One of the things I like best about publishing this site is when I see band members and crew find each other again after many years apart. This is one of those stories.

I’ve been meaning to get this post up here for a little while now and I apologise to Rob Manego and Christine Mullane for being slow. Anyway… over to Rob:

Hey Mark,

Through the magic of the electronic age and the AMH site I have been contacted out of the blue by Christine Mullane from Mirrored Image (I have not been in contact with her for nearly 28 years).

Her daughter had stumbled across the AMH site and was blown away to see what was there. She has since sent me some more content to add to the site.

Audio

Stranger In You

Images

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Boogie Down Under was a single released by Sydney band Bandanna back in 1988. I had the pleasure of doing sound for them from 1985 to 1987 and then again from 1989 through to the end of the band in about 1990.

This version of the band featured original members Larry McMillan and Rick Doolan along with Steve Edmonds on guitar and Bob Montgomery on bass and vocals.

Larry and Bob eventually left to form “Grog ‘n Grumble” which played a similar style of blues/boogie/rock.

This single reminds me of ZZ Top’s “disco” period, like Sharp Dressed Man or Legs. It probably isn’t typical Bandanna fare, but great nonetheless. I hope you enjoy it.
Boogie Down Under
Boogie Down Under (Motor Mix)

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STRANGE AND INTERESTING STORIES:

IZZY FOREAL’S 69ERS MEMORIES

It was around 1970 (or maybe 1971) when I joined The Internationally Famous 69ers. They were resident at the Clique Wine Bar in Surry Hills – in fact, that was my first gig with them. At the time I was called Peter Knox – and I was the house bass-player at ‘Chaplin’s’, the joint (bistro, club, disco – none of these; it was a joint) opened in Oxford Street near Whitlam Square (over the road from the Burdekin Hotel) Sydney, by the owners of the notorious ‘Ball Pants’ coffee lounge in Kings Cross.

Some time in 1969 or so, I was ‘auditioned’ for the band Quill at The ‘Ball Pants’. Terry Wilkins, who was leaving Quill to join Flying Circus, casually dropped into the ‘Ball Pants’ one night and played some Quill originals on the guitar. Being the resident bass-player, I fudged along and apparently played the songs okay. Red McKelvie (guitar) and Daryl McKenzie (drums) from Quill were conveniently positioned outside the front door listening to the unsuspecting auditionee (or maybe the band’s manager was involved – all this is based on unreliable memories). The next day I got the invitation to start rehearsals with Quill. When I asked about an audition first, I was informed that I’d already passed it the night before! I played with Quill for maybe a year, and got a leg up into the Sydney music scene. As most of us know, Terry Wilkins went on to tour Canada with Flying Circus, and has been a resident of Canada ever since.

As resident bass-player at the ‘Ball Pants’, I got paid something like $2 a night for the gig, and I got to stay rent-free in a room at the bottom of the lane (in Brougham Street, I think). The terrace house where the room was situated was owned by the ‘Ball Pants’ proprietors, and I had to share with another ‘musician’ – a street performer named Peter Royles, who used to play a 12-string all over town. I remember one time we got a box of food via the Wayside Chapel because we didn’t get to eat regularly on my $2 a night and his busking income. There was a packet of rice in the box, so we boiled the lot up (I guess we were hungry) and we had boiled rice stuffed into every container we could muster. I think we ended up chucking a fair bit of it out (maybe we didn’t have a fridge – hey, the memory isn’t good for things so long ago …).

Forward again to ‘Chaplin’s’: The house band was called Frack The Bunt, and featured an ever-changing lineup of musicians such as I’ve never encountered since. A fellow called Swiss Chris played organ with us for a while, but he had to stop when some heavies came in during an afternoon rehearsal and repossessed his Hammond. My time at ‘Chaplin’s’ is also filled with other strange and interesting stories, including the one about how I drove my girlfriend’s Volkswagen to the gig one time, and when I finished playing at something like 3 in the morning, I simply stepped out into Oxford Street and caught a cab home to Paddington. Luckily, my girlfriend asked me where I’d parked the car, which reminded me that it was still back somewhere near the gig. I had to catch another cab back, and drive it home. They were long nights in those days.

It was time for me to be discovered, and Frank Butler from The 69ers did that very thing – strolling in to Chaplin’s one night, bass-player-less and apparently impressed with my version of entertaining. His bass-player Brian Bethell had left to join Toby Jugg only the day before, and there was a residency at The Clique Wine Bar in Surry Hills to be considered! I was whisked off for an audition next day, with Frank only. After that we got together with drummer Keith Longman, and a couple of days after that, I was at The Clique doing three sets of the strangest songs I’d ever had the pleasure to play. The Clique remains one of my favourite gigs (though it doesn’t exist now, of course. There were some monumental changes made to licensing laws, and wine bars disappeared from Sydney, seemingly overnight.) Later on, towards the end of the 70s, I got another residency there with Toons, who existed for a few years just before I morphed from Peter Knox into Izzy Foreal and formed the Zarsoff Brothers – which is another long strange and interesting story indeed.

