Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell’s candid interview during Gold Coast visit

A decade ago, the late Smash Mouth lead singer opened up about his complicated relationship with the industry. Read the interview

It was the week the music world mourned the death of Steve Harwell.

The former lead singer of US rock band Smash Mouth died at 56 of liver failure after years of battling alcoholism.

A decade ago, the All Star and his entourage were preparing to meet their Gold Coast fans for the first time.

Catching up with this reporter in the then-Jupiters Hotel & Casino green room, Harwell - slurping on a strong cocktail - was a ruthless flirt with a healthy sense of self.

Ahead of his debut Australian show, he strolled through the Broadbeach lobby belting out Shrek-propelled-megahit I’m a Believer.

But, in this excerpt from that interview in March 2013, the facade frequently slipped to reveal a more melancholy side; a complicated relationship with the industry that made him and could break him.

Gold Coast Eye - Californian rockers Smash Mouth are bringing the 90s back to Jupiters Casino. Pic by Luke Marsden.

CHANTAY LOGAN: This is your first time in Australia, but it feels like we already know you.

STEVE HARWELL: We were supposed to come with Robbie Williams on a big tour, then 9/11 happened, then something else happened. For us, this is so new and the fans who grew up with us and our music are not kids any more. We’ve played in front of pretty much everybody over 20 years of being together. Fans grew up with us and that’s the cool thing about it. I’m 46 years old. I’m a good-looking 46, by the way. All of our fans have kids. I mean my nephew has two kids and I changed his diapers when I started this band. That’s the cool thing.

CL: Do you have kids?

SH: No, no, divorced.

CL: Is that some place you imagined you’d be? With kids?

SH: That’s a long story. We’ll talk about that later.

Gold Coast Eye - Californian rockers Smash Mouth are bringing the 90s back to Jupiters Casino. Lead singer Steve Harwell. Pic by Luke Marsden.

CL: What’s the short version?

SH: Sad story. I don’t want to talk about that.

CL: It sounds as if you’ve made sacrifices to be where you are?

SH: This lifestyle has hurt me in more ways than it’s helped. I wouldn’t change it, but relationship wise it’s a hard life.

CL: You’re single - do you think you’re a catch?

SH: I’ve got you sitting next to me. Come on. You can’t keep your eyes off me. It’s a done deal. No, I don’t think I am. I think I’m crazy. That’s my downside. Every girl I’ve dated goes you’re f***ing crazy and that’s the end of it. Seriously, every girl in the past three years, and there’s only been three. They like it, but they don’t like it. I’ll be the first to tell you: run as fast as you can, run right now because it’s not going to be fun. It’s going to be a Tasmanian devil s**t show.

CL: In terms of performing, are you better now?

SH: A hundred times better. I was so young when I started, thrown into massive amounts of money, lifestyle. I couldn’t count it fast enough. Living the rock-star lifestyle. I’ve grown up and I’ve grown wiser and we’ve all grown up to the point where we pride ourselves on great shows. I’m my biggest critic and when you can still walk off stage as we do every night and go, “yeah, it was an OK show but this thing happened’’.

CL: You never get tired? You still have that curiosity?

SH: No, I have to have it, because myself in downtime is bad. I do a lot of bad things when I’m not working. I can’t tell you in front of everyone else. That’s going to be a later conversation we’re going to have.

Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell performs during the "CD USA" New Year's Eve event at the Fremont Street Experience December 31, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

CL: Has music been your rescue?

SH: Without (music) I don’t think I’d make it a year. I don’t know what I’d do.

CL: So you don’t see Smash Mouth coming to an end any time soon?

SH: I like to do music now, on my terms. I can do it until the wheels fall off, but I’ll never let somebody throw me into a situation again. There comes a point in your career when you have to be like ‘no we’re not doing that, this is what were doing’’. My manager is my best friend, but I tell him all the time. It’s so easy – they would book us 24 hours a day if I left it up to them. But I say, well you sit on a chair behind your desk and you’ve never been on the road, never been on a stage, you don’t know what we do. It sounds good on paper when they say you’ve got 500 interviews a day, then a meet and greet, then a show, then a meet and greet after and you get to sleep for four hours and do it all over again tomorrow. Would I trade it for the world? No, but there comes a time when I have to go and say sorry, this is not happening’’.

CL: Is money a big motivator?

SH: Uhhh, no, because I passed it up and went, ‘I’m just tired. Just tired’’. I think that it’s more of a motivator for the people collecting the money. They get to go to the bank and go ‘oh I got you the gig and I’ll take my 20 per cent’’. For them it’s great, ‘oh yeah, keep it going, it’s a cash cow’’. As long as that money is rolling in they’re happy. The minute someone like us steps up and goes ‘no, I’m not doing it’ then they find every excuse to tell you what you are doing wrong.

Steve Harwell, Lead singer from Smash Mouth photographed at Doctors Gully

CL: Do you worry about what people think?

SH: I used to. I’ve got a tonne of bad press for no reason over the years and I consider myself to be a really good person. I care about people. I’m not perfect. I don’t know why, but I have always gotten kind of attacked.

CL: It doesn’t seem to have closed you off though.

SH: Oh, I don’t care now. Because I know at the end of the day what I do for a living, 99.9 per cent of the planet can’t do. I don’t measure greatness by status. Entertainment is a wonderful business, but it can also be your biggest enemy. The thing about entertainment is that we’re a wide open book. Anybody can attack you at anytime. If you go to work nine to five and work at, oh, a Target, nobody judges you, nobody says a word.

CL: What have people said that’s hurt so much?

SH: I don’t even know anymore. They find the simplest things to say and I’m human, certain things hurt. Certain things have come out that were very personal to me and I think, how dare you. I still have my little list of things I need to take care of, I haven’t run into them yet. But when I do.

Band Smash Mouth - includes Steve Harwell, Paul de Lisle & Kevin Coleman music groups bands

CL: How do you think people perceive you now?

SH: Every time I’ve spoken to anyone they say ‘you’re just a real guy’. I was raised that way. All I have is a different job. It doesn’t make me better, worse. I grew up middle class. Three sisters and a brother and my dad worked and supported us and my mum raised us. I had a pretty good upbringing, but it also taught me a lot about myself and what I’m capable of. I’ve also realised that my impact is really, really big with certain people. I changed a lot of lives and I never knew I did. I don’t even try.

CL: Are you optimistic about what lies ahead?

SH: As long as I keep my s**t together I think we’re going to be OK. I’ve got a lot of people relying on me to show up. If I don’t show up, all this ends. I have to wake up and think that every day. Sometimes I’m a little selfish and it catches up with me and I have to reel myself back in and say if I don’t make it (the band) all go home.

CL: How long does it have the potential to keep going?

SH: Easily another 20 years. Our music will never die. I could play the same hits every night and they will never end, that’s the great thing about having a catalogue of popular music. Stuff that’s bigger than us and timeless.