“To me, it was just such a great untold Aussie story,” says Orange Author Stuart Lloyd of his latest book, a superbly researched and written official biography of one of Australia’s most popular bands, Mental As Anything.

“It was essentially five guys who enjoyed a cold beer and had a red-hot go at it. They had no ambition. No plan. They fell into it. And it turned out to be this mighty 43-year-long musical marathon that was beyond their wildest dreams.”

Started Out Drinking Beer – The Mental As Anything Story is Stuart’s 19th non-fiction book. Written with unfettered access to all the key players it’s full of untold stories behind Aussie classics like: Live It Up, Too Many Times, If You Leave Me Can I Come Too? Berserk Warrior, Egypt, The Nips Are Getting Bigger, and more.

Plus there are plenty of tales from the road as told by band members Andrew “Greedy” Smith, Martin Plaza, Deve “Bird” Twohill, Peter O’Doherty, Reg Mombasa and a star-studded cast including Colin Hay, Richard Gottehrer, Mark Opitz, Ross Wilson and Wreckless Eric.

As a former music journalist writing for publications such as Variety (US), The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, and Songsmith, Stuart has had the opportunity to sit across from some of the world's great songwriters like Paul Kelly, Bic Runga, Jimmy Webb and R.E.M.

But the chance to write the Mental As Anything story was a particular thrill, he says.

“The second gig I ever went to was Mental as Anything,” explains Stuart, who has always been fascinated by songwriting and describes himself as — not a failed songwriter, just a songwriter who hasn’t had a hit… yet!

“And here was a whole bunch of songs that I grew up with, formative years stuff, that's been the backdrop to my life and my misspent youth — and misspent adulthood. So to speak to the guys about hey, how did that song come about? What does it actually mean? And some of the back stories behind these great Aussie classics are surprising and fantastic!” 

Having got to know the band members over the years through the music and art scene, Stuart first floated the idea of a book 20 years ago.

“But then the funny thing was, at that point everybody in the band had their favourite rock journalist, who was interested in writing the Mental as Anything story,” he explains.

“So I didn't think anything more of it and went off into the sunset. Over the years, I guess all the rock journalists either died of cirrhosis or fell off the perch somehow.”

“So last year after I just finished my last military history book… I was thinking I would like to tackle something very different and lighter and I thought, ‘the Mentals’. Nobody still had written their story and I couldn't believe it,” says Stuart, who then began researching the project, before finally approaching the band members themselves.

“Reg, bless him, he just said, ‘Hey, let's make this worth your while and make it worth our while. Let's do it properly. And so that was great. Then he got his brother in and we went from there.

In writing the book, Stuart approached former managers, roadies, friends and associates to go beyond a generic dates-and-gigs memoir and get into what really made the band tick.

“I was really trying to get beyond the sort of shiny, happy people that you saw on stage, get beyond the cardboard cutouts and get to something ‘3D’... just really unpacked the guys – and trust me there's a lot to unpack! They are very interesting, complex, creative characters,” says Stuart.

“Yet they were so productive, so prolific. They would have us believe that they were these laconic creatures of leisure, yet on average through the 80s they released one single every three months, which is just phenomenal.”

Sorting through all the varying accounts and differing memories (or complete lack thereof) of the main players certainly presented some challenges in writing the book, according to Stuart, who describes his role as being somewhat like a referee at times.

“I made it clear that. I'm going to stand in the middle. I'm going to hear everybody's viewpoint. And then, I'm going to go with the most likely version of events… where the facts are not ultimately very clear —  late one drunken night, what happened? –  I'm going to referee, and I’m going to go with the most probable version,” says Stuart.

“And it’s funny, the feedback I got from Reg was, ‘Wow! You know more than we do!’ And, Dave, when he looked at the first manuscript said, ‘Wow, I had no idea I'd seen so much until I read your book!’ I think they were interested to see what I made of the story.”