Brett Lee on bringing back band Six and Out, hanging with rock star mates and Albo’s singing skills

The cricket great opens up on how a sick friend and a little assistance from the Prime Minister helped bring back his side hustle rock band, Six and Out.

When Anthony Albanese called Brett Lee last year to ask if he would reassemble his side-hustle rock band Six and Out, the former Australian fast bowler readily agreed – on one condition.

Bass player Lee would sign up his bandmates brother Shane (guitar), Brad McNamara (guitar), Gavin Robertson (drums) and Richard Chee Quee (vocals) – all former New South Wales cricketers – on the spot, as long as the Prime Minister would join them on stage for a song.

Lee had been on holidays in Greece with his wife when his friend and sometime tennis partner Albanese’s number popped up on his phone, looking for a band that would play at the centenary celebration of the Marrickville Lawn Tennis Club, of which he was a member.

Brett Lee in the band Six and Out.

The band duly whipped their set list of mostly classic rock covers with a smattering of originals into shape and true to his word, Albo – as Lee still calls him – fronted the crowd for a rousing version of The Rolling Stones classic Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

“He was really good actually,” confirms Lee. “I don’t want to say I was surprised by his voice but he was good. Plenty of energy. It would be daunting to get called up on stage to do that, but all the members were super impressed and we had a good time doing it.”

Six and Out, which initially formed in 1999 when drummer and former Australian off-spinner Robertson challenged Shane Lee and McNamara to learn the guitar so they could form a band, wasn’t coming in completely cold for the gig.

Brett Lee, Gavin Robertson, Richard Chee Quee, Brad McNamara and Shane Lee in Six and Out.

After they initial burst of activity in the early 2000s, in which they played more than 300 gigs and released two albums, the band had gone on hiatus in 2005 as their playing careers wound down and life got in the way, although all the members remained good mates and they got together for the occasional gig.

But it wasn’t until Robertson was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which required serious surgery and chemo, five years ago that they all started to think seriously about revisiting the musical outlet that had given them all so much joy two decades ago.

“That got everyone to thinking that life is too short,” says McNamara in a separate interview. “We’d always found reasons to put it off and not to do it but if I had to say what was the one overriding thing that gave us the impetus to come back and do it again it would be Gav’s health and if we’re going to do it then we’re going to do it now.”

Lee agrees, adding that he and his bandmates were shaken by Robertson’s diagnosis, and it was a unanimous decision that they should all do it while they still could.

“We all just sat down and said ‘well what makes us happy’,” says Lee. “And Gav just said straight away ‘playing music – I love playing in the band’. And we thought we all make excuses – everyone’s too busy – but if you want to make time you can make time.”

Brett Lee on the bass in the band Six and Out.

After a handful of well-received pub gigs last summer, Six and Out is truly swinging for the fences this year and is planning to follow the Test team around – Lee and McNamara also both work for Fox Cricket – and put on gigs in the five cities where Australia will play India in coming months. The first show will be at the 2000-seat Sydney Coliseum as part of the Cricket Rocks event on November 15, which will also be filmed for a Kayo special, and Lee says that while they don’t take themselves too seriously, they take their the music and the obligation to give the paying public their money’s worth very seriously.

After copping criticism early in their music career for being something of a novelty act, especially when they landed a record contract, Lee says they all applied the same focus and dedication to the music as they had given to their sporting conquests.

“I don’t care what people think,” Lee says. “We’re having a good time, people at the show are having a good time and that’s all that counts. We’re not trying to be Bon Jovi or Green Day … however we’ve turned ourselves into musicians now that are very passionate and we want to make sure that the 30 songs that we play we try to play to the best of our ability.

“We have that mindset where we have done all the hard work and I remember one time we were in a studio rehearsing and Midnight Oil were next to us going through their songs and Peter Garrett puts his head in the room – and we’re six hours in and have not had a break – and he goes ‘you guys are bloody machines’.”

McNamara says there’s a “natural synergy” between being in a band and being in a sports team in that “everybody has a job to do and you need to work together”. The earlier incarnation of Six and Out collaborated with the likes of Garth Porter and Daryl Braithwaite from Sherbet, Dave Gleeson from The Screaming Jets, Steve Balbi from Noiseworks and members of INXS.

international cricketer Brett Lee talking with Anthony Albanese before a game of backyard cricket at Kirribilli House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“What we found is that a lot of these musicians were frustrated cricketers or sportsmen and a lot of cricketers are frustrated musicians,” he adds with a laugh.

Certainly Lee’s on-field exploits as one of Australia’s best fast bowlers, who took 310 wickets in 76 Tests for Australia, has given him access to some of the biggest names in world music. He now counts Elton John and Mick Jagger among his friends and looks back on playing backyard cricket with Neil Finn and his family after visiting the Crowded House front man’s studio in Auckland as one of his most cherished memories.

“I didn’t realise with Sir Elton John, about his cricket knowledge and his love for the game,” says Lee. “He’s talking about reverse swing and all that and I’m talking about ‘when you are writing the words to this song and Bernie has sent you the lyrics …’. I’m nutting out on the whole music thing and he’s talking about cricket – it’s hilarious.”

But as to whether he’d rather take a hat-trick in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne or be the opening act for Coldplay at Wembley Stadium, Lee is, well, completely stumped.

“Geez, mate,” he says, pondering the question. “People always say is the grass greener on the other side … and I love Coldplay … but I think because I’ve been fortunate enough to take a hat-trick, then to play at Wembley or at Knebworth would be amazing.”

Brett Lee celebrates his hat-trick with Ricky Ponting in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Amid all his excitement for the Six and Out tour, Lee also has his day job as a commentator for Fox Cricket to consider in what is shaping up as a cracking season with three one-day internationals against Pakistan followed by the five Test Matches against India. As someone with a special affinity for the subcontinent, he warns against writing off the world’s second ranked Test team, despite their just suffering a rare home series loss against New Zealand.

“That’s going to give India the kick up the backside that they probably needed which is, not what Australia want to hear,” he says.

“If I could look through that crystal ball and go – Sydney, last session, a draw coming in, in terms of it might be 2-2 but it might come down to the last session on the Fifth Test which would be pretty exciting.

“India, even though they haven’t showed it recently against the Kiwis, they have a great side, and I promise you when they come out here they are not going want to lose to Australia. I spend three months a year over in India I know those players very, very well, and they are super capable and some of the best players in the world.”

Six and Out will play Cricket Rocks at the Sydney Coliseum on November 15, The Gov, Adelaide, Dec 5; The Triffid, Brisbane, Dec 15; The Espy, Melbourne, Dec 27, Paddington RSL, Jan 4. Watch Australia V Pakistan, Monday, 2pm, on Kayo.

Originally published as Brett Lee on bringing back band Six and Out, hanging with rock star mates and Albo’s singing skills