Author(s): Mark Seymour

Music

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 The Holy Grail. With superstardom always just out of reach, they hit the road, becoming an efficient and relentless touring machine. 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. 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.