I was in the Gershwin room, deep within the Espy, and I should have worn gumboots. The floor was sticky like any good pub venue, and the dark room smelt of beer, sweaty boys and more beer. The blokes on stage knew what they were doing (so did the gal in their midst) and were loving being up there. Maybe they didn't have enough material to fill their gig cause they did a lot of talking between songs! Or maybe they just loved to talk - they were bloody funny! At one stage, pot filled to the brim, they had my attention and somewhere in the midst of the family jokes I heard the word 'hypo'. Noone else blinked but hey why would they and two seconds later I'd forgotten too. It was just a jibe at the drummer in this all-in-the-family band. He'd shown up only 2 minutes before the gig and his big brothers were worried he might have been having a hypo in the loo or something … but no just running late.

Half a dozen gigs later, a few emails, several conversations and that's all I know about Danny McKenna's diabetes. Except that he got it in Grade 6, a couple of years before his first drumming gig outside his bedroom, playing with his big brother's cover band in suburban Melbourne. Nothing to tell … life just goes on when there's nine brothers, a sister and a tribe of nieces and nephews to keep an eye out for you and music to be played!

The boys recently asked their nieces and nephews (all 23 of them) to submit questions to each band member over the net for inclusion on their web page.

Danny, what was your first drum kit like?
It was like a dream….that morphed from hands on carpet to sticks on boxes to ice cream containers to stretched rubber to ….finally a big present from mum and dad that I still play today….

What was your first sexual experience like?
……my first drum kit.

Did you have to wear a shirt at high school? (Chris 13yrs old)
I know exactly what you're going through Chris - you want to wear your latest piece of J. Lo merchandise to school - but you're stuck with the old uniform. The trick is just get creative with it. You can always carve J. Lo into your chest with a broken Bunsen burner. The chicks (not to mention your mum and dad) will love it! Bones heal and chicks dig scars.

Those Bloody McKennas play pubs and festivals all around Australia. They've just won a grant to do a tour of regional Victoria in Feb 2002: everywhere from the burbs of Melbourne to Narnargoon and in mid 2002 a National Tour is happening. Keep an eye out for Mrs McKenna in the audience!

http://www.thosebloodymckennas.com