He's the cool cat with nine lives, and has seen a few big nights in his 51 years. This week Aussie music legend Paul Mac gave his Facebook friends a few pearls of wisdom after three decades on the party circuit.
"So, I turned 51 today," the Aria award winner wrote to his 2000-odd friends. "I don't believe in God but I seriously must have a guardian angel because so much bad s--t could have happened to me by now, but it hasn't. I've survived plagues, overdoses, crackdowns, and the general s--t hands that life can occasionally deal for all of us."
This music thing
Mac went on to explain how he had an epiphany of sorts as he was about to hit the stage to play a DJ gig at the recent Subsonic party. "This girl who was travelling from Tel Aviv said "Hi" and asked me my story … I told her that I've been DJing and making music for "a while". She was new to the scene and intrigued by the backstory of what it was like to do "this music thing" over a long period of time."
Classically trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Mac has been a fixture on the Australian music scene for over 30 years, most notably as part of Itch-E and Scratch-E, The Dissociatives with Daniel Johns, as well as his hit debut solo album, 3000 Feet High.
"[This girl] asked me if I had a wife and children or family and how I had remained doing this for so long," he wrote. The out-and-proud muso says he was initially "gobsmacked" by the question. "Then I thought about it. What is family?"
We are family
Mac says he realised that it was his urban family which made life complete.
"I said I was incredibly lucky and blessed … I've worked with some of the best vocalists on the planet … I have my sister Bernadette who continues to make sure I don't get scurvy by feeding me at least once a week."
He explained he could never list all the important people in his life for risk of turning his birthday message into "a really boring ARIA speech without the fun of any "ecstasy dealer" gags," referencing his infamous 1995 podium shout out to suburban drug dealers.
"More importantly, I'm grateful for the continuously fresh wave of people that I haven't met yet [who] are up the front of the dance floor smiling, connecting with their "god" that is music," Mac wrote. "It is this that drives it all forward. It's the dancers that give life to these pockets of magic that we call songs. These songs that I have been lucky enough to receive, create and play are my children. This is our family."
Happy Birthday Paul, here's to many more songs.