Australia’s legendary band Mental As Anything made an historic comeback in 2026 – the first in 25 years – as original founding members Peter O’Doherty and brother Reg Mombassa reunited, leading an exciting new lineup to perform once again under the iconic banner Mental As Anything.
Known for their infectious melodies, sharp wit, and unmistakable sound, the ARIA Hall of Fame inductees have carved out an enduring place in Australia’s cultural and musical history. With 25 top-40 hits in Australia, Mental As Anything’s catalogue includes beloved classics such as ‘The Nips Are Getting Bigger’, ‘If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?’, ‘Too Many Times’, ‘Come Around’, ‘Berserk Warriors’, ‘Spirit Got Lost’, ‘You’re So Strong’, and the international smash ‘Live It Up’ – a song that continues to receive regular airplay across the UK and Europe more than three decades after topping charts around the world.
What began as a Sydney pub band formed by five art students has, over 50 years, grown into one of Australia’s most successful and beloved musical acts. Seven spoke to Peter O’Doherty last week.
Where are you Peter?
I’m in Sydney, and it is quite blue. It’s blue sky. It’s a bit cold, little bit windy.
This year is your 50th anniversary?
Yes, we thought we’d take the opportunity to blow our own trumpet for a whole year. The band basically kicked off 50 years ago, at the National Art School – it was called East Sydney Tech, back in those days – but the Mentals all met at the art school, and I was the only non-art schooler in the band. I was still in high school! I joined the year after when I left so I was the kid brother. I was sort of shoehorned into the band, because their bass player took a little holiday for two weeks, and that two weeks turned into forever.
What’s the biggest achievement in that 50 years?
Oh it’s the legacy I think, of a pretty good song book. We’d write songs that became singles and hit singles. Then we had two guys who showed up to some of those early gigs, and they said, ‘Oh, we’re going to form a record label’, and they called it Regular Records, and we put an EP out with ‘The Nips are Getting Bigger’ and then we got a deal through them, and with Festival Records, made our first album, and released that in 1979 – That was Get Wet.
There’s a Declan O’Doherty in the band now – who does he belong to?
He’s my son!
Is that a bit mental playing with your family?
It’s bizarre. We never imagined that that would ever happen. So we’ve become a little bit like the Von Trapp family now. It was a nice, comfortable sort of thing to do, because our original drummer is still with us, but he’s been had some health issues – and Martin Plaza is – he’s had some very major issues with cancer…
Well, we ARE all getting old, aren’t we?
We are getting older, that’s for sure. I think it is a pretty dangerous activity, you know. Don’t try it at home, kids, that’s my only advice.
Do you think the Mentals, in some form, will continue after the 50th anniversary?
Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to be showing the door. No, we’ll just keep the door open. We still enjoy it, and we still get some offers of work. I think, you know, we’ll probably be out there for a while.
Has the reality of life come anywhere near the vision?
I knew that I wanted to do music, I knew that I loved playing guitar, and that my interest was in an artistic area of either playing music or visial art. I’ve had exhibitions, and that’s another chunk of my life, as I’ve got these two strands going on, but with the guitar playing now, as a 16-year-old – you have no idea where you’re going to go with it. I just knew that I was a pretty bad scholar. I lost interest in school. Before I landed in the Mentals I was playing a bit of jazz, and I’d played in a little rock band before that, it could have gone anywhere.
What is your current earworm?
I’ve actually just been reading a book about the Beatles. It’s called The Beatles: An Insider Story – I actually found it on a throw-out, along my street – so I’ve actually been revisiting a lot of Beatles records as I’ve been reading.
What do you find inspiring in your life at the moment ?
Well, I’ve had this kind of rhythm, you know, over the many years where it’s painting and music, which is kind of my world, and my wife is also an artist, a visual artist, painter, and sculptor. So we kind of live in this little weird little world where we both just get up every day, have our coffee and our breakfast, and then we’re straight at work. We’re out painting in the studio, so it’s just a kind of real rhythmic thing, you know. And it’s kind of has its own forward momentum that carries you along, as long as you’re doing it, it’s great, you know. And every now and then, if I have to go away or I don’t get a chance to make art, I feel something is sort of wrong, and then you feel like you’re really rusty, and you’ve got to get it back, you know?
I just love that rhythm.
What do you think makes Mullum Roots Festival a great festival.
Look, I think it’s the town itself. Yep, first and foremost, it’s a great, great town – lovely, small, easy to get around, you’ve got all your venues within a short walk of each other, it’s beautiful part of the world, so I think those elements alone, and then it’s got it’s a really good lineup, they’ve got some really good acts, Busby Marou and Dave Graney, and the Pinks, which is a blues band, and both myself and Reg are in the Pinks.
Peter, are you having enough fun?
Well. No, probably not. I don’t think anybody has enough fun, do they? Reality is a bit too, sort of, real. Probably it’s a bit like saying, are you happy? You know, one of those words which is kind of not really the right word, you’ve just got to be engaged and have something to do, that’s what I get up for, you know. If I didn’t have something to do, then I definitely wouldn’t be having any fun. I’d be pretty miserable. I’m really lucky I get to do music, which is just like being a kid again. You get to, sort of play around.
Mental As Anything are playing at the Mullum Roots Festival, 11-12 July. See www.mullumrootsfest.com for more info.
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