For one of Australia’s biggest bands, a new tour is the chance to do things differently

Powderfinger is one of Australia’s most enduring rock bands, and has won 14 ARIA music awards over the years – the same number as Silverchair, another of Australia’s top bands. The two groups’ current joint tour, Across the Great Divide, is bringing them up close and personal with fans in regional Australia. We catch Powderfinger lead guitarist Darren Middleton mid-tour.

What’s the band been up to since the release of your last album, Fingerprints?
Many things have been going on for different members. I released an album with my “other” band, Drag. We did some touring and had a lot of fun in the process. Bern [Bernard Fanning] released his solo record – we all know how that went! J.C [John Collins] and Ian [Haug] released an EP with their side band The Predators, and Cogs [Jon Coghill] did some general resting and surfing. As well as music, there were a couple of additions to the Fingers’ family in the way of kids. Following that, we reconvened for the writing of Dream Days at the Hotel Existence.

How did the title of the latest album come about?
Bernard happened to be reading a book by one of my favourite authors, Paul Auster, called The Brooklyn Follies. One of the chapters in there is titled “Dream Days at the Hotel Existence”… We thought it would make a better title than the rubbish we’d come up with so far.

What are your favourite songs from Dream Days at the Hotel Existence?
“Wishing on the Same Moon”, “Nobody Sees”, “Head Up in the Clouds”.

You’re playing 30 shows in 22 venues. Although the band started in Brisbane, where would you say most of your fans are?
Probably still in Brissie, perhaps also Sydney or Melbourne. They still seem to dig us down south, which is very cool.

Which places in country Australia are you looking forward to playing?
All the areas – Mildura, Bendigo, Ballarat, Townsville. I can’t wait for all the more regional shows, they’re always a blast.

Where would you have liked to perform on the tour but couldn’t manage?
Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Esperance.

You’re the second band we’ve interviewed doing something about their environmental impact. Tell us about going carbon-neutral.
Every day, people like ourselves can play an active role in preventing, or at least slowing, the damage our day-to-day lives have on the planet. We use a company called Climate Friendly to buy carbon credits aimed at offsetting our usage/output on this tour. They work out how many tonnes of emission the tour will generate (flying, power generators, etc) and then convert that to a monetary figure, which we pay. They in turn, use that money to help environmentally friendly companies who are developing and employing power schemes like wind farms and doing solar research.

Tell us about the two bands’ involvement with the reconcile.org.au campaign (to build and promote better relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians).
We were looking to attach something to the tour… something we all believed to be of importance. Reconcile.org was mentioned, and after some further research, both groups agreed we were keen to lend support. We hope people will check out the website, www..reconcile.org.au, and interact with it!