On this episode Jack is joined by Lonnie Lee, Australian rock and roll pioneer.

Lonnie grew up in a time before rock and roll, when artists like Johnny Ray and Nat King Cole ruled the airwaves. But everything changed in 1955 when he first heard Bill Haley and from that point onward rock and roll was his passion. In 1957, Lonnie entered a competition setting out to find “Australia’s Elvis” and he won. From there, his career began to take off, getting gigs around Sydney and doing other various competitions. After taking a year out of music in 1958 due to a car accident, Lonnie made his musical comeback in 1959.

Lonnie came to record through promoter Lee Gordon, who signed Lonnie to the Leedon label. During his first session, he didn’t have a B-side for his debut single, so in the studio he and Johnny O’Keefe penned Ain’t It So in about 20 minutes. It would become Lonnie’s first hit, making it into the top ten on the Sydney charts in late 1959. Through the early '60s, Lonnie would have a string of other hits including Starlight Starbright and I Found a New Love.

More recently, Lonnie has just released his first book in a planned set of four on his life — the first book in the series Almost a Star — and goes into his early life before his success in rock and roll.

Jack phoned Lonnie to talk about his early musical memories, the impact Johnny Ray had on him, life pre-rock and roll, hearing Bill Haley and Elvis for the first time, his memories of winning a competition in 1957 that was looking for Australia’s Elvis, his work throughout 1957, the car accident he had in late 1957, his time as a jackaroo in 1958, what it was like being isolated from rock and roll during most of 1958, his comeback to music in 1959, how he came to be signed to the Leedon label, how Ain’t It So came to be, the success he had throughout the late '50s and early '60s, how he came to be the first Aussie artist to have a full-colour album cover, his 2019 album Back to Base X, and his new book Almost a Star.

"So he (a friend of Lonnie's) went and bought this record and of course it was 'Rock Around the Clock' and it was just amazing — hearing this song was just... like a blind person seeing for the first time." – Lonnie Lee on this episode of Vinyl Vibe, talking about hearing rock and roll for the first time.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins. 

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes Jack is joined by founder of Ariel, Mike Rudd.

In 1973, Mike’s band Spectrum came to an end shortly after the recording of their 4th studio album, Testimonial. Soon after this, Mike and Spectrum’s bass player Bill Putt were joined by Tamam Shud band members Tim Gaze and Nigel McAra, forming Ariel in the same year. Over the course of three months, Mike would write the band’s first album, A Strange Fantastic Dream. 

Following the release of the band’s first album in late 1973, Tim Gaze and Nigel Macara left the band. Although this devastated Mike at the time, it allowed him to take on the ambitious creative project that was The Jellabad Mutant Rock opera album. Over the course of 1974, this would be Mike and the band’s main project. During the year, the band had interest from EMI in the UK and was invited to record at Abbey Road Studios. However, once The Jellabad Mutant had been demoed, EMI Australia outright rejected it. This led to the band having to rely on material from the Spectrum days and the few songs Mike could write in the short amount of time leading up to recording in the UK.

The Rock and Roll Scars album would be recorded at Abbey Studios and would feature a re-recording of Spectrum’s number 1 hit I’ll Be Gone. They would return to Australia in early 1975 and play the last Sunbury festival. 

Ariel would continue to make music until their last gig in August 1977 at the Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne. 

Jack called Mike to talk about the formation of Ariel, the writing of A Strange Fantastic Dream, how the album pushed the boundaries of songwriting, the controversy surrounding some  of the songs on Strange Fantastic Dream, playing a tour with Gary Glitter, the demoing of The Jellabad Mutant, how EMI's rejection of The Jellabad Mutant impact the band when they went to the UK to record, recording at Abbey Road Studios, playing at the '75 Sunbury festival, and the band's last gig in 1977 at the Dallas Brooks Hall. 

"The opportunity to actually demo stuff was pretty remote in those days. I think I had a tape recorder, but that was it. Quite often, they were just dubbed onto a cassette, and the band expanded on that—and whatever we ended up with was Ariel" - Mike Rudd on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about finding the Ariel sound

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Rick is best known for his time in the local 1970s band Benny and The Jets; however, in this episode, Rick and Jack discuss his musical work throughout the ‘60s. Rick joined his first band, The Mystics, in late 1963 during the instrumental music craze of the early ‘60s. By the time The Beatles stepped onto Aussie shores in 1964, Rick had joined another local group, The Mystery Men. Possibly Rick’s greatest success during the ‘60s was his time in The Second Thoughts. In July 1966, The Second Thoughts would record a single at Nat Kipner's St. Clare Studios in Hurstville. A few nights beforehand, in the same studio, Kipner had just recorded and produced the Bee Gees' breakthrough hit, Spicks and Specks. Rick and the rest of the band would be among the first people ever the hear this Bee Gees hit. The Second Thoughts would record three songs with Kipner in one session. Two of them, Run Back Home and The World Keeps Going Round, would be pressed onto a 45 single and become a number one hit in Newcastle for The Second Thoughts. However, the third song from that session, a cover of The Kinks' song Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight, has never seen the light of day. At first Jack thought this recording was lost to time having never been released; however, Nat Kipner gave Rick a copy of the recording on cassette some time ago. Rick, at some point, had the song on the cassette transferred to CD and has dug out that CD to be played in this Vinyl Vibes episode. This song has never been heard anywhere since being recorded by Rick and The Second Thoughts in 1966. 

After The Second Thoughts, Rick would form Butter Suite in 1969, the band which he would stay with for the remainder of the ‘60s. More recently, Rick has written a book called Hey Rock and Roll, which reflects on his time in music and the Newcastle music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

In this episode Rick discusses with Jack his first guitar, the instrumental surf craze of the early '60s, how Rick came to join his first band The Mystics, The Beatles tour of Australia, seeing The Shadows live in 1965, the formation of The Others, how The Others became The Second Thoughts, recording with Nat Kipner, being one of the first people ever to hear Spicks and Specks, his time in Bitter Suite and his book Hey Rock And Roll. 

"When we left the studio it was agreed by Nat that 'The World Keeps Going 'Round' would be the top side..'Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight' would be the flip side and we wouldn't use 'Run Back Home' but when the record came out the record company had pressed it up differently...those things happened in those days, it was a bit slap dash." - Rick Pointon on this epsidoe of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording of The Second Thoughts local number one single  

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack kicks off his 8-part Newcastle Vinyl Vibes series talking with Dannie Davidson, drummer of Tamam Shud. This series will talk with a range of local rockers important to the Newcastle music story. 

Dannie’s first group was a local Newcastle band called The Strangers, which he helped form in Cooks Hill in 1962. With Dannie on drums, The Strangers would go on to be Newcastle’s top group of the early ‘60s. In 1964, The Strangers became the first Newcastle band to have a single released nationally when their single The Rip came out. The band would leave for Sydney in 1965 and become The Sunsets, where they would play more Beach Boys-type music. While in Sydney, they would meet filmmaker Paul Witzig, who would get the band to provide soundtrack music for his surf films. In 1967, the band’s music was changing yet again due to the influx of American sounds from the likes of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, and so the band changed their name to Tamam Shud. 

As with their days in The Sunsets, Paul Witzig got Tamam Shud to provide the soundtrack music for his surf movie Evolution. In return for their services for Witzig, the band was able to record a studio album. Tamam Shud would record their debut album, Evolution, in one session. The album would sell out its initial pressing of 10,000 copies within weeks; however, due to the master tape being erased, it would not see another pressing for many years to come. In early 1970, Tamam Shud would begin recording their second album, The Goolutionites and The Real People. Continuing their innovative ways, the album was environmentally themed, an unusual topic for a rock record in Australia at the time. Dannie left the Shud after the band's second album and throughout the 70s would go on to perform in bands such as Karvus Jute and Band of Light. 

In this episode, Dannie discusses with Jack his early life in Newcastle and Kings Cross, seeing acts such as Buddy Rich live in the '50s, the formation of The Strangers, the instrumental craze of the early '60s, the recording of The Rip, how the band became The Sunsets, meeting Paul Witzig, the recording and success of Evolution, Tamam Shud live gigs of the late '60s, the band's second album, and what Dannie is up to today. 

"We recorded The Rip, I think we did that... I think it was released in '64, but we actually recorded it in '63. It was going to be called Bombora, but The Atlantics came along, and we were filthy because we were surfers and they weren't!" - Dannie Davison on this Vinyl Vibes episode talking about the debut single from The 4 Strangers called The Rip. 

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Geoff Bridgford, drummer of The Groove and The Bee Gees. Geoff got into music at an early age, surrounded by the sounds of rock and roll. He used to frequent Alan’s Music in Melbourne. One day at the store, one of the girls working there mentioned that a group called Steve and The Board were looking for a drummer. The band had a hit on the charts called "The Giggle-Eyed Goo" at the time, so Geoff went to see the group at the 10th Avenue Disco. He auditioned for the band on drums live at the gig, and as the audience loved his playing, he was recruited as the new drummer for Steve and The Board.

After a year of being in Steve and The Board, Geoff had a knock on the door from Garry Spry, who was putting together a band called The Groove. Geoff agreed to join, and the band would spend much of its first year rehearsing in Melbourne. By September 1967, the band’s first single, Simon Says, was released and became a top 20 hit. However, it would be the group’s second single, Soothe Me, which would become The Groove’s biggest hit. The Groove’s version of the song was largely based on the Sam and Dave version, which had come out the year before. For The Groove, it would reach number 10 in Australia.

After winning the Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds in 1968, The Groove won a trip to the UK. After two years in the UK with minimal success, the band broke up, and Geoff joined Tin Tin in 1970. Tin Tin’s second album, Astral Taxi, would be produced by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. Because of this, Geoff started to collaborate with Maurice on his unreleased solo album The Loner. At this time, the Bee Gees had broken up, but when Robin Gibb returned, the band decided to reform. With Geoff playing drums for both Maurice and Barry, they decided to take him on as the official Bee Gees drummer.

Lonely Days was the first song Geoff recorded with the Bee Gees. As a single, it would reach number 8 in Australia, number 1 in Canada, number 33 in the UK, and number 3 in the United States.

Trafalgar would be the first and only album where Geoff was featured as an official member of the Bee Gees. The first song recorded during the Trafalgar sessions was a song Barry Gibb wrote called How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. It would become the Bee Gees’ first number one hit in the United States. Before this moment, no Australian-born musician had ever been featured on a U.S. number one hit. Since the Gibb brothers were born in the UK, this makes Geoff the first Aussie to ever be featured on a U.S. number one hit. The song would reach number 2 in Australia.

Geoff left the Bee Gees in 1972 but has remained involved in music over the years. More recently, Geoff has focused on doing solo material. His latest standalone single came out in late 2021 on his Bandcamp. It’s called Recognise and was written about Indigenous rights. To find more of Geoff’s solo material, you can visit his Bandcamp and YouTube pages.

Jack phoned Geoff to talk about his early days in music, the impact that rock and roll had on him, how Geoff came to join Steve and The Board, his first time recording, how he came to join The Groove, the soul hits the band had such as Soothe Me, his memories of winning Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds in 1968, The Groove’s time in the UK, his work with Maurice Gibb, how he came to join the Bee Gees, recording his first song with the Bee Gees, Lonely Days, the Bee Gees’ first U.S. number one hit How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, and his work since leaving the Bee Gees, including his recent single Recognise.

"To this day, I still remember Barry coming into the studio and saying, ‘I’ve got this really nice country song, do you want to play it down with me?’ and I said, ‘Sure, what’s it called?’ and he said, ‘It’s called How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.’"-Geoff Bridgford on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about recording How Can You Mend a Broken Heart with The Bee Gees

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Elliot Lurie, co-lead vocalist and guitarist of Looking Glass. 

Looking Glass formed in the late '60s while its members were attending Rutgers University in New Jersey. The band became popular on campus, and after graduating, they decided to take a year off to do music full-time. They rented a farmhouse and got to work writing songs and recording demos. The band was signed to CBS Records and began recording for the label. During their time in the farmhouse, Elliot wrote a song called "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)." It was this very song that the head of CBS Records, Clive Davis, insisted be released as the band’s debut single. However, the band opted instead for "Don’t It Make You Feel Good." 

This first single failed to chart, but it was perhaps a CBS promotions executive named Robert Mandel who saved the band’s career. Mandel took an acetate of Looking Glass' debut album to a disc jockey at a Washington, DC, radio station. The DJ put the vinyl on the turntable and played track two, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," on the air. It had an instant reaction from listeners, with the radio station phones lighting up. CBS knew it was going to be a hit and pressed the song as Looking Glass' second single. The single would reach number one in the U.S. and number 10 in Australia. In 2017, the song would see further success when it became a main feature in the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. 

In 1973, the band released their second and final album, Subway Serenade. It brought the group a Top 40 hit with the single "Jimmy Loves Maryanne." As a single, "Jimmy Loves Maryanne" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and number 75 on the charts in Australia, making Looking Glass by no means a one-hit wonder. Elliot left the group in 1974. 