I can’t remember how long I’d played with The 69ers before drummer Keith got the sack, but it sure didn’t seem very long at all. I’d actually already tried to resign after a particularly heavy dressing down by Frank in the middle of a Clique performance, but he somehow convinced me to stay. I have to say now, when I look back, that I learned a lot from Frank Butler. At the time, however, I would have preferred less-severe lessons, and I have no burning desire to play in a band with him again.

Anyway, Keith’s sacking was not a dignified affair. Frank picked me up for a gig, and on the way we stopped at Keith’s house in Auburn and Frank unloaded Keith’s drums onto the front verandah, told Mrs Longman that Keith was no longer in the band, and off we headed to the gig. I was as gobsmacked as she was. I don’t remember anything about the gig we were off to, but I do remember rehearsing with Keith’s replacement, Dave Ovenden, every day for a week, then back to The Clique and business as usual. My diaries are all in storage, so I can’t give exact dates, but this must have been 1971 or 72.

After he was sacked, I think Keith followed Brian into Toby Jugg. Frank Butler sacked Dave and me some months later, and got Brian and Keith back as his rhythm section. Then he sacked them both again and got me and Dave back … I can’t tell you how many times this went on, but by the time we played at Sunbury 73 (possibly the high point of The 69ers existence), Dave and I were the rhythm section again, and Brain Bethell had rejoined on lead guitar!

It was during one particularly long sacking period from The 69ers, for about three months at the end of 1972, that I played bass with the Original Battersea Heroes, who by that time had moved away from their wine bar beginnings and were firmly entrenched in the rock music circuit. The Heroes at that stage featured Tony Burkys and Bob McGowan on guitars, Terry Darmody out front, and Dennis (whose surname will have to be verified elsewhere) on a hybrid drumkit/washboard concoction.

During another sacking period, Dave Ovenden and I teamed up with Red McKelvie and Graham Lister to form Johnny & The Ringworms – which later became the Third Union Band when things got momentarily serious. (We screen printed some Ringworms posters ourselves, featuring a cartoon of an arse with a top-hatted worm crawling out of it, wearing a silly grin on its face. We put the same logo onto tee shirts – I wonder if any of those survive? When we put the posters up around Surry Hills, Council workers came along and removed them very officially. When Red McKelvie finally worked out the Ringworm joke, he immediately changed our name to The Third Union Band.). That’s me on bass in the GTK clip of the Third Union Band playing ‘Hyway Ryder’ that can be found on YouTube, as well as the same band backing Rick Springfield on ‘Speak To The Sky’. We stole half of the Clique residency from The 69ers for a time, and I was eventually replaced by Harry Brus, just after we finished recording an album that has never been released. (There are many strange and interesting stories involving my time with the Third Union Band – but they may belong in another article).

I have a dim memory that suggests at one stage during the series of sackings and un-sackings, Keith and I ended up in the band together again for a brief moment. There was another time when Terry Wilson replaced me after I walked out on Frank and Dave (leaving them in the lurch at The Arts Factory, Taylor’s Square, if I remember rightly). Then, after an altercation in which Mr Butler seemed to have walked into a door, I replaced Terry in turn. (There was a knock on the door of my bed-sit in Paddington, around midnight. At the door was Frank Butler, sporting a fresh black eye – well, red and swollen at that early stage – all sweetness and light as he talked me back into the band, with Dave Ovenden at his side to offer a drummer’s perspective on the recruitment effort).

Frank survived all of the comings and goings intact, until we sacked him from his own band, some time towards the end of 73, I think – after a particularly horrid tour of Melbourne filled with band members scraping coins together to buy fish and chips in cheap accommodation at one end of town, and Frank Butler staying at the top end, looking well-fed whenever we encountered him at gigs. Frank had actually missed the first half of the first gig on that tour, after the flight he took from Sydney arrived in Melbourne too late for him to get there. We had managed to make it on time after driving all the way (am I painting the picture clearly enough here?), and our solo set went over a storm. The band truck had already blown a motor on the way to Adelaide only a week or so earlier, and we were eating fish and chips supposedly to pay off the new motor. On the way back to Sydney, the replacement motor shit itself, and by the time we’d all made it back home, we’d decided that drastic measures were called for. Still running on the confidence and energy surrounding our solo set, we replaced Frank Butler with Tony Burkys, choofing along quite happily until it all came undone. Frank formed another 69ers and called them Frank Butler’s Original 69ers. For a time there were two bands: mine was called Peter Knox’s New Improved 69ers, and Go-Set magazine had a ball covering the ensuing ‘feud’ between the two versions of the band. The short but intense existence of Peter Knox’s New Improved 69ers was also filled with strange and interesting stories.

