About Jimmy And The Boys
Sydney based band. 1976-1982
“Outrageous and often obscene shock/horror group led by Ignatious Jones, who pioneered the use of theatrical trappings for Australian bands.”
From the Who’s Who of Australian Rock
“I’m not like everybody else” – 1979
History
“Jimmy and the Boys were an Australian New Wave band, active from 1975 to 1982, best known for their incredibly violent stage shows. The act revolved around vocalist Ignatius Jones and keyboard player Joylene Hairmouth – a couple of friends from Cranbrook and Riverview, exclusive private schools. Since 1976 the duo had been surrounded by various combinations of backing musicians, the constant guts and gore probably accounting for at least some of the member turnover. Their performance, their visual image, their on and offstage behaviour were all carefully designed to elicit the maximum level of shocked outrage from a public long since bored with the standard media fare of moral decadence. Sadomasochism, transvestitism, self-mutilation, drug abuse, inebriation, simulated sex and mock rape all took starring roles in Jimmy And The Boys’ blisteringly paced tribute to cultural degeneracy. The band was known for often causing audience riots in the more homophobic venues they played.”
From Wikipedia
Members
- Ignatius Jones – Vocals
- William O’Riordan aka Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth – Keyboards
- Scott Johnson – Drums
- Michael Vidale – Bass
- Stephen Hall – Lead Guitar
- Rick Sutton aka Joe P. Rick – Guitar
- Danny Damjanovic – Sax, Flute
- Barry Lytten – Drums
- Michael Parks – Bass, Guitar
Recordings
Albums
- Not Like Everybody Else – 1979
- Teddy Boys Picnic – 1981
- In Hell With Your Mother – 1982
- Out Of Phase – 1988
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Truly one of the greatest Australian bands EVER! These guys are still one of my all-time favourite bands. Only Mark, I must insist you refer to Joylene by her full name, Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth! (sorry, couldn’t resist!). Did you know that Joylene actually ran for the NSW Senate? For real!
Ahhh, Thornbird… you are quite right JR, it has been corrected.
I remember the Senate run too.
i ‘appreciate’ them enough to want ‘babies on fire’ played @ my funeral!!
You’re Jimmy and the boys history is a little sketchy…as are some of the above “facts”…Members of this one time great band not listed above were the people who actually formed Jimmy and the Boys before the inclusion of Iggy and Bill and include… Tom Falkingham, Pat Sheil, Mike Sheil, Scott Johnston, Hamish Stuart, John Huie, Jason Morphett and perhaps a few I cant remember…later Paul Radcliffe and Andrew De Telliga also played guitar for the band. Before Ignatious and Bill were the stars of the show, Jimmy and the boys (there was no Jimmy) were a jazz rock band comprised of students from the Cranbrook school in Sydneys eastern suburbs…they played a combination of origional songs and covers mainly influnced by the likes of Frank Zappa…Jeff Beck…Chik Cohera…and many other American bands of that genre. This was the first band I ever worked for and one day I might even share some of the incredible behind the scenes stories that in the shadow of time, seem quite unbeliveable to me…and I was there.
Also…Rick Sutton and Joe P Rick (Joseph Attullah) are not the same person…although they both played guitar.
a great band.we need more of their songs on limewire & utube though
The music was wild ,the shows were even wilder.I’d never been in an offal fight before
Any one know where i cab get hold of any of the Jimmey and the boys albums especially Not Like Everybody Else but interested in all there work. been hitting the 2nd hand record stores in sydney wiith no sucess
greg
what happened with danny damjanovic?
I’ve been trying to get a copy of ” I’m not like everybody else ” for about 20 years since my first copy got stolen in house break in. So if someone could help it would be appreciated.
Pedrod
Saw them heaps of times back in the old days.I use to have one of the dolls from “baby’s on fire” but my stupid mother tossed it out. I still have a copy of “I’m not like everybody else” & “Teddy Boys Picinic” but not sure if I want to get rid of them. Heaps of memories. Nell
Could never part with my “I’m not like everybody else” album – it’s personally autographed, including a poem by Iggy and some very amusing comments by other band members – just been trying to decipher the fading writing tonight! Very underrated, excellent fun in a savagely dark way and actually a really nice bunch of guys, leaving aside the saga of Iggy and Joylene’s fruit platter sculptures at the St Kilda Car-o-tel!!
Ah Jimmy & the Boys!!!! I remember being front row at a gig at the ANU in Canberra when Ignatious tried to stick his mic up my nose. Fun days indeed.
you sure it was your nose luffy
What about Pygmy Twilight? I remember wild days at the Windsor Hotel in Paddo…seeing Ignatius hanging off the ceiling doing his contortion thingy. Great days indeed. Rick Scutts memory is spot on…I remember all those guys he suggests.
What about “Free Beer” before Jimmy and the Boys?? I recall it pretty well all started with Free Beer band?
Hi Richard!
Actually Free Beer was formed out or former members of Jimmy and the Boys after the management at the time wanted to take the band in a more commercial direction. (not to mention the obvious personality differences that usually occour in these situations) This exodous left Iggy and Bill do what they wanted to do and most of the guys who left splintered into several other bands including “Free Beer”.
As I remember Free Beer was formed by the Sheil brothers in about 1979.
On further reflection it was probably Tom Falkingham who started Free Beer…
I played bass in the band from ’78/’79… Played on the first albumn.
I am currently writing a book loosely based on my time in the band…some of the stories regarding getting out of gigs alive are hard to believe. Like the time we played at Hells Angels Broadford rock festival. We went on stage at 2.00am after a very low key set from Russell Morris and the Rubes. We had already done a gig at Banannas in St Kilda and were fairly out of it. The band was asked to tone it down a tad as the crowd were sleepy. This was like the proverbial red rag to a bull..the bull being Iganatius. We played the first song and got little reaction from the pissed,stoned,tired bikers and assembled misfits. Ignats let fly with something like “Hey are you suppose to be the Hells Angels?…..well my grandmother can do better than you motherfuckers…..”
A barrage of full beer cans started flying at us from a distance of about 20 meters (this was back in the days when the cans were made out of STEEL!!!!)
Michael – so cool to see that you are writing a book about your time with the Boys. Would love to hear what you have been up to over the years. We met a few times back in the early 80′s when you were with The Riffs. What ever happened to Mick, Glenn and Barry? I was playing bass with a couple of Perth original bands at the time – god bless the Apollo Room, Captain Stirling and the Albion. Good luck with the book mate!
Hi Michael,
I was wondering if whether Jimmy and the Boys were at all connected to the East Sydney art scene during the period 77 – 84. There were a couple of groups around that time that seem to have similar performance stylings to “The Boys” such as “Cabaret Conspiracy”. Did any of the participants of the band go to art school? Did you also ever play at Side F/X? I’m really curious about info in this area.
cheers,
Mark
G’day Michael Parks.
I’ve still got Ignatius’s vinyl pants we ripped from him at east leagues club in Brissy. They still smell!!!