Today, Elliot collaborates and plays live gigs with Yacht Rock Revue. Yacht Rock Revue is a band that mainly plays covers considered part of a genre called "yacht rock." The group has also done some original work, with a recent single, "Tropical Illusion." Elliot co-wrote the song with a member of Yacht Rock Revue, and it would be the lead single off their 2024 album Escape Artist. 

Jack Zoomed with Elliot to discuss his early days, the impact rock and roll had on him, the formation of Looking Glass, how the name Looking Glass came to be, the group’s early popularity around Rutgers University, the band's time writing demos, the writing and recording of "Brandy," the band's first single, how "Brandy" became a hit, what it was like having "Brandy" in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the band’s second album, and Elliot’s work today with Yacht Rock Revue. 

"We were sitting in my car, a Chevrolet, all four of us, and we were probably a little high at the time, haha, and we were trying to come up with a name for the band. We were staring at the rearview mirror in the car, and somebody said, 'What about The Mirrors?' We kind of liked the concept of the mirrors because we thought of ourselves as regular guys, and we were a reflection of our audience, but we didn’t like the name 'Mirrors.' Since it was like the psychedelic era, I said, 'Well, what’s like a mirror? How about like a looking glass?'" - Elliot Lurie on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how the name Looking Glass came to be 

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by David Rowlands, drummer of Phil Jones and The Unknown Blues. Dave formed a band called the Firebirds with fellow high school friends during the first half of the ‘60s. The Pretty Things released their debut album in 1965, and on its track listing was a song called "Unknown Blues". One day, while browsing in a record store, Dave came across this album and saw the song name "Unknown Blues". He thought it would be a great band name and suggested it to the rest of the Firebirds. They all agreed on the name, and so in 1966, the band became known as The Unknown Blues. Over the next year or so, the band would delve deeper and deeper into the blues and begin developing their own versions of various blues standards.

The band came to the attention of Festival Records in 1967 and recorded their first single If I Had a Ticket. It would be a Top 20 hit in Sydney, bringing the group further gigs and TV appearances. Some have cited this record as the first blues hit for an Australian group, and today it remains a favorite amongst Oz rock fans.

By late 1967, psychedelic rock was overtaking the blues in popularity in the Sydney music scene. As a result, Phil Jones and The Unknown Blues tried to adjust to this new sound on their third single, Brave New World (Of Fairy Tales). Unlike their previous two singles, which consisted of traditional blues songs, Brave New World was self-penned by lead singer Phil Jones. The single also made use of more studio effects, such as the audio tape effect known as flanging. Despite the band's best efforts, they did not reclaim their stature in the Sydney scene, and Dave soon left the band in early 1968.

Phil Jones and The Unknown Blues would reform for the 2011 Bluesfest. The festival gave the band the chance to play alongside other acts on the bill, such as Bob Dylan, B.B. King, and Elvis Costello. The band performed its hit If I Had A Ticket, along with other songs Phil Jones recorded in the UK after the band's disbandment in 1968.

Today, Dave is still playing drums and is the organiser behind the Goulburn Blues Festival.

Jack phoned Dave to discuss his early days in music, the formation of The Firebirds, how the blues impacted him and the rest of the band, how The Pretty Things inspired the band to change their name to The Unknown Blues, how the band came to be signed to Festival Records, the recording of If I Had a Ticket, the success the band had in Sydney, how Jimmy Page came to meet the band, the band's third single Brave New World (Of Fairy Tales), and the group's re-formation in 2011.

"Two English guys turned up with long hair, and at the time we didn't know who they were. It turned out that the band The Yardbirds had done a performance at Sydney Stadium. Two band members wanted to find out where the young people hung out... and it was Jimmy Page... our guitarist invited Jimmy up to play, but he said 'look, I can't do that, I'm endorsed by Fender'." - Dave Rowlands on this episode of Vinyl Vibes Talking about Jimmy Page turning up at one of Phil Jones and The Unknown Blues' gigs

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Dannie Davidson, drummer of Kahvas Jute. Since 1967, Dannie had been playing with the iconic Oz rock band Tamam Shud. In 1970, Dannie left Tamam Shud after the recording of their second album, The Goolutionites and the Real People. Dannie was soon approached by promoter Peter Cunningham to form a new group with Bob Daisley and Dennis Wilson of the Creme cover band Mecca. The group rehearsed for the first time at Dennis’ house, and Dannie loved both Dennis’ and Bob’s playing right away. The band would decide to call themselves Kahvas Jute.

Before even playing a gig, Kahvas Jute went into the studio for four days to record their debut album, Wide Open. Although Wide Open would peak at #27 on the Australian album charts, the album’s success was cut short due to the petroleum shortage in Australia at the time. Due to the shortage, Festival Records pulled the album from stores to melt them down and re-press them into Elton John’s new album. Of the first 10,000 copies of Wide Open pressed, only 3,000 were ever sold, making the original LP a sought-after collector's item.

After the release of their album, Kahvas Jute started playing live shows. In 1971, the band did an East Coast tour of Australia and a tour of various universities across the country. In June 1971, the band made the ambitious move to the UK.

While in the UK, the band came to the attention of EG Management, who had artists such as T. Rex and Roxy Music on their roster. EG Management were looking for bands to market in the United States and thought Kahvas Jute would be perfect for the US market. The band was signed to Festival Records at the time, and although EG Management offered fifty thousand dollars to Festival to release the band from their contract, Festival declined. The band was shattered and broke up soon after. Although they would reform once back in Australia, Kahvas Jute would not go on to make a second album and would disband in 1974.

Jack spoke with Dannie in the studio about the formation of Kahvas Jute, the writing of their first single Free, the recording of Wide Open, why Festival Records pulled the album from stores, their early gigs, the band's 1971 East Coast tour, the band's move to the UK, how the band came to the attention of EG Management, how Jimmy Page was a fan of the Wide Open album, the story behind why EG Management could not sign the band, and the band's time back in Australia before disbanding.

"We hadn't even done a gig, so we were straight into the studio... which is unheard of in itself. That's how much faith they put in us." - Dannie Davidson, on this episode of Vinyl Vibes, talking about Kahvas Jute's album Wide Open.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by David Rivkin, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer. The music of artists such as The Kingston Trio first sparked Dave’s interest in music, but it was when he heard the electric guitar for the first time that his life was forever changed. In 1963, Dave joined a local Minneapolis band called The Chancellors, and after recording the group’s local hit Little Latin Lupe Lu, Dave became hooked on learning how to record music.

By the mid-'70s, Dave was recording music professionally at ASI Studio. In 1976, Grand Central, an early band to feature Prince, came into ASI Studio to record some demos with Dave as the engineer. A year later, in 1977, with Dave now at Sound 80, he recorded Prince again. Dave’s sessions with Prince in 1977 resulted in three songs that would be featured on Prince’s debut album, For You. One of those songs, Soft and Wet, would become Prince’s first single.

While working at Sound 80, Dave also became involved with a group called Lipps Inc. In 1979, Lipps Inc. recorded a disco track called Funkytown, which Dave engineered and played on. Despite being released at the tail end of the disco era in 1980, the Funkytown single would sell 8 million copies and hit number one in Australia, Canada, the United States, and many other countries worldwide.

In 1983, Dave worked again with Prince when he recorded a short-notice benefit concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis. At this concert, Prince debuted the now-classic Purple Rain. The 70-minute benefit concert was recorded by Dave outside the venue in a mobile recording truck. Unknown to Dave at the time, the version of Purple Rain he engineered would become the official recording, both as a single and on Prince’s 1984 album of the same name.

In 1987, when Prince opened his Paisley Park studio, Dave moved from Sound 80 to become a producer at the new complex. One of his early production projects at Paisley Park was working with The Fine Young Cannibals. Dave produced the band’s hit She Drives Me Crazy, and he was responsible for the iconic snare drum sound on the track. The song would go on to hit number one in the U.S., number five in the UK, and number one in Australia.

Today, Dave is still active in the music industry, with recent work including mixing Jonathon Long’s debut album and remixing various Prince releases.

Jack phoned David to discuss his early days, the impact folk music had on him, the experience of hearing the electric guitar for the first time, his time with The Chancellors, his early production work at ASI Studio, recording early Prince demos, the making of Funkytown, the recording and success of Purple Rain, the iconic snare sound on She Drives Me Crazy, and his more recent work.

"We were in the moment. There’s no way you could know that this was going to be iconic... you just don’t know." — David Rivkin on engineering Prince’s Purple Rain in this episode of Vinyl Vibes.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by J.P. Pennington, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Exile. J.P. joined a group called The Exiles in 1964. The following year, in 1965, the band recorded their first single, an original song called The Answer to Her Prayers. The single did not chart, but in 1966, the band had its first big break when they had the opportunity to be a support act on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars Tour. From playing small gigs around their local area, the band soon found themselves playing alongside hitmakers such as Paul Revere and the Raiders and Tommy Roe.

In 1973, the band changed its name from The Exiles to Exile. The group released their first two albums on the Wooden Nickel label in the same year, but they didn’t achieve chart success. Exile was soon dropped by Wooden Nickel, but in 1975, the band came to the attention of established Australian songwriter Mike Chapman. Chapman wanted to break into the U.S. music market and began writing songs for the group. In 1978, Exile recorded Chapman’s song Kiss You All Over and signed a three-album deal with Curb Records. Kiss You All Over was released as a single and brought the group immense success, reaching #1 in the United States, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. The song is remembered today as one of the signature tracks of the '70s.

After the success of Kiss You All Over, Exile struggled to match that same level of success in the pop music world. In the early '80s, the band decided to shift their musical direction from pop to country music. In 1983, they released their first album as a country band, titled Exile. The second single from this album, Woke Up in Love, written by J.P., became a #1 hit on the U.S. country charts. It was the first of ten consecutive #1 country hits the band would have, bringing the group back into the spotlight.

More recently, Exile released a studio album in 2023 called A Million Miles Later. This double album features a staggering 16 new original songs by the group. The album is available on CD, Vinyl, and USB and can be purchased from the band’s website at exile.biz.

"We didn’t really know what to think! We were all like, 'Can we say that? Can we sing those lyrics?' We had been told 'no' so much that we thought, 'What the heck, what is there to lose?' And they put Kiss You All Over out, and I mean, it shot up the charts like a rocket ship. It was incredible." — J.P. Pennington on this episode of Vinyl Vibes, talking about how Exile’s number one hit Kiss You All Over came to be.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Gary Moberly, keyboardist of The Ramrods and Sweet. Gary first found his love for music growing up amidst the rock and roll of Jerry Lee Lewis and Col Joye. During the instrumental craze of the early ‘60s, along with workmates from the Sydney Morning Herald, Gary formed The Ramrods in 1961. By the mid-‘60s, The Ramrods were popular around the Sydney area, playing gigs in pubs. It was around this time that the band came to the attention of then-President of New South Wales Young Labor, Paul Keating. Keating would become The Ramrods' manager, getting the band more gigs and even a recording contract with EMI. The Ramrods recorded two singles for EMI Records, but neither achieved chart success. As a result, the band became better known for being managed by Paul Keating rather than for their own musical output. Gary would leave The Ramrods soon after the band’s second single.

After his days in The Ramrods, Gary joined another local Sydney group called Asprope Fables in 1968. The band became popular playing covers around the Sydney area and even came third overall in the 1969 Holiday's Battle of the Sounds. Gary left Asprope Fables in late 1970 and made his way to the UK to play with a group called The Honky Tonk. This led to Gary playing with other artists in the UK, such as Cane and Able, Tina Charles, and John Miles.

A big break came in 1977 when glam rockers Sweet were looking for a keyboard player, and Gary got the job. Although at first the band wanted to keep Gary behind the curtain at shows as an unofficial member, they were so impressed with his playing that he was made an official member of Sweet. Gary’s first work with Sweet involved playing keyboards on the band’s hit Love Is Like Oxygen. Gary went on to record two albums with Sweet: Cut Above the Rest in 1979 and Water’s Edge in 1980 before leaving the group. Today, Gary is still playing music, with recent performances being with The Spirit of Smokie.

Jack phoned Gary to talk about his early days, the impact the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Col Joye had on him, the formation of The Ramrods, his memories of playing live with The Ramrods, what Paul Keating was like as a manager, The Ramrods' recording career, his time in Asprope Fables, his early work in the UK, how he came to join Sweet, the recording and success of Love Is Like Oxygen, his memories of touring with Sweet, playing on Sweet albums Cut Above the Rest and Water’s Edge, and his more recent music work.

