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The
Chants 1966 - CW - Trevor Courtney, Jim Tomlin, Mike
Rudd and Martin Forrer
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The
Chants left Christchurch
for the unknown and possibly hostile Melbourne climes late in
1966. Australian magazines available in Christchurch, like People
and Pix, told lurid stories of sharpies (skinheads) and mods
(mods) doing battle in the streets and alleys of Melbourne and
bands (such as Ronnie Burns' Flies) occasionally getting in
the way. Mike and Trevor (Trevor Courtney – the Chants’
effervescent drummer) read these stories with foreboding - and
promptly had their hair cut.
But they needn’t have worried about the mods and the sharpies
– the innate tensions in the band, exacerbated by the
move, ensured the Chants’ premature (and largely unreported)
demise in Melbourne just a few months after leaving Christchurch.
(Just why Christchurch was such a fertile breeding ground for
rock bands - think Max Merritt and Ray Columbus for starters
- is discussed in depth by Dr Tony Mitchell in his compelling
thesis Flat
City Sounds: The Christchurch Music Scene).
Word of the Chants’ break up gradually filtered back to
Christchurch, and even the most fervent fans of this “ferocious
garage band” (as Australian Rock historian Glenn A. Baker
described them) gradually forgot all about the Chants.
When Rudd went back to the old Stagedoor in 1997 he found it
had become somewhat of a shrine. While it’s just a storage
space underneath a café now, the names of the Stagedoor
heroes are still carved in the black timber beams that Rudd
cracked his skull on numerous times in his fashionably high-heeled
black-suede boots. And
fashion was important. Borrie the Tailor in Chancery Lane (now
living and tailoring in Surfers) made Rudd and Courtney’s
stage clothes in the latest fab-fashions. While there was nothing
on TV, there were always the magazines.
In an article written about the long-haired Stagedoor habitués
in the Press in July 1966, Mike claimed he enjoyed “creating
a barrier and then meeting the challenge of breaking it down.”
He also said, “We’re maybe different, but we are
still sensitive.”
read
more
Mike was a chorister
in the Cathedral choir and head prefect at the Cathedral
Grammar School. He deliberately avoided the organised music
scene at Christ’s College but became interested in pop
music and began an “alternative” dance band (Mark
iv)
with some school-mates.
It was at Art School the band started to consume Mike’s
attention – to the point that he just “plain forgot”
a submission for his graphic design exam. So he tossed in the
Art course and began to play music full-time with his band,
the Chants, soon to become Chants R&B.
Chants R&B only had the one single released (“I’ve
Been Loving You Too Long” b/w “I Want Her”)
before they left for Melbourne, but their fame had spread throughout
NZ - mostly because of their legendary wild stage performances
at the Stagedoor to a fanatical band of devotees.
In fact, the band only left the security of the Stagedoor a
couple of times in their two years there. They went (by ferry)
to Wellington to record at the HMV Studios and did a couple
of gigs whilst they were there. They recorded “I’m
Your Witchdoctor” (b/w “Neighbour Neighbour”)
for their own Action label, which wasn’t released till
after they left for Australia.
So, what happened to Chants R&B when they got to Melbourne?
They made a couple of TV appearances – they won a heat
of Bert Newton’s New Faces and mimed Witchdoctor on Kommotion
– and played gigs like the Catcher and the Thumpin’
Tum.
It was at the gigs they discovered they weren’t alone
– bands like the Wild Cherries and the Purple Hearts were
playing the same Anglophile slant on the blues they were. The
band had a dilemma – whether to follow Mike’s preference
for soul and blues or go with Trev’s passion for Tamla
and r&b.
The Chants did one more recording session in Melbourne before
they split. The material ranged from versions of the Temptations’
“My Girl” to Them’s “One,Two Brown Eyes”.
Both songs are on the recently released Zero CD and “Stagedoor
Witchdoctors”, a low fidelity but exciting record of a
band with everything before them, put together by John
Baker,
himself a garage band enthusiast.
There are a couple of interviews on the CD. One done with Jim
Tomlin, the group’s first lead guitarist, has Jim asking
where they think it’s all heading musically speaking.
Mike couldn’t have imagined that thirty-odd years later
he would be recording some of the very same classic blues songs
Jim recorded the Chants' playing on his flatmate's mono tape
recorder back at the Stagedoor.
More Chants R&B
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1) Pre-Chants lineup: Compton Tothill, Trevor Courtney, Mike
Rudd, Jim Tomlin and Stan Maugher (photo - Warren Sellers) |
2)
The Chants - with Pete Hanson, Mike Rudd, Jim Tomlin and Trevor
Courtney. A previously unpublished shot by Warren Sellers from
the Addington Showgrounds, probably around the time of the Battle
of the Bands |
.jpg)
3) The
more familiar shot of The Chants at the Showgrounds that I can
now also ascribe to Warren Sellers (see
more) 4) The Chants at the Stagedoor: Trevor, Mike, Martin
Forrer and Matt Croke (aka Max Kelly) |
5)
Mike models a Borrie's corduroy suit in Chancery Lane (note
the 'cool' prop cigarette - Mike didn't smoke) 6) The location
of the old Stagedoor in Hereford Lane, now Blue Jeans Cuisine
7) The graffiti still evident on the 'lethal' beams in the
present day cafe's store room that was the legendary Stagedoor
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