“You know, there's a time for you, and, I think we had four albums in a row that reached platinum status or triple platinum status or gold status, so we were a pretty big band,” Camilleri said while he was shelling broad beans at his kitchen sink in his Kyneton home.
“Then of course, you know, the music trends change ... so those sort of records are probably the most important ones that people are interested in hearing again in a collection, and I think that's what a best-of does; you get them all on one record, you round them all up.”
The band released a double volume album in October titled The Quintessential Black Sorrows, and have since embarked on an Australia-wide tour to promote it.
They will play in Shepparton on February 19.
“We're a band that comes to you, that's how it works for me,” Camilleri said when asked what he likes about performing in regional venues.
“Some of the big bands, you go to see them ... some you’ve got to go to a festival, and it's 50 km away or something because that's where they're only doing one show, and they're collecting everybody from all the different regions.
“I tend not to do that.”
He said the band’s touring schedule looked a little different these days now they were performing in theatres mostly only around the weekend, as opposed to the 300 shows they used to do in a year which left them little time to return home.
Now he’s able to head back to his regional Victorian residence for R’n’R between shows.
Sixty-two years into his career, Camilleri says he doesn’t know what he’d do without music.
“I don’t know how to do anything else,” he said.
“I can shell peas, I can work in the garden.”
Luckily, he is still passionate about performing.
“I appreciate the fact that you appreciate it, you know, and then it becomes something,” he said.
“It’s not just about turning up and selling records; it’s about playing the best you can be, and always at that level is really important.
“I don’t wanna be there if I don’t wanna be there, you know, so I wanna be there, that’s my job.
“I know how to play to a big audience, I know how to play to a small audience.”
Camilleri said The Black Sorrows’ upcoming Shepparton audience was in for a “joyous evening”.
The Riverlinks Eastbank show starts at 8pm on Thursday, February 18.
Tickets start at $64.90.
To book, visit the Riverlinks website.
