FRESH from a delightfully cathartic bout of agoraphobia, I began to venture, mouse-like, into the Brisbane indie scene somewhere around Expo ’88. Three memories stand out, like mountainous peaks…

One. I drove past The Orient and thought to myself, “I gotta get in there…”. Two. Some little idiot (now a fine friend) tried to balance his beer on my oh-so-cool black hat at a Screaming Tribesmen gig. And Three. Sitting on the floor at an Ignatius Jones’ gig, I turned and saw a woman at the bar – the clothes, the hair, the presence, the coterie of hangers-on. I knew she was “Someone”. She was Marie Antoinette amid a sea of standard Gothics. You couldn’t miss her.

By this stage, I’d done my little bit and seen my little bit on the Gold Coast. I was about to do my little bit and see quite a bit in what was eventually to become “Brisvegas”. Looking back on it, my first glimpse of Wendy Seary was, likewise, perhaps my first real glimpse of Brisbane’s indie underworld – a place that had already birthed the likes of The Saints and The Go-Betweens and would later launch Custard, Regurgitator and the powerhouse Powderfinger.

As I would soon learn, Wendy (lead vocals) and her equally gifted comrades, Coojee Timms (drums), Tony Van Wieldt (guitar) and Brett Cheney (bass) – Lovs é Blur – had already made an enormous and lasting contribution to the local industry and beyond.

True fame never came their way but my earlier perusals of Time Off, even from a distant Gold Coast, had told me that Blur were a proper “it” band. Their reputation as truly unique, local, sonic stars, had well and truly preceded them. They weren’t proper famous but they were proper good. And complete one-offs.

But fuck fame. It doesn’t matter and never has. You exist and make a difference or you don’t. Lovs é Blur were real and so, too, their influence. Rock, psychedelia, acid, jazz, pop, opera – all as one and why the fuck not. And professionalism. Always…

And they’re all still kickin’ round town, one way or another. Cooj thoroughly owned the stage on lead vocals for The Five Hanks at last year’s Oriental Rock book launch. A solid cohort of ye olde Orient Hotel punters got hip all over again to the “Edge of Reality”.

And that same day, who could be found amid the pulsing throng of punters? Marie Antoinette herself! “Oh, look, it’s my Facebook friend!” she emitted in her initimitible Aussie twang, when I went up to say hello (She’d clearly forgotten my three weeks’ faultless management of her Morphia Honeymoon of days gone by).

Even better news is that all four are bringing the past to the present this coming August 30 at Fortitude Valley’s New Globe Theatre. A word in someone’s ear, a bit of calendar juggling, a few arm twists and a whole lotta vibe from last year’s book launch mean that Lovs é Blur, complete with that funny dash thing above the E, are doing it live again at least one more time.

So how does Miss Wendy see the band’s beginnings, its healing powers, its deeper meanings and its fresh live challenge?…

“I guess being alternative and growing up in Brisbanal in the 80s, I was left with few options – either leave town, which I eventually did when I lived in Sydney for a few years, or relieve the angst and oppression by trying to create music, which works wonders for my sanity and helps keep the rubber room at bay,” she told me, through the modern wonders of social media, via lobster-ridden Deagon.

“… Except when gigs are required and my nerves send me into a spin. But, despite that, music has healed my addled mind, body and soul. I wasn’t really interested in making any statements. As for evoking feelings [in their audience], well, maybe just to think outside the square of conformity and accepting all the realms and diversity of life – thinking outside the box without judgement, awareness of how we’re conditioned to behave, obey, consume, conform.”

“Looking back, I’m blown away that people still remember us. I didn’t think we made that much of an impact. I hope we succeeded in entertaining and helping people to evolve out of the darkness. But even darkness has its place. Without it, stars can’t shine, and the most beautiful lotus blossoms in the darkest of mud.”

“So embracing pain has its place. Feeds the soul. Living ain’t for sissies… Having said that, another gig in a few weeks?! You’ll drive me to an early grave with that kinda talk!”

The lady is a delightful one-off, so too Lovs é Blur – right down to that little dash above the E.

Lovs é Blur play Oriental Rock 2, August 30, New Globe Theatre. Fortitude Valley, with Dirt & The Rebels and Catalina. Tickets $10 through Ticketbooth.com.au.     

RICHARD KWONG