News

Seeing Midnight Oil in full flight left you inspired to live life more passionately and to get involved. It was like getting smashed by a breaking wave. On Friday November 27, fans around the world will be able to relive that singular experience with the release of a brand new Oils album: Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s), issued via the Powderworks independent label on which the band’s earliest work was released. CLICK HERE to pre-order the album.

The LP is drawn from an unforgettable 2017 gig when The Oils returned after a 15 year hiatus to launch their “Great Circle” World Tour back where it all began: at a legendary, sweat-drenched, beachside Sydney beer barn. Aptly, this extended warm-up gig included a one-off performance of songs from 1979’s pubrock classic Head Injuries. It also featured a rare live version of “Wedding Cake Island”, the surf instrumental from around the same time, named after a rocky outcrop just offshore, beyond the break.

The venue? Selinas at Coogee Bay Hotel.

The date? Thursday April 13, 2017.

Across the rest of that year Midnight Oil would circumnavigate the globe, before returning to the dead heart with performances at Walungurru and Alice Springs in the remote western desert, then circling Australia with a series of huge, unforgettable concerts. They would ultimately play 77 gigs in 16 countries to over half a million fans but only about 2,000 people ever got to experience that tour’s epic first show in a pub … until now.

Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s) features the following tracklisting:

COLD COLD CHANGE
Hirst/Moginie

SECTION 5 (BUS TO BONDI)
Rotsey/Hirst/Garrett/Moginie

BACK ON THE BORDERLINE 
James/Garrett/Hirst

KOALA SPRINT
Garrett/Moginie/Rotsey

NO REACTION
Hirst/Moginie/Rotsey

STAND IN LINE
Moginie/Hirst/Rotsey/Garrett 

PROFITEERS 
Hirst/Moginie/Rotsey

IS IT NOW?
Moginie/Garrett

WEDDING CAKE ISLAND
Moginie/Rotsey

It was recorded by their front of house mixer since the 80’s, Colin Ellis and mixed by Greg Wales, one of Australia’s most experienced live sound engineers through decades of work with Triple J.

The album was completed last year, with the full participation of founding member, Rob Hirst. It is dedicated to his memory and the memory of bassist Bones Hillman who also features on these recordings.

Head Injuries (Live At Selina’s) will be released digitally and on vinyl and CD on Friday November 27. It is released on the Powderworks label and distributed by Sony Music Australia. CLICK HERE to pre-order the album.

Limited release, announced today: Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining (Limited Edition Clear Blue Vinyl +Signed Book Set). Visit the online store by CLICKING HERE.

Own a piece of Australian music history with this strictly limited edition collector’s set featuring Midnight Oil’s iconic Blue Sky Mining pressed on clear blue vinyl, paired with Red Filter Blue Sky – a 100-page photography book by Jim Moginie.

Captured during the legendary 1990 Blue Sky Mining tour, the book offers a rare behind-the-scenes look through Jim’s own lens. Only 300 record + book packs are available and each copy of Red Filter Blue Sky is personally signed by Jim Moginie and individually numbered, making every set a genuine collector’s item.

“Midnight Oil’s Blue Sky Mining worldwide tour consisted of about 114 shows in 1990. While researching my book ‘The Silver River’, I found an Ilford film box marked ‘Kerry: Midnight Oil’ containing a series of my photos taken at that time with a Nikon FG-1 film camera, using black and white film with a red filter. Most of the band had film cameras then. We wanted to get those John Ford clouds that everyone in photography talks about. My son Sam has a printing press in Melbourne and suggested we make a funky small book from them called ‘Red Filter Blue Sky’, both thinking it timely that it first appeared bundled with the Blue Sky album re-issue. They say ‘it’s all about the work’ and there was much of it. The photos are a jump start memory of that time. Airport tarmacs, Akubra hats, fans at airports, crew, Harley Davidsons, guitars, backstage, floral hotel room bedspreads, Roman amphitheatres, existential angst, feeding babies, the tour bus and images taken from its fast moving window. And the guys and the kind of enchanted chemistry only a long term band like Midnight Oil can achieve: the blank looks, the shit eating grins, the mid distance stares. Joking and laughing, waiting in hotel lobbies followed by more waiting, deep camaraderie.” – Jim Mognine. 2026.

Pantera Press and Hardie Grant Books are thrilled to announce the publication of legendary Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst’s final book World is Almost at Peace: A Lifetime of Songwriting for Midnight Oil and More.

The beating heart of Midnight Oil with his formidable power behind the drum kit and one of the most revered musicians in Australia and on the world stage, Rob’s distinctive vocals feature on many iconic songs – both his harmonies and lead vocals. But it’s his phenomenal songwriting that his book focuses on.

Over almost 50 years, Rob wrote and co-wrote some of Australia’s best-known songs: ‘Beds Are Burning’, ‘The Dead Heart’, ‘Best of Both Worlds’, ‘Kosciusko’, ‘King of the Mountain’, ‘Read About It’, ‘Forgotten Years’ and many more. And here for the first time, Rob shines a light on his songwriting process with Jim Moginie and Peter Garrett, breaking down the writing process line-by-line. A unique and unusual insight into a deeply private band’s songwriting method.

In the words of the book’spublisher, Rob’s daughter Lex Hirst:

 ‘As both a publisher and daughter, I’ve found myself in a unique position these past few months. My dad, Rob Hirst, was working on World is Almost at Peace right up until the end of his life, and I’m so proud we’re now able to share it. This project is his tribute to the songwriting cannon, and as you read the book his voice sings out from the pages not only through his lyrics but also through the stories, he’s shared along the way. His presence in this world lives on, through this, his final book of words.’  

In a stunning collector’s item, Rob’s entire lyric catalogue from his myriad musical collaborations is highlighted for the first time, alongside early-version pages from his notebooks, hand-printed posters and musical ephemera from the band’s early days. World is Almost at Peaceshares unseen photos, behind-the-scenes stories from the author and his peers such as Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil), Rick Grossman (The Divinyls, Hoodoo Gurus), Dom Turner (Backsliders) and many more, which place these extraordinary songs in context.

From activist anthems through to the intimacy of his later works, Rob Hirst was one of our greatest wordsmiths, the singing drummer whose lyrics helped shape the soundtrack to this nation.

Poignant and deeply nostalgic, World is Almost at Peace is a special memento for dedicated fans of Rob and for all lovers of Australian songs. This a beautiful celebration of a life in music.

Available to pre-order now, HERE.

Publication Details:

Title:  World is Almost at Peace

Sub-title: A Lifetime of Songwriting for Midnight Oil and More

Author: Rob Hirst

Imprint: Pantera Press, an imprint of Hardie Grant Books

Publication Date:  November 2026

Format: hardback, eBook

RRP: AU $59.99, NZ $69.99