The Gig For Mic – Trilogy & Saracen Tribute Show takes place this Saturday, September 13, at the Charles Hotel with guests including John Meyer, Jamie Page, Peter Thompson, Mick Burn, Craig Pinkney, Donna & Graham Greene, Craig Skeleton and many more. SHANE PINNEGAR check in with Jamie Page.
The infamous Friday nights at the City Hotel – now the Belgian Beer Café – with Saracen and later, Trilogy, rocking to a full house of denim and leather-sporting reprobates in the ‘80s, are to be celebrated this Saturday, by way of raising money for Mic O’Donnell, the talented graphic designer who worked with many local bands (and designed the cover of Trilogy’s lone album, Life On Earth) and is now battling bowel cancer.
As Trilogy guitarist, Jamie Page, says it’s all about helping a friend in need.
“Mic was always a good mate of everyone in the band, for many years,” Page explains. “When he got sick, everyone had reason to make an effort to do something.
“I rang John Meyer (guitarist with Saracen and later Rose Tattoo) and we put the word out to everyone that was involved back in the day to see who would get involved with it, including (bassist/singer/keys player of both bands) Jon Ryder. He basically said he didn’t want to do it. So we thought, we’ll just get a bunch of special guest artists to do all the vocals and keys and bass and everything else. We weren’t going to let it stop us, you know?”
Page says O’Donnell isn’t the only alumni of the bands who has fallen ill. Trilogy drummer, Ashley ‘Smashley’ Cooke, is “…not very well, unfortunately. He was invited, and he would have probably loved to have done it, but just the sheer physical pain of what he’s got to go through to play the drums is just not worth it.
“The same for Pete Thompson (another drummer who played with both Saracen and Trilogy),” Page sighs sadly, “he’s got arthritis. He’s hugely excited about doing what he’s going to do, but we’re going to have Mick Burn (Chain, True Colours, Nitro Zeppelin) playing drums through the whole thing and Thommo just getting up and doing as much as he physically can without hurting himself.”
With so many names from the old days and such a good cause, Page is looking forward to reliving that special time from his youth at this one-off event.
“What we were going for, is just to really transport people back to that time, with the excitement and the people. There’s going to be a lot of great people there and hopefully the vibe will be very similar to the old City Hotel days, I would hope. That’s the plan.
“The big thing really, in all honestly, is the amount of friends we’re seeing get sick. There’s a whole pile of people that we’re dedicating the gig to, apart from Mico, they’re all going through the same thing.
“At our age, I guess, you start to see a lot more of that. You’ve got to protect your own, so to speak. That’s the real reason for all of this.”
Tickets for the Gig For Mic – Trilogy & Saracen Tribute Show are available for $10 (plus booking fee) from Eventbrite.com.au or from the door at 8pm.