"When I went to meet them about the gig in the office, Mick Tucker walks in with a fur coat on, a David Bowie haircut, haha, a golden drumstick hanging off his ears, pelican skin-pointed powder blue shoes – I thought, 'Bloody hell mate, this is weird!' Then in come Steve and Brian, and we went down to the pub. We drank from midday till midnight, and one of them came up and said, 'You've got the gig.' I said, 'I haven't played anything yet.' They said, 'You've got the gig, you can handle the drinking.' I found out later that wasn't quite true, because they’d seen me on The Old Grey Whistle Test with John Miles the week before." — Gary Moberly on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about joining Sweet.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Paul Speare, former saxophonist of Dexys Midnight Runners. Paul started playing music at the age of 15 and never stopped. While working as a music teacher in Birmingham, Paul frequently did session work at a local recording studio called Outlaw Studios. Dexys Midnight Runners also frequented the studio, and at one point, they were looking for a saxophonist. Paul was put in contact with Dexys by the owner of Outlaw Studios and soon joined the band on a temporary basis. After doing his first work for the band, playing the group's number one hit Geno on the 1980 Top of the Pops Christmas special, Paul decided to join as a full-time member.

In December 1981, sessions for the group's album Too-Rye-Ay began. It was over the course of these sessions that "Come On Eileen" was recorded. Paul remained in the group for the entire recording process of the Too-Rye-Ay album, only leaving the band after the final mixing session. Paul was struggling financially while being in Dexys at the time, and with "Come On Eileen" not yet a hit or even released, he decided to leave the band. "Come On Eileen" was released as a single in the UK in June 1982, and by August 1982, the song was number one, remaining there for four weeks. In Australia, the song was an even bigger hit, reaching number one in November 1982 for five weeks. Today, the song remains as popular as ever and has secured itself as an enduring classic.

After leaving Dexys, Paul joined forces with fellow ex-Dexys musicians Jim Paterson and Brian Maurice to form TKO Horns. The band got work immediately, playing for the likes of John Watts and also the Q-Tips. After touring with the Q-Tips, TKO Horns were approached by Elvis Costello. Paul, along with the TKO Horns, went on to tour the world with Costello and was prominently featured on Costello’s studio album Punch the Clock. Today, Paul is still making music, with a recent project being his 2023 EP In Search of Avet.

Jack Zoomed Paul to talk about his early days, what inspired him to start playing instruments at the age of 15, the impact his music teacher had on him, his early session work at Outlaw Studios, how he came to join Dexys Midnight Runners, his memories of playing on the 1980 Top of the Pops Christmas special, his first recording with Dexys (Plan B), The Projected Passion Revue Tour, the recording and writing of "Come On Eileen," the group's album Too-Rye-Ay, what made Paul leave the band, the success of "Come On Eileen," his work with TKO Horns, and his recent music work.

"It was such an unusual song, I mean there's never been another song like it before or since, really. I think we all realized there was something unique about it. Whether that would translate into it being a hit record on that scale, that it was, perhaps didn't occur to us." — Paul Speare talking about Come On Eileen in this episode of Vinyl Vibes.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack talks for a second time with Gil Mathews, drummer of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. Gil joined the Aztecs in August 1970 and remained with them until their farewell performance in 1973. In Jack's last interview with Gil, he delved into hit records by the Aztecs, such as Most People I Know Think I’m Crazy and also their famous 1972 Sunbury performance. In this episode Jack dives deeper into Gil’s time with the Aztecs.

Gil joined Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs in August 1970. On June 13th, 1971, the Aztecs would famously headline a gig at the Melbourne Town Hall. Their Town Hall set would be recorded and released as the live album Aztecs Live. The performance featured the majestic sound of the Melbourne Town Hall organ, which, after being used by the loudest band in the country, reportedly ruptured the foundations of the building next to the Town Hall.

When the Aztecs played the Melbourne Town Hall, above the band and the crowd there was a massive inflatable octopus. The artist behind this floating sea creature, after the Town Hall gig, suggested to the Sydney Opera House committee that they book the Aztecs for a concert. The committee agreed and booked the Aztecs on the assumption they were a string quartet. It wasn't until closer to the concert that they realised that the Aztecs were in fact a rock and roll band. And so Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, by accident, became the first rock band to perform at the Opera House.

This Sydney Opera House gig would be the farewell gig for Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. Following this, Gil would remain drumming for Billy Thorpe on his solo albums, such as Downunder in 1973 and Million Dollar Bill in 1975.

Gil has remained in music and has been running his own music label, Aztec Records, since 2005. The label specialises in remastering and reissuing classic Oz releases onto CD. Their latest CD release is The Live Adventures of Ariel.

Jack called Gil to talk about his work at Havoc Records pre-Aztecs, recording Lobby Loyde, his memories of the Melbourne Town Hall gig, the majestic one-off performance of Somebody Left Me Crying, how the Aztecs came to play the Sydney Opera House, why they chose to open the Opera House gig with an acoustic set, his work on Thorpe songs such as It's Almost Summer, and his work today with Aztec Records.

"The (Sydney Opera House) committee thought the Aztecs were a string quartet! They had no knowledge the Aztecs were Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, the rock and roll band, until the day we started playing." - Gil Mathews on this episode of Vinyl Vibes

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Robert Upchurch, long-time member of The Trammps. Finding his musical roots in gospel music, Robert began playing the R&B club circuit in Philadelphia in the early ‘70s. He was soon discovered and signed to Golden Fleece Records, where he released his debut single, The Devil Made Me Do It, and began his journey into disco music. After Robert released his debut single, the Golden Fleece label folded, and its artist roster was bought out by Atlantic Records. The Trammps, a disco group from Philadelphia, were also signed to Golden Fleece when it folded. Now with both artists on the Atlantic label, the label wanted to see how Robert would sound with The Trammps.

Robert officially joined The Trammps, and in 1977 he sang backing on their single Disco Inferno. At first, the single was only a moderate hit, reaching number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. However, the song was later added to the soundtrack of the disco film Saturday Night Fever. Disco Inferno then experienced immense success, becoming the closing track on the 40 million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album. As a reissued single, the song was also a hit in its own right, reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 32 on the Australian Kent Music Charts. Today, the song is remembered as one of the signature tracks of the disco era.

Following the group's success with Disco Inferno, into the later ‘70s, disco started experiencing massive pushback from rock listeners. Like many disco groups of the time, The Trammps’ success started to fade. The Trammps would continue to make music into the ‘80s, with their last album, This One Is for the Party, being commercially unsuccessful and only seeing a release in the Netherlands. Since then, the group has continued to play live, and Robert has remained in the group all this time.

In this episode, Jack calls Robert to talk about his early life, hearing his voice for the first time on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, his time doing gospel music, hearing rock and roll for the first time, his time playing on the R&B club circuit, how he came to be discovered and signed to Golden Fleece Records, his first single The Devil Made Me Do It, how he came to join The Trammps in 1976, the recording of Trammps songs such as Disco Party and their famous Disco Inferno, playing his first gig with the group at Madison Square Garden, how Disco Inferno came to be featured in Saturday Night Fever, the success of Disco Inferno, the band's work into the '80s, and the group's touring today.

"The first time we heard it, we were at the office of our production company, and Ron Kersey, who wrote the song, played it for us. My first impression was 'Oh no,' because, like I said, I've never liked disco. I said, 'You guys gotta be kidding, you know, come on, haha.' The other guys thought it was okay, but I just didn't feel it would do anything." — Robert Upchurch on this episode of Vinyl Vibes, talking about hearing Disco Inferno for the first time.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Issi Dye, '70s Pop Star. Issi first got into music after hearing the likes of the Everly Brothers and The Beatles. He formed his first group, Double Trouble, in 1965, beginning his career in music. In 1969, after singing backing on the Town Criers’ hit "Everlasting Love," Issi came to the attention of Festival Records and soon released his first solo single, "Incense." It would be a top 20 hit in Melbourne, bringing opportunities for further singles and TV appearances. Issi would release Family Full of Soul, his last single on the Festival label, in 1971, and it wouldn’t be until 1975 that he would release another single. During this four-year gap in recording music, Issi spent his time performing on TV and playing live shows. In 1975, now on the Image label, Issi's version of the Lloyd Price classic "Personality" was pressed as his final single.

In 1976, Issi would shift his focus from music to TV when he began hosting Issi Dye Presents Late Movies. He would continue this focus on TV into the ‘90s when he would again begin doing music as his main focus. Since the 1990s, Issi has been doing tribute shows to various artists such as Al Jolson, Johnny O'Keefe, and Bobby Darin. Issi is still performing tribute shows all over Australia.

In this episode, Issi discusses with Jack his early life growing up in Austria, his memories of hearing the likes of The Everly Brothers for the first time, his first group Double Trouble, how he came to the attention of Festival Records, the recording of hits such as Incense and One Last Kiss, his memories of supporting The Beach Boys and Roy Orbison, playing on the TV show Hit Scene, what it has been like seeing the rise of TikTok and Instagram in music, the recording of his last single "Personality," how he transitioned into TV in 1976, his journey to getting back into music in the '90s, and his current work doing tribute shows for the likes of Johnny O'Keefe and Bobby Darin.

"It's a spine-chilling time when you're sitting in your little old car... with one little radio on and you're turning it up and all of a sudden the guy goes, 'Oh, here's a song from that guy with all the hair, Issi Dye'... it's a big thrill." - Issi Dye on this episode of Vinyl Vibes, talking about hearing his hits on the radio.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Dannie Davidson, drummer of Tamam Shud.

Dannie’s first group was a band called The Strangers, which he helped form in Newcastle in 1962. With Dannie on drums, The Strangers would go on to be Newcastle’s top group of the early ‘60s and In 1964, The Strangers became the first Newcastle band to have a single released nationally. The band would leave for Sydney in 1965 and become The Sunsets, where they would play more Beach Boys-type music. While in Sydney, they would meet filmmaker Paul Witzig, who would get the band to provide soundtrack music for his surf films. In 1967, the band’s music was changing yet again due to the influx of American sounds from the likes of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, and so the band changed their name to Tamam Shud.

As with their days in The Sunsets, Paul Witzig got Tamam Shud to provide the soundtrack music for his surf movie Evolution. In return for their services for Witzig, the band was able to record a studio album. Tamam Shud would record their debut album, Evolution, in one session. The album would sell out its initial pressing of 10,000 copies within weeks; however, due to the master tape being erased, it would not see another pressing for many years to come. In early 1970, Tamam Shud would begin recording their second album, The Goolutionites and The Real People. Continuing their innovative ways, the album was environmentally themed, an unusual topic for a rock record in Australia at the time. Dannie left the Shud after the band's second album and throughout the 70s would go on to perform in bands such as Karvus Jute and Band of Light.

In this episode, Dannie discusses with Jack his early life in Newcastle and Kings Cross, seeing acts such as Buddy Rich live in the '50s, the formation of The Strangers, the instrumental craze of the early '60s, the recording of "The Rip," how the band became The Sunsets, meeting Paul Witzig, the recording and success of Evolution, Tamam Shud live gigs of the late '60s, the band's second album, and what Dannie is up to today.

"The deal was that we did the (soundtrack to the Evolution) movie for free so we wouldn't have any claims on any copyrights of it and they would give us an album and we wanted an album because one of the big recording companies would have us—EMI, Festival, RCA—all those sorts of people—they didn't want to know about us...we were the underground and they hadn't got on board yet" - Dannie Davidson on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the band's debut album Evolution.

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Jeff Grob, Drummer of Looking Glass. Jeff first heard rock and roll on a car radio in the ‘50s, and it captured him like no other music before. After playing in various groups, while in high school, Jeff’s psychology teacher would put him in contact with a band from Rutgers University. This band was called Looking Glass, and Jeff would soon become their drummer. At the turn of the ‘70s, the band would begin making demos in a rented farmhouse before being signed to CBS Records. The band's first single "Don't It Make You Feel Good" would not chart for the group, however, the band’s second single would forever secure their place in music history.

The group's 2nd single, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", traces its origins back to the farmhouse the band were renting before their signing to CBS. After recording the song a few times with different CBS producers to no avail, Looking Glass decided to record the song themselves alongside recording engineer Bob Liftin. This would be the version of the song that would see Looking Glass reach number one in the US and number 10 in Australia. In 2017, the song would see further success when it became a main feature in the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Today, the song remains an enduring classic.

Looking Glass would go on to release two studio albums before disbanding in 1974. Jeff continued doing music and today is playing in a band called Starz and is still doing gigs playing the music of Looking Glass.

Jack phoned Jeff to talk about the impact of hearing rock and roll for the first time, how he came to join Looking Glass, the early gigs of Looking Glass, the band's time as a popular campus band at Rutgers University, the band's early demos, how the band got signed to CBS Records, the recording process of "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)", the success of "Brandy", the recording of the group's 2nd album Subway Serenade, the group's work after the departure of co-frontman Elliot Lurie, and his work with Starz today.

