About
Sydney based band influenced by Jazz, Punk and Rock.
Awesome film clip of The Cicada that Ate Fivedock from 1982
History
- Started – 1979
- Disbanded – 1982
Members
- Mark Azzopardi – Drums
- Jeff Barrett – Bass
- Doug Coster – Keys
- Vince Crea – Drums
- Danny Damjanovic – Sax
- Scott Johnson -Guitar
- Harry Ladamatos – Bass
- Alex Lakejev – Keys, Vocals
- Mike Mead – Trombone, Vocals
- Dale Pandit – Drums
- Phil Rigger – Trumpet, Vocals
- Dale Ryan – Drums
- John Sammers – Guitar, Vocals
- Michael Gray – Keys
- Chris Ford – Bass
Recordings
Singles
- Cities – 1980
- Cicada (that ate Fivedock) – 1981
- How Can I Get Out Of Here – 1981
- Maybe It’s A Game – 1982
- Stay With Me – 1982
Albums
- Maybe It’s A Game – 1982
Technical Crew
- Steve Zagami
- Sam Zagami
Management
- Gary Grant
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
I think Mark Madden was also a drummer.
Steve and Sam Zagami where the crew and Gary Grant was the manager who went on to manage INXS.
Thanks Champo, I used to do a bit of work with Steve Zagami myself. I’ll update this listing shortly.
Saw these guys several times. One of the tightest bands I’d seen. And a lot of fun too. I think the real meaning behind many of the lyrics were beyond most people however. Many other bands have reformed perhaps Outline could do a one off gig for those loyal fans from the early ’80s that used to catch them around the pubs that don’t eist any more either like the San Miguel, Chatswood Charles, etc.
Yeah, I saw them a few times at the Sefton Hotel and I think once at the Stardust in Cabramatta. They always put on a great show.
Yeah, they were a great little band. I think maybe they formed pre-1979 because I saw them support the Police on their first tour of Oz in 1978, I think. Their songwriting was sensational, I’m sorry they never reached super-stardom!
Mark Madden played percussion in the band called Casablanca which became Outline. I can’t remember exactly what happened but I think at this point we had all quit our day jobs. We had just won a band competition, Northside Band competition or something like that so we embarked on being fulltime musos! I left Christmas 1979 after about a year.
The spelling is Doug COSTER, not COASTER
Thanks Doug, fixed.
I played bass in Casablanca, which became Outline.
Phil Rigger and Mick Meade were in the horn section; they thought and played as one. I believe we had the largest Steely Dan repertoire in Australia. Whenever we played “Don’t Take Me Alive” and John Sammers did that guitar intro, there would be a fight in the audience.
John Marks, the drummer, was a monster. He had the whole double kick thing well sorted way back then. Mark Madden was the percussionist. Jenny Watson was the original singer with Outline.
We were all mad Frank Zappa fans. Phil and John wanted to up the satire factor and run with the punk thing, along with some Gentle Giant. I guess that’s where Outline started. However oxymoronic it sounds, it has to be said that Outline were the best musicians playing punk at that time.
danny damjanovic [saxophone] went on to play with a band called ‘jimmy and the boys’.one of their albums was called ‘not like everybody else’. last i heard of mick mead was in 1981 – he was working as a opotometry sales rep – i cooked him some really bad lobster in innisfail [charlie's place]. you might remember this mick ? whatever happened to you and danny ? sadly, charlie passed away in 2006. joanne
Yeah………..Bay st and the lllinois hotel.
I roadied for outline early 1980; remember crashing out a few times at the old place in five dock….which the Cicada really should have ate! Used to gig at the Pickled Parrot (Gladesville Inn) a fair bit. Phil was amazing on trumpet and vocals and the guitar guy (forgot his name) was pretty nifty with the trem; the whole outfit reminded me of Bill Bruford’s lot. Ah well, talent never did count for anything in the music business….I learned a few things and now teach music!
We used to see Outline upstairs regularly (in 1980?) at the Civic on Goulburn St, in the days when you had to eat a meal (usually curry) to be able to stay for the band. It was dakr and dingy… loads of atmosphere, probably a fire trap! The carpet was so bad it stuck to your shoes…
Dale Ryan and ‘Dale Pandit’ may be the same person.
Here’s his myspace page with some interesting pics, some may be from Outline days:
http://www.myspace.com/dalegryan
Mark Madden and Alex Lakajev also played, way back, in an amateur band called ‘Ash’ whose leader/guitarist was later manager Gary Grant (of INXS?).