There was the gig at Caulfield Town Hall in Melbourne (July 21, 1973 – billed as the “indoor Let It Be pop festival”), where I came out in a ballerina outfit singing ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, because Thorpie had chucked a wobbly and demanded to go on just before The 69ers, instead of at the end, as planned. Peter Knox’s New Improved 69ers had no intention of being blown offstage by mere volume, and so the skullduggery was concocted just before we went on. (Some people might remember ‘Rainbow’ was Thorpie’s solo single – he was not amused, apparently, and dramatically resigned the next day from the management agency shared by both bands). The high point for Peter Knox’s New Improved 69ers may well have been the support spot for Lindisfarne at Apollo Stadium (Adelaide), August 18, 1973. Then there was the tour to Perth.

We were meant to work a ten-night or so residency at the Perth disco Beethoven’s – our return flights had been paid for by the venue, as well as our accommodation at a swank motel at the south end of town. We were billed as a high-ranking band from The East (that’s what Perth calls the rest of Australia), but the venue management was less than amused by our on-stage antics. We were the uncoolest dudes to have ever darkened their stage, and they responded to this fact by sacking us on the first night after our headlining one-hour spot. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) our manager Michael Chugg was in town, so after much negotiation, we were allowed to do another hour spot the next night, provided we cleaned things up a bit. We came onstage the second night and tried to just play the songs, without the patter and bizarre choreography, and with an attempt at redesigning the electric jug band feels to suit a crowd of disco-style dancers. Wrong. We were sacked for a second time – take away the stage act, and you didn’t have The 69ers any more.

More hurried negotiations involving Chuggy and Beethoven’s, and we got a third stab at the residency. This time we were encouraged to pull out all stops and really show them why we were a high-ranking band from The East. With nothing to lose (we thought) we did just that and – you guessed it – got sacked for the final time, after some heavying by the Licensing Squad, who happened to be there to check out the ‘stripping school teacher’ who was our support act. Things turned nasty after that. The venue management decided to impound our PA until we’d paid the bill at the motel, which we couldn’t do because we’d been sacked (and certainly hadn’t budgeted for such high-class accommodation). The other aspect of the Catch 22 was: we couldn’t go out and earn the motel bill, because our PA had been impounded!

Chuggy split town leaving some room service bills to add to our woes. Just when we thought we’d have to take up Perth citizenship until we’d purchased a new PA, a local promoter and supportive punters pulled together a week’s worth of gigs so we could pay our way out of town. Somebody convinced Beethoven’s to release our PA from bondage, and those cobbled together gigs were hugely successful, as this review in the Perth music press shows:

“The 69ers at the Much More Ballroom were their insane best and finished the night’s set with that song that has got them into all the trouble, well, they are always in trouble, but some more trouble anyway: ‘Freakin At The Freakers Ball’. It was a much different group of guys this week than last, when they were having all the hassles with Beethoven’s, and let’s hope their memories of Perth, after their week at The Institute, Maggies, The Much More Ballroom and the Mandurah are reasonably pleasant.

Their last gig in Perth, at Maggies, saw probably one of the biggest crowds the club has ever had. It was real 69ers territory, the audience becoming part of the act with their replies to some of Peter’s remarks. Then at the end when we had all been told to remove ourselves in the politest terms the 69ers know, everyone remained where they were, expecting more. And more is what we got. Peter, parading around the stage, doing a juggling act with 24 speaker boxes, whilst balancing a light bulb on his nose, doing drum solos on his head, giving perceptive renditions of guys picking up chicks in The Cross, and it would have gone on all night had not the management raised the stage lights and Peter made his exit. The 69ers send-ups of things Australian and of things musical, backed by a tight musical combination, give them an assured place in the Australian rock field, rather like the place The Fugs occupy in the States.”

It wasn’t the end of our Perth adventure, however. The manager of the swank motel had taken the return parts of our plane tickets as a bond to make sure we didn’t sneak out without paying the rent, after Beethoven’s had spat the dummy on it. From our cobbled-together earnings, we paid up, and headed off to the airport to escape from this western hell, hopefully forever (pleasant memories of the last week’s gigs notwithstanding). Just out of the motel carpark, we realised we’d forgotten to pick up the plane tickets, so drummer Dave Ovenden went back in to see the manager. When he’d been gone for what seemed like a bloody long time, I went in to see what was keeping him. When I entered the manager’s office, here was Dave sitting in a chair, with the manager pulling his hair, shouting and threatening angrily. I walked in on what looked like a physical assault, and my performance instinct kicked in immediately (mingled with a huge helping of survival instinct). The manager shaped up to me (he was beside himself with rage – and one of him was bad enough), so I decided to play the same game. I started shouting and threatening him, and he eventually flipped into defence mode.

