For most people, Australia conjures up images of a big red centre, populated by various versions of Mick Dundee or Steve Irwin.

It's tougher than that.

It takes four days to get from Sydney to Perth--east to west--and few musicians in Australia these days take on the gritty, tough audiences of rural and outback Australia, preferring instead the well worn Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane run of the east coast. But one band has found an untapped spring, a 'coalface' as it were, in this rugged terrain, and they have made it their mission to share their special pioneering brand of country rock 'n' roll around.

Introducing the Re-mains, and their soundtrack to rough driving.

Mick "Jah Mean" Daley, singer, Guitarist and self-proclaimed 'bard' of the band, whose big hands work tirelessly to shorten the life of a pair of battered and somewhat frightened Maton acoustic guitars, explains what the 'coalface' is, and what it means to the heart of the band. Saying 'the coalface' is "metaphysical" terrain, like the mythical town of Brigadoon, is always just out of reach, leading you on to the 'pot of gold'. When we see a spectacular sunset in front of us on the way to another town where we're playing, we declare, 'the coalface!'"

Hailing from the North coast of New South Wales, Australia, an area known better for it's 'rainbow' culture than its rural roots, the Re-mains are setting themselves apart from both rock and country. They tour Australia prolifically, and as we speak, are undertaking the enviable task of touring the entire east coast of Queensland. From the entertainment-starved mining towns to inner city pubs, the Re-mains pride themselves on touring where no other bands will tour, sometimes quite literally 'slaying them in the aisles'. "A bunch of shearers had been tripping and speeding and drinking all weekend, not drinking any water, in searing heat conditions, �EDaley explains. "They were dancing maniacally at the end of our set, demanding we play some more. We played an ACDC song, "Whole Lotta Rosie", and they went into even greater convulsions, leaping about, screaming, when all of a sudden one of them dropped. His heart had exploded. I've written a song about it, called 'My Bootstealin' Days are Over'."

Their latest album, Field Conditions, is a testament to the band's philosophy of seeing the coalface in everything, no matter what 'field conditions' the gig throws their way, they just give it all they've got. "We just drove nearly 3000km to play a little festival for [AUD]$800, up at Wallaby Creek, near Cooktown on the Gulf country of far north Queensland," says Daley. "It was a long, gruelling drive, with some thankless gigs in between at Mackay and Airlie Beach, where people just aren't interested in what you're doing. But it was worth it, to arrive at this lush tropical oasis and play to a really appreciative audience of people who are really stoked that such a band has travelled so far to play.