Perth Voice Interactive

SOME of Freo’s best musical talent will pay tribute to the late Richard Lane at Mojos next Sunday.

A talented guitarist, keyboardist and singer, Lane was the founding member of the legendary garage band The Stems and also played in The Chevelles, The Rosebuds and The Rosebud Generation.

But younger folk will probably know him from his Penny Lane’s Music Workshop in Fremantle, where he taught the next generation of budding musos.

In May 2020, Lane died suddenly after a rehearsal session with his Freo-based band Big Boss Man. He was in his mid-50s.

Sadly, covid prevented any kind of public tribute and it wasn’t until April 2024 that a private wake was held for him at the Hilton Bowling Club.

After the wake, local poet and spoken word performer Damon Hurst decided to keep the flame burning by forming The Friends of Richard Lane, a post-punk rock poetry band.

He says the tribute gig at Mojos will give the public a chance to say goodbye to Lane and acknowledge his contribution to Australian music. 

“We are all still figuring out how to deal with Richard’s life and death,” Hurst says.

“One of the best ways for the musically orientated to deal with that confusion, is to get together and play.

“So that’s what this gig is about; friends getting together to play their own, original materials, with Richard’s influence the elephant in the room.

“We aren’t playing any of his songs that night – it’s more about welcoming his spirit back to Mojos; one of Freo’s spiritual homes of music, where Richard performed often.”

Hurst played about 50 gigs with Lane over a 10 year period.

Most gigs were benevolent fundraisers for people or local organisations that needed help, including the North Fremantle Bowling Club, where more than 1000 people attended their final gig.

“We were an odd-couple in many ways; no real connections with our daily modes operandi but deeply connected to the desire of making a difference for the down-trodden,” Hurst says.

“And we cracked each other up, me over his complete absence of memory – every gig meeting started like an archeological dig ‘coz Richard never took notes – and then me over-earnestly analysing everything with my WIP lists, which always cracked him up.” 

Outwith playing and teaching music, Lane was an influential figure in the WA music scene and in the 1990s he founded Perth-based record label Idaho Records, ran a venue booking agency, and worked for X-Press Magazine.

In 2021, the laneway behind Fremantle’s historic Artillery Drill Hall – once the site of Penny Lane’s Music Workshop –  was officially named ‘Richard Lane’ in his honour.

But Lane’s biggest legacy is undoubtedly his daughter Penny Lane, a talented young muso and songwriter who is playing at Gerry’s Gold music festival next month.

“It’s unimaginable being Penny; contextualising her loss, yet she has, and grown as a person too,” Hurst says. “Apart from being an engaged young adult, embracing the world; as you would imagine she has inherited her dad’s skill set – she’s a multi-instrumentalist and already an accomplished song-writer.

“In terms of Richard’s legacy to the world at large; well I can only speak from personal experience and that is to say he taught me that the true opportunity in life is to give and give again, without expectation.

“I try and remember that sentiment every day; and I’m cognizant of the great personal cost it comes with too.

“He once said to me: ‘I’m not teaching people how to be rock stars; I’m teaching them that music can be a companion for life’.

“In despondent moments I often put on my favourite reggae music and get snuggled into the comfort of my ugg boots and think about the beauty and simplicity of that statement by Richard…and there were many more. I truly loved him.”  

The Friends of Richard Lane tribute gig will feature The Beautiful Losers, Rosy Shute, Phantom Island, and The Friends of Richard Lane band. All the musicians played regularly with Lane back in the day.

Its on 5pm-8pm on Sunday February 23 at Mojos in North Fremantle, with the gig broadcast live on Freocast, an independent not-for-profit community radio station.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK