I think it was feb’80 when Mad Gorilla went to Adelaide for 2 weeks ( I’m sure someone has a better memory than me & will correct me ) Anyhow we were staying at a pub in a place called Paradise & whoever named it had a bloody good sense of humour. Don’t get me wrong the people were great , the pub staff were friendly and we had no major trouble at any of the gigs. But it was hot, February is normally our hottest month but this was nuts. A genuine heatwave. Then to top it off the air conditioning in the pub broke down from running flat out for days on end.

One of the first gigs we did was The Old Lion and it went off. A good crowd and the publican and staff were friendly & helpful. What was strange was when the punters started to come in & we were checking them out everyone of the females looked identical . They all had the Stevie Nicks hairdo almost identical clothes, Oroton handbag and matching high heels. They all looked like they were made in the same factory. But they were a good crowd and friendly which is a bonus. All up it was a good gig, with an easy load in and good dressing rooms plus air con.

One morning I went to make a cuppa and of course there was no milk. My demeanour was not good, tired, hot , no air con & no bloody milk ! I grabbed some change, threw on a shirt and headed off to the milk bar across the road from the pub. It was only about 8 o’clock but as I headed out of the pub the heat hit me & not a breath of breeze. The sun wasn’t high yet so the car park was still in shade as I ran across it. Wait on the nature strip for a gap in the traffic and then ran across the road. Oh shit ! My feet stuck to the tar but I kept going grabbed the milk, paid & raced back to the pub. I raced up the stairs & straight into the shower cursing all the way. The tar had picked up a whole pile of carpet on the way up the stairs and I looked like I had fluffy slippers on. Very uncomfortable slippers ! So the cold water was good but the asphalt set solid on my feet. Luckily I s’pose in those days I didn’t wear shoes much so my feet were pretty calloused.

But by the time I had finished scraping the crap off my feet they were very tender. Then the publican had a spit about the black footprints on the stairs. There was no use denying it was me as you didn’t need tracking skills to follow the prints all the way from the front door, up the stairs and into my room. He did have a chuckle in the end when he was told the story. It wasn’t just a matter of wiping my feet before I got inside after all.

After all that I finally got my morning cuppa’s & a smoke and started to plan the day. Upon checking the lie book we realised we were back at The Old Lion that night with a 2.30pm load in. Beauty ! But it was still going to be very hot. We had a guy working with us and I’m sorry man I can’t remember your surname but his name was Jimmy (Not Jimmy Bourke) and we were sharing a room. We had a chat & both agreed that the staff at the lion were pretty cool and maybe we could talk them into letting us into the room early. Maybe. It’d be nice in there once we got the gear in and closed the room back up. Then we could take our time setting up and grab a sleep on the tiles in the bathroom in the band room. It seemed like a plan. We went down to Zac & Coby’s room & ran the idea by them. They agreed it’d be good but doubted we’d talk them into it. We could only try. “OK if we’re not back in an hour you’ll know we got in.”

We arrived at the gig just before 11.30 and as luck would have it the publican was behind the bar when we walked in. We said g’day & he asked if something was wrong
“You’re bloody early did ya shit the bed?”

We explained that it was really hot and we wanted to get the gear in early. I explained that it wasn’t good for the instruments etc and even though he sympathised said no. I then tried the “Oh come on mate you know we aren’t going to be trouble, the other night was a beaut”

He agreed but still no, then he said “ya’s are good blokes but, tell ya what i’ll buy ya’s a coupla beers”

“Ta mate, but i’ve got some things in the truck I really shouldn’t leave in the heat, I’ll be back in a tick”

So I ducked out to the truck and grabbed my smokes, camera and the ½ pound of gunpowder we used for the flashpots. My trump card!

Back then even a bunch of loonies like us could just go & buy a pound of black powder and nobody batted an eyelid. Those were the days ! It was in a sealed container, taped shut , basically it was safe. I walked back into the bar and Jimmy was chatting with the boss and the locals about working with bands. But the conversation stopped pretty quick when I plonked myself down on the stool next to Jim and put down the camera & the container marked in big red letters EXPLOSIVES. I had a sip of my beer, lit a cigarette and put the lighter on the container.

