WHEN The Go-Betweens classic album 16 Lovers Lane came out in 1988, The Grates singer Patience Hodgson was throwing tantrums at home at Capalaba to get out of kindergarten.
It was many years later that she became aware of 16 Lovers Lane.
“My first boyfriend was the biggest fan of The Go-Betweens and a massive fan of Grant McLennan,” Hodgson said.
“I had not heard of The Go-Betweens until getting together with him – and you need to know about The Go-Betweens if you want to be taken seriously in the Brisbane music scene.
“The Go-Betweens as an indie Brisbane band showed you can actually do stuff. You can go to England and you can tour. It brought hope to a lot of Brisbane musicians. We can be from Brisbane and we can be musicians.”
Hodgson will be one of eight guest singers performing The Go-Betweens’ classic album with members of the 1988 line-up in a special show to celebrate QPAC’s 40th anniversary.
“I feel 16 Lovers Lane was their best album and it was the album that introduced me to The Go-Betweens, so I would have to say it is my favourite of theirs,” Hodgson said.
“It is just such a great album. It is undeniably good.”
Guitarist John Willsteed joined The Go-Betweens at the end of 1987 as the band returned to Australia from London and started recording 16 Lovers Lane early in 1988.
He was replacing bass player Robert Vickers but contributes guitar, Hammond organ and piano along with bass on the album.
“I just look at (the recording studio) as a place where you do stuff appropriate to the skills you have or the ideas you have,” Willsteed said.
“The producer (Mark Wallis) was really open to me playing more guitars.
“It was all about making things lush and beautiful.”
One of the standout moments on the album is Willsteed’s guitar solo on Streets Of Your Town, played on a nylon-string classical guitar.
“They are really beautiful songs and it is a gorgeous sounding album,” Willsteed said. “Before we started working on (16 Lovers Lane) I had been listening to The Triffids’ Calenture, songs like A Trick of the Light, just beautiful songs.
“(16 Lovers Lane) was really lush and the band was never that lush. The band was really different, sparser and more angular.
“That’s what doing this show at QPAC is really good for. With the extra players, it is an opportunity to get closer, though without Robert and Grant (McLennan who passed away in 2006) there, to get closer to the sound of the album.”
Former Go-Betweens Lindy Morrison, Amanda Brown and John Willsteed perform 16 Lovers Lane with Dan Kelly, Danny Widdicombe and Luke Daniel Peacock and guest vocalists Patience Hodgson, David McCormack, Darren Hanlon, Meg Washington, Ben Ely (Regurgitator), Jem Cassar-Daley, Seja Vogel and Eamon Sandwith (The Chats) at QPAC Concert Hall on September 26.
