Medew. “Chris lives in Spain and Bob lives in Michigan, so we’ve literally been spread out across the world. We’ve still kept in touch but this has been the first time that I’ve spoken to Bob in about 24 years, that was last February. I found him on Facebook and getting him to play the gigs was what sealed the deal because I already knew that Warwick was keen to do something and that Chris showed interest as well. To make it special though, we wanted it to be the lineup that everyone loved and was expecting. To be honest, I was surprised that Bob agreed to come out here to play. It makes it really special because a lot of bands come back and do reunion shows but it’s usually not featuring the same people from the original line-up. We’ll have a few rehearsals the day before the Gathering Festival but I’m sure it’s going to go fine. I think the chemistry will still definitely be there because, you know, we had a good five or six years of solid touring and recording flat-out between 1984 and 1989, so we were constantly working very hard together. It was like being married or something!”
The ‘80s certainly did see plenty of travel for Screaming Tribesmen, with Medew citing the band’s American and Canadian tours as some the highlights of his musical career. However, it was a particular tour in support of The Church that Medew claims initially set everything in motion for the band.
“This lineup toured the USA and Canada in 1988 and probably the best part of that was touring the Midwest of North America as well as the west coast and east coast. By then, everybody had time to hear our record Bones And Flowers and by the time we got to New York City we played with Handsome Dick Manitoba from The Dictators which was special because he did an encore with us and we did some Dictators songs with him! We also played a gig with The Pursuit Of Happiness in Philadelphia and we played with Jane’s Addiction in Wisconsin. We’ve done tours in Europe as well but the college radio stuff really helped us out a lot in America because of Date With A Vampyre, so a lot more people were aware of us there. By the time we got to Europe it was pretty late in the piece, we had our first tour in 1991 and 1993.”
According to Medew, the excitement Screaming Tribesmen used to give him when the band first started out is back once again, butterflies in the stomach and all! Most of all, Medew looks forward to catching up with his old bandmates and perhaps re-introducing Date With A Vampyre, Bones And Flowers and Top Of The Town to newer audiences too.
“It’s mostly going to be stuff from those records, that’s pretty much what the people will be expecting anyway,” Medew says. “A big thing for us was when Top Of The Town came out, even though it was a much lighter album than Date With A Vampyre and wasn’t what a lot of people might have expected. We got a national tour with The Church and that made our audience double up and really kicked us on throughout the ‘80s. We also played with The Angels a lot, The Damned, The Cult. The Damned were just perfect gentlemen and we met the guys from The Cult as well – but I don’t know… That was a bit of a funny tour. They weren’t very happy at the time, I think they were just used to playing big audiences overseas and massive concert halls and stuff, but then they came to Australia and were playing in pubs. I was a bit of a Cult fan so I guess I was quite disappointed with them.”
Medew claims that although his other band The Rumours are currently planning to record a new album by the end of the year, the possibility of new Screaming Tribesmen material is not to be written off just yet…
“If we ever get the chance, it would be great to write some more new songs with Chris! I think it’s a possibility, yeah, but I guess we would have to see how we go because we are all scattered literally all over the place and a lot depends on how this tour goes as well. I’ve also got a fair few shows I’m doing solo and there’s a fair bit happening with The Rumours, we’ll probably do another album this year. I do hope that Screaming Tribesmen can do something as well at some point.”