“Thanks mate, that’s a bloody good beer” I said to the publican.

He had his mouth hanging open and had suddenly lost all colour. “What the fuck is that!!” said one of the locals “Gunpowder” I replied innocently, they all moved away

“How bloody much gunpowder” said someone else

“Oh about half a pound”

All of a sudden everyone was speaking at once. Jimmy played along and reached over the top of the black powder & ashed his ciggie in the ashtray next to it. One of the locals yelled from the other end of the bar “Ya can’t just put it on the bar, ya goose”

“Well I can’t leave it in the truck, hey boss can ya put it behind the bar for us?”

“Are you fucking kidding?” came the reply

“Nah mate look it’s all right” I said picking it up with the smoke in my mouth “ It’s all sealed and taped shut, don’t worry guys” and tossed it back onto the bar.

A couple of guys hit the floor, another couple ran out the door. And then everyone was yelling “These guys are fucking crazy” “Get ‘em out of here” We were both trying not to laugh as I explained to the publican that we wanted to get the powder and our equipment in out of the heat and once it was backstage it really wouldn’t be a problem. We had used the flashpots the last time we were there & the crowd loved it, no problem.

By this stage the 20 or so blokes who were in the bar were yelling at the publican to “Let ‘em into the room for fuck’s sake!” and other variations of that theme with lots of colourful expletives. Democracy is a wonderful thing and seeing that the vote was in our favour the publican agreed that letting us into the room rather than having the black powder sitting in his carpark in 40 plus heat WAS a good idea. He wouldn’t even let us have another beer before we loaded in, which was a bummer. We got the gear in as quick as we could and closed the room up it was glorious.

After about another hour there was someone banging on the door, “I wonder who that is?” I said to Jim & we both laughed, we knew it was the band looking for a cool spot. They were rapt until I think it was Zac asked how I talked the boss into letting us in. These days what ensued would be called counselling, back then I copped a bollocking but in the end we had a laugh. The rest of the set up & the gig went off although the publican was nervous. He came out to watch me do the flashpots in the 2nd set, he was sure we’d blow his pub up.

All was smiles in the end. But we didn’t get our kip on those nice cool tiles because by the time we set up the band was literally “Out on the tiles”

Mondo Rock was formed around 1976/77 by Ross Wilson who had made his name in Daddy Cool. It’s been said that Ross wanted a slightly more commercial sound that would have a better chance of international success & that’s exactly the sound they achieved. Although they didn’t quite receive the international success they wanted, they were certainly popular in Australia for a sustained period in the 1980′s before Ross went solo.

History

Like most bands there were a number of early lineup changes around the late 1970′s & they actually disbanded a couple of times before things settled down & they started to produce a few hits.
From their bio…

“After line-up changes in 1980 Wilson was back within three months with a new band, a new record deal and brand a new sound. Standing alongside him were guitarist Eric McCusker, a songwriter of skill and focus, James Black on keyboards, Paul Christie on bass and J.J. Hackett on drums – the definitive Mondo Rock formation. The band rapidly became one of the most popular in Australia; a powerful draw card on the national touring circuit.

At the heart of Mondo Rock’s chemistry were the exceptional songwriting talents of both vocalist Ross Wilson and guitarist Eric McCusker who brought to the group diverse, but complementary ideas, along with James Black’s inventive & compelling keyboard lines and Paul Christies rock solid bass.

Ross Wilson has given us ‘Eagle Rock’, ‘Come Back Again’, ‘Living In The Land Of Oz’, ‘A Touch of Paradise’, ‘Cool World’ and ‘Bed Of Nails’, providing a strong creative contrast to the more precise, pop-based McCusker, who focussed on personal relationships with ‘State Of The Heart’, ‘No One Comes Close’ and ‘Come Said The Boy’.

Eric’s ‘State Of The Heart’ and Ross’s ‘Cool World’ were immediate Top 10 hits, while the ‘Chemistry’ album shot into the Top 3. Two more hits were forthcoming from this landmark album; the title track and ‘Summer Of ’81’. ‘Nuovo Mondo’ was another Top 10 album in mid 1982, yielding three singles ‘No Time’, ‘The Queen and Me’ and ‘In Another Love’.

