TIM Rogers has vivid memories of discovering The Beatles' classic White Album for the first time as a child - and not liking what he heard.
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"I had a babysitter who used to terrorise me with it when I was eight or nine," the You Am I frontman recalled.
"It kind of terrified me as a kid, but it thrills me now.
"It's become one of my favourite pieces of music."
Following a sold-out run in 2009 to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the White Album Concert is returning.
The show features The Beatles' double masterpiece performed with a 17-piece rock orchestra, alongside four vocalists; Rogers, The Living End's Chris Cheney, Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson and singer/songwriter Josh Pyke.
The Beatles' most ambitious and diverse collection, its 30 songs range from Back in the USSR's populist stomp and mind-bending Happiness is a Warm Gun to the sorrow of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, ska-pop of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, and hard rocker Helter Skelter.
Not even The Beatles themselves attempted to perform their classic self-titled double album live.
"For a pop band to do something so free-spirited and avant-garde is really brave," Rogers said.
"It's a pretty loose record, all over the place thematically, so you can play around with it a fair bit.
"I'm sure it wasn't an easy sell to the label, but I admire that kind of fearlessness."
As front-man of veteran Australian rockers You Am I, Rogers has released 10 studio albums, three of which have debuted at number one.
It's the aforementioned willingness to take risks that Rogers has attempted to apply to his own career.
"I've been extremely fearful really . . . but I think I'm getting less conservative as I grow older.
"Your fear of failure, or anything, drops away."
In the meantime, Rogers said it was thrilling performing alongside adept musicians, which enabled them to "mess with the formula a little bit, with a little glint in our eye".
They all got on well, he said.
"A couple of the guys are very old friends of mine. Plus you don't get the opportunity to hear the band which recorded these songs play them live.
"Dealing with such totemic writers and those songs, you have to go into them with complete abandon.
"People can lose their minds for a couple of hours."
White Album Concert
Wednesday, July 23
WIN Entertainment Centre
