Hope Rocks is returning to the Hunter Valley - and not a moment too soon for Baby Animals frontwoman Suze DeMarchi.
"What have I been doing during lockdown? F-all, that's what I've been doing," she said, laughing.
"Although that's not entirely true, because I did write a record with Darren Middleton from Powderfinger.
"We worked on eight songs via Zoom and I set up a little recording studio in my bedroom and it saved me, a little bit. So I did do something, but I also took the time to do nothing as well."
DeMarchi and the Baby Animals are joining James Reyne, Rose Tattoo, Choirboys, Models, Boom Crash Opera and Nick Barker and the Reptiles at Hope Estate on October 16 for Hope Rocks. It's a chance for music fans to enjoy a line-up of some of the best Aussie artists all playing on one day at Hope Estate's huge outdoor amphitheatre.
The Baby Animals released debut single Early Warning in April 1991 and it reached the Top 20 on the Australian Singles charts. Second single Rush You was released in August of that year and their eponymous debut album Baby Animals followed in September. It debuted at number six on the ARIA Charts and spent six weeks there, eventually going eight-times platinum and becoming the highest-selling debut Australian rock album of all time (until the release of Jet's album 12 years later), topping 800,000 sales worldwide.
We used to have a competition, who could bang their head the hardest. My Mum used to say to me 'You're going to pay for that later' and I was like 'Yeah right Mum'. But she was right, bless her.
Suze DeMarchi
The band supported Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour across America in 1992, playing to arena-size audiences, and released album Shaved And Dangerous in 1993, followed by This is Not The End in 2013.
DeMarchi acknowledges that the band was fortunate to peak at a time when the album was still king.
"We were very successful at a time when people still bought records, and we made some good money, and I never took that for granted. It's harder now for people to try to get any kind of revenue back," she said.
"There's no picking and choosing gigs any more, not at this point anyway.
"People need to remember that most musicians live on the bones of their arse. They do it for love, not for money. If you want money, don't be a musician."
DeMarchi is working with bandmate Dave Leslie on the idea of smaller, more COVID-friendly gigs that as a duo they can take to smaller venues.
Lockdown has forced many musicians to think outside the square when it comes to how they perform for an audience, and how they release music.
It has also, DeMarchi says, forced just about everyone to slow down and take some time out, and there have been some positives.
"You get so caught up with tour, tour, tour, but this gave me a chance to sit back and go 'Well, how can we do things a little bit differently? How can we offer people a bit more diversity?'.
"The BLM movement happened when lockdown was going on, with issues coming to light that people could wrap their heads around better than if we were all running around working.
"It shone a light on a part of our culture where people aren't as accepting as they should be. It made people stop and think a bit, and listen to what other people are going through.
"When you really take the time to stop, you listen. You might not agree with everything but at least you can maybe look at things a little differently, you know?."
A renewed focus on Australian music and bands as international borders closed is another positive.
"Good old Michael Gudinski, before he passed, really championed helping Australian artists get through lockdown," she said.
"I do believe the powers-that-be are still trying to figure this out. They're going to make mistakes and backtrack a little on certain things but the fact is there are sectors in our industry that still need help. Desperately.
"They need to be fully aware of how difficult it is for some people when they are told 'No, you can't do that', especially when sporting events are allowed to go ahead."
The Baby Animals have plenty of gigs scheduled in the coming months which means DeMarchi will need to go easy on that neck of hers. She's undergone several operations in recent years.
"My neck is an ongoing thing that I have to live with, you know? I have to manage it," she said.
"Another legacy of our early success was all that headbanging. My neck problems literally stem from that but I also have a condition in my bones that has exacerbated it.
"We used to have a competition, who could bang their head the hardest. My Mum used to say to me 'You're going to pay for that later' and I was like 'Yeah right Mum'. But she was right, bless her."