When things had calmed down, he explained the reason for his anger. One of the band members, venting his frustration at all the shit we’d copped, and perceiving that the owners of Beethoven’s and the motel management were somehow sleeping in the same bed, had poured pepper into the telephone handset in his room, and left other subtle hints of our pissed-offedness that probably only he should describe in detail. While we’d been heading off to freedom, the cleaners had discovered the naughtiness, so that by the time poor Dave had innocently arrived to retrieve our tickets, the shit had already well and truly hit the fan. I can’t tell you exactly how I did it, but I managed to convince the motel manager (who looked like he ate people like me for breakfast) to give us back the tickets and let us leave town with all our limbs intact. My mouth, I think, is the best fist I possess.

Back to the Sunbury 1973 high point of my time with The 69ers: We performed at the Sunbury Festival that year twice, to much critical acclaim and general merriment. There are pictures in existence of me, heading out into the audience pretending to be Frank Sinatra, but looking more like Frank Zappa, microphone in hand at the end of a hugely-long microphone lead (this is way before radio mics), singing a bawdy 69ers version of ‘Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On’; hugging and kissing nude people, riding on the shoulders of crowd members, etc. Our first, and ‘official’, set went over so well that whoever was in charge of such matters decided we’d be the perfect act to finish off the festival, and so they booked us for a second set. The year before, Sunbury 1972 had finished with a monster jam, peopled by such giants of Australian music as Billy Thorpe, Lobby Lloyd et al. The jam had extended a fair way into the night, and the festival promoters had some trouble clearing the Festival site in time, so I’ve heard. In 73 they thought a quick set from a silly band from Sydney might wrap things up neatly, but it was not to be. The punters kept throwing encores at us, and I don’t know of any performer who knows how to duck a well-lobbed encore.

So, we played on, and the excitement level grew. At one stage drummer Dave Ovenden skulduggerously invited the 30,000-or-so punters to join us on stage for a singalong – the security fence along the front of the stage that had been keeping the crowd at bay immediately made funny creaking noises and collapsed forward, flat onto the ground. Bouncers were running everywhere, tossing people back into the throng, until eventually order was restored and the fence propped up to some semblance of its former glory.

And the adventure still wasn’t over. We finally finished the series of encores, and as I was leaving the stage to tumultuous applause, I passed Lobby Lloyd on the stairs. Guitar in hand, he was intent on continuing the monster jam tradition that had begun the year before. He was muttering obscenities, and stuff like “Fucking clowns from Sydney – punters wouldn’t know good music if they fell over it” (I don’t remember the exact words, but I think you get the spirit of his mood). The monster jam went on, of course, and more-than-likely many of the punters who were still there at the end of it had forgotten the clowns from Sydney, but for me personally that Sunbury experience was somehow a vindication of my decision years earlier to fly in the face of the too-serious Australian music trends.

We had sacked Frank Butler by the end of that year, and the brief blaze that was Peter Knox’s New Improved 69ers blew out within another twelve months (there’s a live recording somewhere of that version of the band – I heard it at a radio station in Melbourne, and it impressed me no end – as well as some tapes of a recording session we did for a single that was never released. What rare treasures they would be). Even after the high drama of Frank’s sacking, our love / hate relationship was such that I returned to later lineups of his 69ers for brief moments up to about 1976 or so. Terry Stacey, who was the next bass-player in line after me (a couple of times), has some marvellous stories to tell about these last years of the 69ers. The magic that had held it all together had moved on, however, and it ground to a halt completely by the end of 1978. Frank Butler began his journey to becoming The Evangelist Frank Butler, preaching the Christian Gospels in the US of A.

At the end of the final version of The 69ers (after I’d left for the last time), I heard Frank Butler had taken his Gibson Les Paul Gold Top to ‘The Gap’ at Watson’s Bay in Sydney, uttered some prayers and denounced his connection with the evils of rock and roll, then chucked the guitar into the ocean below. None of this may be true: I only heard about it. Some time after that, he helped set up the Hillsong Church. I met up with him briefly during that time, and he and his wife wanted to lay hands on me and offered to start talking in tongues – I swear! The next thing I hear he’s gone yankside and started Frank Butler Ministries – find him on the web: there are videos of his sermons. I had some email communication with him, around the time of The 69ers reunion gig at The Bridge Hotel in Rozelle (for Brian Bethell’s 55th birthday, circa 2004) – where I created a life-sized wooden cutout of him so he would be present on stage. What an adventure! From 1976 or so, I bounced on with the band Toons through what was left of the Sydney wine bar scene, and other musical adventures perhaps worthy of mention at another time, before having this strange idea to form another comedy-rock band in 1979.

