UPDATE - June 2, 2007 -- Liam was recently interviewed by Manchester's Metro Magazine and here's the article:
***
All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Beth Shark
The last time Liam Pace saw his
brother Charlie was also the last time almost anyone saw him alive.
"I'd rather remember the first time, you know?" says Pace. "His face
was all red and funny-looking when Mum let me see him, and I wasn't
sure I liked him very much. But he was my baby brother, so...."
After three years, the former DriveShaft frontman is trying
to put his brother and bandmate's memory to rest. Talking to us from
the suburban Sydney home he shares with wife Karen and daughter
Megan, Liam Pace cuts a clean visage these days, not showing a scar,
wrinkle or dark circle to hint at the hard and fast times of his
band's brief rise to fame and immediate fall. Despite this scrubbed
image, he hunches over the immaculate green patio table and barely
makes eye contact, instead watching the trails of smoke that curl
away from each cigarette he lights. But his voice fills with pride
and even reverence when he remembers Charlie, not bitterness. "I've
lost a lot of rock gods already in my time. Lennon, Cobain, Buckley,
Ramone. But, man, he was the biggest."
Five-year-old Megan runs up to Pace once during our interview,
dragging behind her a toy guitar made of hot pink plastic. As she
places it in his lap, he tells us he's teaching her to play. "Start
'em early," he smiles.
When asked what songs he's teaching her— Beatles, Zeppelin, maybe
even DriveShaft's sole hit "You All (Everybody)" — he hesitates
for a long time before answering. "There's this song Charlie wrote
back in the bad old days. It's meant for piano, but I was never much
good at that sort of thing. That was always Charlie's area." He
smiles and takes a long drag of his cigarette before continuing.
"Anyway, I had this dream not so long ago where he was back here,
visiting, like nothing had ever happened. And he sang that song to
Megan in my dream. So, I think he'd like that I'm kind of passing it
on, yeah. It's sort of a saving grace."
Would he like to see his daughter follow in his footsteps?
"No, absolutely not! [laughter] Only if it's just about the music. I
remember the first time we heard our song on the radio. We were
touring, and it was raining and we'd got ourselves a flat tire and
started fighting and shit, but it was just about the best day of my
entire life. Well, second best, I should say."
Pace trips his fingers over the pink toy guitar reflectively for a
moment. On its face is a sticker of a yellow daisy, peeling at the
edges and faded as though it has been bleached by the sun. Next to
that, scrawled in silver magic marker, are the initials DS.
There's little doubt as to what it stands for.
"We had some crazy times. 'Course they weren't always good, but
looking back? Fucking A. It was the adventure of my life. I think
Charlie would say the same."
***
He was clearly in a reflective mood, and it got us thinking about the future of Second Tour of Finland. Then Liam emailed us and asked us to extend this invitation to DS fans past and present:
On 22 September, it will be 3
years to the day since Charlie flew off into the great...
something... in the sky. So we've decided to gather together in
Manchester to hold a little remembrance finally, nothing fancy, just
some beer and nosh and lots of loud music to raise the dead, so to
speak. We've booked the Night & Day for it, where the band got our
first gig. I'll be coming up from Oz, and Sinjin and Patrick plan to
be there as well, so we may do a song or two if inspiration strikes,
but don't get your hopes up, kids. First person to request
'Champagne Supernova' gets kicked out. Just jossin’.
Anyway, come by if you can. It's free, but we're asking for a
donation to Make Poverty History. It's a good cause, so try not to
be stingy.
If you can't make it, play some records, light a candle, hell, light
a whole effigy, and think of Charlie.
Thanks for everything,
Liam
***
To help all the DS fans fulfill Liam’s request, you can light a candle in Charlie’s memory.
So, here’s where we are. We feel that the time has come to move on. We will leave the site up, so we can come back and remember the good (and even not-so-good) times. And you are welcome to do the same. But as of now, there will be no further updates to STOF. The site shall remain as a testament to the love that all the fans had for Charlie and Liam and Sinjin and Patrick and Zap and the passion we shared for the world they created and let us visit, even for a short while.
There are so many people who helped create and maintain this site over the years. We would like to thank them all for the time and energy they spent to help turn our silly little idea into something more than we ever dreamed. So, big ups to Lacy, Beth, Joy, Kate, Pip, Raven, Lexi, Meghan, KayKay, Chrysti, Heather and all the other SGs, Lala, Jen, Jem, Dasha and the Brokeass Girlies, Mavvy, Violet, Melissa, Lisa, Bub, Bobbi, Polilla, Cory, Eluned, L-M, Neil, and DBPLM for inspiring this whole horror box of chocolates in the first place; Jilly and Marie’s family units for being so understanding about the obsession; and all the fans that submitted tributes, commented in the guestbook and helped us keep DS alive in our hearts. Thank you all for helping make Second Tour of Finland everything it was.
Cheers you all, everybody!
-- Jilly and Marie Siu.
