One gig I remember as a teenager was sharing the bill with another band at a huge tin shed at Merrylands. There were three thousand people in the audience and it was a fantastic night. they had a huge hit on the radio at the time.

A few years later, I worked with Pat Aulton who had recorded that song all by himself at Festival Records and released it, just for fun. When it became a big hit he had to put a band together and send them out on the road.

Pat and I worked together producing music for Coca Cola with many top Australian bands. When Pat decided to get out of Festival, he offered me his old job which was head of A&R. I've often wondered what would have happened if I'd taken it.

Another time The Nazz played on the same show as Johnny Young, when he was at the top as a singer. The show went right through the Western Suburbs in one night, playing at lots of venues. The Nazz opened the show in Ashfield, then drove to Liverpool where we were third on the bill, then to Merrylands where we backed Tony Worsley, who was second on the bill, and then up to Penrith, where we closed the show, all for ten dollars each. The Dave Miller Set played on the show too. But I never did get to see Johnny Young.

After the Nazz I started playing acoustic guitar and played around the Folk Clubs of Sydney a lot. My favourite clubs were the one under the old YWCA building in Liverpool Street and the one around the corner from it, in a pub in Elizabeth Street. Can't remember their names, though.
In America I played at open mic nights in many folk clubs, including Freight and Salvage at Berkeley. In LA I went to the Troubador and just missed out on getting a spot there. Another singer who had missed out started talking to me and we went out to get a bite to eat instead. His name was Bob Miles and we ended up playing a lot together around LA. And later we hooked up again in New York.

In London I played with Russ Shipton in a duo called Two Bit Band, for a couple of years. Our biggest gig was at Conway Hall in Red Lion Square, where we played at a concert in aid of dependants of political prisoners. We shared the bill with Gordon Giltrap, the folk band Valhalla and a rock band called Tiger Lily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In London, I got to play in many famous folk clubs, including the original Troubador. In those days I was playing a nice little Gibson B 25 N, which I had carried all the way from Australia. It must have sounded good because other performers would often ask if I wanted to sell it.

Back in Australia I started playing at a bar called The Clique with Friday Stevens. Friday eventually went to the States and I held down the residency at the Clique for another year or so.
At the Clique I met Sandy McCutcheon, who was then a DJ on JJ. He invited me to play some of my songs live on his program and recorded the songs as I played them. One of the songs, Combination Soup, was a particular favourite of Sandy's and he played it a bit. 

Then I started playing with a guy called Groove Myers. The famous DJ Ward 'Pally' Austin called him Groove and the name stuck. The night I remember most with Groove was at a club called The Roxy, at Taylor Square in Sydney. We went on at 11pm and didn't get off the stage until 6am the next morning. Just about every musician we knew came by and sat in with us for a while. It was a magic night.

Another highlight was writing a song with Pat Aulton to promote the Australian movie, The Odd Angry Shot. Terry Hannagan sang it and we all did vocals for the chorus. It was a great session. And a very successful song that was played in Cinemas all over Australia.

Then I was invited to submit a song for the launch of SBS in Australia. I got the job from a demo and asked Groove to record it for me. They loved the song but not the version. So I did it myself at Alberts studio in King Street, Sydney. The highlight of the session was sharing the elevator with AC/DC a couple of times. Anyway, they didn't like my version either so the producer hired Pat Aulton to do the job. Pat did the big anthem type arrangement, which is probably what it needed, and that's the one they went with. The song was played every day on SBS for years and I am still proud to have been part of their success.

In the '80's I wrote a lot of short stories and got published in Billy Blue magazine, the Australian Literary Supplement and Nation Review. And I had two books published. I even won the Billy Blue literary award for fiction. I also worked a lot writing lyrics with a musician called Andrew Wilson. A song we wrote for Edith Bliss, Constant Change, was released as a single in London. One time we were asked to write a song for a band called The Surgeons, The song, Heartlands, became more famous for being the first song released with a hologram on the sleeve than for either the words or music. Andrew and I also wrote songs for the ALP and corporate stuff for companies to play at their conferences.

Another guy I worked with a lot at this time is the legendary engineer and producer, Spencer Lee. We produced soundtracks for the State Bank, Colgate-Palmolive, Ryvita and other companies. I also recorded a few songs with Spence but we never managed to get a 'deal'. 

In the '90's I got the bug to start playing again and got a job at Beth's Café in Annandale, Sydney, where I played regularly for a couple of years. Then I went to live in Melbourne for a while and started playing with Chris Grosz and Bruce Thomas (no relation) in a band called The Multi Nationals. (After our National Guitars.) Our biggest gig was at The Royal George Hotel in St. Kilda. A beautiful room.

Since releasing my CD I have started playing a lot more. Recent gigs include an appearance with Skip Sail at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. Two live shows (one with Rick Falkiner) on The Blues is Back on East Side Radio. Rick and I also did a lunch-time concert at Mojo Music in Sydney and we opened for The Bondi Cigars at The Basement in Sydney.  I also opened Bob Brozman's first show in Sydney at the Basement one year and also performed my live show The Story of The Blues at the Frankston Guitar and Music Festival. They had me back the next year to perform the songs from Not Really the Blues.  A real challenge was a live appearance on KK's Blues on 2 SER FM, at five am one morning. (KK tells me that Recipe # 2, from Not Really the Blues, is about his most requested song on the show.) And I often share the bill with a great band, Green Beaver, at the Lansdowne Hotel in Sydney.

I have also been recording my new CD, She's On the Other Side, which is out now on Bombora. Watch this space for more news.