Gerry Casey interviews Jimmy Barnes

August 10, 2025

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes is an Australian rock icon whose career has spanned more than four decades, delivering some of the country’s most powerful live performances and unforgettable songs. Rising to fame in the 1970s as the electrifying frontman of Cold Chisel, Barnes helped define the golden era of Australian pub rock with classics like Khe Sanh and Flame Trees. Since launching his solo career in 1984, he has achieved a record-breaking 19 number one albums—more than any other Australian artist—and sold more records in his home country than anyone else.

Beyond music, Barnes is a bestselling author, with his memoirs Working Class Boy and Working Class Man winning multiple Australian Book Industry Awards and becoming the most successful biographical series in local publishing history. His life story has also been told in a hit stage show and the acclaimed documentary Working Class Boy.

Known for his soulful voice, raw honesty, and relentless energy, Barnes has continued to release chart-topping albums well into the 2020s, including My Criminal Record, Flesh & Blood, and Soul Deep 30. He has been inducted twice into the ARIA Hall of Fame, honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia, and remains one of the most beloved and enduring figures in Australian music, with over 10,000 live performances to his name. For Jimmy Barnes, every show is about turning “every night of the week into Saturday night” for his fans.