On the Road with Pist Idiots

Jack, Joe, Tom and John - The Pist Idiots. We could almost end the interview there... But we won’t.

A more fitting band name might not exist, and as you guessed, there’s more to the Revesby (that’s West Sydney for anyone who doesn't know) locals than just drinking beers and playing music; Although they really are great at both.

If you’ve made it to a live show already, you would have seen the sweat, spit and smiles. Something you may not be privy to, however, is just how drunk they can be... We mean it, these guys can drink like your dad at Christmas time, all day and all night, and still manage to belt their way through a chaotic but (mostly) flawless set.

They’re somewhat of an enigma, in this regard being that the band are still in their early twenties. Sadly though, despite their youthful kidneys and fatherly demeanour it sounds as though they will have their work cut out for them if they wish to try and out drink Australian punk legends The Cosmic Psycho’s when they hit the road to tour this weekend.

Photo by Kane Grosvenor.

We caught them for a quick chat en-route to Byron before the tour kicks off, this is what we learnt:

Tell the people a little bit about yourselves, who’s in the band and what’s everyone’s roles?

Four bulldogs out of the South West suburbs of Revesby (in Sydney). Our wordsmith and guitarist “Sniff” (Jack) fronts the band, backed up by the tomato brothers Joe and Tom on lead guitar and bass, and “Belton John” on drums.

I thought Joe and Tom were the same person for a very long time. What does everyone do for a living outside of the band?

Ahaha all ordinary hairy blokes. Sniff fills his time doing odd jobs but rest assured he is very busy. Johnny works for Grifter Brewing Co as a logistics transport expert. Joe is a landscape architect and tom is an educator.

So John and Tom are a truck driver and teacher respectively?

Yeah Johnny drives beer around and Tommy teaches the kids.

Was there any bands out in West Sydney that inspired you when you first started playing?

There wasn’t much exposure to any live music where we grew up, so we were pretty clueless to it all. No one was doing it and we had no plans to start gigging. Our first show was a joke for an open mic night at the local and it took off from there and didn’t stop.

Yeah right, how did you get inspired to play music then, who were you watching?

We were watching Sydney icons Palms and The Pinheads around that time definitely sparked up an interest into the Aussie music scene.

You’re just about to kick off a tour with Cosmic Psychos, that’s a pretty solid achievement for any young Aussie punk band. Have you played shows with Cosmic Psychos before? Is it a solid tick off the bucket list?

Yeah we’re wrapped it’s gonna be huge!

We’ve only flirted with them on the Instagram, but yeah it’s a massive tick to be able to rip the shit with some Aussie legends who’ve done the rounds.

What was your first tour and who with? How did it come about?

Our first lot of dates was a run up the east coast with Melbourne-band Jurassic Nark. It came about from a chance encounter with the Sniffers (Amyl and the Sniffers), Dec Martin in a back ally in Newtown. We passed around three passion pop bottles and warm long neck and the rest is history.

We gave you a pretty decent wrap on your ability to keep it together when you're drinking… Is anybody in the band an exception to this rule?

We’re all the exception on our day, but there’s a pretty serious case coming from the two brothers.

Any examples?

Various accounts of naughty behaviour. An unnamed member woke up with a $500 fine in his pocket last week and no memory of how it got there.

Alright I guess we’ll leave that one there. We included the video for your latest track “Smile” and your latest EP “Princes”, obviously we’re huge fans of everything you do, have you got any more tours upcoming for anybody who misses this one?

We’re road hogging around the country with The Chats this summer playing a heap of co-headline shows in rural towns and all the cities.

Most importantly when can we expect a full length?

Your gonna have to hold on for the full length. There’s an EP in the works that we’ve been slogging away at, so keep an ear out for that.

Final question, how many heart logo shirts do you think you’ve sold so far? Will you ever stop?

Millions,

No.