Life has had many twists and turns for Luca Brasi’s lead singer Tyler Richardson but he will finally tick off something from his bucket list when he graduates from the University of Tasmania.
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The front man for the ever-popular Tasmanian punk band will graduate as part of the student cohort for UTAS’ winter graduations on Saturday.
Two ceremonies will be held at Albert Hall in Launceston. Richardson will graduate with a Bachelor of Education.
“I always thought university might be part of my future, but never had any real sense of what I’d like to do. I honestly reckon in high school I never, ever would have thought I’d become a teacher,” he said.
“The journey since has been so wild, from having zero expectations of Luca Brasi to getting to do what we do is totally crazy. A long road, but also just the best time.”
Richardson will miss his graduation ceremony, because he is touring Australia with the band, promoting their fourth album Stay.
However, he officially completed his degree in January and has been teaching full time at Taroona High School in metal and wood work – when he is not touring the country.
Richardson’s university life started five years ago, after the qualified boilermaker welder wanted a change from FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) life.
“I was 17 when I started my apprenticeship, I actually left year 12 to begin. I think my biggest step into uni was doing a lot of FIFO work and never really feeling like it was for me,” he said.
Between playing live gigs all over the world, and studying, sometimes in the back of a van, Richardson said graduating was possible because of the course flexibility.
“It’s been pretty full on, but I think a lot of people have so much on too and still make it work. I did a lot via correspondence and that definitely helped,” he said.
“Without that flexibility I would probably have not been able to study at all.”
He said he would encourage anyone to pursue studying at the university.
“I’m inspired by those who manage to juggle so many roles, be it having a family and working full time, or those who tour the world.”