Rob Hirst reveals how Midnight Oil’s bizarre secret weapon joined the band 36 years ago

When Midnight Oil rolls in, so does the tank, under the command of drummer Rob Hirst, with a musical rather than military mission. Here’s how it joined the band.

Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst goes to work in Power and the Passion. Picture: Tony Mott

It has been the not-so-quiet member of Midnight Oil, looming over drummer Rob Hirst for the past 36 years.

And as his faithful water tank kicks off its final lap of Australia for the Oil’s Resist tour in Newcastle on Wednesday, Hirst shared how his iconic tin drum joined the band.

The Oils were on their seminal Blackfella/Whitefella tour with Warumpi Band in 1986, travelling to remote central Australian outback communities on a mission to raise the consciousness of their audience of First Nations issues.

But their first-hand experiences of the oppression and living conditions of the Indigenous communities changed the band forever and forged the Diesel and Dust LP, propelled by their protest anthem Beds Are Burning.

It’s the most travelled water tank in Australian history, Rob Hirst’s tin drum. Picture: Tony Mott

Hirst said their road crew discovered the corrugated tin water tank, “just discarded beside a red dirt road” as the Blackfella/Whitefella convoy of vans and trucks made its way from a gig at the central desert community of Yuendumu back to Alice Springs.

“It was loaded into the crew truck that was carrying around our little PA so we could play to those communities. It wasn’t even me, the crew spotted it and threw it in. And I had my tank,” Hirst said.

This was a rough and tumble tour, the trucks bouncing across the pot-holed highways and red dirt tracks, loaded with equipment and humans.

It remains a mystery as to why the crew decided to rescue the water tank from its roadside junkyard and fit the cumbersome, future percussive instrument into their vehicle.

“I don’t know, maybe they left half the PA in the desert!” Hirst joked.

“And unfortunately the crew members who were out there aren’t around anymore to ask. So that may remain a mystery.”

The tank has been the co-star of every performance of the Oils’ iconic 1983 hit Power And The Passion since it joined the band, with Hirst smashing it during his solo.

He calls it the most travelled water tank in Australian history.

The tank has a well-stamped passport after 36 years of touring. Picture: Supplied.

“It’s travelled countless times to Europe, the United States, Canada, to Brazil, to South Africa. We never go anywhere without it, I’d be lost without it, it’s my security,” he said.

“It’s sounding really good now. It’s been dropped out of the back of the truck so many times and fallen off stage that it’s actually nicely in tune now. For a water tank.”

While the Resist tour may be its swan song on the big stage, fans can souvenir the famous “instrument”. When the band reunited in 2017, they released Midnight Oil’s Overflow Tank box set with their back catalogue and unreleased and rare material housed in a mini water tank.

The Resist album is out now and Midnight Oil perform at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on February 23, with all dates and tickets via midnightoil.com