Ian Moss reveals the guitarist’s curse behind his mystery manicure on Cold Chisel tour

Fans noticed one unusual detail during Cold Chisel’s recent reunion tour - and it was hiding a gruesome injury.

Fans and critics hailed Ian Moss as the standout performer of the historic Cold Chisel Big Five-O tour that wound up last month.

Alongside Moss’s soaring, soulful vocals and lightning guitar playing on favourites including Bow River and My Baby, there was an unusual subject of fascination for the 225,000 fans closely watching his gifted hands.

Moss sported a flashy metallic manicure during the months-long tour to hide a gruesome injury.

“When the adrenaline gets going, I’m holding a pick but I end up smacking my nail against the strings and I was smashing the nail away, leaving bare flesh,” Mossy said.

Ian Moss’s metallic manicure caught the attention of Cold Chisel fans on their recent tour. Picture: Robert Hambling / Supplied.

“So I got a fake nail to protect the flesh and the nail artist polishing it up joked about putting some artwork on it.

“That’s when I realised some of the Chisel concerts would have big screens, and the cameras tend to zoom in on my hands, so I got all of them painted chrome. It ended up being quite the talking point (during the tour).”

Moss, Jimmy Barnes, Don Walker, Phil Small and Charley Drayton have now put Chisel to bed for the immediate future as they return to their “day” jobs.

The guitarist said this 50th anniversary tour was the “smoothest” of the legendary band’s four-yearly reunions since the death of original drummer Steve Prestwich in 2011.

Moss had to get a fake nail to protect his finger when ripping a solo. Picture: Robert Hambling / Supplied.

None of the residual “beef” or “differences” or “scraps” - as he calls them - which may have caused tension in the past, flared in the rehearsal room before the tour or backstage during the gigs from October to January.

“There was just excitement. There’s been health scares for some of us, and it’s taken a long time but now it’s been 50 years, there’s an appreciation that we still can do this, do it well, have it sell well and still make a great living out of it when there’s not a lot of time left,” he said.

Mossy, as he is universally known among fans, friends and family, is a reluctant rock star offstage, who comes to life as a classic guitar god on stage.

He will transform yet again in May on his One Guitar One Night Only tour as Chisel takes another long break to allow its members space to pursue their solo endeavours.

Chisel is back on ice as the band members, including Jimmy Barnes, get back to their day jobs. Picture: Caroline Tan.

Already the tour’s title has proven to be a lie with extra shows added to meet ticket demand.

“I’d never have predicted it 40 years ago that we’d all end up going unplugged and acoustic and I only went there because everyone else did,” he said.

“Then I discovered that I like it and, in terms of drawing and selling numbers, I tend to do better as a solo, acoustic act.

“But I’ll still see the occasional comment from a fan on Facebook that they’ll wait until the next electric gig.”

As he heads back out on the road in May, Mossy will release the Live At Anita’s album which captured his famed performances last year on his Rivers Run Dry tour which extended to a mammoth 48 shows.

Among his openers on that tour was his son Julian, who was also the support act for the Cold Chisel warm-up show - as the Barking Spiders - at Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul in October.

“I wondered for a while if he would be a musician. It was only four years ago, during the Cold Chisel Blood Moon tour, he was a bit more grown up and got involved backstage,” Moss said.

“I think a lot to (backing singers) Juanita Tippins and Mahalia Barnes and Jade MacRae for ripping into him for wasting time on computer games; they really pushed him to sing and play.”

For all One Night One Guitar Only show details and tickets and to pre-order the Live at Anita’s album, released on May 2, head to ianmoss.com.au/

Originally published as Ian Moss reveals the guitarist’s curse behind his mystery manicure on Cold Chisel tour