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| Disclaimer
For
some curious reason, Whammo has changed
address and dropped almost any reference
to Spectrum, The Indelible Murtceps
and Ariel etc.
Thanks to Martin Finnegan for pointing
this nasty turn of events out to me
- I shall ring Ian McFarlane and see
what the story is. Fortunately the
Milesago website
steadfastly maintains the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth
- so Spectrum (and Ariel) still feature
prominently in the context of the
history of Oz Rock. I'll eventually
get round to writing some idealised
version of what really happened, but
you'll get an impression of what's
occurred in some sort of order by
referring to the Milesago links below..
(Be patient - I can't get you directly
to the page you want - you'll have
to find it on the menu). You should
have a look at the Spectrum reference
on Ed Nimmervoll's Howlspace
site too.
Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the pics,
some published for the first time.
And, while you're here, why don't
you check out The
Legend.. |
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The
life and times of Nicky Campbell
17.7.06 - I think the first time Bill
and I saw Nicky Campbell was at the
White Elephant (the Broady Town Hall).
We'd never seen a roadie before and
so were utterly astonished to see this
mucular young bloke with the boofy hairdo
repeatedly bustling through the audience
with various pieces of stage equipment
balanced on his shoulders. I think he
was working for Larry's Rebels (NZ)
at that stage 'cause that's when we
first came across Mal Logan as well.
Needless to say we liked the concept
of somebody dedicated to carrying around
our equipment for us, so we soon invited
Nicky to join our team, and he worked
for us for quite a few years before
we parted company, probably not because
of musical differences, but I don't
really remember the circumstances. Anyhow
it was good to hear from him and to
find out what he's been up to while
Bill and I have been so singularly preoccupied.
Well, my favourite Spectrum
memories would be the university
campus tour we did with Daddy Cool (The
Aquarius Tour). The T.F.Much ballroom
gigs were unique - I have actually had
a massage from an older lady who lives
up here who used to go to all the T.F.Much*
gigs and says she remembers the great
gigs that they were, and the party atmosphere
that was captured by all the crazy hippies
on the night. You never knew what would
happen at those gigs.
I also have fond memories of the Monsalvat
gigs and the Myponga gig in Adelaide.
Also the gigs for Alex Innocenti the
wog hippy in high heeled boots with
the fuzzy hair who ran the local blues
club.
read more
*And see shots of Nicky and the infamous
Transit - how did we do that? |
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| The
Spectrum and The
Indelible Murtceps stories
As readers will have guessed, Spectrum
is one our favourite Australian bands,
and one of our missions here at MILESAGO
is to prosecute the cause of this
outstanding group. During their brief
but illustrious career Spectrum were
in the vanguard of progressive rock
in Australia, and they left a legacy
of innovative and imaginative music,
too little of which is currently available
on CD.
The central figure in Spectrum was
singer/songwriter/guitarist Mike Rudd,
one of the many outstanding expatriate
NZ performers who have contributed
so much to the Australian music scene.
Mike arrived in Australia in 1966
as rhythm guitarist for the NZ group
Chants R&B. [For the full history
of this great band, please visit the
Chants R&B page on Bruce Sergent's
excellent New Zealand Music of the
60's and 70's website.]
Chants only lasted a short time after
they arrived in Australia, but Mike
remained in Melbourne, where he soon
teamed up with young singer/songwriter
Ross Wilson and guitarist Ross Hannaford.
Their first band The Pink Finks (which
had also just broken up) worked in
a similar vein to Chants, and had
already had some local chart success
in Melbourne. Mike was invited to
be the bass player in a later lineup
of their next band, the short-lived
but legendary Party Machine (1967-69).
This was followed by the more experimentally-oriented
Sons of The Vegetal Mother (1969-71)
read more
See Mike & Bill's historical interview
with Bill
Brown at the 2010 Wagga
Wagga Jazz & Blues Festival
Dave Graney's bro' Phil, and Melbourne
identity Bruce Milne, share some thoughts
of their impressions of the early
careers of Spectrum and Ariel (reproduced
without permission from Dave Graney
- but I'm sure he won't mind..)
check
them out |
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| The
Ariel and the
Instant Replay stories
The original lineup of Ariel
was a genuine 'supergroup', combining
key members from two of Australia's
leading progressive bands of the period:
Rudd, Putt and Mills hailed from Melbourne's
legendary Spectrum, Gaze and Macara
from Spectrum's esteemed Sydney peers
Tamam Shud. Lead guitarist Tim Gaze,
regarded as one of the hottest players
on the scene, had also joined Shud
at just 16 and by the time he joined
Ariel he had also been a member of
Kahvas Jute, and played on their only
album, the brilliant Wide Open.
Like its predecessor, Ariel was primarily
a vehicle for the talents and vision
of singer, songwriter and guitarist
Mike Rudd, and his longtime bass-player
and musical partner, Bill Putt. Like
Spectrum, the band began strongly,
but lineup changes, record company
problems and the changing nature of
music in the mid-70s meant that they
never achieved the level of success
they deserved, and Ariel proved to
be Mike Rudd's last really high-profile
outfit, although he remains one of
the most respected figures in the
music scene. read
more |
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The
Mike Rudd & the Heaters,
WHY, The Living Legends
Blues Band, Nuclear
Dog, The Mike Rudd Quintet, No. 9
and The Fez
stories
In July 1979, Rudd changed the band's
name to Mike Rudd and the Heaters.
The band played a mix of pub rock
and pop (with quasi-new wave overtones)
and was popular on the Melbourne scene.
The band signed to Mushroom Records
and issued its debut single, `Australian
Girl'/`Talking to the TV' (February
1980). In June 1980, The Heaters line-up
became Rudd, Putt, Tony Fossey (keyboards)
and Robert Dillon (drums; ex-Kid Gloves).
The band's debut album, The Unrealist
(January 1982), produced three singles,
`I'm an Animal'/`Head Job' (October
1981), `Laser Love'/ `Keeping Your
Distance' (January 1982) and `Love
Comes and Goes'/`Models' (April 1982).
The records were not successful and
The Heaters broke up in June 1982.
See more on Nuclear
Dog and The
Fez |
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The
Party Machine and
The Sons of the Vegetal Mother stories
The enterprising Ross
Wilson
was the driving force behind the innovative
Party Machine. Wilson and Ross Hannaford
first worked together in Melbourne
teenage R&B outfit The Pink Finks.
At the beginning of 1967, the two
Rosses formed the altogether more
radical The Party Machine. Chris Kinman
replaced original bass player Joe
Gorski not long after formation.
In June, Mike Edwards left to join
The Ram Jam Big Band and Kinman also
left. His place was taken by ex-Chants
R&B guitarist Mike Rudd, who switched
to bass. For the material he was writing
with The Party Machine, Wilson drew
on Frank Zappa and Howlin' Wolf for
inspiration. The band issued the now
impossibly rare single `You've All
Gotta Go'/`Gentle Art' on EMI/Columbia
in early 1969. The Party Machine found
notoriety rather than success, in
particular when the Victorian Vice
Squad deemed the band's
printed
songbook (which
contained such choice Wilson-penned
songs as `I Don't Believe All Your
Kids Should Be Virgins') to be obscene
and seditious. |
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