Tommy & The Dipsticks were a Sydney based Punk Rock band that started around 1977. The Dipsticks’ guitarists John Cowper & Peter Mullany from Johnny Dole & The Scabs were school mates so Peter was able to help the band with their first gig.
Tommy & The Dipsticks like Johnny Dole & The Scabs were one of the few Punk Rock bands at the time to play in an English style doing covers of Rolling Stones and Beatles songs plus a few originals thrown in for good measure.
When the doors to the legendary Grand Hotel – Broadway Sydney were opened for the first time on Friday 16th September 1977 a support band was needed and Peter suggested his mate’s band. It was agreed to give them a go and as it turned out they were a great match and they went on to support them many more times.
The bands for that opening night were Johnny Dole & The Scabs supported by Tommy & The Dipsticks for just $1.00 so in reality Tommy & The Dipsticks have the distinction of being the first band to play at the Grand Hotel.
After Johnny Dole & The Scabs disbanded, Johnny Dole & Peter Mullany joined forces with Tommy & The Dipsticks and the Crooked Hearts were born, early 1979.
Line-up: Tommy & The Dipsticks
- John Cowper – Guitar/Vocals
- Tommy Ebejer – Bass/Vocals
- Russell McRae – Drums/Vocals
Line-up: The Crooked Hearts
- Johnny Dole – Lead Vocals
- Peter Mullany – Guitar
- John Cowper – Guitar/Vocals
- Tommy Ebejer – Bass/Vocals
- Russell McRae – Drums/Vocals
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Amazing. These guys were my old school mates. I’m still in conatct with Tom. He plays mostly jazz double bass these days. They’re all still alive and kicking (except I don’t know about Johnny Dole – never knew him at all really). Pete and Tom were in band together before the Scabs and the Dipsticks developed. I remember driving them and their stuff to their first gig at the Royal George in Sussex Street – that would have been 1975!!
A few years back Tommy and the Dipsticks got together again for one night – I think it was Russell’s 40th birthday. These guys would be amused to find out that they are part of ‘history’ now – what a scream.
Just to clarify one point – all these guys were school mates – except for Dole (god knows where he came from or where he went to). We were all good Catholic boys. This is what a Catholic education can do to you. There was another guy too – Paul Cosgrove – who played drums in the precursor band (I think they called themselves White Heat). Cya
Hi Maurice,
This was just a small piece I wrote about the boys so they were represented on this web site, I thought it would be nice they got a mention. It was just my memories of knowing them back then. In fact John Cowper and I played in a band together a number of years ago after I got back in contact with him through a mutual friend and it was good to reminisce about the old days.
If you want more info on Johnny Dole & The Scabs and what happened to Johnny just go to http://australianmusichistory.com/johnny-dole-and-the-scabs/
Thanks for your comments and I’ll mention you to Peter next time I’m talking to him!!
Cheers,
Greg.