" LIVING IN THE 70S".

Part One.

1970 - 1975

Im presently in my mid 70s trying to look back at the 70s!; thats the 1970s, over 45 years ago. Its difficult enough remembering what I did 10 minutes ago, so I will have to rely on my Time Machine to take me "back in time" and "re-live" the "actual events". 

Then again, it is often quicker to use an ancient Egyptian Meditation technique to travel in Time and Space, which has proved more "reliable" than using a "machine".

 
I shall now take you on my journey back to the 1970s; a time of great music; a time of a sexual revolution and a time of enlightenment.

 
I had survived the hippie era of the 1960s; 5 years of being in a popular Pop group and the turmoil of living under my parents roof. A new Decade was about to begin and at last I was a "Free Spirit" eager to explore all that life could throw at me.

 In 1970 I  was a young 21 year old single straight male living in a boarding house in watson street, Bondi. Working a day job somewhere I dont remember and at night visiting and playing in a number of local clubs/ wine bars.
Some of my regular haunts include "Chequers", "Wiskey Ago Go"The Bondi Lifesaver", "The Bondi Hotel in Bondi rd" and "The Bronte Inn" to name just a few.

 
I remember performing as a Solo Performer at The Bronte Inn on a number of occassions; usually on a Saturday afternoon.

 
Some of the Artists and Bands I saw during this time include "McPhee", "Autumn", "Max Merrit", "Tamam Shud", "Tully", "Flying Circus", "Doug Parkinson", "Doug Ashdown", "Blackfeather", "Kevin Borich", "Richard Clapton", " Daddy Cool", "Dragon", "Flake", "Renee Geyer", " Jimmy and the boys", " Kevin Johnson", " Kahvas Jute", "King Harvest", " La De Das", "Little River Band", " Split Enz", " Alison McCallum", "Mike McClellan", " Madder Lake", "Russell Morris", "Ted Mulry", " Ol 55", "Marty Rhone", "Ross Ryan", "Wendy Saddington", "Jeff St John", "Sebastian Hardie", "Sherbet", "69ers", "Skyhooks", "AC/DC", " Spectrum" and "Stevie Wright".

 
There were so many great bands and solo singers around at the time and I'm sure I have forgotten many whom I saw "live" between 1970- 1975. 

Renee Geyer

I remember playing at a place called The Cask Wine Bar in Bondi rd, near Waverley Oval; I was a stand-in Bass Player for a band my brother Graham was in at the time. I remember there was a young girl 16-17 who used to sit on the floor and listen to the band and one night she got up and sang a couple of songs with the band. She was awesome; had a real rusky soulful vocal quality and I think she sang "Summertime", "In the midnight hour" and "My Girl".
After she sang we chatted and I discovered her name was "Renee Geyer", whom went on to become one of Australias finest female vocalist. Renee went on to have a number of Top Ten hits over the years including "Heading in the right direction"," Its a mans mans world"," Stares and whispers" and "Say I love you".
We shared a brief moment in time chatting and enjoying each others company, conversation and vibe. 

I remember playing at the Cask Wine Bar a few times and Renee was there each time; digging our music and keen to participate. I have memories of hanging with a young 16yr old Jewish girl who lived just up the road from me and Im unsure if this was the same girl "Renee".??
She would cruise by my place after school to chat with me and on one occassion we went back to her place whilst her parents were away. I dont believe we ever were intimate in any way but we just loved chatting and spending time hanging with each  other.
We would bump into each other again in 1973? at Melbourne airport and I was with "Ross Ryan"( I am Pegasus")  flying in from Hobart, Tasmania. We shared a coffee and a chat and we all then journeyed on our seperate ways. 

A few years back I spoke to Renee on a radio talkback show and mentioned the Cask Wine Bar, which she said she remembered ; mostly the music and a lot of young surfies. I guess if I have trouble remembering every detail of my life than how can I expect others to remember their life in detail.
Regardless, "fragments of memories of those memorable times still echo through my mind". They were great times in my life and I was "living in the Now".

Opposite to where I was living, another talented female singer lived with a circus of friends and animals. A punkish hippie with huge afro hair and a demure that would scare off Grace Jones and whom called herself "Wendy Saddington". We often chatted over the front fence and I found her to be a shy, gentle soul with a singing voice that reminded me of the late, great Janis Joplin. Wendy was a unique individual and singer whom recorded one of the greatest songs ever;  "Looking through a window" written by Warren Morgan and produced by Billy Thorpe. The song features on her one and only 1972 album "Looking through a window", which contains recordings from The Walacia Music Festival 1971 and was originally released as " Wendy Saddington and Copperwine live". 

"Copperwine" was Jeff St Johns backing band and Wendy often worked with them and a number of other Blues Bands of the late 60s and 70s. 
She retired from the music scene in the mid/late 1970s as she didnt like the "drugs/drink and lifestyle" of the music world. She spent much of her life supporting the Hare Krishnas and persuing "personal enlightenment".
Her version of The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" expresses her own inner search for Peace and Happiness and Understanding the Meaning of Life.
Wendy only recently passed away and I will ALWAYS remember the young Soul I used to chat with way back in the early 70s. Her songs still touch me deeply today, for Wendy sang from the bottom of her heart and soul. God bless her.

