There are so many interesting people involved at Radio Blue Mountains both behind the mic and behind the scenes, that we thought we’d share their stories here on the RBM website.
John Unicomb presents Scattered Sounds on RBM at 6pm on a Wednesday. He’s lived an extremely interesting life, growing up in Taree NSW before moving to Sydney in the 70’s and experiencing the Harbour City in a sun tinted time gone by.
Q: Hi John, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
A: No worries.
Q: Let’s start with your background and where you come from. You’re from Taree on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, aren’t you? Tell us about your formative years in what is mainly an agricultural area?
A: Taree was a mainly dairy and cropping area with also a large timber industry. Many of my Uncles and cousins worked in these industries. As well it had the largest aboriginal population in NSW, so I went to school with all those kids and saw a lot of what was going on with them. As well Taree was a major railway town where steam trains would stop and have fresh locomotives replace the old ones. The old ones would be cleaned and refuelled and new train crews would take the train further.
Since “Loco” was about five minutes walk away probably half the houses in my part of Taree had a railway wage coming in each week. I lived in what was a new estate on the western outskirts of Taree that was built after the 2nd World War. Our street was of privately owned houses and the other two street were of Government housing. Behind the houses across the road was a few paddocks of lightly timbered bush that we local kids use to play in. About 60 or so metres from my house was a saw mill that provided plenty of sawdust hills for us kids to play in. Beyond that there was the railway line and beyond that was a farm with a small shack for a farm hand. This farm was used for drying out cows before they were joined to the bull and also when they calved. When I was ten I wondered why they were abled to be kept behind a single strand of wire suspended a couple of feet off the ground. I quickly discovered the principle of electrical fencing when I pee’d on it.
Q: Shocking!
Your family are well known in the area, aren’t they?
A: Mum was an Infants School teacher. Teaching for seven years before I came along and then When I was seven she taught for another twenty three years. When they were discharged from the army after WW2, Dad and two of his brothers got apprenticeships as carpenters from their Uncle George. In the early 1960’s Dad started bridge building soon becoming the company’s top foreman.
Q: Were you a busy sporty kid, busy with footy, cricket, and the likes?
A: I was never the sporty type though I played Footy and Cricket at school (though my favourite was hooky – no not hockey). With the little gang of local kids we use to disappear into the scrub in the morning only to go back home to be fed.
Q: Was there a yearning to move away and discover the big city?
A: Yes, but not until my teenage years because Taree was a Rock ‘n’ Roll desert. Newcastle would have been good as it had a thriving music scene.
Q: Speaking of music, when was it that you took up a musical instrument? Was it when you were a kid in Taree?
A: I stated learning guitar at 12 or 13 but with Country and Western teachers which didn’t turn me on.
Q: After school, you moved to Sydney. Did you go to Uni in Sydney?
A: No, I spent three years in Sydney and then moved to Newcastle where I went to Uni.
Q: Tell us about those early years in Sydney. What year was it when you arrived and what was Sydney like? Was it as wild and free as people say?
A: Going from Taree to Sydney was like jumping ahead five years or so. I embraced the whole hippie scene instantly. It was the joys of drugs, sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll and I loved it! But within a few months of being there I realised that city life was not for me, so after three years I moved to Newcastle which, though it was a city, was basically a big country town.
Q: And did you quickly sort out your own space or were you in shared accommodation with friends for years?
A: I spent two years living in share houses and then after that I pretty well lived either by myself or with a girlfriend.
Q: What was the music scene like back then? Was there a good pub band scene?
A: Both Sydney and Newcastle had brilliant music scenes and I was definitely in my element.
Q: At some stage you began to settle on a career. Tell us how you ended up in the railways.
A: I went to Uni to become a clinical psychologist but ended up doing English and Classics. I wanted to become a journalist but found out that to do so I would have to go to Sydney ( no bloody way!!!) so I worked at various labouring jobs for a year until I got a job on the railways as a trainee linesman on a major project: the electrification of the line from Gosford to Newcastle so they could run electric trains.
This was only meant to be for a few years but I enjoyed the work so I eventually stayed. After ten and a half years in Newcastle I was ready for a change and so transferred in my job to the Lawson depot in the Blue Mountains.
Q: Once you began working for Sydney Trains / CityRail, you proved to be well equipped for the various roles they gave you. You moved up through the ranks, and eventually retired after 30+ years working there. Tell us about your progression there.
A: I was not really ambitious but soon realised that the railways gave opportunities for various roles. I have been able to do a lot of union work and committee work as well as being an instructor at the Linesman Training School.
I was a leading hand for 14 years and finally a foreman for 8. I worked from Newcastle to Wollongong and from Sydney to Wallerawang, enjoying some of the most beautiful country in Australia. I also enjoyed working in Western Sydney where I had access to a lot of fantastic restaurants and supermarkets.
Q: Coming round now to your role at RBM as presenter of Scattered Sounds. When do you remember first getting into music?
A: I used to love going to the matinees of the Elvis movies in the early 1960’s. Then along came the Beatles and the British invasion.
Q: So you had a cinematic education in the music scene. What would have been the first record you bought around this time?
A: I think that is what the Wedding Ring EP of The Easybeats – although I think that I stole it rather than bought it.
Q: We joke on air occasionally about the size of your record collection. But it’s extensive, isn’t it, and all housed in a specific room at home. For the record (pardon the pun) just how many LP’s tapes, and CD’s do you think you own?
A: I think about seven to eight thousand records, about five thousand cds and over nine hundred pre-recorded cassette tapes.