"The very first sound you hear (in the movie) is my bass drum foot...there's one scene where the space guy Kurt Russell is driving along and he stops the car to take a leak in the bushes and he starts whistling my song, now when you got Kurt Russell taking a squirt whistling your song...that's when you know you've made it" - Jeff Grob on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" being in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Sandy Deanne of Jay and the Americans. Sandy is a founding member and backing vocalist with Jay and the Americans which he helped form in 1960. Music has been a part of Sandy's life since the beginning with artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith being regular sounds on the family's record player. But It was seeing Elvis on TV and hearing Dion & The Belmonts singing “I Wonder Why” that made him want to make music his career. He formed his first group and wrote his first local hit record in high school. This group was called The Harborlites and would evolve into Jay and The Americans. Originally with Jay Traynor on lead vocals, the group was soon signed by the famous Lieber & Stoller team. Their first big hit would by “She Cried” in 1962 reaching #3 in the charts. Jay Black would replace Traynor and well into the end of the '60s, the group would go on to have more hits such as "Come a Little Bit Closer", "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment". They disbanded in 1973. After a three-decade hiatus, in 2006 the band reformed with Jay Reincke on lead vocals and as of 2023 they are still performing. More recently their 1964 song "Come a Little Bit Closer" was featured on the sound track to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, bringing their music to a whole new audience.

In Jack's interview with Sandy Deanne he talks with Sandy about his early music influences, the impact of seeing Elvis on TV, the forming of his first band 'The Harborlites', the signing of the group by Lieber & Stoller, the recording and success of "She Cried", opening for the Beatles on their first US concert, the story of how "Cara Mia" came to be, his thoughts on music today, how he felt about having the band's music featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and what the band's future plans are.

"And by now the kids are screaming 'We want the Beatles! We want the Beatles!' and Jay Black had quick wit and we walked out on stage and he went "Hey! wow I'm glad you guys all came to see us tonight!" and they all started laughing and then they shut up and listened and we sang our two songs, got a standing ovation and went back downstairs to the dressing room. While we are getting changed out of our stage clothes we heard them saying 'And now here they are, The Beatles!' and a scream went up. I've never heard anything like this ever again" - Sandy Deanne on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the Beatles first US concert.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes Jack is joined by Al Kooper, a songwriter, producer, and well known session musician. Al has been in the music business since he was 14 when he joined The Royal Teens, a well known rock and roll group, in 1958. He co-wrote his first number one hit when he was 21 years of age in 1965, it was called "This Dimond Ring" and was made famous by Gerry Lewis and The Playboys. In the same year, Al played the famous organ riff on Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, making him in high demand for session work forever after that. Some of the albums Al has been a session musician on include Blonde on Blonde, The Who Sell Out, Electric Ladyland, and Let it Bleed. 

Al was a founding member of The Blues Project (1966) and Blood Sweat and Tears (1967), and is featured on studio albums of both groups. Al was a performer at the famous 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, a festival where many other artist have also performed including the Grateful Dead, The Who, and The Byrds. In 1972 he discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd and would go on to produce their first three albums which included the songs Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird. He would go to make 11 solo studio albums and perform on many other albums as a session musician in the coming decades. 

In this episode Jack talks with Al about his early musical influences, the impact rock and roll had on him as a kid, his time in the Royal Teens, his upcoming 4-CD boxset chronicling his entire music career, his 1972 album A Possible Projection of the Future, playing on Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, his 1973 cover of John Prine's Sam Stone, his work with BB King, the recording of Super Session, and his discovering and producing of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"(Mike Bloomfield) just sat down to noodle and out played me out of the room. So, I packed up my guitar and I put it in the corner and I went in the booth where I belonged and then they move the organ player to piano and they took a break to do that and I sat down at the organ and luckily it was turned on because I didn't know how to turn it on....(the producer) says 'what are you doing out there' and everyone in the band laughs and then he laughs and he says 'Ok, here we go, this is Like a Rolling Stone take four'."  - Al Kooper on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about playing organ on Like a Rolling Stone 

The original unremastered version of Jack's interview with Al Kooper can be found here

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Mike Rudd, founder of Spectrum. Mike grew up in Christchurch New Zealand, finding a talent for singing early on. He would join his first major group in 1964, The Chants R&B. After becoming popular around New Zealand, the group moved to Australia in 1966. Soon after their arrival, the band would split leaving Mike without a group. Luckily he came to join Ross Wilson's Party Machine as bass player, despite never having played bass before. It was while in this group Mike was inspired greatly by the songwriting craftsmanship of Ross Wilson. After leaving Party Machine in 1969, Mike had the idea to create his own group around his own songs. This band would become Spectrum, and the first song he would write would be called "I'll Be Gone". This would become Spectrum's first single and would reach number one in Australia in 1971. It would be the group's biggest hit, and today remains an icon in Oz rock.

1972 would see the beginnings of pub rock with events like The Sunbury Pop Festival taking place. Much of Spectrum’s music was multidimensional and arguably intellectual, a very different sound to the straight forward rock and roll that groups such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were finding popularity with at the time. This lead to Mike forming Spectrum's alter ego, The Indelible Murtceps. This band was devised by Mike to connect with the mainstream pub rock audiences. The band's fourth album would be credited to The Indelible Murtceps and Spectrum. It was called Testimonial and would come out in July 1973 just after the band broke up. It would be the band's last album for over 20 years until the band went back into the studio in 1999 to record their album Spill. The band recorded their latest album, No Thinking, in 2004. Today Spectrum is still available for gigs and Mike is also gigging with his band The Indelibles. 

Jack zoomed Mike to talk about his early music beginnings, his first professional band The Chant's R&B, his time in Ross Wilson's Party Machine, how Ross Wilson inspired Mike, the writing and recording of Spectrums hit "I'll be Gone", the "I'll be Gone" music video, the innovativeness of the group's first album Spectrum Part One, the first rock double album in Australia Milesago, his memories of playing the Sunbury Pop Festival, the formation of the band's alter ego The Indelible Murtceps, the differences in recording as the Indelible Murtceps, the band's fourth album Testimonial, the band's two recent albums, and his work today with The Indelibles. 

"After we had demoed it for the first time unsuccessfully, it had been rejected by EMI. Then we somehow found ourselves in the studio with Howard Gable...and recording...I wrote two songs "Launching Place" part one and part two - first part was an instrumental and the second part was the angry sounding song...so we recorded those...well, I look back on it now and think Howard was clearly unimpressed so he said 'have you got any other songs?', so I said 'we've got this one'...and when we played "I'll be Gone" he said "that's the one". - Mike Rudd on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about recording Spectrum's number one hit "I'll Be Gone"

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Jay Aston, founding member of Bucks Fizz. Jay was born into a theatrical and talented family, solidifying her skills in music and dance at an early age. In 1981, Jay auditioned to be part of a group called Buck Fizz, a group put together to perform at the year's upcoming Eurovision. She got the gig and the band would win the 1981 Eurovision contest with their song "Making Your Mind Up". As a single, it would be a worldwide smash hit, reaching number one in the UK and number six in Australia. Determined to not allow the group to be one-hit wonders, producer Andy Hill would go on to write "The Land of Make Believe" and "My Camera Never Lies" bringing the group two succeeding number one hits in a row. The group would come to an end 1984 after a near fatal bus crash involving the band. 

Jay remained in music, and since 2009 has been performing with The Fizz, a spin-off of the original group Bucks Fizz. The Fizz have released five albums with the most recent being Everything Under the Sun in 2022.

Jack discuses with Jay Aston her early beginnings, growing up in a talented family, her early music work, how she came to auditioned for Bucks Fizz, her memory of winning the 1981 Eurovision, the recording of "Making Your Mind Up", the continued success the group had during '82 and '83, the production work of Andy Hill, the album tracks of the band, her memories of playing on Top of The Pops, the band's the near fatal  bus crash, Jay's work post Bucks Fizz, and her work today with The Fizz.

"Cheryl and I could not agree on the skirt length and she went, "oh alright then, we'll come on with the long skirts and you can have the mini-skirts" - I thought that would get us more points - "and we'll rip them off in the middle" and I went yeah! That's a great idea!"  - Jay Aston on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the iconic skirt rip in Buck Fizz's 1981 Eurovision performance

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Gary Talley, lead guitarist of The Box Tops. Gary joined a group called The Devilles in 1966. Soon after joining the group the band's manager organised a recording session. For the session the band were given a song called The Letter. Despite being the band first single It would become a number one hit in the US and a number four hit in Australia. More recently the song was voted number 372 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The band would follow up with Cry Like A Baby which would reach number 2 in the US. The bands song "Choo Choo Train", their fourth single, would be featured in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The band's last bonafide hit would be "Soul Deep" which would be a top ten hit in Australia. After disbanding in 1970, Gary remained in music and in 1996 the group reformed and today are still on the road. The band's latest album Tear Off! came out in 1998. 

Today Gary is still playing with the Box Tops and recently has made three gospel albums with his 97 year old mother Nita. 

Jack Zoomed Gary to talk about his early music beginnings, the impact the likes of Elvis and the Beatles had on him, his time in the band In Crowd, how he came to join The Devilles, his early memories of frontman Alex Chilton, how the band came to record The Letter, the success of The Letter, his memories of playing alongside the Beach Boys and The Doors, having Choo Choo Train in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his thoughts on the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the groups work into the later '60s, the band's reformation in the '90s, the bands album Tear Off!, and the Box Tops' music work today. 

"We were on a Beach Boys tour...I was back in my hotel room alone on my birthday after the gig and I was thinking "well you know turned 21"...and somebody knocks on the door and I open the door and its our bass player Bill with Dennis, Carl and Al Jardine. The Beach Boys, they had a birthday cake with candles lit...and they sang happy birthday to me". - Gary Talley talking about a Beach Boys tour he did with the Box Tops on this episode of Vinyl Vibes

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Les Gock, guitarist of Hush. Les grew up in Sydney amongst the music of the late ’60s such of that of Jimi Hendrix. In 1972, after performing with his high school band at a talent show, he was asked to join Hush. Originally from the UK, the band's lead singer, Keith Lamb, was aware of the music scene in England at the time and so Hush would become the first glam rock band in Australia. Les would become chief songwriter for the band, and would soon write the band's first single "Get The Feeling". It would be a top 40 hit. The band would follow up with their first album Aloud 'n' Live in December 1973. Over the next year, 1974, the band would release two successful albums Get Rocked! in June and C'mon We're Taking Over in December. 1975 would bring the band to their hight of fame with the top ten hits "Bony Moronie" (A Number 4 hit in Australia) and "Glad All Over” (A Number 8 hit in Australia). Despite this success, it would not be till 1977 the band would follow up with another album. This album would be called Touché and would be the band's last. The album also marked a shift a way from their glam rock sound. Soon after this album, the band would come to an end and Les would go to have a successful career in writing commercial jingles.

Today Les is playing in a charity group called The Interceptors and has recently gotten back into his love for painting. 

Jack discuss with Les Gock in the interview his early musical beginnings, the impact that late '60s music such as Jimi Hendrix had on him, his first band in high school, how he came to join Hush, the writing of Hush's first single "Get The Feeling", the recording of the bands first album Aloud and Live, how Get Rocked! came to be, the band's performance on the 2nd episode of Countdown, the covering of  "Glad All Over” and "Bony Moronie", the success the band had in 1975, the band's last album Touché, and Les' work post Hush.

"Everything that we did on stage, everything that we were about, was about having a great time, it was about having fun. We didn't go out to change the world, we weren't protesting against Vietnam...we were just writing songs about coming together and having a great time" - Les Gock talking about what Hush was about on this episode of Vinyl Vibes 

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack talks with Clelia Adams, author of One Of A Kind: The Adventures of Cleo from Go-Set Magazine. Clelia grew up in Orange, surrounded by the music of the early '60s. In 1966, Go-Set Magazine—the first magazine to cover the Australian pop music scene—began publishing. Clelia was hooked from the beginning.

In June 1967, Clelia moved from Orange to Sydney and soon got a job at the Go-Set Sydney office. She would work with the magazine for the next four years.

After her time at Go-Set, Clelia joined WEA Records in 1972. Her main job during this time was to organise press conferences for international WEA acts touring Australia. Jethro Tull was the first band she worked with. Their album Thick as a Brick had just come out, so instead of sending normal press invitations, Clelia wrapped bricks in newspaper with red ribbon and sent them out as invites to the press conference. The album would go on to become a number one hit in Australia.

Led Zeppelin toured Australia in February 1972. Clelia met the band when they visited the WEA offices, and she worked on their Australian tour through the WEA label. One of the last bands she worked with at WEA was The Rolling Stones, during their 1973 Australian tour.

In the mid-'70s, Clelia moved to Tamworth to embark on a career in country music.

After releasing her first studio album, Fine Company, in 1996, Clelia has now recorded a total of six studio albums and recently compiled a greatest hits CD. During the COVID lockdowns, Clelia began working on her memoir. It covers her time at Go-Set, WEA, and her career in country music. It was released in December 2024.

