Age is just a state of mind, Paul Woseen says.
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The Screaming Jets founder and bassist is aged in his 50s, as are all members of the Newcastle rock band, but when it comes to their 30th anniversary tour, "it doesn't matter".
"I like to think we don't rest on our laurels," Woseen said. "We're still going as hard as we always have."
The Screaming Jets, one of Newcastle's most successful music exports, are gearing up for their 'Dirty Thirty' anniversary tour. The national tour will kick off with two shows at Wests Cardiff on May 3 and 4 before moving to Doyalson Wyee RSL Club on May 10 then to Sydney.
The Jets, which includes Woseen, front man Dave Gleeson, guitarists Scott Kingman and Jimi Hocking plus drummer Mark McLeod, have put together a set list that will impress even the most ardent fan, with songs taken from a wide cross section of all seven original studio albums.
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Woseen said the band would be playing songs that hadn't been performed on stage for years.
"I'm looking forward to this tour and playing the songs we haven't played in years, the ones fans haven't heard in a while," he said. "We're playing songs right from the beginning to now."
The first two shows at Cardiff will be extra special with past Screaming Jets drummer Craig Rosevear due to join the band on stage. Rosevear, a well-known personality around Newcastle with his Rosie's School of Rock program, played with the Jets from 1999 to 2001 before retiring from touring and pursuing a career in teaching music.
Woseen said in preparation for the Dirty Thirty tour the band had taken a walk down song lane, which had brought back memories.
"We've been doing this for 30 years," Woseen said. "We still see faces that have been there since the beginning but we also see people in the audience now that are young enough to be my kids, you know, 18 to 20 year olds just rocking out in the crowd.
"It's incredibly humbling to see these young people singing the songs you wrote 20, 30 years ago. It's a cyclic thing but it shows that the songs are still relevant. The things that were affecting people 30 years ago are the same now."
For tickets go to: thescreamingjets.com.au.