INTRODUCTION While I don’t normally spend much time dwelling on my musical past, two projects, involving the release of songs and performances of mine from the late seventies and early eighties, have served to focus my mind on events and endeavors from thirty years ago and more. The first is the imminent release (October 24) of a CD compilation, “(When The Sun Sets Over) Carlton”, a snapshot of Melbourne’s inner city music scene in the seventies, a scene in which two of my old groups had a peripheral involvement. There is more information concerning this release elsewhere on this site. The second is the proposed release of a live album by the Zimmermen. Recorded at a couple of suburban beer barns in 1984, this should see the light of day sometime in 2015. Also, August 2014 was the 40th anniversary of my first band’s inaugural public performance, a commemoration that was seemingly forgotten by everyone, including myself. So, while I’m in a nostalgic, though unsentimental, state of mind, I thought I’d jot down a brief outline of my output thus far. Isn’t that what Facebook pages are for? SPARE CHANGE 1974-77 Formed in Adelaide by five friends at the beginning of 1974, Bob Kretschmer, Chris Langman, Tony Murray, John Wilkinson (later replaced by Graeme Perry) and myself, played our first “gig” in support of the jazz-rock band Ayers Rock at a hotel in Henley Beach in August of that year. With a repertoire consisting of cover versions of songs by the Velvet Underground, the MC5, John Cale, the Flamin’ Groovies and Mott The Hoople, we experimented with writing our own songs so that by the time we moved to Melbourne in August 1975, we had amassed enough original material to fill our live sets. In Melbourne, we slotted comfortably into the “Carlton Scene” and soon signed with Champagne Records to release an LP. Recording began in late 1976 with Aztecs legend Gil Matthews producing. I departed the band at the end of 1976 (it’s a long story…) with the album, now called “Lonely Suits”, only half completed. A few months later I was invited back, at what I've always assumed was the record company's insistence, to add my vocals to the instrumental backing tracks. I returned to sing the songs in one afternoon session in March 1977, leaving soon thereafter, bound for Adelaide. I began rehearsing with a new band in June of that year. YOUNG MODERN 1977-79 The new band consisted of Vic Yates and Mike Jones (later replaced by Mark Carroll) on guitars, Andrew Richards on bass and Mark Kohler on drums. Memphis band, Big Star, were my main inspiration for Young Modern, but Vic and Andrew, who wrote most of the music for our songs, remained stubbornly in thrall to the Beatles and the Stones. This cocktail of influences, together with my insistence that we try for “light” sounding guitars, contributed to a sound that was at once unique and yet seemed part of the then fashionable new wave zeitgeist. Our first show took place in November 1977, supporting Radio Birdman at the Unley Town Hall. Over the next twelve months we supported virtually every interstate band that came to Adelaide (thanks to Ray Dyett and his Lone Star Circuit) maintained an open ended residency at the Tivoli on Saturday nights, and thanks to some friends in the press (Dennis Atkins and Patrick Miles spring to mind) got more than our fair share of newspaper coverage. We played in Melbourne and recorded a Stephen Cummings produced single while we were there, “She’s Got The Money” b/w “Automatic”. We signed with influential management company “Dirty Pool and moved to Sydney at the beginning of 1979. They had, apparently being considering the Aliens before they finally settled on us. I wonder which group got the better deal? There were lots of gigs in Sydney where the hard rockin’ suburban crowds were less than enthralled with our “melodic classicism”, several visits to Melbourne where our efforts garnered an altogether more sympathetic reception and one final show, our 202nd, at Rags in July 1979. I took a job on a factory assembly line and, as soon as I could afford it, moved back to Melbourne. It was December 1979 and my arrival coincided with the release of two LPs : “Lonely Suits” by Spare Change and “Play Faster” by Young Modern. THE GLORY BOYS / TALK SHOW With Chris Langman, Nick Seymour and John Wilkinson on board, the Glory Boys recorded four demos for Mushroom Records. The session was took place at AAV and Stephen Cummings handled the production chores. Then, with Bob Kretschmer on second guitar, we played two headlining shows at the Crystal Ballroom and Hearts respectively. Nick and John left soon thereafter to be replaced by Dave Cahill and Graeme Perry. The new lineup adopted the moniker Talk Show, and thus began six months of intensive rehearsal. Then the band broke up, forever consigning songs with titles like “Pig Fucker” and “Irregardless” to the dustbin of history. For the second consecutive December I found myself without a band or any concrete idea as to what would happen next. To be continued…
