Australian Rock Collective: Celebrate 50 Years Of Hotel California
Supergroup Australian Rock Collective are tackling one of the great ‘70s albums, the Eagles’ Hotel California. One of the members, You Am I’s Davey Lane, spoke with The Note about performing Hotel California in full, the joy of forensically analysing classic albums and how his moustache might be ready for June, but his hair won’t.
Words Thomas Jackson // Image supplied
The Australian Rock Collective are touring the country this June, performing the iconic Eagles’ album Hotel California in full. The Australian supergroup features an all-star lineup consisting of Kram (Spiderbait), Darren Middleton (Powderfinger), Mark Wilson (Jet) and Davey Lane (You Am I). If you’re too young to know who they are, it’s basically the Australian rock version of the Avengers.
The supergroup have toured the immortal classics such as the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Let It Be, Neil Young’s Harvest, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin IV - now they’re preparing to tour Hotel California, which coincides with its 50th anniversary.
When the tour was announced, Lane stated that the Collective “might even grow moustaches especially for the occasion!” When he joins The Note on Zoom two months out from the tour, his top lip is bare. However, it’s not the moustache he’s worried about growing in time.
“I can work on the moustache, I think this [pointing to his buzz cut hair] is definitely not gonna be Eagles appropriate,” Lane laughs in defeat.
“I cut it out of necessity. I went on a family holiday and my niece gave everybody knits. So off went the hair. I might still try for a moustache anyway, but I might end up looking like a biker. So we’ll see how we go.”
The Australian Rock Collective are spoiled for choice when selecting classic albums. Lane shares that there’s always a bit of back-and-forth discussion between the four of them when selecting what to play, but it always ends up being a unanimous decision.
“Obviously being 2026, it’s the 50th anniversary of Hotel California, it's also the 60th anniversary of Revolver [The Beatles]. That's another one that we were like, ‘Oh, maybe we could do that too’.
“The Eagles are a polarising band. So many people love the Eagles, but so many people are like, ‘Oh, it typifies everything that's kind of that bloated cocaine excess of the ‘70s and blah, blah, blah’. But the music is just so great and we haven't really done anything like that prior.”
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Hotel California is an album that Lane says is omnipresent and has always been part of his life, whether he was conscious of it or not. For Lane, the highlights are in the deep cuts of the album and specifically the work of guitarist Joe Walsh.
“I love the Eagles, but I'm a massive fan of Joe Walsh on his own or with the James Gang. So we'll play the record, but in the second set we'll play obviously some of the other big hit singles that are on Hotel California, but also dive into a little smattering of their solo stuff as well.”
As part of these Australian Rock Collective tribute shows, Lane gets to hyper-fixate and forensically examine these albums to learn how to play them perfectly.
“You have to get right into the minutia of each part. Right at the moment, I'm going through and trying to work out exactly what each of the harmonies are doing and there are a lot of harmonies in this record.
“That's a real rewarding thing in itself, digging deep and even for something like The Beatles. Most of the books on my bookshelf are Beatles books. I'm a card-carrying nerd. Even doing Abbey Road. I know this back to front, this is going to be a walk, and then you try and figure out something like the harmonies in ‘Because’ and there are parts in there that on their own, don't make any sense. It's just that alchemy of putting them together and the discovery of going, ‘Oh, is that what it does?’ I thought I knew every part of this, but actually, I'm really just scratching the surface here. That's just such a rewarding thing.”
With each new band the Australian Rock Collective tackles, there are new frameworks, songwriting styles and methods that Lane gets to learn and apply to his own songwriting.
“Rather than me sitting there going ‘no one wants to see us play our own songs, but everybody wants to see the covers’. It's like, well, we’re learning this incredible music and I find that each year we do it provides us with a new skill set to apply to whatever we do independently, creatively as well. So it's a win-win.”
Catch Australian Rock Collective performing the Eagles Hotel California in full at Thebarton Theatre on Saturday 20 June. Tickets on sale at livenation.com.au.