Earlier I mentioned the great singer/performer "Jeff St John" and vaguely remember sharing a concert Bill with him during the late 1960s when I was the Bass Player for my brothers band "The Limit". I remember being backstage watching Jeff do his thing in his wheel chair whilst killing the audience with his powerful vocals. Jeff could outsing anyone and was and still is, one of my favourite singers of all time.
I never met him personally and always admired his amazing talent. 

I was in awe of the talent that surrounded me in those days, for I was just a struggling Bass Player with no direction home. I spent much of my spare time consuming drugs ( LSD and Pot) and shagging all the women I could find. 

Around early 1971 I shared a flat in Belmore rd, Randwick with the lead singer of a sydney band called " Rosco"; I think his name was Chris ?? I helped out with the band as a Roadie/sound man and remember doing gigs with "Sherbet" and "Russel Morris". I remember the gig with "Sherbet" was at Macquarie Uni and they were riding high in the charts with "I shot the gun".

                     Sherbet

They were a great band live and I remember that after the gig heading home we were involved in an almost serious car crash and we were hurried off to the nearest hospital in an ambulance. I had to have several stiches in my jaw and still have the scars today to remind me. 

A gig with "Russel Morris" was in some Jewish Hall in Darlinghurst rd, Kings Cross, which was packed to the rafters with gays and straights alike. Russel played a Gibson Sunburst Les Paul guitar and was a huge hit with the audience. 

I remember meeting a chick that night whom I would end up sharing a flat with in Wiley Park for several months in late 1971 before moving to Hobart, Tasmania in 1972.

MEETING LED ZEPPELIN

I remember one afternoon myself and Chris from "Rosco" went to a "Led Zeppelin" concert at Randwick Racecourse and decided to take some "California Sunshine LSD" for the occassion. We also took a number of " joints" to smoke during the show, which one could do in those days because everyone was either "smoking or tripping on acid".
I think the support bands were "Daddy Cool" and "The Kinks" whom really gave their all to please the audience and whom were great.
"Zeppo" blew us away and we staggered back to our flat just up the road and prepared for a gig by "Rosco" that evening at the " Wiskey A Go Go" in william st, Kings Cross.

We mellowed down from " the Trip" with a couple of nice joints and arrived at the Wiskey around 9pm. The band were playing their 1st set  and into their last  2 song of the set when who should come walking over to the bands offstage table but the four members of " Led Zeppelin." They sat down at the table, ordered some drinks and "Jimmy and Robert" began making chit chat with me whilst waiting for the band to come off stage once their set was ended. 

We all ended up chatting for awhile about many unremembered things until I became ill and had to leave. 

Slightly out of my head and feeling very unwell, I managed to walk all the way home through darlinghurst, then through Centenial Park all the way to Randwick. 

I also remember myself and Chris hitchhiking from Sydney to Adelaide and back over a period of 3-4 days and being in awe of the nightsky in the middle of the Australian outback. He went there to pick up his girlfriend and bring her to sydney to live. He got her back sydney but was "busted" a few days later and thats the last i saw of both of them.

I then moved into a flat with 2 chicks in Wiley Park and shared a relationship with one of them. During this time I remember meeting "Ted Mulray and some of his gang" socially but not a great deal was happening for me musically.

I remember playing/performing as a Solo Guitarist/Singer at the Hospital for Women in Oxford St, Paddington. I shared the Billing with a band called "Gangadin"? and sang songs by Cat Stevens/ Don McClean and Bob Dylan. 

For some unknown reason, myself and my girlfriend took off to live in Hobart, Tasmania for awhile and took up residence on the east side of the bridge.

I met a guy who ran a nightclub in the middle of Hobart whom offered me a job as a Solo Performer 3-4 nights per week in his club. I would perform with just an Acoustic guitar and a microphone and also invite local singers/guitarists to join me on stage each night. I soon got to know many of the local musicians and decided to form my own band with my new friends and called the band "Nobodys Funeral".

 The band consisted of Bill Wilson on guitar/ Glyn ? on keyboards/ a bass player and a drummer whos names I cant remember. I was their Lead Vocalist. For awhile, when I wasnt working Solo at the nightclub I was busy rehearsing with the band at the guitarists parents home. I was NEVER home, so.......

Meanwhile my girlfriend got pissed off with being alone most of the time and wanted out of the relationship. She had met a new guy "Geoff" running the Drug Referral Centre in Hobart and they hit it off and eventually married. 

Myself and a few "hippie" friends used the Referral Centre as a "safe place" to hang out and we helped the staff out whenever they needed it. I remember on one occassion a few us had been down to Margate to pick some "magic mushrooms" and then took them back to the Centre, dried them out/ crushed them into powder and filled empty "Double O" capsules with the mushrooms. We had about 50 caps ready for consumption when suddenly the cops raided the place. Luckily it was night time and we tossed all the "caps" into a plastic bag and threw it out a side window. The cops never found the goodies and we retrieved our stash once they had left.
The "blue meanies" and "gold tops" were powerful hullucagenics and just 2 caps would provide a 12 hour trip.  

