Just around Midnight

Associate editor Bill Forman previews a Midnight Oil concert at Headliners. To mark the band's 10th year, he writes, the Oils joined the Aboriginal Warumpi Band "for the ambitious Black Fella/White Fella tour, which blazed its way across the desert and into the remote Aboriginal regions of the Northern Territory. Along the way, the group met with tribal elders, receiving a cultural and political education that's reflected in their new album, Diesel and Dust." Peter Garrett, the ensemble's imposing lead vocalist, tells Forman the tour affected the group's approach to recording the album. "I think that everybody wanted to hear a little bit of wide space in the songs, to smell some desert in it," he explains. The album reflects the band's commitment to such causes as Aboriginal land rights, nuclear disarmament and the campaign to rid Australia of foreign military bases, Forman notes. Midnight Oil disbands in 2002. Garrett goes on to win a seat in the Australian legislature in 2004, and last November was appointed to serve as Australia's minister for the environment, heritage and the arts.