Jack called Clelia to talk about her early music memories, growing up in Orange, what Melbourne in the '60s was like, how she came to work at Go-Set, her memories of working at the magazine, the impact Go-Set had on the Australian music scene, how she came to work for WEA Records, her memories of working with Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, her solo music work, her new compilation album, and her new book.

"They came into the office… just popped in to say hello and do the social thing. Robert Plant—well, as soon as he walked into the room, he was like a lion king. That hair was just flowing everywhere. Anyway, he sees me in the corner, where I was sitting at my typewriter. He launches himself onto a chair in front of my desk, leans forward with his hands on the table, ends up about two inches from my face, and says, ‘I think you must come out with me tonight.’”

– Clelia Adams on this episode of Vinyl Vibes, talking about Led Zeppelin dropping by the WEA offices.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by George T. Babbitt, the original drummer of The Ventures. George grew up amongst '50s rock and roll like that of the Everly Brothers. In 1958 Don Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the Versatones. They needed a drummer and Don's sister recommended her neighbour, the then 17 year old George Babbitt. It was 1959 by this stage, and George would join as the band's first ever drummer. The group would soon call themselves The Ventures. George would play live with the group throughout the year playing songs such as "Apache" and "Perfidia". It was while George was in the group, The Ventures would perform their version of "Walk Don't Run". One Sunday evening in 1959, the group would record their first single "The Real McCoy" on the A-side and "Cookies and Coke" on the B-side. Due to George being too young to play clubs, soon after recording the single, George left The Ventures early 1960.

A few months later in June 1960, The Ventures would release "Walk Don't Run" and it would go number 2 in the US. Along with The Shadows in the UK, they would begin the instrumental music craze of the early '60s, inspiring a generation of musicians. George was still in high school when all this happened, and gave up music after leaving The Ventures. He went on to join the United States Airforce in 1965, and would have a successful career, eventually becoming a general. He would reunite with The Ventures live on stage in 1998 for a performance of "Walk Don't Run" with the United States Air Force Band. Today George is retired, but still plays on his electric drum kit for fun. 

Jack phoned George to discuss his early musical beginnings, the impact rock and roll had on him, being a teenager during the rock and roll era, how he came to play the drums, how he came to join The Ventures, the songs he played with The Ventures, the live gigs he played with them during 1959, the development of "Walk Don't Run", how The Ventures came to find their name, the recording of the group's first single, why he left the group, his work with the air force, and his 1998 reunion with The Ventures. 

"I was introduced to them by Don's sister, Jackie. She lived next door to my parents which, of course, at the time is where I lived too. Bob and Don had gotten the idea that they wanted to be professional musicians and they wanted to be doing that soon, no more waiting around...They asked me - Jackie recommend the kid next door - so I took my drums over to Jackie's, and Don and Bob got their six-string guitars out - there was no bass at that point - and we played for a while, and they asked me to play."  - George Babbitt on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about joining The Ventures.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by John Bois, bass player of The Dingoes. John grew up in Melbourne amongst the music of the '60s and would join his first professional band The New Dream in 1970. On John's arrival in the band, New Dream's sound changed to bubblegum pop having top-40 hits such as Soft Delights and The Groupie. In 1972 John would leave the band to join Country Radio. It was here John played with future fellow Dingoe's member Kerryn Tolhurst. After having the hit "Gypsy Queen", Kerryn would leave Country Radio to form The Dingoes in 1973. John would soon follow, joining as the bass player for The Dingoes. The band's first single, "Way Out West", would become their signature song and today remains a classic amongst Oz rock. After performing at the 1975 Sunbury Pop Festival, the band received a phone call which would lead to them being managed by Rolling Stones' tour manager Peter Rudge. The band relocated to the United States in 1976. The band would record two albums in the United States, "Five Times The Sun" in 1977 and "Orphans of The Storm" in 1979. They did not manage to break into the US music market. The band would come to an end in 1979. 

After the Dingoes, John became a high school teacher. In 2012 he wrote a book about his time in The Dingoes called The Dingoes Lament. In 2016 he returned to music making his first solo album, Tassie Wolf. His most recent album came out in 2022 and is called Work of Art. 

Jack Zoomed John to talk about his early musical beginnings, the impact group's like The Easybeats had on him, his time in The New Dream, his work with Country Radio, the influence Country Radio had later on The Dingoes, the formation of The Dingoes, the recording of the band's first album, the writing of Way Out West, Playing at Sunbury '74 & '75, how the band came to relocate to the United States, the recording of albums Five Times The Sun and Orphans of The Storm, the disbandment of the Dingoes, and John's more recent music such as his 2022 album Work of Art. 

"Everything we listened to in the '50s and '60s pretty much was from England or America. It got so bad the only way you could get a record on radio was to cover an American song that had already been made. It was almost not believed that Australians could create their own stuff like with the Easys (Easybeats), we had something to do with it...it just stopped happening, people just said we are going to write our own stuff and we are going to talk about what we know." - John Bois on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about Australia finding its own sound

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Dodie Stevens, '50s music star and singer of Pink Shoe Laces. Dodie has been singing her whole life. She recorded for the first time at age 8 in 1954 with a song called "Merry-Go Merry-Go Round". After making many appearances on TV throughout her young life, her big break came in 1958 when she performed on the TV show Strictly Informal. It was on this show she was discovered by Crystalette Records president, Carl Burns. He contacted Dodie's parents through the TV station and said he was interested in recording her. All he needed was the right song that the then 11 year old Dodie could sing. After some time, Carl Burns called and said he found the perfect song for Dodie. It was called Pink Shoe Laces. She would record the song in late 1958 hitting the charts early in 1959. The song would peak at number 3 in the US and and number 2 in Australia. With her third single Five Pennies, now signed to Dot Records, Dodie's music direction changed to covering standards of the '40s. A music change she now says was detrimental.

In 1963 Dodie would leave the music scene to get married and have a baby. She returned to music three years later in 1966. She would go on to have an extensive career as a backing singer working with the likes of Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '77, Loretta Lynn and Boz Scaggs. Today Dodie is still performing, now alongside her daughter Stephanie. Her most recent music output was her 2019 album Affirmasong: The Game Of Life, an album of motivational songs.

Jack phoned Dodie to talk about her early musical beginnings, the impact Judy Garland had on her, her first recording at age 8 in 1954, her TV performances in the mid '50s, how she came to be discovered by Carl Burns, the recording and success of Pink Shoe Laces, the follow-up single Yes-Sir-Ee, how fame impacted her, her 1959 tour of Australia with The Champs, Her music work into the early '60s, her work as a backing singer, her live music work today with her daughter Stephanie, and her recent album Affirmasong. 

"Because I had been trained since I was so young, I had a very mature voice and the songs that I gravitated towards were songs like Judy Garland and they had meaningful messages...so when I heard Pink Shoe Laces...lyrically it was beyond novelty, it was ridiculous...no I didn't like the song...but I'm very proud of it...to this day I am very proud of it." - Dodie Stevens on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about singing Pink Shoe Laces

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes Jack is joined by Tony Hazzard, a legendary songwriter from the '60s. Tony grew up in Liverpool in post-war Britain. His earliest exposer to music include listening to war time records such as "Run Rabbit Run" but it was rock and rollers like Buddy Holly that captured Tony the most early on. Tony started writing songs while at  Durham University. One of his early works was a song called "You Won't Be Leaving". This song would break Tony into the music world when it was recorded as a single by Herman's Hermits in 1966. After this song however for the next year Tony went through writers block. It was not until he wrote "Ha Ha Said The Clown", a hit for Manfred Mann in 1967, that his writers block was gone for good. Other hits that would follow for Tony would be Listen to Me as recorded by the Hollies and Fox on the Run as recorded by Manfred Mann.  

More recently in 2021 Tony released his Selected Lyrics book featuring lyrics throughout his long time in music. In 2022 Tony's latest album came out, Demonstration, an album that features remixed versions of his songs from his first solo album Tony hazard sings Tony hazard. 

Jack Zoomed Tony to discuss his early musical beginnings, the war time records he heard in his early childhood, hearing early rock and roll records on Radio Luxembourg, his early songwriting at Durham University, how he came to be a professional songwriter, the writing of his first hit "You Won't be Leaving", how he overcame his writers block with "Ha Ha Said the Clown", the lyrical brilliance of "Fox on The Run", his work with The Hollies, his book "selected Lyrics" and his recent album Demonstration. 

"I had a hit with 'You Won't Be Leaving' with Herman's Hermits and then I couldn't write anything for a year...I remember going to a meeting...I think I played three songs and he (Gerry Bron - song publisher) didn't like any of them so I stood up and said 'there's no point in playing the fourth', he said 'no, play it' and it was "Ha Ha Said The Clown" and a big grin came on his face and said its a hit" - Tony Hazzard on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about his hit song Ha Ha Said The Clown

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by John Hood, founding member of Sid Rumpo. John has been fascinated with the blues since 1964. This interest was sparked by the Rolling Stones, most notably their classic "The Little Red Rooster". At age 15 John got his first guitar and over the next three years would learn to play. In 1967 John would join his first band My Grandfather's Blues. This group, now called The Jellyroll Bakers, would come to an end in 1969. John spent the majority of 1971 working at 78 Records before Sid Rumpo was formed in November 1971 in Perth. Over the course of 1972 the band would become quite popular in Perth. They would win the 1972 state final of Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds and as a result make their way to Melbourne. Sid Rumpo would perform at the iconic 1973 Sunbury Pop Festival and are featured on the triple LP set brought out by Mushroom records featuring live recordings from the festival. In August 1973 John would leave the group. Eight months later Sid Rumpo would record their first album "First Offence" without John. The album would reach 33 on the albums chart in Australia. 

John has remained in music and more recently has released over dozen solo albums. He has written two books, his first "For The Love Of Music: The Life and Times of a West Australian Bluesman": is about his own musical journey. His second book "Immersed In Blues: A Musical Journey": is about his journey in blues and his thoughts on the blues. 

Jack talked to John via phone about his early musical beginnings, the impact The Rolling Stones had on him, his journey in discovering the origins of the blues in the pre-internet days, his journey learning guitar and harmonica, his time in The Jellyroll Bakers, the formation of Sid Rumpo, how the name Sid Rumpo came to be, the writing of the band's early songs, the bands time playing in Perth, the bands winning of Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, the band's time in Melbourne, the band's performance at the 1973 Sunbury Pop Festival, why he left Sid Rumpo, his two books and his more recent music work. 

"I hate to be frivolous but I was hardly there. We played on the Saturday afternoon and when we finished I listened to Matt Taylor and then I went back to Rob Sunbury's farm that his parents owned...I just didn't like Sunbury. It was all dirty filthy people boozed out of their minds so I just didn't enjoy it- I liked playing- but I didn't like the festival." - John Hood on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the 1973 Sunbury Pop Festival

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by John Bisset, founding member & organist of Fraternity. Fraternity are best known as being the band Bon Scott was lead vocalist of before his AC/DC days.  

John grew up in New Zealand listening to the likes of The Shadows and The Beatles. He formed his first group The Shadracks while still in High School playing songs by the likes of The Ventures and The Shadows. He joined motown group, The Action in 1966 and the group left for Sydney, Australia. It was with this group John gave up guitar to play organ. In 1968, John turned up to play a gig with The Action and was told the band no longer existed. Luckily, the organist in Levi Smiths Clefs left at the same time and John soon joined. After recording an album the group, he and other members of the Clefs left to form Fraternity in 1970.

Fraternity recorded their first single  "Why Did It Have to Be Me" in October 1970. During the recording the bands album Livestock, In early 1971 Bon Scott joined as lead vocalist. In 1971 the group won Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, winning a trip to the UK. After the release of the group's second album Flaming Galah and a disastrous trip to the UK, John left Fraternity in early 1973. Bon Scott would remain in the newly re-named Fang till 1973's end when the group returned from the UK. In September 1974 he would join AC/DC.  

Jack called John to talk about his early musical beginnings, his first group The Shadracks, the impact the Beatles had on him, his time in his group The Mods, why he and The Action moved to Australia, his time playing the Hawaiian Eye nightclub with The Action, why he started playing organ, how he came to join Levi Smith's Clefs, the recording of The Empty Monkey album, the formation of Fraternity, the recording of Livestock, the arrival of Bon Scott as lead vocalist, Bon's first performances with Fraternity, the recording of Flaming Galah, the bands trip to the UK, John's music work with his band Dimond Cutter in the '80s, and his recent music output.  