The last time I played with The 69ers was at Dave Ovenden’s 60th birthday celebrations, at the Bilambil Sports Club (northern New South Wales) in March 2007. Dave, Brian Bethell and I got together and performed a set of songs from the early wine bar years of the band, with me singing the songs that Frank Butler used to sing when I first joined him at The Clique wine bar.

This is only a brief overview of the history of The 69ers during my years with them, based on my memories – some of them stirred by exchanges with fellow-travellers on facebook, and so all dates and places cannot be taken as gospel. Those details are as close as I can get at this distance. There are many other strange and interesting stories of the band that would easily fill a book. Don’t encourage me, now …

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The History of Jupiter ……….so far

Jupiter formed in 1976 in Sydney Australia

Ron Mazurkiewicz and Philip Edwards had played together for many years in a well respected band called Elmtree. The band had been through many incarnations and was heading towards a more Jazzier Fusion focus and so needed the talents of a great guitarist which led them to Dieter Kleeman who was playing with local band “Forever”.

It certainly was a meeting of the spirits for these 3 musicians who quickly realised that they were well suited to be playing together. Next they needed that special bass player…………..

By placing an advertisement in the paper they thought there would be a line a mile long of talented bass players eager to join this new outfit…..

The one and only Bass player who answered the advert was Phil Laycock, which in hindsight was a great relief to the other members as he was perfect for the job of completing the new line up now called Jupiter.

It didn’t take long to have a wide ranging repertoire of tunes drawn from their musical influences. This included the likes of Chick Corea, John Mclaughlin, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, to name a few. Eventually the list would include some memorable original tunes like Full Moon, Camellia and much more.

Gradually, after being isolated for months in a small house on the outskirts of rural western Sydney the band ventured out to hit the traps with their new and innovative style of music.

Jupiter didn’t fit into the normal jazz scene, they were to rocky, they didn’t fit into the rock scene as they were to jazzy. They had to forge ahead by astounding people at places like French’s Wine bar in Oxford Street, and the Pinball Wiz at Circular quay.

Once at one gig out of town they were told they would not get the full fee promised as their singer had not turned up…… these early days of Jazz/Fusion instrumental music were tough but the band continued to develop a strong loyal following of people who needed more than the usual 3 chords, without the tradition of some Jazz gigs.

The band contributed to the sound track of a surfing film called ‘Drift Away” and played live at the old Regent theatre in George St Sydney. One of the last bands to play there.

The ABC radio station “JJ” as it was then called were having a series of live performances and were inundated with requests for Jupiter to play a “Live to Air” concert. This occurred in late 1976 and was a wonderful night for all concerned this helped the band to develop a wider audience.

The band recorded reel after reel at Atlantic studios in Sydney’s Earlwood with a goal of releasing an album. Unfortunately trying to get backing to release this material proved all to hard and eventually the band broke up with members going in vastly different directions.

Now the band has come full circle and May 2010 had a 30 year reunion at Atlantic studios where they had spent so much of their formative years, playing, recording, rehearsing and generally developing their musicianship. Jupiter will explore its universe and seek to play again.

The journey continues….

Members

• Ron Mazurkiewicz – Keyboards
• Phil Laycock – Bass
• Philip Edwards – Drums
• Dieter Kleeman – Guitar

Images

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Cold Chisel was one of my all time favorite live bands. They simply shone on stage. I had the opportunity to see them many times both in large stadium concerts and a few times in very intimate venues. One of the best was an impromptu show they held on the outside of a pub in Moss Vale, NSW. Near as I can figure it was in January 1983 although I’m hoping a knowledgeable commenter may be able to narrow that down to a specific date.

I got a call one day out of the blue from my friend Wolfgang who’d heard there was going to be a fund-raising show at Moss Vale by Cold Chisel. I took the essential items being a bottle of vodka and a camera. I managed to push my way right to the front of the stage and these shots are the result.

The astute amongst you will notice that it’s not Steve Prestwich on drums. He was apparently sick that day and his place was taken by ex Daddy Cool drummer, Gary Young. You will also find John Swan standing side stage. At the end of the show I managed to talk my way backstage but unfortunately the bottle of vodka had well and truly kicked in by then so all I did was dribble in peoples ear. I distinctly remember collaring poor Ian Moss for about 10  minutes and I don’t think I said a sensible word. Oh well!

I’d really like some help identifying the roadcrew in these shots too. If anyone can be of help just leave a comment.

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Peculiar Clerk has been a popular band since it was added about a year ago. I remember seeing them at the Chester Hill Hotel around 1980 and they left a great impression. It was a small suburban pub with an ad-hoc stage but stood upon that stage was a bunch of guys who just rocked!

