Review / Book Review
Tex Perkins
Tex

Macmillan Australia (2017) T

Tex Perkins – Tex cover artwork
Tex Perkins – Tex — Macmillan Australia, 2017

Pizzazz. 
Omph. 
Attitude.
Sensibility.
A sardonic sense of humour.
Charisma.
Swagger.

If your music depends entirely on that, the dependency is too great.

So much for the basics.

See, you could claim that Tex Perkins and his incarnations have had a more than profound impact on my ever since I planted a foot on terra australis. 

Tex Perkins has been in the game for close to four decades. 

He oozes the aforementioned qualities yet his oeuvre stands for itself.

More than three decades of versatility and effortlessly moving between a range of genres and incarnations, while still retaining his own DNA.

Tex Perkins has fronted some of the most spirited best bands Australia has to offer, e.g. The Cruel SeaThe Beasts Of BourbonTex, Don & CharlieDark HorsesThugThe Ladyboyz and many other projects, including performing as Johnny Cash in the acclaimed Man In Black theatre show. 

His memoir Tex documents a life less ordinary.

A life that has been lived the hard way and against the odds.

Having been raised as a Catholic and socialised in the narrow minded streets of Brisbane, the book starts with Gregory Perkins’ escape to Sydney and sheds light on his metamorphosis to “Tex” and the frontman personality that would first front odd bands before finding mainstream exposure as the iconic frontman of internationally acclaimed outfits and with it success, its trappings and spoils.

Gigs. Albums. Tours. Fights. Feuds. Arrests. Drugs. High times. Low roads. The good life.

A tour de force of a life documented and driven by Tex’s dry wit and idiosyncratic energy.

9.0 / 10T • July 31, 2017

Tex Perkins – Tex cover artwork
Tex Perkins – Tex — Macmillan Australia, 2017

Related news

Rock the Gate to feature 60+ bands and raise funds

Posted in Shows on November 20, 2014

Recently-posted album reviews

Action/Adventure

Ever After
Pure Noise (2025)

Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more

217

In Your Gaze
Time To Kill (2025)

If you didn’t know, hardcore and punk are alive and thriving in Italy. When I come across bands from there, their scene never ceases to amaze me. Italy gave us Raw Power and Negazione in the ’80s, Slander and Strength Approach in the 2010s. Now 217 picks up that lineage with their own mix of fire and reflection by keeping … Read more

Ugly Stick

Absinthe
Hovercraft Records (2025)

Contrary to what I said on Vh1’s Behind the Music, Tim from Hovercraft is one of my favourite human beings. I suppose in some ways that’s not saying much but Tim plays in one of my favourite bands, I’m a fan of his art and on top of those two things and running a label, his day job is saving … Read more