Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst changed everything. I wanted to play the drums just like him

Ray Argall’s superb fly-on-the-wall documentary film about Midnight Oil: 1984, includes a tremendously insightful scene as a roadie recalls his memorable first experience working on a live show with the band.

“Why are you nailing the drum kit to the floor?” he asked a senior sound engineer.

“You’ll see, you’ll see,” came the reply.

“I saw, all right,” the roadie recalled, years later. “In the first song, they f---ing destroyed it, the whole stage nearly caved in. I’d never seen anything like it, never.”

Rob Hirst, who died this week aged 70, was a drummer of extraordinary ability and ferocious power. To witness Hirst in full flight behind his drum kit, a smile from ear to ear, arms and legs furiously pumping, was nothing short of exhilarating.

Thankfully for countless music fans in Australia and overseas who were too young to see the Oils erupt on stage in the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, after taking a hiatus from 2002, the group reformed in 2016. In between, there was a spectacular 2009 performance, when the Oils headlined the MCG for Sound Relief, raising funds for bushfire victims.

The show at the ‘G was typical of the Oils’ modus operandi throughout their remarkable career – stand up for those in need, stay the course no matter what others might say or do, and live each day with the courage of your convictions. It’s how Rob Hirst lived every day of his life.

Born in 1955 and raised in Camden, south-west of Sydney, Hirst formed a musical union with Jim Moginie, who was six months younger. By 1973, their fledgling band, called Farm, welcomed lanky singer Peter Garrett on board. Guitarist Martin Rotsey joined in 1977, soon after the band had changed its name to Midnight Oil.

Fascinated by a variety of musical influences, particularly the rock ‘n’ roll of 1960s stars The Kinks, Rolling Stones and The Who, Hirst recalls in Argall’s film the vital importance of great melody and beat, but also “talking about something important to ordinary peoples’ lives”.

It was a musical template forged in the Oils’ earliest days, evident in the gritty rock of debut EP Bird Noises, the iconic Sorry performance at Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games and their breathtaking final world tour on the back of 2022 album Resist.

Great melody, beat and talking about something important.

Like the roadie in Argall’s film, I was gobsmacked as a pre-teenage drummer in 1982 when I discovered the Oils’ stunning 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 album. Who calls an album that? Where on Earth were these people from? And who the hell is playing drums?

Hirst’s controlled power, his feel and the seismic snap of his snare drum in Only the Strong changed everything. I didn’t just want to play drums any more. I wanted to play drums like Rob Hirst.

I laughed out loud in the cinema a few years ago, watching 1984 and hearing about his drums being nailed down. It makes perfect sense now. 10 to 1, of course, is loaded with timeless, classic Midnight Oil songs, and Hirst had a hand in writing most of them.

You’ll find his name listed in the credits across the band’s catalogue. His tracks, such as Kosciusko from 1984’s Red Sails in the Sunset, Hercules from ’85’s Species Deceases, and Forgotten Years from 1990’s Blue Sky Mining, are testament to his songwriting skill.

As a songwriter and truth-teller, he was among the very best. I’ll forever remember driving into Alice Springs/Mparntwe last year, just as Kosciusko popped up on my stereo, drums pounding and Hirst singing: “Older than Kosciusko, Darwin down to Alice Springs …”

It was a hugely powerful, eye-watering reminder of the impact he’d made; firstly on a young drummer, but, more significantly, through his stature in this country as an artist unafraid to confront and talk about uncomfortable truths.

In a social media post this week, Jimmy Barnes said Hirst, who lived with pancreatic cancer for the past three years, had “a massive impact on Australian culture” and described his friend as “irreplaceable” and “one of a kind”.

Ahead of the band’s final tour, which began in 2022, I spoke with Hirst about the Oils’ latest album, Resist, and the band’s expectations about an extensive world tour.

Somewhat surprisingly, the guy at the other end of the phone was just as energetic, and just as upbeat as the Rob Hirst I recall watching on TV, absolutely pounding the drums in the legendary 1985 Goat Island concert. Irreplaceable. One of a kind.

“It has a lot of big rock songs that need to be played with a kind of fury and anger,” Hirst said, about Resist. “We want each show to be as savage as the ones that people remember when they first saw the band in the late ’70s and early ’80s.”

A couple of years earlier, around the release of The Makarrata Project, Hirst said he was particularly thrilled with the many collaborations on the album, including young First Nations artists Tasman Keith and Alice Skye, and veteran musicians Frank Yamma, Bunna Lawrie and Kev Carmody.

“The whole thing just built and built, with every collaboration the songs got better and stronger and more inclusive,” he said.

The 2020 album features the Uluru Statement From the Heart on its cover, and Hirst was equally vocal, and passionate about a First Nations Voice upon its release, as when the band advocated for Indigenous reconciliation around their mid-’80s Blackfella/Whitefella tour.

“You could argue we shouldn’t have to be talking about it,” he said.

“Here we are, we have this amazing foundation document, handed on a plate from First Nations people all around the country, and it’s still in some kind of limbo.

“From our point of view, we’re just doing our bit alongside so many other people. We have no doubt in 10 or 15, 20 years every school kid in this country will be able to recite lines from this amazing statement.”

The black Ludwig drum kit Hirst used on every Oils’ tour since 1979 was sold at auction last year, raising $77,500 for First Nations musicians in the Northern Territory. It was typical of his generous spirit – to give to others rather than be sentimental.

And, after all, it’s just a drum kit.

After finding it in a music shop in northern Sydney all those years ago, it’s what he did with it that inspired and thrilled so many others.

Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.