The Peculiar Clerk article also lead to Rob Manego who sent over the brilliant post on Mirrored Image. That’s how it tends to work sometimes!

Anyway, this week I received a great bunch of Peculiar Clerk memorabillia from Peter Marples who played guitar in the band from 1979 -1982. I’ve added them to the original listing as well as some live video, but his comments and photo’s were so good they needed a post of their own.

Over to Peter…

Hi Mark,
Terrific job you are doing with the site, congratulations indeed. Fantastic to hear about inclusion in Pandora (thanks to Ray Suckling – from 60s band Exiles for passing that on). I am passing this site onto as many band members as I can remember from yonks ago knowing the listing on the list is growing very quickly.

I was the lead guitarist in Peculiar Clerk from 1979-1982 and have included a few pics that I thought you may like to include under the band.

The main pic has the line up late around late 1980 with (L/R) Drums, Steve Askins, Guitar, Brian Gully, Vocals, Peter Keen, Bass, Rob Manego and my self (Peter Marples) Guitar

When I left Sydney in 1982 I was replaced by Ian Blakey and then Steve Lees who worked with Rob Manego in Mirrored Image. We did have John Holly on Keyboards for a short period. You may like to add them to the list of musos who hopefully had as much fun as I did.

There is also a clipping from NUCLEUS Headliners Australia, quite rare I would think showing many, many terrific bands from the early 80s. Use them as you wish.

It was indeed a fabulous time to be playing in the pubs and clubs that presented live music most nights, what a sad loss that is.

I did some 480 gigs with PC mainly in Sydney and surrounds, from Selinas, The Royal Antler, Dee Why Hotel, War and Peace, Sutherland Hotel, Sefton Hotel, Blacktown RSL, Doyalson RSL, Wyong Leagues etc, etc. you name it we were there at some stage ( I actually still have my gig diary). Work was plenty. I well remember supporting bands like Flowers in 1979 at the Earlwood Hotel with perhaps only 20 or so punters, they still turned on a great performance, there is something about seeing the future before your eyes! We later supported Flowers at the Sylvania Hotel not long after their first album came out with who knows a 1000 plus in the crowd. We worked with many great bands including The Mentals, The Oils, Misex, Ted Mulry, Hello Sailor, The Reels, Laughing Clowns, The Elks, Lime Spiders, The Riptides, D-Minor and the Dischords, Swanee, Moving Pictures, Richard Clapton, Dynamic Hepnotics, Russell Morris, Lonely Hearts, Old 55, boy the list just goes on. Even had the honour of having the Divinyls support us in April 1981 at the Sylvania Hotel, just before they had huge success with their first single. PC managed an independent single through Phoenix Records (Another Guy/Miss You) but that’s about it.

I think we were a fun band that hopefully gave some enjoyment to the people who came to see us, for which I say thanks for the memories.

We had some great guys working in our crew including Richard Kershaw, Gordon White, Ken Roberts, Little John, Mirko and Terry (you know who you are) and wherever they are now I hope they are living good long lives.

Our sound guy Richard Kershaw did move on to be the sound engineer for The Eurythmics on their world tour after he left PC.

I met many wonderful people and will never forget that incredible time. I think perhaps we contributed in some small way to the pub rock scene of the day.

Images

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Mirrored Image was one of Sydney’s hardest working, un signed bands of the early eighties.
These guys were constantly working near seven shows a week

Fronted by sisters Christine and Tracy Mullane, the band played a mixture of covers and original material.
The girls were influenced by the likes of Pat Benetar and Heart

I joined the band as their Bass Player in early 1984 not long after Peculiar Clerk decided to call it a day.
Steve Lees, (ex Guitarist from Peculiar Clerk) met up with Lyndsay and Ray from Mirrored Image at a music convention. They had plenty of work and were looking for a Bass Player as theirs resigned. Steve told them I was available and may be interested. He took their numbers and let me know.
I auditioned and got the Gig.
They seemed to be quite a Professional outfit,
All their work was through Premier Harbour agency and there was plenty of work!!

The line up at that time was:
Christine Mullane – Vocals
Tracy Mullane – Vocals
Rob Manego – Bass Guitar/Backing Vox
Ray Lloyd Jones – Guitar/Backing Vox
Lyndsay Ladiges – Guitar
Gary Jones – Drums

This line up was awesome musically, After a period of intense rehearsals everything felt great, we played for a couple of months however it was not to last.

Gary Jones the drummer decided to leave.

Keeping musicians (I found out) seemed to be a constant battle for the band. Why? I don’t know. For some reason no sooner we would get a replacement band member rehearsed and ready to go, someone else would pull the pin. It was frustrating!