"He (Bon) was on another dimension as a singer...we played at this night club called Burties...I did the best organ solo I've ever done that night and the crowd was just packed...all of Bon Scott's Melbourne fanbase were there...in my whole music career that night at Burties when Bon first appeared in front of a Melbourne audience, that was the best night of my life playing in a band" - John Bisset on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about Bon's first appearance with the band in Melbourne 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Dave Burgess, founding member and guitarist of The Champs. Dave recorded for the first time at the age of 17 in 1953 and by 1957 had his first top-ten hit, I'm Available which was made a hit by singer Margie Rayburn. However it is an instrumental song he helped write that he is most remembered for. Dave wrote a song called Train To Nowhere after hearing Bill Justis' "Raunchy". His label liked the song and so in December 1957 he went into Gold Star Studios to record it. After finishing the song, he was told he needed a B-Side for the single. Within moments Dave and the studio musicians he gathered started jamming what would become "Tequila". Within one take the song was recorded and Dave and the session musicians, together became known as The Champs. 

By Late March 1958, it was the B-side, "Tequila" that had reached number one on the billboard top 100. By April 1958 the band were playing on The Ed Sullivan Show and by April, American Bandstand. For the song, the band received the first ever grammy award for "Best Rhythm and Blues Performance". "Tequila" has gone down as one of the best tracks of the rock and roll era and one of the most recognised instrumentals of all time. 

The band would go on to have other minor hits such as "El Rancho Rock", "Too Much Tequila" and "Limbo Rock" before coming to an end in 1965. Dave has stayed in music since that time producing for the likes of Gene Vincent and Don McLean. In 2020 Dave revitalised The Champs and released the album Tequila Party, the first brand new Champs' album since 1962. 

Jack Zoomed Dave to discuss his early beginnings, his first recordings at 17 in the early '50s, his song I'm Available, how "Tequila" came to be, the guitar and amp he used on the recording of "Tequila", his memories of playing on The Ed Sullivan Show, his touring of Australia with the Champs in the '60s, his opinions on AI's usage on music, The Champs album cover of "Go Champs, Go", the break up of The Champs, how the new album Tequila Party came to be, and what's next for Dave. 

"They said that's great Dave but we need a B-Side. I said, 'give us a few minutes', so I started playing this riff on the guitar and Danny (Flores) started playing this guitar solo...Buddy Bruce came up with the bridge, I got the idea of Danny to say tequila on it, he always had this whisky voice and was always carrying around this flask of tequila with him." - Dave Burgess on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how The Champs' big 1958 hit Tequila came to be

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Gil Matthews, drummer of  Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. Gil could read drum music even before he could read English. By the time he was 11, his drumming took him on a six-month tour of the US. After being in various bands in the '60s, in early 1970 Gil became the in-house producer and engineer at Havoc Records. In 1971, the recently signed Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs came into Havoc Studios to record The Dawn Song. Gil played drums, produced and engineered the track for the group. He would become the group's full-time drummer soon after. 

In late January 1972 the band with Gil on drums would perform to an audience of 35,000 people at the Sunbury Pop Festival. The festival has gone down as Australia's Woodstock. The band's setlist was recorded and released as a double album called Aztecs Live! At Sunbury. The group's next single would be Most People I Know Think I'm Crazy. Gil produced the single experimenting with many innovative studio techniques. His work on the song paid off reaching number two on the charts in 1972 and is now an Australian rock classic. The band came to an end originally in 1974 after the release of their album More Arse Then Class. 

Since then Gil has remained in music and more recently has founded his label Aztec Records. With his fully analogue studio, his label specialises in reissuing Australian music from the '60s and '70s.  

Jack talked to Gil via phone about his early beginnings, his early drumming work along side Buddy Rich, his early work with Havoc Records, the recording process of The Dawn Song, his production work on Most People I Know, analog tape recording techniques he used with the band, the band's performance at the Sunbury Pop Festival in 1972, the band's 1974 album More Arse Than Class, and his work today with his label Aztec Records.

 "It is Australia's Woodstock . . . Sunbury was like the top of the tree, people came all over Australia . . . kids and dogs and people, smoking dope all over the place - you know diving in the creek out of the tree, girls topless - some naked - the younger generation just let their hair down and wanted to go and hear music." - Gil Matthews on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the 1972 Sunbury Festival

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by David Fenton, lead singer of The Vapors. Dave saw his first concert when he was Ten. It was The Beatles performing at the the Gaumont Cinema in in August 1963. He was hooked on music from this point onwards and got his first guitar in the same year. He started playing in various acoustic bands during his teenage years such as Magician and Ano Bunny. After doing a law degree in 1978, he formed his first electric group, The Vapors. The group were discovered by Jam Bassist, Bruce Foxton in 1979 and the group were soon playing alongside the Jam. In the same year the band were signed to United Artists. They released their first single "Prisoners" to no charting success in late 1979. In January 1980, with the release of their second single the band would top the charts.

Dave had written a song in late 1977/early 1978 called "Turning Japanese". Although written before their first single, the group held off on recording it for their first single and went with the less successful "Prisoners" instead. Recording with Jam producer, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, the song took shape in the studio. The single would go to number 1 in Australia and number 3 in the UK. 

The band would go on to have two albums before disbanding in 1981. David would go back to being a lawyer after the band. After retiring, he got the band back together in 2016 and they released their first album in over 30 years in 2020, it is called Together and has 12 original songs written by Dave and the band. 

Jack Zoomed David to talk about his early musical beginnings, seeing the Beatles in 1963, his first guitar at age ten, his first bands Magician and Ano Bunny, his time studying law, the formation of the Vapors in 1978, the band's first gig at The Lakers Club, the band getting discovered by Jam bassist Bruce Foxton, his memories of playing alongside the Jam, the band's signage to United Artists, the writing of the band's first single 'Prisoners', the recording and success of 'Turning Japanese', The Vapors 1980 tour of Australia, playing on Countdown, the bands first tour of the US, the band's second album Magnets, the disbandment of the band in 1981, their reformation in 2016 and their newest album 2020's Together. 

"The lead guitar solo for example, rather then getting one dirty sound and playing it on one guitar, he made me and Ed sit opposite each other playing the same thing -playing the solo- with a clean sound and we did it six times, so there's twelve tracks of lead guitar...it sounded really big and powerful because they were on top of each other" - David Fenton on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording process (with the producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven) on the bands number one hit 'Turning Japanese'

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is again joined by Keith Hopwood, rhythm guitarist of Herman's Hermits. When Keith was 18 he wrote his first ever song, 'Don't try to Hurt Me'. It would end up as an album track on the first Herman's Hermits album in 1965. This would begin his journey in songwriting. Since Jack's last interview with Keith, two EPs have been released by Keith. Freedom Calls Chapter One in May 2023 and Freedom Calls Chapter Two in September 2023. In this episode Keith talks about his new EPs and Herman's Hermits B-sides and album tracks. 

Herman's Hermits are known for their hits "I'm into Something Good", "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "No Milk Today". To hear Kieth discuss these big hits go to Jack's first interview with Keith here.

Jack Zoomed Keith to talk about the making of his Freedom Calls EPs, Keith's first song he ever wrote 'Don't Try To Hurt Me', how reverb was achieved in the '60s, the group's Ed Sullivan Show performance, the group's first US tour in May 1965, his thoughts on The Beatles new song Now And Then, the time he almost met Elvis, the story of the Herman's Hermits stay in Las Vegas, and the band's 1966 Australian tour.

"We had done a very long tour in the states and the last date was Hawaii, so we're in Hawaii but we've finished the tour and Elvis is in Hawaii filming Blue Hawaii, I don't know who spoke to who but look were both here  'can we meet him?"... so they said yeah sure." - Keith Hopwood on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the band's chance to meet Elvis

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack closes his 8-part Newcastle Vinyl Vibes series by talking with Greg Bryce, Founder of DV8. Over the course of this series, Jack has spoken with a range of local rockers important to the Newcastle music story. 

Greg bought his first album when he was a teenager, a copy of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out by the Rolling Stones. The album sparked Greg's love for raw live rock and roll and began his interest in music. Greg formed his first band, Meccalissa, in 1974. As the years went by, the band started to get paid gigs, and in September 1979, they would open for Heroes the night of the Star Hotel Riot. The month after the riot, the band would record their first and only single. Its A-side was "Darby Street Blues," and its B-side was "Kill The Warden." The single was recorded at Anglewood Studios in Newcastle and would become a top 20 hit locally, reaching 17 on the Newcastle charts. Soon after recording the single, in late 1979, Meccalissa would split and transform into DV8. 

DV8 was formed to embrace the raw live sound that first got Greg into music. Their first album, Stab in the Dark, was a live album recorded between May and June 1981 at the Bel Air Hotel. It would be a big local hit, reaching number 2 on the Newcastle album charts, being kept off the number one position only by the Rolling Stones' album Tattoo You. However, there would be a five-year gap between Stab in the Dark and DV8’s second album, Back to Basics. During this five-year gap, the band built up their audience across Newcastle, and Greg wrote a lot of new material. After this album, DV8 would release two more albums: Live! in 1987 and Can You Hear Me? in 1988. 

After the Can You Hear Me? album, DV8 went on a long hiatus when Greg left to travel the world. He would not return to Newcastle until 1993. DV8 would play intermittently throughout the ‘90s, even releasing an album in 1998 called Big Green Monsters. Since 2000, the band has not stopped playing and is still doing gigs around Newcastle. More recently, Greg has begun a new music project called All Without a Space Suit. All Without a Space Suit is a funky jam band that Greg formed during the COVID lockdowns. The band is recording songs and has new music on the way. 

Jack talked with Greg in the studio about his early life, how albums such as Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out sparked his interest in music, the formation of Meccalissa, the early Meccalissa gigs, his memories of playing at the Star Hotel Riot, the recording of Darby Street Blues, how DV8 came to be, the success of the band's first album Stab in the Dark, DV8's rise to becoming Newcastle's top group of the late '80s, why Greg left DV8 to travel the world, how much music had changed in Newcastle on his return in 1993, his work with DV8 today, and his new band All Without a Space Suit. 

"We were coming into the '80s, and there were a lot of bands with very succinct short names like INXS and U2... came up with DV8, saw it on the number plate of a cartoon character or something like that, because DV8 really means to change direction, and we were just in the process of changing direction." - Greg Bryce on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the formation of DV8. 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins. 

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In this episode of  Vinyl Vibes Jack talks with Mark Holden, the carnation kid, an Australian '70s pop artist. Mark grew up Listening to the likes of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and so he began to write many folk inspired songs during his teenage years. Appearing on shows such as Adelaide Today, Mark would be discovered by the shows host Ernie Sigley. Through Sigley, Mark would make appearances in Sydney and soon come into contact with John Bromall. Bromall would soon get Mark signed to a EMI recording contract. 

In 1975 Mark would be signed to EMI and would release his first album Dawn in Darkness. The album was a commercial flop selling a mere two thousand copies. EMI kept their faith in Mark despite this and in April 1976 Mark got a call from Colin Petersen, former Bee Gee drummer, then A&R for EMI. He told  Mark he needed to record a song called "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", a song recorded by Eric Carmen that had not yet come out in Australia. Mark did so with Colin producing the song and it was Marks first pop hit reaching number 13 on the Kent music charts. His next hit " I Wanna Make You my Lady" would come in September 1976 after ABBA manager, Stig Anderson, gave Mark the song. After a performance of the song on Countdown in a white suit with a red carnation, Mark would become known as the carnation kid. He would go to have other hits in the '70s such as "Last Romance" and "Reach Out for the One Who Loves You". 

By the tail end of the ‘70s Mark believed his pop career was coming to an end and made  his way to the United States in 1980. He would find success in the US as a songwriter in the mid ‘80s writing "Lady Soul" for The Temptations. Mark has remained in music throughout the years and today is working on the production side of things. 

"I was in the lift going to The Logies and in the lift was Stig Anderson...manager of ABBA, and I had the length of an elevator ride to hassle him. I said 'Hi I'm Mark Holden, I've got this hit...have you got any songs' and he followed up and sent me a bunch of songs and one of the songs was a song in Swedish, the translation was "I'm Gonna Make You An Angel"...I re-wrote the English lyrics and 'I Wanna Make You My Lady' Was Born." - Mark Holden on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how his hit "I Wanna Make You My Lady" came to be

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes Jack talks with Les Hall, founding member and guitarist of Ted Mulry Gang. Les grew up in Maitland during the '50s and early '60s. After playing piano at the insistence of his father, he was inspired to start playing guitar due to George Harrison of The Beatles. In 1964 he would see the Beatles live when they came down under on their world tour. Four years later in 1968 he joined a Newcastle band called The Velvet Underground. It was through this band, in the early '70s, he came to meet and play backing for Ted Mulry. After backing Ted for a little while, Ted Mulry Gang (TMG) was formed in 1972 with Les on guitar, Ted on vocals/bass and Herman Kovacs on drums.

In 1974 the band would sign to Albert Productions and release their first album Here We Are in November of that year. After a failed first single, at the insistence of a Newcastle Radio DJ, the band released Jump In My Car, an album track off their first album. It would go to number one for six weeks and would become an Aussie classic. The band would go on to have 4 more top ten singles and after six albums would disband in 1986. More recently, Les has got the band back together and have released a brand new single and their first album in over 30 years.

