Midnight Oil’s bassist Bones Hillman dies, aged 62
The band’s long-time bassist and backing vocalist has died of cancer at his home in the United States.
Long-time Midnight Oil bassist and backing vocalist Bones Hillman has died of cancer aged 62 at his home in the United States, the Sydney rock band announced on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re grieving the loss of our brother Bones Hillman, who has passed away at his home in Milwaukee today after a cancer battle,” the band wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and our brilliant musical comrade.”
“Bones joined Midnight Oil way back in 1987 after stints in various Kiwi bands, most notably, The Swingers. He played and sang on every Midnight Oil recording since Blue Sky Mining and we did thousands of gigs together.”
“We will deeply miss our dear friend and companion and we send our sincerest sympathies to Denise, who has been a tower of strength for him.”
Born Wayne Stevens in New Zealand in 1958, he later adopted the stage name Bones Hillman and played in several bands, most notably Auckland rock group The Swingers, whose song Counting the Beat reached No 1 in New Zealand and Australia in 1981.
Hillman was working as a house painter in Melbourne while sharing a house with fellow Kiwi musician Neil Finn when he learned that Midnight Oil was looking for a new bass player, after Peter Gifford decided to leave after finalising the recording of its sixth album Diesel and Dust.
His final recordings with the band are the recently released reconciliation-themed mini-album The Makarrata Project, which on Saturday debuted at No 1 on the ARIA album chart, as well as a forthcoming album expected in early 2021.
The duration of Hillman’s illness is unknown. He has been absent from all of the band’s recent promotional commitments in the lead-up to The Makarrata Project, and also declined an interview request with The Australian in September ahead of the 20th anniversary of its memorable performance at the Sydney Olympic Games.
On October 28, when asked whether it had felt odd to promote the recent release without Hillman’s involvement, Garrett told The Australian, “Yeah, it does feel not entirely complete without having Bones with us. I think the strength of talent that we’ve had come onto the project has meant that there are thankfully lots of voices that can speak to what makarrata is, and what The Makarrata Project is about.”
Writing on his website, Hillman recalled his first jam in 1987 with Midnight Oil musicians Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey without singer Peter Garrett.
“I met with the guys in their damp cell-like rehearsal room,” he wrote. “Rob, Jim and Martin (no sign of Pete) and I ran through some Oils tracks, and played a couple of covers for fun. Eventually after three trips to Sydney, always to this same rehearsal room, Pete showed up. We played through a few tracks with him singing, and then they asked me to wait outside. Decision time. I shook hands and said thanks. I knew then that I had the gig – it was just one of those moments.”
After being initially hired for the band’s Australian and Canadian tour in support of Diesel and Dust, Hillman recalled the lead-up to his first Midnight Oil gig in front of a crowd.
“On the night of my first major gig at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, I sat nervously at the front of house desk until just before show time,” he wrote. “Only two months prior, I’d been lugging my own gear up and down stairs. Now I could sit and watch the amazing Oils road crew do their thing. Long-time production manager Michael Lippold always joked that I was more like a roadie than a musician in a successful band. Yet, here I was about to play to 10,000 people.”
Away from the stage, the Kiwi was a charming and friendly presence who seemed happy enough with his role as a musician within a singular band of players. When it came to political matters, he let his bandmates — particularly Garrett and Hirst — do the talking,
His larrikin sense of humour often provided a sense of levity within what could sometimes be an overly self-serious group, too, as Hirst noted in his 2003 memoir Willie’s Bar and Grill, which recorded the band’s North American tour of late 2001.
“Perhaps we just get off on the wrong foot with our bus driver, Slim, a craggy-faced highway veteran from Nashville, Tennessee,” Hirst wrote. When Slim inquired about the nature of the group, Hillman replied, “We’re female impersonators from Australia.”
That wisecrack was enough to earn a wide berth from Slim for about a fortnight, until he wandered into a soundcheck and found the Sydney rock act in full flight. “Funny guy, that Bones,” Slim drawled.
Hirst’s book also gave the last word to Hillman, as in 2003 it seemed unlikely that Midnight Oil would ever perform together again, after Garrett decided to pursue a career in politics. “If we do a farewell show, what should the last song be?” Hirst asked.
“An instrumental,” Hillman replied.
The quintet did eventually reform for a highly successful world tour in 2017, followed by a return to the studio in late 2019 for The Makarrata Project and the forthcoming album, which will contain the final bass and vocal tracks he ever laid down.
On his website, Hillman described himself thus: “I’m a simple musician – all I want to do is play my bass, go on tour with new people, maybe get to sit up front with the driver now and again.”
As well as his abundant talent with four strings, Hillman’s other major asset was his singing, which the band first put to great use on its first studio recording with him, 1990’s Blue Sky Mining.
“My playing style fit perfectly with the Oils, and vocally Rob and I put together some great harmonies both live and in the studio,” he wrote on his website.
“I have a high vocal range, as you can hear in my solo on One Country,” he wrote, referring to the penultimate track on Blue Sky Mining, a song of unity which remained a staple throughout the band’s live performances, including on its most recent run of shows last year.
His final show with the band was in far western Queensland for the Big Red Bash music festival in July 2019, where, in an unexpectedly poignant and fitting coincidence, the final song the five musicians performed together was One Country.
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