I think I was with the band for about a year. During that time the line up changed several times. I played with five different drummers and four different guitarists.

Maybe the grind of working the way we did took its toll. Who knows!
I now was finding it hard to stay. I was not enjoying constantly rehearsing new members to find they would only last five minutes.

The Agency had booked us on a two-week cruise aboard the Fairstar
We were billed with John Paul Young.

I was not going to leave before the cruise. I informed the girls that I was quitting after the cruise. We had a slight issue of needing another guitarist as yep, another one resigned. Luckily Steve Lees (ex Peculiar Clerk) and I were good mates and he new what was going on and also new most of the repertoire. I told him that the cruise was on and I was leaving the band when the cruise was over. There was a position for him as guitarist if he wanted it. He took the job.
We had a ball on the cruise with JPY and both left Mirrored Image when we returned to Australia.
I know Mirrored Image went on for a while after.
I was a shame that the band did not achieve what it could have

The last I heard was the girls formed a Cabaret style show under the name the Mullane Sisters. Not sure what they are doing now

Maybe if Mirrored Image had had proper management and direction they may have gone further. Who knows!
The girls definitely had the potential and drive.

Images

Audio

Insecurity
Miss You
Stranger In You

Members

• Christine Mullane – Vocals
• Tracy Mullane – Vocals
• Rob Manego – Bass Guitar/Backing Vox
• Ray Lloyd Jones – Guitar/Backing Vox
• Lyndsay Ladiges – Guitar
• Gary Jones – Drums
• Steve Lees – Guitar
• Bruce Fraser – Drums

Known Gigs

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The Exiles were a Brisbane based band formed in early 1966 by rhythm guitarist Bert Mullemeister and drummer David Elias. They were joined by lead guitarist Lindsay Basing, Ray Suckling on bass and vocalist Barry McLean.

The group played at various dances, hotels and disco’s in and around Brisbane supporting southern bands like the Easybeats at the Bowl in South Brisbane and The Scene in the city. They increased their coverage to take in Ipswich, where they featured at the In Scene and the Bowl, before regular gigs at Gympie and the Sunshine Coast where they had a regular spot at the Pearl Hotel, Caloundra and the Alexandra Headlands Surf Club. Bookings also came from the Gold Coast where the group played at various hotels, on the beach venues at Greenmount and Burleigh Heads and Danceland, Coolangatta where they backed artists such as Dinah Lee.

In mid 1967 Bert Mullemeister and David Elias left the band and were replaced by Clive Dunham on keyboards and guitar and Bruce Fraser on drums. Bruce suggested a name change and the band became known as Vision.

Some months passed and Barry moved on being replaced by vocalist, guitarist Mike Preston. They continued to play basically the same circuit with the odd Battle of the Bands thrown in and in early 1968 Lindsay left being replaced by Brian Hanson on lead guitar. Midway through that same year Ray Suckling left to further his career and was replaced by Dave Aust on bass. The band continued in that format until 1969 when they decided to go their seperate ways with Mike persuing a successful solo career.

Even though in the early days the band wrote and performed some of their own material, no recordings were ever made.

Images

Members

• Bert Mullemeister – Guitar
• David Elias – Drums
• Lindsay Basing – Guitar
• Ray Suckling – Bass
• Barry McLean – Vocals
• Clive Dunham – Keyboards, Guitar
• Bruce Fraser – Drums
• Mike Preston – Vocals, Guitar
• Brian Hanson – Guitar

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Spy vs Spy, also known as v. Spy v. Spy, The Drug Grannies and The Spies, are an Australian ska/pub rock band from Sydney formed in 1981. They became known for tackling political issues through their music, including racism, homelessness and contemporary drug culture. They were named after a comic strip, “Spy vs. Spy” in the US Mad magazine.
From wikipedia

History

Aside from Midnight Oil, vSpy vSpy are arguably one of Australia’s most politically- oriented rock bands. While Midnight Oil’s politics were those of conscience, Spy V Spy were outspoken representatives of the Street. Primarily they started out as the voice of the homeless squatters of early eighties Sydney, but their songs spoke for everyone who felt under the thumb of The System. They told stories polite Australia didn’t necessarily want told. The original group came from separate corners of the world.

Guitarist Mike Weiley arrived in Sydney from an industrial city in England and almost immediately found a soul-mate at Nelson Bay High School in would-be bassist Craig Bloxom. American Craig had studied in Alaska for a time, and arrived in Sydney in his mid-teens via LA. The group’s token Australian, drummer Cliff Grigg, arrived in Sydney from the Northern Territory, and settled in an inner suburban squat in Glebe that didn’t even have a roof when he first moved in. From the day they met at high school Mike and Craig had talked about music and in around 1980 started talking about forming a band together. Cliff heard about it though mutual friends and Spy V Spy was born. To save on rent and keep from having to find day jobs Mike and Craig moved into Cliff’s squat. They took the name from a regular strip in Mad magazine. Living in a squat had other advantages. They were able to rehearse almost every day. One day they received a call from the Sussex Hotel asking them to fill in for a band who couldn’t make it, and Spy V Spy performed their first gig.