 I moved into a boarding house in North Hobart.  During my time working at the night club I had no shortage of young females wanting to share my bed. In fact, at one time I had 3-4 women on the run at the same time and I was living a life of Sex, Drugs and Rock n roll. 

During the period 72/73 "Nobodys Funeral" became one of Tasmanias Top bands and I was out front as their Lead Singer. We played songs by " Jethro Tull/ Zeppelin/ Bowie/ The Doors/ The Stones and Deep Purple "and we were pretty wild on stage. We dyed our hair with florescent paint and "glowed" onstage.
One night, I collapsed onstage and was taken away in a ambulance to the Hobart Hospital where I was admitted for an overnight stay. It was then that I met my future wife "Cherie", for she was a nurse at the hospital at the time.

The band played at many venues across the isle and even organized our own dances in place like Huonville;  south of Hobart. We hired the halls; put up Posters and supplied our own security and refreshments.

                 SPECTRUM.

The band supported mainland bands such as "Spectrum" and I became friends with "Mike Rudd and Bill Putt" from the band.  I would also catch up with these guys in London in 75 when they were performing under the name "Ariel".

After the band had been together for several months, we hired "Spectrum" studios for a night and recorded 2 of my own original compositions, being "One Night Girl" and "It aint funny".  We had several copies pressed on vynal and I gave a copy to a friend who was a nightime DJ on radio 7HT. I think her name was Sue ? and one night she played both songs on the air to find out if the audience liked the tunes. 

 "Ross Ryan" was playing at Westpoint Casino and heard the songs and phoned the radio station to asked them if they could ask me to phone him.

I did phone him and he invited me over to his Suite at the Casino, where we ended up chatting and jamming for a couple of hours or so.

I remember when "Helen Redding" came to Hobart to perform I was invited along as a guest of the promoters and spent a number of hours after the concert drinking in a local nightclub with "Helen and her band."
As the lead singer of one of Tassies most popular bands I was privalaged to move in and mix with other popular Artists and Bands of the day. 

I was beginning to feel that I needed to head back to the mainland and to try my luck in Melbourne. My plan was to eventually head to London but first I would try my luck in Melbourne.

I rented a Unit in Middle Park/St Kilda with my wife to be "Cherie" and set up my own company called "The Music Makers" which was a Booking Agency for unknown Artsists/Singers and Bands. I had several "singers and bands" on the books and secured work for a number of them during the short 10 months I was in Melbourne.

 

I also joined a local rock band called "Sweet Lemon " as lead singer and performed at a number of "private functions" with these guys. They were all Yugoslavian and we played a lot of "Bowie", "Stones", "Doors" and "Deep Purple" songs. I was only with them for about 6 months but enjoyed the experience.

 

During this period I remember going to a "Jethro Tull" tripping on acid and they performed the full album version of "Thick as a Brick" and other Hits. "Ian Anderson" blew my mind with his "flute and guitar playing and his wild stage antics."

                           

          On another occassion, myself and my future wife had tickets to see "The Bee Gees" at Festival Hall in Melbourne.  We were alone near the back entrance to the hall when suddenly "The Bee Gees" appeared and asked us if we had tickets to the show. I said to Barry, "Sure we had tickets" and he asked to see them. Whilst chatting I showed him the tickets and he said he detected an "english accent" in my voice and I told him "Yes, I was born in England and came out here in 1955 as a child". I mentioned that I was a muso and singer and was planning to go to London very soon. Barry was all smiles and said to me "to follow them" into the venue; which we did. Barry then arranged for us to have some "Front Row" seats and we got to enjoy their amazing concert up close and personal.

 I took some photos with them and in concert but over the years the pics faded into white.
Barry told me to look up Robert Stingwood ( their Manager) when I got to London; which I ended up doing in early 1975.

 
I remember going to see "The Bee Gees" at their Farewell concert in 1967 at The Trocoderro in George St, Sydney. They had just had Hits with "Wine and Women" and their song "Spicks and Specks" was just making it into the National Pop Charts.  Whilst sailing to England, "Spicks and Specks" became a huge hit for them in Australia. Once they reached England, they recorded "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and the rest is history.
Today, I thank them and especially Barry for his kindness on the day we met and I have been a big fan all my life. 

TELEVISION: NEW FACES

During this time I also appeared on "New Faces" on channel gtv9 performing my original composition "One Night Girl". I paid to have a 12 piece score written by a popluar arranger "Bruce George" whom had worked with Shirley Bassey.
On the night I came 2nd which demonstrated that my songs had some potential and with a little more polish I could take them to London, England and try my luck in the International market.

At  the end of 1974, myself and Cherie went back to Tasmania and on the 28th December we were married in a small church in Geeveston. After a short 3-4 day honeymoon in the countryside, in early January 1975 we boarded a ship in Melbourne and set sail for England. At last, I was on the way............ 

To be continued.   

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