News May 28, 2018

Diesel’s tour to celebrate Saturday nights on ’30 Tour’

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his career, Diesel has compiled a greatest hits set and taking to the road on the Give Me Saturday Night tour.

Growing up the son of a saxophonist, the guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer born Mark Lizotte grew up listening to a strong dose of blues-rock and soul.

“I always wanted to be an electric guitar player, I always wanted to be in front of an amp,” he says.

“I can’t wait to light up Saturday nights right across Australia on this very special 30th Anniversary tour.”

The track ‘Give Me Saturday Night’ is the only new track on Diesel 30 – The Greatest Hits.

It is due out on August 3 through Bloodlines/Universal Music.

Johnny Diesel & The Injectors moved from Perth to establish themselves in Sydney in 1987.

Their debut album shipped platinum and entered the charts at #2.

It was the biggest-selling album of 1989.

For Hepfidelity (1992), Diesel resorted to his own name. It too went multi-platinum and earned him ARIAs for Best Album and Best Male Talent.

He belongs to a very exclusive club where he’s won the Best Male Talent ARIA three times – alongside John Farnham, Alex Lloyd and Gotye.

He followed up with The Lobbyist, Solid State Rhyme and with Melbourne blues harmonica player Chris Wilson Short Cool Ones.

Diesel and his growing family relocated to New York, where he wiped the slate and started again.

“We made a run for it,” he laughs. “I just needed to wipe the slate clean. I didn’t want to be around familiar things.

“I went to New York with nothing, I didn’t even have one song.”

He scored a residency at Arlene’s Grocery club, leading to being discovered by Mammoth Records.

It teamed him with producers Jerry Harrison and Gavin Mackillop for the Lost Soul Companion album.

After returning to Australia in 2002, Diesel put together a band, gigged as a solo acoustic artist, got played on radio again.

A subsequent run of albums included Singled Out (2005), Coathanger Antennae (2006), Days Like These (2008), Let It Fly (2013), Saturday Suffering Fools (2009), Under The Influence (2011) and the triumphant Americana (2016).