Their fourth album ‘The Modern Bop’ went Top 5 spawning the enduring McCusker-penned ‘Come Said The Boy’ (a national #2 smash) and the Wilson-Black co-write ‘Baby Wants To Rock’. By 1984 Mondo Rock were at the forefront of Australian music on equal footing with the likes of Cold Chisel, INXS, Australian Crawl, Angels and Divinyls. So much so that the 1985 ‘best of’ ‘Up To The Moment’ went straight into the Top 10.”
www.mondorock.net

Members

• Ross Wilson – Vocals
• Eric McCusker – Guitar
• Paul Christie – Bass
• John James Hackett – Drums
• James Black – Keyboards
• Gil Matthews – Drums
• Peter Laffy – Guitar
• Greg Cook – Keyboards
• Mike Clark – Bass
• Bob Bickerton – Drums
• Ian “Willie” Winter – Guitar
• Barry Harvey – Bass
• Trevor Courtney – Drums
• Gunther Gorman – Guitar
• Tony Slavich – Keyboards
• Simon Gyllies – Bass
• Iain McLennan – Drums
• Chris Jones – Guitar
• Andrew Ross – Sax
• Duncan Veall – Keyboards
• Kerry Jacobson – Drums
• James Gillard – Bass
• Randy Bulpin – Guitar

Albums

• Primal Park - 1979
• Chemistry - 1981
• Nuovo Mondo - 1982
• The Modern Bop - 1984
• Boom Baby Boom - 1986
• Why Fight It? - 1990

Other Resources

• Mondo Rock website
• Australian Music Database – Mondo Rock

Images Of Mondo Rock

Videos of Mondo Rock

Have a quick look on Google earth and you’ll see that Cobar is a bloody long way from Sydney. So in his infinite wisdom the booking agent organised a gig out west the night before we were supposed to play Cobar golf club. Can’t remember which pub but it was out Windsor way, I think it was The Tropicana hotel at Wilberforce. Great, that meant driving overnight straight from the gig. Why not Dubbo? Not amused ! So the load out was pretty quick . I jumped into Geoff Hillier’s Transit van with from memory Dave Owens ( shovel), George and Sticks. I navigated till we were past Dubbo & crawled into the back for a kip. Shovel took over the co pilots’ seat & I drifted off to sleep. We all awoke just after dawn to Shovel & Geoff cheering “ What the fuck’s going on!” “ A corner!” says Geoff “ First one in ages” So we have a grumble & drift off to sleep again.

The next thing I know there is a huge BANG! and the van seems to jump. We’re wide awake in a split second and Geoff’s pissing himself laughing “ WHAT THE FUCK’S GOING ON !” We’re all screaming at Geoff. It turns out Geoff was getting the shits dodging around the dead ‘roos on the road and was wondering if he could just go over the small ones. (Yes folks Geoff was the drummer & a good one at that ) Shovel had drifted off so he was left to ruminate on this by himself. Then a somewhat smaller one loomed up and he thought he’d give it a go. Whether it was a small one is debatable but anyone who went near that van for the next couple of months will tell you it wasn’t fresh. It must have been extremely bloated because it exploded into a putrid smelling soup covered in ‘roo leather ( a sick aussie piniata ) all over the engine and underside of the van.

We pulled up to check for damage and in the still morning air the smell was even worse, at least when we were moving it was mostly blowing behind us. Shit, I thought it’s not even hot yet what’s it gonna smell like by midday!. No damage, so Sticko insists on driving and Geoff is banished to the back where there’s no windows and no other chances for experimental long distance driving. But every time we stopped we were swarmed by even more flies than usual. In the Mad Gorilla slideshow there’s a shot of Geoff getting out of the back of the van in a servo. His face is all screwed up and it’s not just because he’s just woken up and is stepping into the light. It’s because the smell had caught up to us when we pulled up. When that van stopped we couldn’t get out & away from it quick enough. Dogs were coming from everywhere to check it out. We hadn’t even got to the gig yet!