Q: I remember you once describing it in feet. Something like 8 feet long and 12 feet high. Is that right?
A: No, it’s about 20 foot long and 6 foot high, 100 linear feet (30 metres) in total.
Q: So with a music collection like that, just how much time does it take you to decide what you’re going to listen to at home?
A: Usually not long. I try not to play two similar genres within weeks or even months of each other.
Q: Which album do you think you’ve listened to more than any other?
A: It’s gotta be Hendrix. Either “Cry of Love” or “Hendrix in the West”.
Q: What about movies. Do you have a movie collection too?
A: I do, but nothing like my music collection.
Q: Have you any specific movie directors you enjoy over others?
A: Kurosawa and Fellini are my two favourites, but I also like Polanski and Kubrick.
Q: Another aspect to you John, is your self sufficiency. You’re not quite off grid, but you’re not far off. You’d survive a lot longer than others on your own devices. Tell us about your permaculture beliefs, and how you live so self sufficiently.
A: I borrowed and read Permaculture One in the early 1980’s and was instantly converted. A real permaculture practitioner would be scathing of what I do as permaculture has become quite stylised these days but when I bought my place 40 years ago I was guided by my understanding of those principles. The most unused article at my place is the green bin as I compost everything from this property. I have primarily followed my own sense of logic as to how I organise and work this place.
Q: You’ve got a water tank collection, don’t you?
A: Yes I run this whole property off tank water and not the chemically poisoned town water. My main tank is 18,000 litres with another 10,000 litres that I can pump into the main tank if needed.
Q: Is it a complicated way of living, or is it far more fulfilling than going to the 3 main supermarkets for everything you need?
A: I don’t find it complicated as I have developed it over the last 40 years and understand the inter-relationship between the various components. It’s not really an attempt to be self sufficient but more an attempt to be more self reliant. I still go to the 3 supermarkets each fortnight.
Q: Moving on now to your Wednesday night show, Scattered Sounds. Give us the low down on what you do.
A: I select a subject matter from a genre that I haven’t played for a while and listen to everything that I have of it. Then I read what I can about the subject from Wikipedia, Music encyclopaedias and album liner notes. From this I can plan an approach. The writing of the program itself usually takes about two hours.
Q: It’s always enjoyable to listen to your show. You have a great ear for a tune. The content is so wide ranging. Casting your mind back to your formative years in Taree, was music always playing in your childhood home, and if so, was it as eclectic as your Scattered Sounds show has proven to be?
A: My father was the main musical influence in my family. He had played in the Royal Australian Engineers brass band in the war years and then the local Salvation Army band until his death.
He also loved choral music and classical music. Also in Taree was a Scottish pipe band plus a strong interest from the locals of mainly Australian Country and Western. One of my friends mother use to proudly tell you that she was once (Australian country music singer) Reg Lindsay’s girlfriend.
Q: Do you get out to gigs much these days?
A: No.
Q: Where did you see in the year 2000?
A: I don’t remember where I was on New Years Eve, probably with my then girlfriend. However I know that on New Years Day I made a batch of mudbricks as I marked one JUY2K and it is installed in my workshop.
Q: Speaking of Y2K did you think the Y2K bug was going to shut down everything?
A: I didn’t care as it didn’t really affect me.
Q: Ok time for our rapid fire questions. We fire a quick question at you and you answer as quickly and briefly as you can. Ready?
A: Yep
Q: Spotify or Apple Music?
A: Neither
Q: Long hair or buzz cut?
A: Don’t care.
Q: Sure for Men Aerosol or Crystal Botanica Roll On?
A: Neither
Q: Chicken or Chick Peas?
A: Chickpeas cause bum explosions and I only eat chicken occasionally.
Q: Swimming pool or bush swimming hole?
A: Both.
Q: Favourite take away?
A: Salad and tofu wrap from Laughing Elephant, Wenty.
Q: Favourite non alcoholic drink?
A: Indian Masala Chai.
Q: Favourite alcoholic drink?
A: Oban 14 year old single malt whisky.
Q: Favourite Katoomba lunch?
A: Falafel box from the Cedar Takeaway, same as for the last 40 years.
Q: Favourite Australian holiday destination?
A: Somewhere on the tablelands and western slopes area of NSW.
Q: Favourite holiday destination overseas?
A: South and South East Asia.
Q: Bach or Beethoven?
A: Beethoven
Q: Jimmi Hendrix or Jeff Beck?
A: Jimi Hendrix for the same reason as Beethoven that they move me like no other.
Q: Christmas Day Roast, or Christmas Day Barbie and salads?
A: Whatever I’ve got to eat.
Q: Sydney Swans or GWS?
A: I’m not an AFL fan though I think that AFL is the world’s best football code.
Q: Favourite night out when you were 20?
A: Go to a pub where a band was playing, have a few drinks, a smoke and a bop and go home with a lovely lady for the night, or better still, for the weekend.
Q: Favourite night out today?
A: Go out with a few friends to have a meal or see a movie and be back home and in bed by 11 o’clock.
Q: Favourite night in today?
A: Watch the SBS and ABC news, do the washing up and either watch a movie and/or read a book.
Q: Last gig you were at?
A: The Radiators at the RSL a couple of years ago.
Q: Finally, complete this sentence “If I won a million bucks tomorrow I would . . . . “
A: Buy the place next door, chop down the dozen 20 metre pine trees, chip the tips of the branches and cut up the rest for firewood and bring in a portable mill to saw up the trunks for framing material.
Thanks John. Take care.
RL.