Jack zoomed Les to talk about his early years growing in Maitland, how he came to start playing the guitar, his memories of seeing the Beatles live in 1964, how he came to join Newcastle band the Velvet Underground in 1968, the formation of TMG, the recording of the bands first album Here We Are, the writing of Jump In My Car, the guitar and amp used on the Jump in My Car recording, the production work of Ted Albert, how songs such as Darktown Strutters' Ball and Jamaica Rum came to be, his work post TMG, the re-formation of TMG and the band's new single and album. 

"It happened at Collaroy Plateau, I was in the bedroom, I'd just listened to a Faces' song called 'Stay With Me', which I really love the feel of, its a really Stonesy feel actually and I was listening to that, that finished and I was fiddling on the guitar and I came up with this riff and I went out to Ted who was in the lounge room watching TV and I said "hey, listen to this" and I played it, he went and got his bass and he followed and we came up with the thing that ended up as Jump In My Car." - Les Hall on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how TMG's hit Jump In My Car was written

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Tony Currenti, an early AC/DC session drummer. Tony grew up in Sicily in the '50s and early '60s listening to local Sicilian artists as well as Elvis and The Beatles. In 1967 he and his family immigrated to Australia where his love for the drums would soon flourish. He started playing drums in local bands around the Sydney area. First he played in a church band before forming a band called Inheritance. This group was signed to EMI and would release a single on the label. In 1971 Tony would meet Harry Vanda and George Young for the first time. As a member of Jackie Christian & Flight, Tony would play drums on a Vanda and Young production for the first time on the band's 1974 single "The Last Time I Go to Baltimore". After recording some tracks one night for the group, George Young asked Tony to stay back and record with Young's younger brothers' band AC/DC. 

Over the next few nights Tony would play drums on eight songs with AC/DC for their debut album High Voltage. Seven of these songs would be featured on the album. The final song, not on the album, also called High Voltage would be AC/DC's first top ten single. Tony was asked to join the band twice but had to knock them back both times due to his Italian passport. After AC/DC, he continued to record with Vanda and Young with his drumming being featured on Stevie Wright's "Evie Part 3" and John Paul Young's "Yesterdays Hero". He lost contact with Vanda and Young in 1976 and after three years of playing in various local bands, he would open his own pizza shop in 1979. 

Jack phoned Tony to talk about his early childhood in Sicily, the songs on the radio in Sicily growing up, his journey to Australia in 1967, his early days playing in local Sydney bands such as in Inheritance, how Inheritance came to sign to EMI, his meeting of Harry Vanda and George Young, working with Vanda and Young in the studio with Jackie Christian & Flight, how he came to play with AC/DC, why he chose not to join AC/DC, the recording of High Voltage, his drumming with JPY and Stevie Wright, his pizza shop which he opened in 1979 and his music work today. 

"We finished at a 11 o'clock and George (Young) said 'midnight my two brothers are coming with their band, would you like to hang around to record some songs'?. I had no idea what to expect but at midnight Bon Scott walked into the studio and he was so happy to see me." - Tony Currenti on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording of AC/DC's album High Voltage

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Peggy Seeger, a folk music icon. Peggy grew up in a musical family with her mother Ruth being a modernist composer and her father Charles being a musicologist. The music she grew up with would be greatly made up of the blues and folk music recordings collected by Alan Lomax. One of the artists she listened to growing up was Leadbelly, whom she would meet in 1942 when he visited her house with Alan Lomax. 

She would record her first album Folksongs of Courting and Complaint in 1955 and It would be the beginning to a long career in music. In 1957 she would inspire Ewan MacColl to write The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and the year after Peggy would write her first song The Ballad Of Springhill. A highlight of Peggy's time in music includes her song I'm Gonna be an Engineer. The song was released in 1979 and begun Peggy's journey into feminism. More recent work from her includes the song (which Peggy's calls one of her best) "The Mother" off her 1996 album An Odd Collection  and her brand new album The First Farewell which came out in 2021. 

Jack zoomed Peggy to discuss her early childhood, what it was like growing up in a musical family, the blues and folk music she grew up listening to, meeting Leadbelly in 1942, the beauty in not having music at your finger tips in the pre-internet days, her opinion on rock and roll when it started in 1955, the recording of her first album, the writing of I'm Gonna be an Engineer, her journey into feminism, the writing of The Ballad of Springhill, her song "The Mother" and her new album The First Farewell.

"I was in the middle of doing the accounts and Ewan MacColl was upstairs writing a script for a theatrical show we put on every year and he came down stairs and he said 'this script needs a women's song, so would you please write a women's song', I'm in the middle of doing the accounts for god sakes and I wasn't very pleased at that...I dashed that song off literally in two hours." - Peggy Seeger on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how her song "I'm Gonna be an Engineer" came to be 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Andy Anderson, lead singer of The Missing Links. Andy grew up during the '50s and early '60s in New Zealand. He was exposed to rock and roll for the first time when he heard Little Richard's "Can't Believe You Wanna Leave" over the radio. He would soon start playing drums and playing in various local bands such as being the drummer for The Corvairs. During his teenage years he was greatly impacted by The Beatles. Andy would get to see the fab-four live on their 1964 world tour when they played Wellington Town Hall in June of that year. 

Soon after Andy would travel via plane to Sydney Australia. In 1965 he would join a band called the Missing Links in what would become their second lineup. The band would sign to Philips Records and release their first single "You're Drivin' Me Insane" in August 1965. The single was hard-hitting and ahead of its time as It was released before fellow hard-hitting groups such as The Who and The Troggs had conquered the music world. The singles  "Wild About You" and "H'tuom Tuhs" would follow in September and October respectively. Their sought after self-titled album recorded without a producer in a cramp studio would come out in December 1965. Before their break up in August 1966 the band would release an EP called Links Unchained in April 1966. 

Andy remained in music for sometime after the break up of the band but would undertake a successful acting career soon after. He has since returned to music and on Half a Cow Records released his latest album, Andersongs, in 2017.

"The second show...you had the seats behind the Beatles...and Ringo Starr, I was right behind him literally like three steps and I knew he had been sick, he couldn't do some of the shows in Sydney and I'm siting there going 'fall off that stool, yes fall out of that stool, I know your songs just fall off that stool" ha ha...they were just an amazing band" - Andy Anderson on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about seeing the Beatles' 23 June 1964 concert at Wellington Town Hall

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Rick Pointon, a '60s and '70s Newcastle music legend. Rick spent his first ten years of life in England before becoming a Ten-Pound Pom in 1956 when he and his family moved to Australia. His moving to Australia also marked the beginning of rock and roll with Buddy Holly and Bill Haley being early influences. However, it was Hank Marvin of the Shadows that inspired Rick to buy his first guitar in 1962. Rick would soon join his first band the Mystery Men. The band would go through many name changes such as The Others before becoming known as The Second Thoughts in 1966. The group would record a single in the same year with producer Nat Kipner with its A-side being Run Back Home and its B-side being The World Keeps Going Round. The single would be recorded in the same studio and with the same producer as that of the Bee Gees Spicks And Specks single. 

After being in a few other groups during the alter '60s and early '70s, in 1974 Rick would form Benny and The Jets. This group would become popular around the Newcastle area playing '50s inspired rock and roll. The group would have number one singles locally in Newcastle and release a locally popular album called Hey Rock And Roll. The band would find some nationally recognition charting on the Kent Music Charts. After music, Rick went on to have a career in radio. More recently Rick has written a book about his time in music and the Newcastle music scene during the '60s and '70s. Its called "Hey Rock 'N' and Roll" and is available locally in book chains around Newcastle. 

Jack phoned Rick to discuss his time growing up in England, hearing Bill Haley for the first time, why The Shadows impacted his generation greatly, how he came to join his first group The Mystery Men, the impact hearing The Beatles for the first time had on him, what it was like playing local gigs back in the early '60s, his memories of supporting the likes of The Bee Gees and Easybeats, the recording of The Second Thoughts single, the formation of Bennie and The Jets, what it was like playing The Starr Hotel back in the '70s, the Record store he owned in the '70s, the recording of various Bennie and The Jets songs, how Rick's book "Hey Rock 'n' Roll" came to be, and his love for vinyl records. 

"There we were playing on Nobbys Beach in forty degree heat in suits and ties, I mean ridiculous...but that's what it was. Whatever The Beatles and British Invasion bands did, that's what we did," - Rick Pointon on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about playing in the Others in the mid '60s

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by xf Lizotte, owner of Newcastle's own Lizotte's Restaurant. Brian grew up in the United States during the '60s. His childhood music memories include hearing the sounds of Crosby, Stills And Nash as well as the Doobie Brothers. In 1970, Brian and his family moved to Australia. His interest in food began to flourish and thus at the end of his high school year did his Diploma in Catering and Hotel Management. Completing this diploma in 1984, he would travel Europe to hone in on his cooking skills. On his return to Australia he had the opportunity to work in the kitchen of Rhinoceros Studios in Sydney. This recording studio was part owned by INXS at the time and so Brian would mix with some of Australia's biggest music stars at the time including Midnight Oil and Ian Moss. 

In 1989 he would start his own catering company called More Then a Morsel Catering. This catering company was a pioneer in the field as it was the first to specialise in national music tours. His clients would include The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Elton John and U2. After More Then a Morsel Catering, Brian would start opening his own restaurants. One he opened in 2009 was Live n Cookin' @ Lizotte's Newcastle in New Lambton. At the time of this interview Brian was looking for a buyer for the restaurant but has since found one and so it will be a part of the community for years to come.

Jack phone Brian to talk about his memories growing up during the '60s in the United States, the music he grew up listening to, his love of vinyl records, how he came to decide to do cooking as a career, how he came to work at Rhinoceros Studios, his memories of catering for INXS, his memories of hearing classic albums at Rhinoceros Studios before they were released, how More Then a Morsel Catering came to be, his memories of catering for Frank Sinatra in the early '90s, his time as the personal chef for the Beach Boys on their 1992 national tour, the innovations of More Then a Morsel Catering, the 1998 Face 2 Face tour of Billy Joel and Elton John, his other catering work with the likes of U2 and Madonna, and how Lizottes Newcastle came to be. 

"(Sinatra) was still drinking his chivas regal, he would have a good scotch and they would have to help him get up onto the stage...even though I did feed him, it was only a tuna fish salad sandwich and he always traveled with his Campbells' chicken and rice soup..mixed with Evian Water and then put into Royal Doulton  china...it was a weird era ha ha" - Sinatra Lizotte on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about catering for Frank Sinatra while on national tour of Australia 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Mitchel Eaton, owner of Newcastle's own Hiss And Crackle Records. In recent years, vinyl records have seen a resurgence, leading to a big return of the local record shop.  Owner of Hiss and Crackle, Mitch got into music at a young age listening to his dad's music such Jimi Hendrix and Tamam Shud. Mitch has been a part of the music sales industry for most of his life, working at JB HI-FI for 18 years. Mitch decided to take the leap and open his own record store in May 2019. The store has become an important part of the vinyl record and music scene in Newcastle.

Jack phoned Mitch to talk about his early music beginnings with artists like Jimi Hendrix, his time at JB HI-FI, why young people are connecting with vinyl so much, the return of independent local record stores, vinyl turntables, how to look after your vinyl, how the store came to be, the reasons why CDs are not doing as well as vinyl now, The Rolling Stones recent album, the local Newcastle music scene, his tips on how to be a successful local band in Newcastle, and what's next for the store. 

"I think with the independence side of it, you get to craft your own store, so it's like an extension of yourself." - Mitchel Eaton on this episode of vinyl vibes discussing the benefits of independent local record store. 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Graham Russell, co-founder of Air Supply. Since Graham was z kid, all he wanted to be was a songwriter. Growing up amongst Beatlemania in 1960s UK, the music of the Beatles inspired him greatly. On the other side of the world in Australia, Russell Hitchcock was also inspired by the Beatles. Russell and Graham would meet on the set of a production of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1975, and together would form Air Supply. It was their love of The Beatles that brought them together. 

Their first single "Love and Other Bruises" would come out in 1976 and would be a top ten hit in Australia. A few years later, they would find international success with their song "Lost in Love" which in 1980, would go to number 3 on the Billboard Top 100. This would be the beginning of a string of hits they would have in the US. Other US hits for the group would be "All Out Of Love" (Number 2 on the Billboard Top 100) , "Every Woman in the World" (Number 5 on the Billboard Top 100) and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (Number 2 on the Billboard Top 100).

The band has been touring non-stop since 1975 and in December 2022 released a new single, "Be Tough". Graham is currently working on a book about his life leading up to Air Supply's worldwide success and the band plans to return down under in 2024.

