In exciting news, legendary Melbourne band The Sharp have announced that “Skivvies are Back!” after 31 years.
Their song and video clip, “Scratch My Back” was satirised so well by The Late Show in 1993 that the phrase “Skivvies are Back” became synonymous with the band.
A Facebook clip released on 4 March revealed that drummer Piet Collins and bandmate Charlie Rooke will be doing a series of gigs, playing their successful debut album This Is The Sharp from “top to bottom”. While bandmate Allan Catlin on double bass is not joining them, they have recruited Scott Owen from The Living End, along with musician Lee Harding on vocals.
Dates are to be announced, but we’d like to pat our own backs (ha, ha) for giving drummer Piet Collins a bit of inspiration to get most of the original line-up back together for another tour.
When Matt interviewed drummer Piet Collins about the classic clip for the Champagne Comedy podcast in 2022, he had nothing but praise for the comedians they admired so greatly, and didn’t rule out the idea of a gig potentially involving some of the other popular (and parodied) bands of the time.
“I remember hearing about [the parody] very soon after it happened and watching it and just thinking it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen,” Piet recalled. “What a great compliment it was to get from a bunch of comedians who we we huge fans of. If you were living in Melbourne in in the early 90s you were you were going to be a fan of the D-Gen or you’re going to be a fan of The Late Show. Everyone you knew loved it.”
The clip gained notoriety for its uncanny imitations as well as its focus on the skivvy-wearing aspects, which you can see here on the official Working Dog YouTube feed.
