Ahead of his first headline tour with The Gentlemen of Fortune – an all-star bar band featuring members of Dallas Crane, The Gin Club, The Vandas and The Ladyboyz – Drones sticksman Mike Noga tells DARREN LEVIN why a solo sojourn is just what the doctor ordered.

So you and Gareth [Liddiard, Drones singer] are both heading out on solo tours. Just putting two and two together, can we rightly assume The Drones are breaking up?
Of course we are. I'm “going solo” ala Phil Collins. Gaz is “going solo” ala Eric Clapton. Dan Luscombe has a new project called “Dan Luscombe's Nightmare Machine”. And Fiona [Kitschin, bassist] has a cooking show debuting on Network Ten later this month called, Food ... Yum! We just have 27 more years of Drones touring to complete though, but after that, yep, all over.

Your tour finishes on the day Gareth's starts. Coincidence?
Spooky isn't it? No, not a coincidence at all. Gaz lives in the country now and we don't get to hang out like we used to anymore. I called him up and we were trying to arrange a time and place to meet. The best we could come up with was to book separate solo tours and meet at the Qantas Club at Tullamarine Airport on February 20, around noon.

How important is having a solo outlet when you're in a full-time, full-on band like The Drones?
It's very important to me. I've been writing since I was a kid. (Hot scoop #1: the first song I ever wrote when I was about 13 was called 'Suicidal Dream'. Hot scoop #2: the song titles and, funnily enough, subject matter of recent times haven't gotten much better). It's nice to have both outlets though. I'm a drummer first and foremost and an incredibly bad, self-taught guitarist second, but I need to write for my own sanity, and if someone wants to listen, that's great.

You've just come off a hectic couple months with The Drones, what compels you to head back out on the road?
The need to eat.

With members of "The Gents" in Dallas Crane, The Gin Club, The Vandas and The Ladyboyz, how hard is it to get everyone in a room at once?
It's incredibly hard to get the five of us in one room at the same time, but when we do, boy oh boy. It is even more rare that the five of us all have a couple of weeks free from other commitments, so when we realised we did. it was a case of, “Shit! Quick! Book a tour!” We have our national debut EP tour later in the year, but we thought we'd do a quick whip around while we had the chance, and wave at everyone like the Queen or the Pope: “Yes, yes ... hello ... we're still alive.”

“I'm a drummer first and foremost and an incredibly bad, self-taught guitarist second, but I need to write for my own sanity, and if someone wants to listen, that's great.”

You guys formed during a piss-up in rural Victoria, and recorded your EP in a "hungover state". Is it right to assume that booze plays a big role in The Gents' experience?
Oh dear, um ... Just as much as any other band. I think it is of more importance to the listener to involve as much booze as possible while devouring the contents of a Gents Of Fortune show.

To the uninitiated, what's a Gents show like?
It's kinda like an episode of *M*A*S*H* with musical instruments.

Can we expect another release anytime soon?
We'll be lauching our EP later in the year, and starting work on a full length album very, very soon. We're itching to get back into the studio, it's just another case of calendars colliding.

Although Phil Collins did it quite seamlessly, is the transition from drummer to frontman a difficult one to make?
I've been doing it for years, so no, it's not difficult. Just put down the sticks and pick up a guitar. It helps if you've written some songs too. Otherwise you'll just be standing there in front of a crowd in silence, and then it will seem very, very difficult.

Has your solo project given you a new respect for what Gareth does, night in, night out?
Well, night in, night out, I'm the guy sitting just behind Gareth drowning in a pool of my own sweat, so I've been very aware of “what he does” for many years now, and of course I have the utmost respect for him. But, you know, it's not a new thing for me to get out the front and have a scream. It wasn't a case of, “Oh, so THIS is what Gaz has to go through every night! Wow, the guy is amazing!” It's fronting a rock band, it ain't rocket science. And I'm sure Gaz would be the first to agree with me.

Do you think the music you make with the Gents will resonate equally with fans of The Drones?
It's a very different sound derived from, ultimately, way, way back, the same place. I don't listen to one particular genre of music, and I don't think many people do. I get the same amount of joy listening to Arvo Part or Sparklehorse as I do to Slayer or NWA. So, in answer to your question, I have no idea.

There's more hints of country-tinged Americana on the stuff you do with The Gents. Are these the sorts of records you listen to at home?
When I'm at home I listen mostly to ABC Classic FM. But, yeah, of course a little of everyone in The Gents' record collections have leaked into the sound, I think that's inevitable. But that said, I think we possess our own ramshackle, slightly retarded, good-time take on the traditional country, folk, rock, blues shenanigans, and I certainly don't think there's anything “Americana” about us. We ain't The Eagles. It sounds Australian to me. More Slim Dusty than Merle Haggard. We have a certain “unpolished” appeal you won't find anywhere in the US of A.

MIKE NOGA AND ‘THE GENTS’

Friday, February 13
The Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney, NSW

Saturday, February 14
The Step Inn, Brisbane, QLD

Thursday, February 19
The Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC

Friday, February 20
The Republic Bar, Hobart, TAS

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