Myf Warhurst talks about her new book

From sticky carpet gigs to living in run-down rentals in West Melbourne, Australian TV and radio personality Myf Warhurst’s new memoir turns to the soundtrack of her life to reveal how her taste in music led to a long-running career on the airwaves and the small screen.

In Time of my Life Warhurst revels in the past to paint a picture of how a girl from Red Cliffs in Victoria became obsessed with the inner city, with stories of sharing a Collingwood rental with Something for Kate’s Paul and Steph Dempsey, and doing a stint behind the bar at the Town Hall North Melbourne while studying at Melbourne University.

And you can’t help but wish a music bus tour would accompany the release of this entertaining read too.

From The White Stripes playing at her friend’s birthday party at the now defunct 9th Ward Basement Bar in the CBD to a rave she attended at Docklands as we freaked about Y2K in 2000, Warhurst shares the highs and lows, the good and bad and never regrets her musical taste along the way.

She cut her teeth on rock’n’roll, at first guided by older brothers, but quickly found her own way around exploring all its shapes and sizes from goth to punk and rock to indie and country music. There were endless gigs at The Tote, The Punters Club, The Evelyn and The Rochester and her musical love led to a radio gig at Triple J.  

“I hope when people read this book, it will help them tap into their own soundtrack they made for themselves over time,” says Warhurst, who is also on the ABC in a new season of Spicks & Specks.

But for all the ’80s teenage mixtape throwbacks she serves, Warhurst actually turned away from music to process the loss of an ex-boyfriend – musician Mike Noga – when writing this book. He died of a brain aneurysm in 2020, spurred on by a bout of drinking, induced by his battle with anxiety that had plagued him for years. 

The couple met at a SLAM rally to save live music in Melbourne in 2010. They travelled to Spain and settled in London for a while until Myf decided to come back to Australia to help launch Double J and put a wedding date on hold. 

“I wanted to honour Mike in this book because when someone dies so young, you’re the keeper of their stories and no one else knows them. This is my way of making sure people remember him, and I did it in consultation with his family, Warhurst says.

“I wanted to be honest about what happened between us, and it turns out the book is more open than I expected it to be,” she adds. 

“I went through a process of dealing with myself and Mike’s death in lockdown, and all the bullshit of life went out the window. That is something I take with me going forward,” Warhurst says. 

“There is something freeing about facing things that are difficult to discuss. I am nearly 50 now, and a lot of things that mattered once don’t anymore. Writing the book has been great to reflect on my past, but this was probably the teariest I got when putting it together.”

Time of My Life \ Hachette Australia