About
Sydney based Blues/Boogie/Rock band of the 80′s
History
Started in 1986 by Larry Macmillan, Terry Duffy, Graeme Newtown and Rick Doolan. Disbanded in 1990
Images
Members
- Larry Macmillan -Guitar and Vocals
- Terry Duffy – Bass
- Graeme Newton – Guitar
- Rick Doolan – Drums
- Mark Johnson – Guitar
- Mark Langfield – Drums
- Leo Auciello – Vocals
- Mark Flack – Guitar
- Mark Wells – Bass
- Steve Edmonds – Guitar
- Bob Montgomery – Bass and Vocals
- Mark Blanchard – Guitar
- Steve Levidicus – Guitar
- Barry Gathercole – Guitar
- Jerry Hughes – Vocals
- Peter Nicoli – Bass
Recordings
- Bag Fulla Boogie – 1986
- Boogie Down Under – 1988
- Let the party begin
Technical Crew
- Mark Gibson – F.O.H.
- Brett Gibson – Monitors
- Brian Lawrence – Lights
Other Resources
Known Gigs
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, Feb 1st 1985 | Bandanna in Austral | Austral Bowling Club |
| Fri, Feb 15th 1985 | Bandanna in Springwood | Springwood RSL Club |
| Fri, Feb 22nd 1985 | Bandanna in Blacktown | Blacktown Inn |
| Sat, Feb 23rd 1985 | Bandanna in Shellharbour | Shellharbour Inn |
| Thu, Feb 28th 1985 | Bandanna in Mt Druitt | Major Druitt Hotel |
| Fri, Mar 1st 1985 | Bandanna in Woy Woy | Bayview Hotel |
| Sat, Mar 2nd 1985 | Bandanna in The Rocks, Sydney | Governor’s Pleasure |
| Fri, Mar 8th 1985 | Bandanna in Penrith | Penrith Leagues Club |
| Thu, Mar 14th 1985 | Bandanna in Liverpool | Railway Hotel |
| Fri, Mar 15th 1985 | Bandanna in Blacktown | Blacktown Inn |
| Thu, Mar 21st 1985 | Bandanna in Bowral | Blue Boar Inn |
| Fri, Mar 22nd 1985 | Bandanna in Wollongong | Illawarra Leagues Club |
| Wed, Mar 27th 1985 | Bandanna in Woy Woy | Bayview Hotel |
| Thu, Mar 28th 1985 | Bandanna in Windsor | Fitzroy Hotel |
| Sun, Apr 7th 1985 | Bandanna in Mudgee | Guzurgan Bike Show |
| Thu, Apr 11th 1985 | Bandanna in Rooty Hill | Namatjira Hotel |
| Fri, Apr 12th 1985 | Bandanna in Austral | Austral Bowling Club |
| Sat, Apr 13th 1985 | Bandanna in The Rocks, Sydney | Governor’s Pleasure |
| Sun, Apr 14th 1985 | Bandanna in Shellharbour | Shellharbour Inn |
| Wed, Apr 17th 1985 | Bandanna in Blacktown | Blacktown Inn |
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Gibbo,
Wasn’t Steve Lavidicous(?) in Banndana for a time before Top Priority? BoB
Yeah Bob, he certainly was. Thanks for that. I’m not sure how to spell it either but I’ll add him in.
Nice to see you lurking about. I hope it’s a regular thing. Maybe you could be the Aussie Country Music editor?
Cheers, Gibbo.
L.E.V.I.D.I.C.U.S
Another little bit of Bandanna trivia. With Leo’s departure, a singer from Ireland named Jerry Hughes joined the ranks to take his place. in reharsals his voice was phenominal, but he crumbled under pressure at his first live gig with the band and was quickly dismissed. If memory serves, Leo rejoined again when the band began work on new original material. With 20/20 hindsight, the original material was a mistake and ultimately ended the bands run.
Yeah, I remember the Jerry “incident”. That was bizarre. Was that gig at The Cambridge Tavern at Fairfield? For some reason that sticks in my mind.
I’ll disagree with you slightly about the original material. I thought it was red-hot(most of it). I think I still have a live tape of some of it somewhere.
One more release needs to be added to that list.
“Let the party begin”
An Ep which included, Boys are back in town, “Statesborough Blues”, and I can’t remember the other couple of tracks.
Levidicus would know.
And just to add fuel to the fire. If the new originals were more in the vein of Dr Go Fast, it might have survived. Bandanna was blues boogie, not progressive funk. We messed with the formula and paid for it.
I’m not dirty on the originals. They just weren’t “Bandanna” songs. That’s all I’m saying. Barry was the only one to see it, and he bailed as a result.
What I’d like to know is….could Bandanna rise again?
I was thinking of a great time in my youth and remembered my guitar teacher,Mark Wells.I would love to get in touch with him and say hello.If anyone who knows him can tell him I am still alive that would be too cool.Dean.
Hi Dean, I’ll send your email to Mark Johnson (from the comment above). He’s still in touch with Wellsy.
gidday gibbo,
Gotta a lot of great memories supporting “Bandanna” as singer in “The Score”
Always sounded great with you at the helm mixing.
Hey Pete, great to hear from you. Maybe we should do a page on The Score? Got any old photos or recordings?
Cheers mate, Gibbo
Hay Gibbo
I think Rudy Miranda From (wildfire,the R&B Band, Mal Eastik band, Dave Hole, and Gena Jeffies Band) was on Drums When Mark Blanchard, and Terry Duffy was in the Band for a while as Rick was Sick
Hi, just wanting to make a correction.