In the beginning their music style was dominated by the ska sound popular in inner Sydney pubs at the time. A year into their life the band recorded its first single. Michael Hutchence of INXS offered to produce, but they turned him down. The single ‘Do What You Say’ was followed by an EP, ‘Four Fresh Lemons’, both recorded for friends on an independent label, Green. The EP’s original pressing was a limited release of 1000 copies. They sold out in 5 days. But the band expected something else to happen, and broke up shortly afterwards.

It took just a few months to realize that Spy V Spy was more fun than the bands they were now playing with, and Spy V Spy reconvened in July 1983 with second guitarist Marcus Phelan. The ska had been dropped for a more straight-ahead rock attack. In 1983 Weiley became sick and confined to a hospital bed for a considerable time. Their equipment was stolen. Phelan left. Things changed with the help of Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett, who’d become a fan and would attend every performance he could.

Now called vSpy vSpy to avoid legal action from Mad magazine, the group acquired Midnight Oil’s manager Gary Morris and released the mini-album ‘Meat Us Inside’ and its single ‘One Of A Kind’.

Their first album ‘Harry’s Reasons’ contained the singles ‘Injustice’ (about the Aboriginal struggle) ‘Something’ (directed at the media) and the title track, dealing with a friend’s misuse of heroin. Harry was a euphemism for the drug. For their next album vSpy vSpy moved from Midnight Oil’s Powderworks label to WEA. This album, ‘A.O. Mod. TV Vers.’ (standing for Adult Oriented Modified TV Version), contained their “hit” record ‘Don’t Tear It Down’, a plea to the developers bulldozing historic Sydney, and a ode to the scourge of the day, ‘Credit Cards’. ‘A.O. Mod. TV Vers.’ earned vSpy vSpy a platinum record. Without warning, the record company demanded a new album, and within six weeks the band wrote and recorded ‘Xenophobia (Why?)’. The title was inspired by the mood around Australia’s Bicentennial year, but the messages in the songs were universal enough to see the album released in 14 other countries. 1989′s ‘Trash The Planet’ was recorded in England at Richard Branson’s Manor House studios.

Branson kept Irish Wolfhounds as pets at the Manor, one of which savagely attacked Craig. Cliff Grigg was desperately unhappy with his drums sound on that album. His departure from the band at the end of 1991 led to a year’s absence from live performances. Mike and Craig took the opportunity to move to Queensland and went through a period of search and trial of new drummers until their support of a best of collection in June 1992 saw the group’s return, with Mark Cuffe on drums. In 1983 the vSpy vSpy signed a new contract with Sony, and released ‘Fossil’, written in the studio, before breaking up (again) in 1994.

In 1995 – back to calling itself Spy V Spy, the band traveled to Brazil to follow-up on a strong fan base established there through the surfing community. Mike stayed behind, while back in Australia, Craig Bloxom and Mark Cuffe teamed up with Icehouse drummer Paul Wheeler to form a new group, the Shock Poets, allowing Cuffe to leave the drums for the microphone. More Brazil tours followed, and the two groups existed concurrently. In 1997 Mark left to dedicate himself to Shock Poets while Craig left that group to dedicate himself to vSpy vSpy. Paul Wheeler was named as vSpy vSpy’s new drummer. The enthusiasm of Brazilian Spyfans means that vSpy vSpy can stay alive, while maintaining a low profile on the Australian music scene.
From the vSpy vSpy website

Members

• Mike Weiley – Guitar
• Craig Bloxom – Bass, Vocals
• Cliff Grigg – Drums
• Marcus Phelan – Guitar
• Mark Cuffe – Drums
• Paul Wheeler – Drums
• Neil Beaver – Bass
• Mick Laws – Drums

Videos

Don’t Tear It Down

Sally-Anne

Recordings

• Harry’s Reasons – March 1986
• A.O. Mod. TV. Vers. – December 1986
• Xenophobia (Why?) – March 1988
• Trash the Planet – November 1989
• Fossil – May 1993
• The Honey Island Project – April 1998
• Demolition – 2004

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Here’s another great set of classic Aussie band images from Jeff White.

In this article you’ll find Cold Chisel, Men At Work, Moving pictures and Sharon O’Neill. Enjoy!

If you, like Jeff, have some great old snaps of some classic Australian bands then scan them & send them over. We’d love to display them here.

Cold Chisel

Men At Work

Moving Pictures

Sharon O’Neill

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