Profile of Tim Rogers on Famous Like Me

History

Tim Rogers is the charismatic frontman of Australian band You Am I. He is also a remarkable solo artist, who has released three albums with bands The Twin Set and The Temperance Union. Tim Rogers is married to Rocio, and they have a daughter Ruby.

Originally from Kalgoorlie Western Australia, Tim had moved around a lot in his adolescence. Despite the rogueish, irreverent persona, he was a school captain in Sydney and had studied law in Canberra. It was in Canberra where he met his long time You Am I band mate, Andy Kent (bass player).

He'll also play Australian Rules Football at the drop of a hat. Most recently playing a charity match for the 2005 3RRR Annual Sacred Heart Mission in Melbourne. In late 2004, he also wrote an ad jingle 'Our Time Begins Again Today' for the Australian Cricket Board's summer ad campaign.

Tim won an ARIA award for Best Male Artist in 1999 for his album What Rhymes With Cars and Girls?. He produced the soundtrack for the 2002 film Dirty Deeds, in which he also had a cameo appearance. Tim performs regularly around the country, and often forms collaborations with such esteemed artists as Lisa Miller, Tex Perkins and the like.

Aside from his aforementioned cameo, Tim is slowly amassing other acting credits. He made his television acting debut on July 28, 2005, in an episode of ABC TV's medical drama series MDA. He played Joel Palmer, a rock star who donated a kidney to a daughter he didn’t know he had fathered. He also acted in a Michael Weisler short film called Hunter Finkelstein which was shown at the 2005 Melbourne International Film Festival. He has a bit piece in Jane Campion's 1999 film Holy Smoke!. He has often appeared as himself on variety or entertainment shows such as RocKwiz, Rove Live and The Fat. He appeared in a sketch on The Micallef Program, ostensively as himself, where the host picked a fight with him about a song's similarity to Air Supply.

At the 2004 Falls Festival in Marion Bay, Tasmania, You Am I were one of the headline bands. Tim staggered and slurred his way through the first few songs of their setlist, in between making comments about the "hippy shit" music performed by the other festival bands. After less than six songs he apologised for being an embarrassment to his mates and himself and walked off stage. Guitarist Davey Lane tried to stop him but Rogers became aggressive and continued. Less than a week later, Rogers posted on the band website:

"I fucked up and take total responsibility for my actions,"

and:

"I've got some problems with intoxicants that I haven't dealt with in a long time and it's come back and bit me".

Rogers returned to Tasmania two months later to perform in the A Day On The Green series at Tolosa Park.

In September 2005, Rogers released a critically-acclaimed double album with the Temperance Union entitled "Dirty Ron/Ghost Songs" with special guests such as Missy Higgins, Donna Simpson (The Waifs) and Rebecca Barnard.

Guitars and Equipment

Tim's best known for his 60's esque 'Crockenbacker' guitars, pictured above. These are replicas of the Rickenbacker 360 guitar, hand made by Piers Crocker based in Sydney. Tim has had several made for him over the years. In Australia at least, original 360s in good condition are very hard to come by, and not something you'd want to tour with. Tim borrowed a 12 string Crockenbacker for the recording on the You Am I album Hourly Daily, arguably Tim's best and most iconic work to date.

Around the time Davey Lane joined You Am I, Tim started Playing a Fender American Standard Telecasters. Primarly because he liked the look and found that with two guitarists, he didn't quite need the fullness of the Crockenbacker sound live.

In his solo work, he's played Guild dreadnought acoustics over most of his career. But for most of 2005, he has been playing an Australian made Cole Clark 'Fat Mama' acoustic guitar at his gigs.

Those who know of Tim's work will know he's especially fond of using a Capo. His amp of choice consistently seems to be a Fender Tonemaster 2x12, which Lee Ranaldo hooked him up with in the Sound as Ever days.

Discography

LPs

• with You Am I:
  • See You Am I article
• with The Twin Set:
  • What Rhymes with Cars and Girls? (1999) - #14 Australia
• with The Temperance Union
  • Bonus 8 track disc with You Am I's 'Dress Me Slowly' DigiPack Release (2001)
  • Spit Polish (2004) - #52 Australia
  • Dirty Ron/Ghost Songs (double album) (2005) - #48 Australia

EPs

• Vampyres 7" (2004)

Movie Soundtracks

• The Idiot Box (1999)
• Dirty Deeds (2002)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Tim Rogers