Alexander McIntyre strolled into our interview half an hour late, casually ruffling his hair as he gathered himself and realised who I was. When I told him he had me a bit worried he just smiled and vowed 'It's all part of the character'.

McIntyre seems to embody this quiet sincerity, an extremely complex persona his answers darted from fond nostalgic journeys, to animated Alice Cooper imitations to serious philosophical ponderings of the music industry at large. McIntyre is the type of guy who can't restrict himself to one type of music. Most locally famed for his role as bass player in Novocastrian pop-rock quartet Supersonic, he also performs solo, participates in a lot of session work, writes extensively and completes the seasoned make-up of 'loose stonsey' type group 'Texas Radio and the Big Beats'.

Attending his first concert at age two it was obvious that through the influence of his father, retired musician Phil McIntyre music was always going to feature in Alexander's life. Surprisingly however this new age kind of guy draws his influence from old school artists. He chats extensively about The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sting, The Police, Frank Sinatra and even Bing Crosby, professing 'I don't think in genres. There's either good music, music that you like and music that you don' like and its all personal preference'. Dressed in jeans, duffle goat and a tartan scarf McIntyre looks a picture perfect downtown mod rocker but in discussion he exudes a certain wiseness found in veterans of the music industry not rookies. He seems beyond the web of superficial hype so many young performers get stuck in as he tells of his great disappointment at not being born a decade or two earlier in order to fully appreciate releases such as U2'S The Joshua Tree.

When asked whom he would most love to play a gig with, if time and space were no constraint, Alexander McIntyre instantly replies 'The Beatles'. But he just as quickly admits 'I'd rather just sit in the living room with one of my favourite songwriters and just talk to them… I'd get much more of a kick out of that than I would playing on the same stage as them'.

And it is song writing, which is McIntyre's chosen career path, a craft he has perfected over five years of Creativity studies. 'Often the most stressful times will bring out really good song' he proclaims deepening my interest as he discusses the overtake of the conscious by the subconscious, spouts French theorists and their work like their as common as ordering a cup of coffee and begins to unravel the emotional intricacy behind such songs as 'Grey Skies End'. A trademark track which 'reached number one on the internet chart radio, as well as domestic counts in Portugal, California, London, Scotland (and) Japan', and featured on Supersonic's 1999 self-titled debut album. While somewhat guarded in discussing Supersonic, McIntyre is intensely open and forthcoming about himself. 'Missing You', the evocative ballad is a song he discusses with a recollective vibe that makes me feel like an old friend with whom he is sharing his deepest and darkest secrets, discussing the relationship behind the song as one he was very confused about. 'I was in a relationship…for about a year, which is the longest I've ever been in a relationship and she ended up sleeping with someone else and it sorta ripped me in two because I still really, really, really liked her and I won't deny when someone cheats on you, its not the best of feelings but your still in love with that person'.

McIntyre has no trouble describing himself as a moody person, telling 'I have huge mood shifts, like I can be on top of the world one time dancing in the kitchen using a brush as a mic…and then three seconds later it will just hit me and I will be in my room lying on my bed and I can't help it but I will be extremely depressed'. As an extremely shy child McIntyre devised 'Jacob', an ulterior persona that he used to 'get out there, meet people and do things that Alexander would never actually do'. The merger of both these personalities, the invented and the reality is the person I now sit across the table from. McIntyre proudly admits that he loves attention, 'there's no denying that' but what is not widely known is that he has also sought to teach himself humility. A task that resulted in him one day grabbing his guitar, a few pairs of clothes and all the money he had and jumping on a train that landed him in Broken Hill…with a 'Norwegian guy who didn't like broken hill at all'. What followed was weeks of train hopping and solo café performances which took him all around the country including stops in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. This hap hazard trip McIntyre thanks for his current reputation, which has seen him offered numerous session roles because as he explains 'in the span of three weeks I worked my way through the southern part of Australia and came back with four hundred dollars after only leaving with two'. An engaging and captivating solo artist and an energetic and vibrant band member, the greatest lesson McIntyre has learnt since becoming a performer is the give and take between artist and the audience. 'The word performer is exactly what it means' he explains 'people think that you get up there and you play for yourself…that couldn't be further from the truth'. His logic rests in the prophecy that if your getting paid then you should be playing what your worth. But this is not to say that its all about the money for this guy, he professes for his love of entertaining people, of focusing on that one person in the audience and channeling his energy towards that one person to change the way they feel. So what should the audience feel when leaving an Alexander McIntyre performance…'however they want to feel'.

The forming of easy beat moodster group Supersonic, indeed a 'sonic' fusion of rock music, punk, old style pop and the very fashionable nu mental of the moment, is not the four boyhood friends do good tale we're accustomed to hearing from bands these days. Approaching vocalist and guitarist Mark Wells asking him if he was interested in forming a band at the catholic high school all four members attended, McIntyre tells of Wells short dismissal of the idea; 'I don't think he thought I was quite up to standard, and without giving me a wrap he rejected me'. However later that year Well's jam partner, drummer Tim Ferguson tracked McIntyre down asking him if he played bass guitar, which McIntyre admits 'I didn't, but I said I did'. Scheduled for an audition the next day McIntyre hurriedly scabbed a bass of a friend and rushed down the shops to buy a step by step 'how to play bass guitar' manual. Seven years later and the band has never looked back, completed by keyboardist and guitarist Matt Plummer, McIntyre describes the group as 'the best of friends' but warns those wishing to follow their path of the inevitability of 'being married three other people for an extreme amount of time…without any of the "perks"'.

McIntyre scrolls through the line-up of his spouses describing Ferguson as the 'openly wild one…although I don't really think he is', Plummer is the quiet soul, the ' "Yoda" of the group in that when he talks everybody listens' and Wells he quotes as 'extremely charismatic…a phenomenal songwriter and musician' who has a problem controlling his arms after a few drinks, which McIntyre attests to with a bruised eyeball. Having just returned from a string of Sydney performances where they took in venues such as the Vanna Room and the University of New South Wales McIntyre stands firm in his belief that the only direction 1999 NSW Battle of the Bands winner Supersonic is headed in from here is 'up, up and up' because ' there's no way we're gonna go backwards and I don't think moving in a sidewards direction is possible'.

So what's next for Alexander McIntyre, where do you want to be in five years? He sits back, looks me straight in the eyes, laughs 'I've got two weeks planned and I'll see you in five years and I'll tell you'. And something tells me he's right, expect to see and hear a lot more of Alexander McIntyre.