The Favourite Game are back to play

The Favourite Game, one of the most beloved WA bands of the 90s, will play their first Perth show in 25 years at Mojos this Friday, April 25, with support from The Leap Year and TokyoTronique. BOB GORDON chats to vocalist/guitarist Dan O’Halloran about the days of yore and what is yet to come.

What’s it like when the three of you get in a rehearsal room together? Does it all just come flooding back?

It does. We’ve played together for about 35 years now, and really, other than a few periods, we’ve stayed in touch musically over that time, so coming back together is surprisingly easy. I love playing with Natty (Phil Natt, bass) and Chirpy (Shaun Lohoar, drums). They’re both uniquely talented, so even now, rehearsing for this Anzac Day show, it’s exciting for me to hear them play and for us to play together. We’re still discovering new things. Last night we worked out I’ve been playing a bit the wrong way for 30 years… so we tidied that up.

Your Purple EP was one of the first releases on CD from a Perth band way back in 1993. What are your memories of recording it?

I remember we were green as anything. Chirpy had an idea about how to get a drum sound, but I think Natty and I were mildly clueless; I sure was. We were broke, so we had to save time, sleeping on the studio floor, getting up and going to work, and paying the studio in coins and $5 notes from last week’s gig. CDs were new, so having one in your hand at the end of it all was a total blast.

Your songs could be obtuse but really infectious at the same time. What inspired Favourite Game’s songs?

They could be obtuse, for sure. We were determined not to be a chord-strumming, power-pop band. There were plenty of those in Perth at the time. We loved bands that pushed into new guitar tunings, weird chord progressions or arrangements, unconventional time signatures, slowing down… speeding up.

At the same time, we love melodic bands, so while we didn’t always nail it, our better songs brought those things together. Sometimes I listen back to a song, and there’s literally no chorus. They may be some of the less infectious ones… but then again, maybe that’s someone’s cup of tea.

Playing live in Perth in the early to mid-90s—what are your memories?

It was an exciting and energetic time for music. I felt like if you were good enough, you could get gigs, play a lot, improve, and have a chance to get heard and signed. There were enough venues so that you could move around from Freo to the city, playing a few times a week.

There was also press. So we could get written up in X-Press or in Revue in The West Australian, which was great publicity. But overwhelmingly—from our perspective—the people that would come to a Game gig were great. It was a little event, our own party. They’d be into it, and we’d play our hearts out. We have no misconceptions about where we stand in the history of WA music, but making so many friends at those gigs that we still have today may be our biggest win.

Moving to Melbourne—was it just the done thing at the time?

I think it was. Some of our friends were leaving; we had mates playing music in Melbourne saying, ‘Come over.’ To be fair, we had played a lot in Perth over the previous six or so years, and at 24, I think we were interested in a change of scene. Natty and I have reflected that we may have gone a bit early.

We could have stayed in Perth and released our first long CD, Timebomb. It was a great move personally. Melbourne has been good to all of us, but another year or so working on our tunes, building a stronger sound and a bit of confidence wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

Tell me about the name change to Saidaside and the album…

Yeah, it was a funny time. We were getting some heat in Melbourne that the Favourite Game wasn’t a great band name and we should change it… so we blinked. Perhaps it’s not a great name—who knows?—but I like it; it’s ours, and we should have kept it. I think changing it generally reflected a sense of insecurity—mine—at dropping into a new musical scene and trying to get a break.

The album, on the other hand, was all written in Perth, and some of the last songs we added, Smash It and Gluey Backstab in particular, pointed to a better level of songwriting and arranging. We were becoming more confident in what we were doing. It got reviewed well over in Melbourne; we had some champions in the press, so we felt pretty good about it.

What was the Melbourne era like?

Overall it was pretty patchy. Some great moments. Recording our five-song EP, Yellow Tape, at Sing Sing Studios was a highlight. Listening back now, the band was good. Energetic, skilful, complex arrangements, and we had the sounds we wanted. That’s probably our best recording. That did lead to conversations with record companies, but we didn’t quite get it over the line.

On the gig side we played a bit, but not enough to retain that match fitness we had in Perth, where we were finding ways to play better, and that was leading to better songs. It did lead to other connections and staying active by playing in other bands, so that’s some consolation, more for the other guys than me. They had better experiences. Playing with Natty and Chirp is home, and I was a bit lost in other bands.

Then the band broke up. What was the feeling at the time?

Well, I’ll correct the record there. We never broke up, or if we did, Natty and Chirp didn’t tell me! Natty and I did our first show of originals at school when we were about 12, so there’s something unbreakable about that. We’ve all played in other bands, as I said, I went overseas for 12 months at one point, but typically if we had 5-10 songs written, we’d get together and work them out. There were certainly times when I’d wonder if we’d get it together, but underneath it all, we’ve always been great friends first.

We see each other regularly—Natty lives about two kilometres away—talk music, and eventually we’ll get together and play. I won’t speak for the other guys, but I think each of us has stood on bigger stages than the Game has played on with other bands, but for me, loving playing with the same guys after all this time is special and rare, I think. Jamming, recording, or touring, the Game are a fun and funny band, and that’s important.

How does it feel to return to WA to play this gig?

Unreal, really exciting. It’s the first time we’ve all been in Perth together for about 20 years. We’re over for a friend’s birthday and put the feelers out for a show, which got organised thanks largely to our friend Rob Schifferli, whose band, The Leap Year, will be supporting along with electro-synth visionaries TokyoTronique.  For the first time ever…there will be T-shirts. I’m not one for nostalgia typically, but the aim is to get some old faces together, dust off some old tunes, and escape the 21st century for a few hours.

Are there loose plans for FG beyond this?

There are. We were about eight songs into a new recording when the gig came up, so after Anzac Day we’ll get back onto that and will record somewhere between 5 and 10 songs by year’s end. We’ll play one new one on Friday night. Other than that, it’s all about the 90s.

The Favourite Game play Mojos Bar on Friday, April 25, 2025. Tickets are on sale now from moshtix.com.au