Chewing The Fat With PETE COOPER From THE PORKERS

HEAVY Music Interviews

Interview by Kris Peters
25 years ago, an album by an Australian punk outfit started making ripples in the music scene that quickly turned into rips in the very fabric of music. It typified the Australian laconic sense of humour and general apathy towards anything even remotely resembling authority, and would go on to become a landmark in Australian music history.
It didn't help that the title was so ambiguously brilliant that potential images of the outcome are still being broadcast today.
That album was Hot Dog Daiquiri and the band The Porkers, who were about to embark on a rollercoaster of musical extremes and extravagances that is currently being celebrated as The Porkers take to the road to celebrate a quarter of a century of what could possibly be one of the worst tasting cocktails ever.
HEAVY sat down with vocalist Pete Cooper to find out how the shows have been going.
"We've been around for a while," he said, letting the cat out of the bag. "We're currently on tour with the Hot Dog Daiquiri 25th Anniversary Tour - which is our album we released in 1998 - which is actually 26 years ago. We've already done Queensland and this weekend we're heading to Victoria, then we have Sydney and all sorts of places after that."
With the tour already part way through we ask Cooper how they have been going so far.
"Pretty crazy," he smiled. "You can probably tell from my voice, but last weekend's shows were pretty hectic. I've come home with a good dose of the flu and a sore throat, then tomorrow we're off to Melbourne."
In the full interview, Pete talks more about the shows, the difficulties posed by touring as you get older, how the 25-year-old songs have been going down and if they have stood the test of time, his best memories of making the album, which Porkers album is his personal favourite, their blending of punk, reggae and funk and how it was received in the early days, future plans and more.