The music documentary Live It Up – The Mental As Anything Story is the latest in a long line of documentaries celebrating the careers of our most famous and loved bands.
The band, largely under estimated during its original line-up 1976 to 1999, would in retrospect become icons of the potent pub rock era and leave a staggering legacy of 22 charting Top 40 singles, 13 best selling albums and the international hit of Live It Up.
The Mentals would become known for their laid back approach to the industry, while displaying a work effort for both live shows and recording that would become legendary within the industry, while never losing touch with their adoring fans.
“We weren’t really thinking long term,” said drummer Dave Twohill.
The members would continue to explore various visual mediums, including music videos, which add to the richness of this documentary.
Live It Up’s director Matthew Walker first became aware of the band during its Cats and Dogs era (1981), when the band were already producing national hits such as If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?
“Memories from that age are pretty vivid and they help inspire the feeling that there’s good story here,” said Walker. “But also, how their humour and spontaneity ages really well and the visual art that emerged from the band has entered Australian visual culture.”
With the inaugural signing to Regular Records in 1978, Mentals first single Nips Are Getting Bigger would soon ingrain itself in then national culture as a drinking song while putting the band’s original line-up on a 22 year career.
Also evident throughout the doco is their idiosyncratic approach to art, that of their own and artist Paul Worstead. The band’s impact on Australian music is reflected up by early support Neil Finn, Dave Graney and Colin Hay, who chose Mentals to support Men At Work on their 1993 America wide tour.
Reflecting on their long career, bassist Peter O’Doherty said of the documentary “It’s funny looking back to another era, another time, it’s like a time capsule.”
Brother Chris O’Doherty (AKA Reg Mombassa) (gu.voc) added “It was 25 years of our life, and you can’t fit it all in, but we are happy.”
Far from being a shiny exemplar of a famous band, Live It Up does not overlook the pitfalls that a band on the rise can encounter. First up was the choice of an unfinished studio in which to record the follow-up album to the successful Get Wet.
Named Espresso Bongo, after the Cliff Richard movie, the album was poorly received and could not attract overseas interest, despite the single Come Around being a top 20 hit.
When the locally successful LP was released in Australia, the band’s manager Jeremy Fabinyi relocates his office to New York, with the understanding that the American label has employed Mafia shyster Morris Levy to engage in a payola scheme.
On the day of the US release Fabinyi is watching the morning news only to see Levy being carried away in cuffs by the Feds.
Constant touring takes its toll on all artists, and Mentals were working five to six nights a week. “Sometimes you try too hard,” said Martin Murphy. “We sort of lost our mojo.”
Being away from family, four of the band were now fathers, and the repetitive daily grind of the endless road resulted in some members developing a dependency on alcohol to cope.
This, combined with illness, led to various members stepping back from band duties, with Reg and Peter leaving, followed by Martin Murphy.
Greedy Smith (vocals & keyboards) was now band’s only original member, but would die unexpectedly from a heart attack in 2019, having spent his entire life after art school with the band.
Almost unfairly, Greedy was only months away from seeing Live It Up get its second wind in 2020 when the song was adopted by the Glasgow football team Rangers FC and shot to UK number one.
Walker’s approach to Live It Up is refreshingly different from the usual rock story in that it gives a voice to various band members’ partners and children, who reflect on both the good and bad times.
“It’s very intrusive and exhausting being famous,” said artist Susan O’Doherty, Peter O’Doherty’s life-long partner.
With a sound track treated in post by Paul Clarke, Live It Up presents the band in a new and fresh light that places them firmly in the top order of Australian musicians.
“It’s nice to be part of the popular culture of the country and have people still listening to the songs,” said Reg Mombassa.
Live It Up – The Mental As Anything Story is produced by Beyond Entertainment and People Productions.
Live It Up – The Mental As Anything Story screens in selected cinemas from Thursday 5 March 2026. For more information, visit: www.liveitupthemovie.com.au for details. Check out the trailer here!
Images: Peter O’Doherty, Martin Plaza, Dave Twohill, Greedy Smith and Reg Mombassa – photo by Jeremy Fabinyi © Syray | Greedy Smith, Peter O’Doherty, Martin Plaza, Reg Mombassa and Dave Twohill – photo by Sue Ford, Copyright Agency | Espresso Bongo Cover – © Syray | Greedy Smith Farewell (film still)
Words: John Moyle