I also noticed in Rogers’ slideshow a shot of the crew at Cobar. That has got a story too, as they all have. Have a close look and you’ll notice a red tinge to the photo. It was at the CWA (or something similar) hall in Cobar for an all ages gig for the kids. Being a kids gig meant a revision of the set. Songs like Kinky nightmare ( about an erotic dream obviously ) & of course others like Cocaine had to be dropped from the set list. The stage patter was also a worry & those were the things everyone thought would be the problems. It was an easy load in, we had enough power, everything looked good. Everything was set up & we still had plenty of time, excellent!

The day is fine and still with a beautiful blue sky and I’m thinking about ducking out for a bit of a break now that everything looks all cool, maybe grab a hamburger somewhere in town once the soundcheck is done.

Zac fires up the PA and starts to put a rumble through the Bass speakers and all hell breaks loose. As the Bass starts to take over the all wooden building it starts to shake. Well it seems that the hall hasn’t had a good shake up for a while and no one had told us (probably because they hadn’t thought about it) that they’d had dust storms.

A fine red dust like talcum powder starts falling over everything! All over the PA, the backline, lights, FOH & us! Luckily no kids were there to hear what was said! We covered everything we could and had a quick meeting. OK we’ve got to do the gig, so cover everything up and crank the PA up until it stops raining dust. So that’s why there’s a red tinge to the shot. We all pitched in and cleaned up the gear after it stopped raining dust and the locals helped us to clean the rest of the place. The band went off and the kids loved it. No malfunctions, no scaring children, or leading anyone astray. We headed off back to Sydney & a good sleep.

My Husband, Bob Rock was in a band called “The Moving Targets” formed about 1965, in Heidelberg Heights in Melbourne. Their average age of band then was 14 years old. They won best new & upcoming band in Hoadleys battle of the bands at Festival Hall in Melbourne.

Colin Wells played Lead guitar, Bob Rock on rhythmn guitar and Laurie Strickland on drums. They played covers, but did do an original recording, that is lost now. I remember going with him when they played at Penny Lane in Frankston. I was backstage, starstruck by Olivia Newton-John and Pat Carroll and Max Merritt and the Meteors, with stewy Spears on drums. Max borrowed a plectrum from Bob, that night. They carried their guitars on their shoulders and had a guitar case full of beer!

The Moving Targets got quite a bit of work, between 1965-1968, playing at “Catcher” in Flinders Lane, Melb., “Penthouse”, Swinger, etc., I worked at Melbourne’s greatest music shop,” Brashs”, for well over 30 years, selling originally records and then cd’s. LONG LIVE MUSIC!

We were blessed to be a part of Melbourne’s great music scene, back then. One of our best friends, now are Sue & Kris Fillipov (Phillips), who also entertained for a living, Kris was in the bands, in 1970-72, Bizarre and Fusion and also in The Echoes in 1977. He is, in my opinion one of the best guitarist in Australia, but unfortunately, not well known. He was managed by Michael Gudinsky (in his early career, before Michael Gudinsky was well known).

I have also attached some old Go-Set magazine’s Top 40′s.

Kind regards, Marilyn Rock.

Images

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

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 Landesman – 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 Landesman 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 Landesman – Drums
• Steve Lees – Guitar
• Bruce Fraser – Drums

Known Gigs

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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

Moving Pictures is one of my all time favourite bands. I remember seeing them, probably in 1981/82 at the Sylvania Hotel and I was just blown away. It was one of the most memorable nights of my young life, I was 19/20. Of course after seeing them live I just had to buy their debut album, “Days of Innocence”. I can remember asking my mum to buy if for me for Easter instead of an Easter egg. It was better than chocolate… well almost. When I first got the album I loved “Bustin’ loose” but once I got to know all of the songs, off by heart, it was “What about me” that stuck in my mind the most and of course lead the band to no.1 in 1982. One of the most exciting things for me, later in life, was when my husband was working with James Blundell and I met two of James’ band members, Charlie Cole and Ian Lees… wow, two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet and they were from Moving Pictures. Life’s alright you know. So here’s a track from the album. No not “What about me”. I think that thanks to Moving Pictures and Shannon Noll it has had it’s fair share of airplay. I’d like to play “Bustin’ Loose” for you. Please enjoy… I know I did when I heard it again for the first time in years.