It is Leo Auciello not Occello.
I remember watching as a little girl, and hoping to pass on the music to my daughter too
Jessica
1987 to 1990 Bandanna singer was Leo Auciello. The band decided to go with original material and it was not detrimental to the band, whatever they were losing of the older boogie following they were gaining from a younger crowd more interested in rock n roll, they were also trying to lose the “biker band” image to entice more non biker following and record industry execs to come to the gigs and take them seriously. Rick was 100% behind the move (Rick and leo were the only two bikers in the band) it must be remembered that leo, peter, steve edmonds and mark johnson were all in their early to mid twenties, change was inevitable. It was the unending touring and gigging and recieving no recognition from the music industry combined wth family commitments that finally disenchanted and or broke the fellas, Bandanna still holds a couple of records for fastest ticket sales in australian venues. No matter what, the band was always great, musically and visually they always gave their best to please the punters. They stood toe to toe with any band in Australia. it is unfortunate that this was not recognised and they never got the status they rightfully deserved.
Leo’s energy was likened to a young stevie wright with the moves of james brown. Leo went on to play bass and sing with a band called “Atomic Fly” they had moderate success in the mid to late nineties in Europe and recieved national airplay on auststerio mmm. In 1996 Leo was duly elected full recognition as an accomplished writer and member of Apra for his contributions to Australian music
Jessica and Patricia, thank you so much for the extra info and the correct spelling of Leo’s name. Stay tuned because I just found a rough old tape from about 1990 with Leo on vocals doing some of their “new direction” originals. It’s frickin’ brilliant even though the quality isn’t great. I will digitise it shortly and put it up here to listen too. If you guys are still in touch with Leo I’d love to hear from him. Tell him to dive in and leave a comment or two.
Bandanna was the first band I ever mixed professionally and I was there again right at the end. They were a brilliant band all the way through their various versions and taught me a lot. As soon as I get those tapes copied I’ll post them here.
Hi mark, good work with the site, im sure all Bandanna will think its wonderful to be remembered and have a web page dedicated to us and for that many thanks.
Thanks to my daughter Jess for wanting to remember and pass her memories on to our families next generation and thanks to patricia, i dont know how you know so much, your comments are very accurate.
The only problem i have with the site is in the members catergory and that is because of the ommision of “Peter Nicoli” he was bass player from oct 1987 to 89 and a fantastic musician and showman.
I want to add that both Steve lavidicus and i were in the band “Top Priority”, we had just performed in and won the final of Australian battle of the bands comp. Rick was one of the jugdes, he came over said you guys are great, he asked steve and i to join Bandanna then and there, i was apprehensive, top priority was our band in our control going in the musical direction we wanted and doing very well for an up and coming young band, but steve wanted in and convinced me Bandanna was the way.
Hope you and brett and all the other members and crew of bandanna are well, does anyone out there know what became of “tinker”? he was a loyal friend and roadie, i lost touch with him after ricks passing, i want to say rick slowly wasted away from motor neurons disease over 3 years and finaly passed just before his 40th birthday, in that period i never heard him complain, whine or whinge, he was a brave and optimistic bugger right up to the end and i am proud to have known him and have him trust me and consider me his friend.
talk to you again soon mark
regards leo
Hi Leo, it’s really fantastic to hear from you and your Daughter.
I haven’t heard from Tinker at all since Rick died. He was a great guy indeed. You never know, he may find this page one day like you did.
The other week I found an old tape with you singing a couple of originals. the quality isn’t great but I think you’ll get a kick out of it. You can find it here
I’d love to get hold of some photos from your era of Bandanna. Do you know if anyone has any?
Hope to hear from you again soon.
Cheers, Mark
hey mark how you doing onya for doing this site cool who would have thought if you are in contact with the doc let me know cheers ps say gooday to brett
Hey there Mark, great to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words.
I still remember the sweet sound that Seymour Duncan amp of yours made. If only they could have made the bloody things more reliable, eh?
Will find the Doc’s email for you. I know someone who has it. I’m pretty sure he’s back in Sydney working on computers.
Thanks for calling in. Cheers, Gibbo
hey there gibbo still remember how hard you lads worked in those days, this site brings back so many memories, aratulla,broadford,ponde,adelaide,gold coast still remember my first rehesral which was spent driving down the coast taking notes on the whole bloody set with larry in my ear saying youll be right, but hey that was bandanna, still remember you playing drums for a night for some reason, what a guy doing front of house and playing drums ha! ha! but hey if anyone knew the set it was you.as for the seymour i finish playing in a three piece boggie band called” from dusk till dawn”and using of all things a bloody mashall it was great, same sound every night ha! ha! ,anyway whats bret up to these days all well i hope anyway great to hear from you talk again soon .
R.I.P. RICK RUGER
OMG the Bag fulla boogie. Loved the good ol days.
Hey Gibbo, last i spoke to Doc he went up to QLD but that was quite a few years ago, if he’s back let us know will ya as the email i have for him bounces.
Hi there Mark Blanchard, Long time no see. Ive got some photos from the days gone somewhere here, will try to dig them out. Hope your looking after yourself.
Cheers Guys
Len xx
hey lenore just talked to u on the mulry site how are you what u two up two nowdays it seems such a long time what a great idea of gibbo to get everyone to connect online hows steve and whats he up to great to talk to u
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