Jack zoomed Graham to discuss his early music beginnings, the impact the Beatles had on him, his time in his first band Union Blues, his moving to Australia in 1968, meeting Russell Hitchcock in 1975, the band's first single "Love and Other Bruises", playing on Countdown, why "Lost in Love" brought the band worldwide success, touring China and Vietnam at a time when most bands did not, the writing of "All Out of Love", music videos and MTV, the group's new single "Be Tough", Graham's upcoming book, and when the band is coming to Australia to play again. 

"(Russell) would sing one take for pretty much everything in those days, he just did it, nobody said to him 'ah, I want you to go up in the end and hold that note' - he just did it . . . he just used intuition, and just went with the flow and I think that's what became part of the song, part of the record, that energy and the freedom was inherent in the song." - Graham Russell on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about Russell Hitchcock's singing on All Out Of Love

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Keith Potger, founding member of The Seekers. In the late 1950s Keith was in a group called The Trinamics and Athol Guy was in a group called The Ramblers. They would come together to form The Escorts. By 1962 the band was called The Seekers and they were looking for a female lead singer and thus Judith Durham became part of the group. By 1963, the group had done their first album Introducing The Seekers. This was the beginning to the iconic line-up of Keith on lead guitar, Athol Guy on double bass, Bruce Woodley on rhythm guitar and Judith Durham on lead vocals.

The group would sail to the UK in March 1964, and by year's end had their first number one hit "I'll Never Find Another You". This would make The Seekers Australia's biggest music group at the time. They would go on to have other hits such as "A World of Our Own" (Number two hit in Australia and Number 3 in the UK), "The Carnival Is Over" (Number one hit in Australia and the UK) and "Georgy Girl" (Number one in Australia and Number 3 in the UK). The Seekers broke up in 1968 but would reform many times in the succeeding decades. 

More recently, Keith has released three solo albums, Secrets of the Heart (2004),  Sunday (2007), and Smile Now (2010), and is currently working on a new album. As a solo artist, Keith is still touring. 

Jack zoomed Keith to discuss his early music beginnings, the music of his childhood in Sri Lanka, his memories of his early years in Australia, the impact that rock and roll and doo-wop had on him, his time in The Trinamics, the formation of The Seekers, the recording of the band's first album Introducing The Seekers, his time at the ABC, the groups trip to the UK via ship, the over-night success the group had in the UK, the recording of "I'll Never Find Another You", Keith's iconic 12-string sound, the group's performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Tom Springfield's production work with the group, the group's 1965 tour of Australia, why "The Carnival is Over" is Keith's favourite Seekers song, Keith's solo work, and upcoming music projects. 

That was a three-hour session, we had to record the main song and the B-side in one session, and Judith was living with her sister at the time in London and she slept in - we were all at the studio - let's say it was 10 o'clock in the morning - and we were sort of wondering 'Its 9:30 now! We're supposed to be warming up for the session!' and we had to ring a taxi and Judith was really upset because she didn't want us to spend money on the taxi - 'Oh no, I'll catch the train,' and we said 'No, bugger that, you'll get a taxi!' - Keith Potger on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording session for I'll Never Find Another You

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack talks with Peter De Jong, founding member of Heroes. This is the seventh episode in an eight-part Newcastle Vinyl Vibes series. Over the course of this series, Jack has spoken with a range of local rockers important to the Newcastle music story. 

Pete started playing in bands during the late ‘60s, but his first professional band was Armageddon, which took shape in 1970. Armageddon initially played around Toronto, performing blues covers by the likes of The Kinks and John Mayall. The band would rise in popularity and in 1971, would enter the Newcastle heat of the Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds, at the time the biggest music competition in Australia. The band played two original songs and won the Newcastle heat of the competition securing Armageddon as Newcastle's top group of the early ‘70s. Armageddon came to an end in 1975. 

In 1976, Heroes was formed with Pete on lead guitar and co-lead vocals. For the first year of their existence, the band had a residency at the Clinkers Tavern in Belmont before starting to play at other Newcastle venues. The band began by playing covers of songs by 10cc and Thin Lizzy, but they also started writing original music. In 1978, the band's bass player at the time, Allan Cook, presented a song to the band called Star and the Slaughter. It was a country-pop sounding song at first, but after fellow Heroes member Mark Tinson worked on the song, it became the punchy rock track it is known as today. The song brought the band notoriety after Heroes played it as their encore at the Star Hotel riot gig in September 1979. 

After their Star Hotel riot gig, Heroes were soon signed to Albert Productions by George Young and Harry Vanda. The band released their first single, Baby Got a Taste, in August 1980. The single reached number 2 locally in Newcastle and number 76 nationally on the Kent Music charts. Their self-titled album followed in October 1980, and their second single, The Star and the Slaughter, came out in January 1981. The band continued playing until they disbanded in 1982. 

In 2015, Heroes released their second studio album, So Far. The album was made up of songs both written in the ‘80s for the second Alberts album that never happened, as well as newer songs penned by Peter and Mark Tinson. The band played their final gig at Lizottes in 2019 on the anniversary of the Star Riot, closing the page on one of Newcastle's greatest bands. 

Jack phoned Pete to talk about his early musical memories, how Armageddon came to be, his memories of playing and winning the 1971 Newcastle heat of the Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds, the formation of Heroes, the band's residency at the Clinkers Tavern, Pete's memories of the Star Hotel Riot, how the band was discovered by Harry Vanda and George Young, recording for Alberts, what it was like playing on Countdown, the disbandment of Heroes in 1982, and the band's 2015 album So Far. 

"A whole bunch of things came together to make that song have a power that it was never really intended to have... but even the lyrics matched what was going on, you know? 'I want action, I want fighting in the streets, going to take this town by storm' – haha, it was almost like a narrative to what was going on outside, even though we weren’t aware of it." - Peter De Jong on the song Star and the Slaughter being played during the Star Hotel Riot 

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins. 

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Normie Rowe, the biggest music star of 1960s Australia. Norm grew up listening to the likes of Col Joye and Ray Charles. All he wanted to be growing up was a singer. He made his first live performance at the age of 14 and was soon playing at lots of local rock and roll dances. In 1965 Norm would release his first single "It Ain't Necessarily So" which would be the first in a string of eight top-ten hits in a row for Norm. The biggest selling record of the '60s in Australia was Norm's double A-side" and "Shakin' All Over" which came out in September 1965. It sold 80,000 copies. In 1966 Norm would go to the UK to make a music career over there. This success was cut short however when in early 1968, Norm would be drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. His service would put a halt to his string of hits and leave him with PTSD when he returned home to Australia in February 1970. 

Norm has remained performing since then and is still making music. He wrote about his life in music in his 2013 autobiography called Normie Rowe - Normie, The Normie Rowe Story. Norm's most recent music work has included his 2016 album Missing in Action which tells his story in being a Vietnam Veteran. His most recent single came out in 2019 and was a cover of 1927's "Compulsory Hero".

Jack phoned Norm to discuss his early musical beginnings, the impact Ray Charles and Col Joye had on him, his first live performance at the age of 14, his long-time band The Playboys, the recording of his first single "It Ain't Necessarily So", his memories of recording with tape, how his biggest single "Que Sera Sera" came to be, his time recording in the UK with session musicians like Jimmy Page, his service in Vietnam, his PTSD, and his more recent music work such as his most recent single "Compulsory Hero".

"I would love to be able to say that ("Que Sera Sera") was my reimagionation but it wasn't. It was a group in America called The High Keys..and I fell in love with this song straight a way and when I had it - I had it in my possession- and I played it incessantly for two years before I even recorded "It Ain't Necessarily So"." - Normie Rowe on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how his biggest single "Que Sera Sera" came to be

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Jack Casady, bass player and founding member of Jefferson Airplane. Coming to age during the onset of rock and roll, Jack Casady was initially inspired by the likes of Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent. He would form his first band in the late '50s, The Triumphs with Jorma Kaukonen. Jorma would become a life-long friend of Jack's.

By 1965 Jefferson Airplane had been formed in San Francisco with Jorma on Guitar. Jack was in college and had recently started playing bass. In September of that year, original bass player, Bob Harvey left the group and Jack was asked by Jorma to join. The band's first album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off would come out in 1966. In 1967 the iconic Grace Slick would join the band and bring with her the songs "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". These songs, along with the band's album Surrealistic Pillow would go down to be some of the most iconic music made during the '60s. For his work with the band, Jack was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Jack would play bass on every album the band made till the group broke up in 1972. After this, Jack focused more on his and Jorma's musical project, Hot Tuna. Today the pair are still touring as Hot Tuna with the band undertaking a 2023 tour called Electric Hot Tuna’s Last Waltz. Jack is also busy running bass workshops through the Fur Peace Ranch.

Jack Hodgins zoomed Jack Casady to discuss his early musical beginnings, the music in Washington in his early days, his time playing in The Triumphs, his time in college, how he came to join Jefferson Airplane, the recording of the band's first album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, the group's early gigs, the musical greatness of "White Rabbit", the recording of Surrealistic Pillow, the group's iconic lead singer Grace Slick, his work with his band Hot Tuna, the group's upcoming tour and the bass workshops he is running.

"Grace (Slick) is really a wonderful pianist and she does really interesting structures, she has her classical background too, and I think that's why in a lot of her compositions you hear a lot of very interesting chordal structures and the way she overlaps the song and the story she is talking about . . . because she has such a unique world view, as it were, and she puts that into a story line in her song, and I think that's why she was so unique, she wasn't trying to be a pop artist." - Jack Casady on this episode of vinyl vibes talking about Jefferson Airplane vocalist Grace Slick  

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes. 

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Peter Staples, bass player and founding member of The Troggs. In 1964 Peter joined a group that contained Reg Presley (vocals), Ronnie Bond (drums) and Chris Britton (guitar), and they would soon be named The Troggs. In 1966 the band would record a song written by Chip Taylor called "Wild Thing". The song would be a number 2 hit in the UK and a number 1 hit in the US. It is also one of the most recognised songs ever written.  

The group would follow with singles such as "With a Girl Like You" (Number 1-hit in the UK) and "Love Is All Around" (Number 5-hit in the UK). The latter was famously covered by Wet Wet Wet in 1994 and became one of the best selling singles in the UK. 

Pete left the Troggs in 1969 and would for many years not be in the music world. More recently he has come back to write and record original songs with singer Karen-Ana. He has also authored two books: his first, Wild Thing A Rocky Road, was written on his time in The Troggs; his second book is about the music history of his local town and is called Andover - A Musical History.

Jack phoned Pete to discuss his early musical influences, his first band The Senators, how he came to meet Chris Britton, his time in Ten Feet Five, how he came to join The Troggs, the recording of Wild Thing, how the iconic solo in Wild Thing came to be, the iconic hook on "With a Girl Like You", the success the band had during '66 & '67, the writing of  "Love Is All Around", why Pete left the group in 1969, Pete's solo work and his recent two books. 

"On the original demo, the recording engineer, he sort of had his hands cupped together and he was blowing though it making that sort of noise . . . so Colin, that's the musical director, he went down the road and went to this music shop and he said 'Can I have an ocarina please?' and the person said 'What key do you want it in?', he said 'I didn't know they came in different keys!' . . . he brought the ocarina back . . . and all he wanted to find was three notes that he could do this solo . . . he actually taped up most of the holes in the ocarina and just left three there and he played the ocarina with just three holes there." - Pete Staples on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how the solo in Wild Thing came to be played with an ocarina and not a guitar

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes. 

If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Alan Warner, original guitarist and founding member of The Foundations. In 1966 Alan put an ad in a music magazine looking to play in a reggae/soul group. He found a group called ''The Ramongs''. At the time, the group had two lead singers, Ramong Morrison and Clem Curtis. After Ramong Morrison left the group, the band needed a name change. Alan was the one who came up with the idea to call the band The Foundations. The band's first single, "Baby, Now That I've Found You", would be a number-one hit in the UK, but it is the group's 1968 hit "Build Me Up Buttercup" that they are best remembered today for. After three top ten hits in the UK, The Foundations would break up in 1971. 

Alan would remain in music and play in various bands, such as Pluto, in the following decades. Today he tours as The Foundations Featuring Alan Warner.

Jack Zoomed Alan to discuss his early musical influences, his time in bands such as The Skeletones and The Trekkers, how he came to join The Ramongs in 1966, how he came up with the name The Foundations, how the band came to record music, the recording of their number one hit "Baby, Now That I've Found You", recording techniques of the '60s, the success the band had after "Baby, Now That I've Found You", playing on Top of The Pops, the band's US tour in 1968, how "Build Me Up, Buttercup" came to be, and Alan's work today as The Foundations Featuring Alan Warner.

"Apparently David Essex turned (Build Me Up Buttercup) down because David Essex was a bit more of a rock type of singer . . . so the song was offered to us. He (Tony Macaulay) started playing it, we thought 'oh that's great!' but I turned around and said, 'Trouble is, it's got baby in it again' - build me up - butter cup - Baby - every song we done has got baby in it' - Alan Warner on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about being presented with Build Me Up Buttercup for the first time

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes. 

If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.