And before Casablanca, me and 2 other oddballs had a ‘Jazz-Rock Fusion’ band in Burwood which we managed to persuade Mark Madden to join as drummer for a couple of years. John Sammers was a casual member (I left early), and there was a keyboardist called Krishna who had been ‘Indonesia’s Jimi Hendrix’ – He was very talented and I always wondered what happened to him.
Also, I reckon ‘ick ick ick ick, Cicada Drummoyne!’ was the war cry of the Drummoyne Cicadas football team, a war cry which John Sammers may have made up way before he wrote the song – anyone else remember anything about that?
Mick Mead went on to form the band “Sick As A Pig” (heavily influenced frank zapa)
Mick played bass and was a reluctantly the lead singer with Steve Ball on guitar and Steve Byrne on drums. And I recall they played at lest one gig with Tony Cadden as the second guitar.
They had some great songs such as “Daddy shot mummy” and “lets go to the beach”.
In the early 90’s the band took a bit of change in direction by joining Charlie O’Neil, Ian Brown and myself under the banner of “Bus Crash”. With the addition of Steve Black on the trumpet.
Well Well Well….. If you look hard enough, you find amzing stuff…. I didn’t even know this page existed until today when a friend pointed me to it…. I should sort out a few things so the mediator can correct a few feaux pars…. Dale Ryan and Dale Pandit are the same person… The band started as Casabalanca in at least 1978 but I really think it was early 1977. Danny Damjanovic, Mick Mead and I grew up together and played in a number of bands together along with Steve Black who was mentioned as playing with Mick at a certain point. Danny never played in Outline or Casablanca except for a couple of times as a guest player, but was never a full member. He did play in Jimmy and the Boys. Gary Grant is a great guy who managed Outline and as far as I can determine never had a band with anyone. Of course he went on to help manage INXS for at least 10 years. In the old days we were all friends…. INXS, Matt Finish, Jimmy and the Boys etc etc Mark Madden played percussion with Casablanca and Outline until we split in half. We spent sometime playing in a number of Jazz Fusion style bands with him… a great guy Mark. Dave Tucker played bass in Casablanca…. what a bass player, and what a great guy. Dave made me (6ft 5inches) look short (6ft 6 1/2 inches)… the only guy I ever played with who broke a fairly new bottom E string playing a bass solo…!! Dave was so big he used to have a weekend removalist company called Bull Goose Removals and he used to move upright pianos by himself…. or so the legend says…. John Marks played in Casablanca and originally in Outline. Dave Tucker was right when he said that ‘Harpo’ as we called him was a Monster drummer…. great player indeed. Jenny Watson was our lead vocalist originally and she is a great singer. She eventually married Harpo… great people. I hope they’ve been well. Jeff Barrett played bass, Scot Johnston played drums…. not guitar as listed… a great drummer Scotty. The other listing were pretty right. Harry Ladomatos was our early bass player in Outline, a great guy. I recently had the pleasure of recording Harry’s Jazz Fusion band at my studio which was a real pleasure. He’s playing really well. As I just mentioned, I have a studio in Rozelle – monstereomusic and still write and record music…. it’s in my blood I suppose. My partner and I have a band called The Cube which is spoken word over and electronica style backdrop… with guitars etc etc. I appreciate the great comments made by all of you guys. We had a lot of fun in Outline and if it wasn’t for a few things that happened mostly outside of our control we might have gone on to bigger and better things. Anyway, stay in touch guys. Check out the myspace.com/thecubeonline page and drop me a line and tell me what you think. Once again thanks for your memories…. Cheers, Phil Rigger
Just one short note…. I’m sorry to hear that Charlie passed away. When Mick Mead, Steve Black and I lived above and behind the OPSM shop in Auburn, we became good mates with Charlie. He was a real character A few good stories that I couldn’t really re-tell here. I’m sorry to hear he passed away in 2006…. Cheers Charlie
Thanks heaps Phil, it’s great to hear from you on my humble site. I enjoyed seeing your band many times, mainly at Sefton & The Stardust and you were always great.
Thorough comments like yours fill in a huge amount of gaps in a site like this and is exactly the sort of thing I hoped for when I first started it. Thanks again.
I was going through my record collection last night and played the single Cities and the album Maybe Its A Game and it brought back a lot of good memories, hence why I googled the band today. Awesome live band, with Phil one of the most captavating front man I have ever witnessed. I remember seeing them a couple of times in Canberra, once supporting Flowers at the Uni Bar. I though they had the billing wrong, Outline blew them away. Glad to hear Phil is alive and well and still making music.
