The Basics, Tex Perkins to rock Victorian election

Two of Victoria’s most prominent musicians have thrown their hats in the political ring for the upcoming state election.
Grammy award winning Somebody That I Used To Know singer Gotye (Wally de Backer) is showing his political side as an advisor to The Basics Rock and Roll Party, with his Basics bandmates Kris Schroeder, who is running the party, and Tim Heath, another advisor.
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The Basics party was given the green light to run in this month’s Victorian election, just making the 500 registered members needed to register.
“It really demonstrates the power of the individual when we ended up with 501 confirmations,” Schroeder told AAP.
Former Cruel Sea and Beasts of Bourbon frontman Tex Perkins will also run in the November 29 poll, with a view to save Melbourne’s iconic Palais Theatre.
Schroeder says it’s not a huge surprise that Perkins has also put his hand up.
Schroeder says he’s been in talks with some big name musicians to become candidates for their party and was disappointed they didn’t get Perkins.
“It’s probably a bit too late to get in touch with Tex but it would have been good if we’d been able to have him on board. Maybe he wasn’t aware of it,” Schroeder said.
Perkins announced his tilt at politics last week, saying he was running as an independent in his seat of Albert Park.
The St Kilda resident said he plans to contest the seat of Albert Park in an attempt to secure funding for the iconic Palais Theatre.
The Palais has an estimated $25-40 million repair bill in order to bring it into line with current building codes.
The City of Port Phillip has managed the building since 2006 and earlier this month agreed to commit $7.5 million towards the repairs.
In a statement, 49-year-old Perkins said it was a last-minute decision spurred by the neglect of the heritage-listed venue.
“The neglect of such an iconic performance venue, along with all the buck-passing from both sides of politics – it’s just not good enough,” he said.
Perkins said despite the council committing funding for the venue, state politicians were avoiding the issue.