Granite Island Discs: Mick Krieg

The Rhino Room & Lowlife Bar owner is a big Chisel fan.

What five songs would you take to a desert island?

1. The Strokes – ‘Last Nite’

2. Dandy Warhols – ‘Bohemian Like You’

3. Violent Femmes – ‘Blister in The Sun’

4. Rolling Stones – ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’

5. Underworld – ‘Born Slippy’

If you could only pick one, what would it be?

‘Born Slippy’. It takes me back to when I was backpacking around South America for six months in my late 20s, just before I started Rhino Room. It was a trip that gave me confidence and inspiration to try new things. When I play Underworld, it reminds me of bus rides through Columbia and Ecuador listening to my CD Walkman.

What’s your favourite album?

Choosing a favourite album is even harder than choosing my favourite songs! I tend to go through stages and have a few records on high rotation. Currently, I have The Libertines’ new album [All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade], Fontaines DC, Courtney Barnett, and Regurgitator’s latest release [Invader] playing. As far as an absolute favourite goes though, I was hovering between The Pixies Doolittle and Lou Reed’s Transformer but settled on Primal Scream’s Screamadelica.

What’s your favourite song by an SA artist/band?

I spent a lot of time listening to Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly in my younger years, but more recently listen to bands such as Bad//Dreems (who we were lucky enough to have play live in Lowlife Bar). I could easily choose one of Sia’s tracks – they are all amazing and take me back to the days we would watch her fronting Crisp in the ’90s. But if I am forced to choose one song, it would be Hilltop Hoods ‘1955’.

Favourite music-related memory?

It would have to come from one of the 20 Big Day Out festivals I attended. It was a yearly ritual and formed the love of live music I still have today. Highlights include seeing The Prodigy, who played a side stage when I first saw them (they later blew up the main stage); seeing the largest moshpit ever at Rage Against The Machine; and watching Beastie Boys perform in crazy costumes before I hurried off to catch Chemical Brothers in the Boiler Room.