I sold a guitar to John Sammers once way back in 1978 I think. It was a pommy John Birch Flying Vee. I went to see the boys play one night in Sydney cant remember where and that guitar cranked!!! However I do remember them insisting that the name Outline was a dead issue and that that they were now using the name Teleside?? Does anyone remember that. I remember the other band was The Reels on that night. It was most unusual to see trupets etc in rockbands back in those days
My old man played keys for these guys, havn a beer with him now. He reckons there was a period where ‘Outline’ were chopping and changing with names/ideas to freshen things up. Nothing stuck though, ‘Outline’ was ‘Oultine’ and it had to stay that way.
Hey Nathan, your old man (Sasha) and I were good mates back then, when he was playing with Ash. I remember driving him to a gig at the Forest Lodge Hotel ’cause he didn’t have a licence yet. He just played a shitload of tunes on the pub piano, including a couple of ordinary tunes that I wrote. Say hello to him for me as well as your aunt Vera and uncle Steve Crowhurst.
Wal…..I have a vinyl copy of Maybe It’s A Game in my garage.
Yeah Lou, I know you have ‘Maybe it’s a Game’ and you said you were going to transfer it to CD for me. Don’t worry, Phil Rigger is going to do it for me.
hi we loved these guys back at the old VICA OF WAKEFIELD HOTEL DURAL LATE 1970s early 80s. these guys rocked always put on a great show me and my brother got on well with the guys.I remember the songs ghost train / cicada what a great song nice sound effects & cities which i still have the single. THE OLD BAMBOO ROOM WHAT MEMORIES.
Hey Nathan does your Dad remember supporting The Angels at the Hordern Pavillion either late 70s or early 80s. I remember the Cicada song eee, eee, eee.
Yes..one of my fave bands too… We used to go to the Vicar of Wakefield every weekend for a dose of AUSSIE ROCK.. Outline.. The Eyes.. Damaged Goods.. Radiators… The Numbers.. D. Minor & The Discords… + yer Mentals & INXS’s …and others whose names will prob come back as soon as I hit Enter… The Outliners were a friendly bunch and I always got in the ear of Phil or John about bands etc (our band at the time; New Line Road played its first gig at the Vic).. I remember an epic tune which they used to do in the earlier days……… a history of music in 10 minutes… very funny.. I have some excellent pix of the band at The Vicar ..I shall find them!! ..and yes I still have every record they released…including the 12″ EP.. and yes I do play them from time to time..Thank you Outline for some great musical moments!!…PS I have just been reminded that after an Outline gig @ The Bayview Tavern we found a little kitten which we took home and named….Outline…
I used to watch Outline nearly every Sat night at the pickled parrot….such good times… and great songs….cities….cicada…sex aids…are you a consumer, Wish I had a way to listen to them again…. I heard when they first started that the line up was bigger with people actually acting out the songs on stage but I can’t confirm that…maybe just an urban myth… I also heard they had trouble with record companies cause they sounded too much like Misex.(surely not…surely)
anyway they were great times and if they ever reformed i’d be there in a heartbeat…Why not…The Radiators are performing 30 year anniversary shows I read…. and imo Outline towers above them
Hi all
Its great to relive the good old days of Aus music.
I have in my album collection, The Outline Album -Maybe its a game, (the board game inside)its in great condition, I want to record it onto my computer one day so I can hear it again. Great songs great words, cheers Peter
Great songs!
Where can I purchase the Outline Album -Maybe its a Game?
Great website this – I play in a touch football team called Cicadas on Grass. We began in about 1984 as the Cicadas, and played basketball, before moving to touch footy (hence the “on grass”). We are unashamedly proud followers on the Outline song and every game we play we eee eee eee eee eee as much of possible.
We are having a 25 year reunion this year, inviting as many former Cicadas as possible (in the hundreds). Anyone know where we can get a copy of the song (I’d prefer a record if possible – not really an iTunes man). Full thanks to Outline for providing 25 years if sore throats
i’ve just stumbled across this site. oh…what a blast from the past! wished johnno had put a bit of info in. good reading from phil. i loved that band. what a damn shame they didn’t make it. i know that we thought they should have. hope you’re all enjoying life guys. luv the memories x
I work in the ABC archives and came across this tape (1/4″ 71/2 ips.