Tracks

1. Nothing to Do
2. The Angel and the Madman – Moving Pictures, Cole, Charlie
3. Sweet Cherie
4. Round Again
5. Wings
6. What About Me? – Moving Pictures, Frost, Garry
7. So Tired
8. Joni and Romeo
9. Bustin’ Loose
10. Street Heart
11. Winners – Moving Pictures, Frost, Garry
12. Back to the Streets
13. Where They Belong – Moving Pictures, Frost, Garry
14. Never – Moving Pictures, Gore, M.
15. Back to the Blues and Booze
16. Saturday Love
17. Spies
18. Pleasure and Pain
19. Sisters of Mercy

General Information

Released : 1981 (Australia), 1982 (USA)
Recorded : ?
Genre : Rock

About

Men at Work were an Australian reggae-influenced rock band which achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to reach the Number 1 position in album and singles charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom with Business as Usual and “Down Under” respectively.[1] The group won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. The band’s sound is distinguished by its use of woodwind and brass instruments
From Wikipedia

History

[Colin] Hay met the guitarist Ron Strykert in 1978 and they started playing together and composing songs which would come the basis for their upcoming band, the MEN AT WORK.

MEN AT WORK had Hay on lead vocals and guitar, Strykert on guitar, Jerry Speiser on drums, John Rees on bass and the multi-instrumentist Greg Ham on keyboards, sax, flutes and harmonica.

By the time of 1980 they were playing in some hotels and small venues in Melbourne when recorded and released their first independent single, “Keypunch Operator”, which had as b-side an earlier version of “Down Under”.

Little later, they were hired by the CBS Records Peter McIan, to record their first album. “Business as Usual” was released later 1981 in Australia, and in 1982 at America, topping the US charts for 16 consecutive weeks, only striked out by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. The album went multi-platinum selling more than 10 million copies.

The first single of the debut album was “Who Can It Be Now?”, which was also #1 hit just as the subsequent single, “Down Under”. The third single released was “Be Good Johnny”, which reached #3 position on US Charts. MEN AT WORK toured America to promote the album, being the opening act for Fleetwood Mac.

Later 1982 the band got back in studio for the recording of their second album, “Cargo”, released in 1983 at America, also was a #1. At this time they were receiving a Grammy as Best New Artist. “Cargo” most expressive singles were “Overkill”, “It’s a Mistake” and “Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive”.

The release of the second album was followed by an world tour, including a presentation on the US Music Festival ’83, at the same stage of bands like The Clash and Stray Cats transmitted live wordwidely. One of this tour’s shows, at Berkeley, California, was released in 1984 as homevideo named “Live in San Francisco… or Was It Berkeley?”.

In 1984 they gave a break, and members Speiser and Rees were fired from the band. Later this year, the remaining members (Hay, Strykert and Ham), joined with studio musicians for the recording of MEN AT WORK’s third album, “Two Hearts”, released in 1985. They had no longer McIan as producer, but were still under CBS label. The album went gold and got into the Top 50, and just a single got some success, “Everything I Need”, reached the Top 30.

Ron Strykert left the band during the recording of the album. Colin Hay, Greg Ham and the other musicians did a tour to promote the album and after that the band was over.
From Colin Hay’s website

Members

• Jeremy Alsop – bass, backing vocals (1985-1986)
• Colin Bayley – guitar, backing vocals (1985-1986)
• James Black – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1985-1986)
• Tony Floyd – drums (1997-2000)
• Rick Grossman – bass, backing vocals (1998-1999)
• Stephen Hadley – bass, backing vocals (1996-1997, 1999)
• Greg Ham – keyboards, vocals, saxophone, harmonica, flute (1979–1985, 1996–2000)
• Colin Hay – vocals, guitar (1978–1986, 1996–2000)
• Simon Hosford – guitar, backing vocals (1996-2000)
• John Rees – bass, backing vocals (1979–1984)
• Greg Sneddon – keyboard (1979)
• Jerry Speiser – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1979-1984)
• Ron Strykert – guitar, bass, vocals (1978–1985)
• Chad Wackerman – drums, backing vocals (1985-1986)
• John Watson – drums (1996-1997)
• Paul Williamson – saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals (1985-1986)

