The Mental as Anything bassist on his chemist-bought tinnitus shield, and his poor stewardship of a ‘beautiful and faithful’ guitar
ustralia first met Peter O’Doherty in the 1970s, as part of Mental as Anything. He played with the new wave group for three decades, then he and his older brother Christopher, aka Reg Mombassa, shifted focus to their musical duo, Dog Trumpet, who are still playing today. He also built a name as a visual artist and has now been exhibiting regularly for more than 20 years.
One of O’Doherty’s first paintings, of his wife and baby son: ‘It signifies that pivotal dividing line in time’That said, there is a little painting hanging in my music studio that means a lot to me. Susan and I were married in 1988 and later that year our first son, Declan, was born. I’d always been drawing and sketching, but at Susan’s insistence we both took up painting.
I’d used chemist-bought earplugs on and off but never liked the muted and dulled sound, so I went for tests and had $350 bespoke diaphragm plugs made. They were horrible, everything sounded jagged and tinny. Mum organised classical guitar lessons with a local tutor, who promptly switched the strings from steel to nylon. The basic classical stuff was great, but my big brother showed me some blues chords and the rock and roll switch was set permanently “on” in my brain. Leaving home, I took that little guitar – with its uncannily sweet sound – from one share house to another, and into my new life as a bass player with Mental As Anything.
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