Outline (demo)
Master: Date of broadcast unknown. Circa mid 1970′s. Outline is: John Sammers – guitar, vocals. Phil Rigger – trumpet, effects, vocals. Alex Lacesev – keyboards, vocals. Bob Oliver – drums. Jeff Barrett – bass. 1. The Cicada That 8 Five Dock 2. Security Set 3. I’m In Love 4. Lost For Words; Recorded at Honeyfarm.
Does anyone know when this was done? The box says Circa mid 1970′s. But I assume it’s later. And I notice the drummer isn’t in the list above.
Hi Nic,
I was the bass player with Outline in their first year and I remember being on this recording session. The demo you refer to was probably recorded around September 1979. Can’t remember who was drumming, maybe Mark Azzopardi. John played bass on Security Set because I couldn’t get the feel he wanted. I don’t think John (Harpo) Marks played drums on this because he had left the band along with Jenny Watson (our vocalist) some time before this. I remember the producer got John and Alex to play solos over the whole recording and then used parts of these on the final mix. I thought that was really cool.
We also shot a video for Cicada at some old construction site with the guy who produced this recording. I can’t recall the producers name but he had a place in Surry Hills with an attic that had a telescope in it for looking at the stars. He was taken by Outlines quirky sound and attitude to music. He was a cool quirky guy himself with that sort of new age outlook of that time.
These recording were pressed as a 4 track 33rpm LP which I had a copy of but have since lost. Steve Zagami our sound guy had given it to me when I saw him the following year after I had left.
I’m sure Phil Rigger would be very interested in hearing these tapes if that was possible Nic. Phil runs a very nice studio down at Rozelle called Monstereo. Phil would also be able to shed more light on the details of this demo recording.
Nic, Outline did a live to air recording on Double Jay (or was that Triple?) as part of the prize for winning a band competition either just before or just after Christmas 1978. If you found that it would be really cool. It was done at the studio up in Darlinghurst. We also did a recording session there. I remember the engineer/producer guy thought that our songs were too complex. We were right into Gentle Giant at this time so there were these quirky odd meter hard to play things that John Sammers liked writing.
regards
Harry Ladomatos
Hi Guys,
Once again, it’s so nice to hear that Outline created so many great memories for so many people. It makes me very proud to think that we were able to make a difference with people…..to entertain and to say something real, with a liberal dose of humour is what we always tried to do. To Nic, regarding the recording you found….I’d be really interested in getting a transfer of that to CD if possible. I have a cassette of that session I think, but to have it transferred from 1/4′ would be great. The lineup as stated is as it was at the time of the session. John on guitar and vocals, myself on vocals and trumpet, Jeff Barrett on bass, Alex on Keys and Bob Oliver on drums. I think Harry mentioned in an earlier post that we had Mark Azzopardi, but Mark left the band and we had to get another drummer pretty quickly as we had quite a few gigs booked. I had met Bob when I was playing in an earlier band I was in called Skintight. We were a 9 piece funk band during the 70′s. Another band we did a number of gigs with was Dalvanius and the Fascinations. They were essentially a vocal group (Dalvanius and 2 pr 3 harmony singers- the Fascinations) The had a very funky, hot band and Bob Oliver, an American was the drummer. When Outline needed a drummer I had his number and lo and behold he was free at the time. Bob came over to rehearse with us. He picked the songs up really quickly and away we went….it was fantastic. Of course, we had a discussion with him and we weren’t the style of band he wanted to play with permanently, as we were rocking a bit more and funkin’ a little less, but he agreed to stay until we found and rehearsed a new drummer, so Bob stayed with us for about 3 months. He was fantastic and did that recording. I heard years later he ended up as the drummer in the house band at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart….. If you ever see this Bob, or anyone knows Bob, please pass on my kindest regards and ask him to drop me a line. The guy Harry mentions as having made an original video for Cicada was Groove Myers. Groove was an artist and raconteur who had a great place called The Milk Bar in Surry Hills…..it was an old coner store milk bar. The roof opened up and he had a wonderful large telescope with which to stargaze…..a great guy. That version of Cicada was produced by Phil Punch (his brother is Mark Punch, noted guitarist). To this day Phil was one of the nicest, talented people I’ve ever worked with. Funny thing, after having made that recording all those years ago, our paths never crossed again, so if you ever read this Phil, a belated thanks for being a hugely talented, great guy. Anyway, once again I’m o glad people enjoyed Outline. Anymore stories similar to the Cicadas footy team wouldn’t go astray either…….well done The Cicadas…..I hope you won a few Grand Finals……Cheers, everyone….PS my email is phil.rigger@gmail.com