To celebrate the release of the new Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission EP First Step In A Homeward Direction, Belly looks back at nearly 40 years of Mick taking other people’s songs and making them his own.
I was first drawn into Mick Thomas’ orbit just shy of 40 years ago when a mate at school said he’d swap me a blank tape filled with all of the early Billy Bragg singles and records I had for a blank tape with the new debut album Scorn of The Women by this local band Weddings Parties Anything which he reckoned I’d like. Think I’d heard a song or two on RRR at that point but didn’t know much about them, but that was a punt I’m glad I took because it started a journey following Mick – singer and chief songwriter for the aforementioned ‘Weds’ – whose music has provided a pivotal part of the soundtrack to my entire adult life.
Of late the small indie label Coolin’ By Sound that I run with my wife Shelly has been in the stupidly fortunate position of releasing a string of great releases by Mick’s current project Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission, culminating in the brand new 7-track EP First Step In A Homeward Direction. The title track from the collection doubles as the lead single from their stunning new album due later in ’25 – recorded over the ditch at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios in uptown Auckland with ARIA-winning producer Steven Schram – augmented on the EP by five cracking covers of songs by other Aussie artists, as well as a sterling new rendition of old WPA track Walkerville.
There’s wonderful covers of numbers by Charles Jenkins (Across The Nullarbor), Spencer Jones & Kim Salmon (Loose Ends), Carla Geneve (Yesterday’s Clothes), David Benuik (A Swim In The Ocean) and The Screaming Jets (Helping Hand), all recast in Mick and his band’s inimitable image.
While he long ago proved himself as one of the country’s finest ever songwriters – the most overt testament being when he took home the prestigious Song For The Year award for WPA’s timeless Father’s Day at the 1993 ARIAs – Mick has been peerless at covering other people’s songs and making them his own from the get-go. In the pre-internet age I’d scour record shops for the old Weds’ singles, knowing that the b-side could well be another amazing cover – usually a song I didn’t even know at that time – and I was always richer for unearthing a new musical treasure.
With all that rambling in mind, here’s my Top 10 favourite Mick Thomas covers from across the whole sordid adventure:
10. THE SPORTS Reckless
From: Weddings Parties Anything The Weddings Play Sports (and Falcons) (1990)
This was from a whole mini-album of covers of tunes by Melbourne rockers The Sports, plus a track by Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons – paying homage to The Sports’ own 1981 release The Sports Play Dylan (and Donovan) – and I could have chosen any number of tracks (including The Falcons’ So Young), but the cruisy nature of the EP’s opening number always sealed the deal for me.
9. BUFFALO TOM Taillights Fade
From: Mick Thomas & the Roving Commission Bipolar Request (2019)
Another release comprising entirely covers, stemming from a crowdfunding campaign for their Coldwater DFU opus whereby the Roving Commission would cover a song that a participating punter requested: this perhaps isn’t even the best song from the collection but I adored it because I freaking love Buffalo Tom (there’s nothing better than an artist you love covering another artist you love, as we’ll keep seeing).
8. THE SAINTS Shipwreck
From: Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission Back In The Day EP (2022)
The Back In The Day EP also comprised the lead single from an impending album – in that instance 2023’s Where Only Memory Can Find You – plus a heap more covers chosen to the loose theme of looking backwards, and this stripped-back rendition of the Chris Bailey-penned banger from The Saints’ 1988 Prodigal Son opus is completely mesmerising, the song surely in the conversation alongside The Drones’ Sharkfin Blues as the best Aussie tune about the existential dread mariners must face as their vessel goes down in shark-infested waters.
7. LITTLE HEROES One Perfect Day
From: Weddings Parties Anything Mondays Experts single (1993)
Mick’s penchant for throwing in cool covers as b-sides to WPA singles continued in earnest well into the CD era – in fact you’d often get multiple b-sides – and this poignant rendition of a song I remembered hearing on Countdown back in the day without it ever really connecting has now become engrained in my psyche.
6. COLD CHISEL Forever Now
From: Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission City’s Calling Me (2021)
From yet another record that started off as a covers project but in the grip of the pandemic morphed into something far more inclusive and affirming, the closing Cold Chisel cover found The Roving Commission augmented by guest vocalists in Tim Rogers, Angie Hart, Emma Heeney, Sophie Koh and Celia Church (as well as Craig Pilkington throwing in some trumpet) adding real gravitas to the almost jaunty arrangement.
5. THE LOWEST OF THE LOW Rosy & Grey
From: Weddings Parties Anything Donkey Serenade (1995)
The Weds did pretty well in Canada during their heyday and when over there on one of their numerous foreign forays crossed paths with Toronto jangle-punks The Lowest of The Low, quickly incorporating that band’s singalong banger Rosy & Grey into their live set and then later recording it for the self-released mini-album Donkey Serenade which they sold at live shows whilst between labels in the mid-’90s. Still gets the crowd going when pulled out to this day.
4. AUSTRALIAN CRAWL Man Crazy
From: Mick Thomas Anythings, Sure Things, Other Things (2004)
Mick got tapped for an instalment of Mushroom’s cool project the Liberation Blue Acoustic Series whereby respected singer-songwriters from the Oz rock pantheon reinterpret songs from across their entire canon in acoustic mode, and when he decided to throw in a great rendition of this underrated Aussie Crawl album track I finally learned the fascinating narrative behind the song I’d been listening to in James Reyne’s distinctive drawl for decades.
3. DIED PRETTY Everybody Moves
From: Weddings Parties Anything The Rain In My Heart single (1993)
I already loved Died Pretty and had most of their albums, but had completely missed this standalone 1989 single which is one of the most heart-wrenching songs I’ve ever heard (making it an odd single choice in the first place). The Weds’ version still gets me every time (especially the tip of the cap to Away Away at the end).
2. THE SAINTS Wrapped Up And Blue
From: Weddings Parties Anything Step In, Step Out single (1992)
I knew the Bailey-penned Saints song from that odd Songs of Salvation compilation CD but it was buried towards the end of a lengthy track-list (well past my fave bangers) and I hadn’t listened to it enough to grasp its incredible poignancy until the Weds had a crack as a b-side, in the process mangling its title to Wrapped Up In Blue (punks aren’t precious so all good). The Weds’ incredibly maudlin version remains one of my fave sad songs of all time.
1. THE TRIFFIDS Wide Open Road
From: Various Artists Used And Recovered By… (1990)
This song was an integral part of the WPA live experience but also served as my younger self’s introduction to one of the finest bands ever to emanate from our lucky country. Eventually laid down on tape for a RRR compilation on which Aussie bands covered songs by other Aussie bands – well worth tracking down if you can get your mitts on it – the Weds’ version of Dave McComb’s classic number is a cracker, even if some lyrical liberties were taken amidst the rushed recording. Peak Oz rock.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Some other great covers which nearly made the cut (close but no cigar):
COURTNEY BARNETT Aqua Profunda
SEBADOH Too Pure
THE KINKS Misfits
STRANGE TENANTS Grey Skies
EWAN MACCOLL Dirty Old Town
TIM HARDIN Reason To Believe
RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON Bright Lights Tonight
LITTLE MURDERS Things Will Be Different
JO JO ZEP & THE FALCONS So Young
LEADBELLY Bourgeoise Blues
JOHNNY THUNDERS You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory
NICK BARKER Miles To Go
PRINCE When You Were Mine
BOB DYLAN If You Gotta Go
TRADITIONAL Moreton Bay
And so many more…
Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission’s new EP First Step In A Homeward Direction is out now through Coolin’ By Sound.
By the vinyl here and the CD here
