Author Description

We were all equal, but sometimes the band could be led by whoever shouted the loudest. Step inside one of Australia's most beloved and hard-working bands. For eighteen years, Mark Seymour fronted Hunters and Collectors - although he was never remotely in control of it. Together they released songs that remain Australian anthems like Talking to a Stranger, Say Goodbye, Throw Your Arms Around Me and Holy Grail. The band was also a great social experiment - an artistic collective that shared everything equally, from the drinks rider to songwriting copyright. With superstardom always just out of reach, they hit the road, becoming an efficient and relentless touring machine that kept pubs overflowing around the country. What happens to a band that sees its future packed in a thirteen-tonne truck on a never-ending highway? It couldn't last. In the end, 'Hunnas' didn't break up so much as switch itself off. Seymour provides a candid view from the front of the stage, looking out across the heaving sea of fanatically loyal fans and at the dedicated but road-worn men around him. With a songwriter's eye for the perfect detail, he tells the truth about the endless fried breakfasts, between-gig comas, bewildering industry negotiations and the struggle to be heard in a democracy of blokes. More than a simple rock memoir, Thirteen Tonne Theoryis a funny, revealing, passionate tribute to standing together in collective paranoia towards outsiders, and each other.