Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats are out to entertain on their Go It Alone Tour, so you had best strap yourself in.

Blues grooves washed down with a shot voodoo rock and roll, Sydney’s Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats are something of a throwback to the good old days of 80’s pub rock. Wowing crowds with performances containing more swagger than anything that’s come out of anywhere over the last decade, they’ve earned a reputation as a swashbuckling live force.

Now they’re heading out on the road to celebrate the release of their latest single, ‘Go It Alone,’ which is the kind of tune that you’ll be singing in a couple of days and start to wonder how it even got into your head in the first place. It’s typically addictive PPBR guitars with an inescapable rhythm section, complete with horns and booming vocals.

Be sure to get yourself along to a show when they roll into your town (info here) and check out our interview with the guitarist/trumpet player Tom Wilkinson below:

You’ve released three singles since 2015’s Til The End Of The Road. Is another album around the corner?

Another album would definitely be great but for now releasing singles is the easiest way for us to release new music and is a killer excuse to book as many shows as we can within all the band members varied schedules!

PPBR’s sound dips into a lot of genres, from blues, to country, to spanish infused stuff. Is this a case of all members bringing their own vibe to the table or is it more of a case of one person with broad tastes writing? Or Both?

Yeah totally! Tunes will either evolve from jamming together at rehearsal or someone bringing in a fairly fully formed idea and once it goes through everyone’s minds a few times it’ll change into something completely different and usually for the better. There are certainly some very broad tastes within the band!

If you could sum up PPBR’s sound in one drink, one place and one time – what, where and when would it be?

Best question! It would either have to be a VB tinnie in the park during a thunderstorm OR some kind of overly strong cocktail at your mates house while the sun’s still up and you become a little too ridiculous a little too early.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKE18pqR-cY

Most of the PPBR photos/videos/posters etc is in black and white. Is there a story behind that aesthetic choice?

Not really, we made a choice to rock the all black on stage a while ago because we thought it would look slick and it sort of stuck, plus we’ve got 3 photographers in the band so the B&W visual is always a solid vibe amongst us.

PPBR definitely get around (in terms of shows) where’s the weirdest place/venue you’ve ever played?

Ah there’s been a few strange times for sure! I guess one of the more recent eventful nights was in Port Macquarie, it was weird but in that really good kind of way! We’d never been there before other than driving through on tour, we were playing a festival in a brewery and then ended up partying with all these amazing locals till 5am. Keen to get back soon.

What are you looking forward to on the ‘Go It Alone Tour’?

Looking forward to playing some new venues with some bands we haven’t played with before!

It’s no secret you guys like to get a bit rowdy at shows. What’s the wildest thing that’s ever happened ON stage at a PPBR show?

Yeah, there’s been a fair few crazy things happen on and off stage. One thing that happened last tour which was pretty funny was our Sax player ‘Jubby’ decided to rock a solo on top of a table in Melbourne but didn’t realise it was one of those single legged tables so it was like he was shredding saxophone while riding a bucking bronco! Bloody hilarious from onstage, don’t think the punters who’s drinks went flying thought so though haha.

What’s the wildest thing that’s ever happened OFF stage at a PPBR show?

One thing that comes to mind is scaling the roof of a YHA in Brisbane to go swimming in the rooftop pool and our drummer Josh having to catch our mate from falling off a second story balcony. Touring is pretty fun.

What are you guys looking forward to for the rest of 2018?

Well this tour will wrap up 2018 for us so we’re just looking forward to playing some shows and some new tunes and meeting some people and having a good time. Hopefully will be hitting the studio again in the new year for more classic hits.