Videos

Recordings

Studio albums

• Business as Usual – 1981
• Cargo – 1983
• Two Hearts – 1985

Live albums

• Brazil – 1998

Compilations

• The Works – 1987
• Puttin’ in Overtime – 1995
• Contraband: The Best of Men at Work – 1996
• Simply The Best – 1998
• Definitive Collection – 2000
• Super Hits – 2000
• Essential Men at Work – 2003

About Mad Gorilla

** Updated **
Sydney based Theatrical Rock band of the 1980′s. Well known for their “Graveyard Show”.

History

• 1978-1985.
• The core of the band still play together as Creedence and Beyond.

Update: Here is a live video of Mad Gorilla playing at the Manly Hotel in 1983. Thanks to Roger Garrod for making the video available and for his comments.

Yet another update! Thanks again to Roger Garrod who has unearthed a classic clip of Mad Gorilla doing their original song “Parramatta Road”.

“For the record, I was the bass player in the original Gorilla
line-up ( with Steve Stickney- Vox, Zac Flack- Gtr, George Grainger- Hammond organ, Geoff Hillier – Drums ). Boy were they halcyon days! – writing our own material, coming up with “show” ideas; it seemed like we were just thrown together in some mushroom growing shed up in Riverstone (in Sydney’s north western suburbs) that the keyboard players Dad owned.
God if his Dad only knew what was being developed in there!

I can tell you that the original 5 piece band did kick some considerable ass, but we guys were’nt satisfied with only playing – we wanted to entertain, and so that’s where the idea of the “Undertaker Show” emerged from. But to be fair, the concept was born in Zac Flack’s head while he was hospitalised with a huge boil on his upper thigh, and upon his healthy return to the mushroom shed rehearsal enviroment
the show was born. It was to be a “Horror Show” to rival any other “show” rival bands could stage; we had set our sights pretty high looking back on it.

I could go on and regale you and your readers with some pretty wild stories that happened “on the bus” and “off the bus” if you know what I mean, from those early years – but maybe I’ll draught a few out before I just sit and type like I have today.

A couple of things though before I depart this time:

Mark “Zac” Flack (and for a time his partner Coby)
worked tirelessly, full time on the bands P.A. gear, road crew and costumes -and if it needed doing -it was done (unbelievable committment in my observation-for little or no return)

Steve “Stix” Stickney ability as a word-smith, front-man and agent/corporate liaison was just awesome – though my fading memory seems to recall “Zac” being involved in acquiring work from time to time too, Steve was generally known around town as the Face of Mad Gorilla, which naturally he usedto great enterprise.

Big Al and Steve “Reckless” Reckley were our first two roadies, and they too deserve praise for the long hours and many miles they gave in service to Gorilla. They were times we worked 5,6,7,8 gigs a week – regularly – all with some variation on 10-20 can light show and single/double 4way PA systems!)

Sure there were more people involved down the track when the line-up started changing, but these original band members and crew all laid down the foundation of what has become somewhat of a mini-legend ( and a great talking point when we all get together- Imagine it – when was the last timw you caught up with an old mand-mate and said ” Remeber when we blew up Black Soccer Club?, Remember when Sticko punched that idiot out at the Touramaline Hotel for stabbing oue speakers-in front of the audience? Remeber when we supported Jimmy and the boys at The Coogee Bay Hotel and THEY wombatted us? It just goes on and on and on, but any I’ll save it all up for next time.”

Members

• Steve “Stix” Stickney – Vocals
• Mark “Zack” Flack – Guitar
• Mark “Langs” Langfield – Drums
• Glen Chalice – Sax
• Frank Seckold – Keys
• George Granger – Keys
• Dave Owens – Bass
• Peter Keller – Drums
• Geoff Hillier – Drums
• Dr Chris De Beltran – Bass and Vocals
• Joe McConville – Drums
• Rod Ward – Bass
• Glenn Davis – Guitar
• Steve Keely – Guitar
• Paul Swain – Bass
• Geoff Welbourn – Bass
• Greg Watts – Guitar

Recordings

• Album – Great Gorilla – 1982
• Album – Gorilla Live – 1984

Images

Known Gigs

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