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
Images Of Mondo Rock
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Was living in melbourne & we called into Ferntree gully pub for a couple of beers and meet some friends before going to a party. We went to see what band was on that night. We saw the poster & none of us had heard of Mondo rock so we decided to go straight to the party and save the ten bucks each to spend on piss. What a goose! It would have been one of their first gigs. Still kickin’ myself about that.
Being an older Perth muso, didn’t James Gillard play bass with Mondo Rock in the mid to late 80′s? Or am I mistaken?
They just don’t write ‘em like we did anymore!!!!
You are quite correct Simon, I’ve added him to the members list.
Cheers, Mark
What about Randy Bulpin, the guitarist in MR version 1? He played on the first album, Primal Park.
Does anyone have a video or recording of “Touch of Paradise” by MONDO ROCK Not Johnny bloody Farnham.