Rush on for Big Day Out tell-all

There’s a major push on to ensure a book by Big Day Out co-creator Ken West, who died suddenly last week, makes it into bookshops by the end of the year, writes Annette Sharp.

Big Day Out founder Ken West.

There’s a major push on to ensure a book by Big Day Out co-creator Ken West makes it into bookshops by the end of the year.

The nation’s music community was gutted last week when 64-year-old West, variously described in dispatches as a madman, a “loon”, an artist and a pioneer, suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep.

At the time West was putting the finishing touches on a book entitled Controlled Kaos commemorating 30 years of the Big Day Out.

In extracts from the book released on West’s website Kenfest, the initial working title of the music festival that ran from 1992 to 2014, West described the Big Day Out as “... life-changing and the first six years were the heart and soul of a great adventure. A different world, innocent, dangerous, optimistic and a lot of fun.”

The event became unmissable for fans and performers alike and drew musicians from around the world, including The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, MIA, Nirvana, Hole, Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers – a potential recipe for disaster, and one “the three Michaels”, veteran promoters Gudinski, Chuff and Coppel, observed with much mirth for a short while from the sidelines.

Big Day Out founder Ken West.

In the much-anticipated tome, West recounts pulling wax from Nick Cave’s ear.

“In those days the medical situation was pretty basic. The only doctor we knew … on site was Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman.

“He wanted to help but as he had been drinking he had to say no, lightweight.”

Clearly not a Kylie Minogue fan, who once joined Cave onstage at BDO, West said of Minogue: “To us, she was a nice girl with an OK voice that lucked out in the commercial world.”

The book, he added, “is written, however with thousands of photos, artwork and documents to integrate, it is constantly evolving”.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see the results of his efforts.