What's their Scene? - its The Guru's

GEEZ, its been a while since I done an aussie act, HUH?...so I best get another one posted, and i'll go with the Hoodoo Gurus..and I'll be the first to admit that they werent my style musically and they looked funny back in 82 when I first heard of them.

 The first tune I heard of them was probably the greyhound song ( or My Girl if you like), me being covered in denim and leather and listening to Rose Tattoo, Iron Maiden and Saxon and them wearing paisley shirts with their hair standing straight up, WELL, we didn't exactly see eye to eye, stylelistically speaking, to be honest..then one day I was at Cronulla footy oval for an outdoor gig and the Gurus came on and blew the top of my f**king head off, awesome stuff indeed and then began a serious liking of Dave and the boys that has maintained up to this very day..ladies and gents may I present the MIGHTY Hoodoo Gurus...

The legendary Hoodoo Gurus. By any measure, one of Australia's greatest, best loved, most enduring rock bands of all time....2013 marks an extraordinary milestone for the Hoodoo Gurus (let alone any band); 31 years since the release of the band's debut single, "Leilani".

Hoodoo Gurus (referred to as the Gurus by fans) formed in Sydney in 1981 by the mainstay Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, harmonica).....It could be argued that their popularity peaked in the mid to late 1980s with albums Mars Needs Guitars!, Blow Your Cool! and Magnum Cum Louder...but, they still drawing crowds and no one is selling records today anyway...so its hard to judge when their popularity peaked or didnt

Hoodoo Gurus had a string of bonza singles including "Leilani" (1982), "Tojo" (1983), "My Girl" (1983), "I Want You Back" (1984), "Bittersweet", "Like Wow - Wipeout!", and "What's My Scene?"...... After touring the United States from 1984 onwards they got HUGE on the U.S. college rock circuit with singles "Come Anytime" (1989) reaching No. 1 and "Miss Freelove '69" (1991) reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

 Gurus’ biggest Australian hit single was their 1987 Top 3 hit song "What's My Scene?" or, as modified for those knuckle draggers over at the National Rugby League for the 2000 season "That's My Team".

Hoodoo Gurus learned the hard way exactly how difficult it is to keep the old band together. Back in 1998, still at the peak of their of their powers, Faulkner and his fellow Gurus - guitarist Brad Shepherd, bassist Rick Grossman and drummer Mark Kingsmill - decided it was time to call it a day and broke up the band. They all went off to perform and record with other people, but soon missed each other so much that they formed a new band together, the Persian Rugs, which they insisted for years had nothing to do with the Hoodoo Gurus, except that the two bands coincidentally shared exactly the same line-up for a time.

Thankfully, in 2003, they put an end to that charade and reformed as the Hoodoo Gurus.....

Since reforming, the Gurus have recorded two more critically-acclaimed studio albums, Mach Schau [2004] and Purity Of Essence [2010], which now sit seamlessly alongside the band's pre-split classic recordings: Stoneage Romeos [1984]; Mars Needs Guitars! [1985]; Blow Your Cool! [1987]; Magnum Cum Louder [1989]; Kinky [1991]; Crank [1994] and In Blue Cave [1996].

Hoodoo Gurus' iconic status on the Australian rock scene was acknowledged when they were inducted into the 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame.the lads were inducted 18 July 2007 at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne. The ceremony was hosted by Julia Zemiro of SBS Television's RocKwiz. The band were inducted by HG Nelson of Triple J's This Sporting Life. They performed "The Right Time" and "I Want You Back" at the ceremony and subsequently toured with fellow inductees Radio Birdman.

Their induction announcement stated that the Gurus were one of the most "inventive, lyrically smart and exciting" bands from Australia.From 1960s power pop, and wild garage punk to hard driving rock and funky psychedelic kitsch their music stood out from Sydney's Detroit-inspired bands

Dave Faulkner says he remains amazed and eternally thankful that, three decades on, the music of the Hoodoo Gurus still holds such resonance with the Australian public. "I'm very grateful that we've got away with it for so long,' he says with a laugh. "Obviously, I'm proud of the songs and, as a writer, I'm so chuffed they've been adopted by people as part of their lives. They're not really my songs anymore; they're everyone else's. I just played a part in the beginning in raising them."

Since their debut recordings as Le Hoodoo Gurus at the start of the 1980s, through to their chart-topping successes throughout the '80s and '90s, their international triumphs and countless sold-out local tours, from their break-up through to their comeback, the Hoodoo Gurus have been and remain one of the most popular and successful musical acts Australia has ever produced.

The Gurus homepage

Like WOW what a band...

They Rocked this world, Rocked it inside Out - THE STRAY CATS

To be fair, back in the day, I thought Rockabilly fans were a bit...different, and also to be fair I had never given the genre a fair shake (well apart from Carl Perkins 45's anyway)...BUT..then one night while out and about,  in between bands at the Sundowner Hotel, who should appear on the big screen doing 'Stray Cat Strut" but the ,duh, The Stray Cats and to suggest that I was won over was an understatement..hell, I even went out out and bought some applicable vinyl shortly thereafter....

and the liking of said band and its individual members has continued through to Brian Setzers Orchestra and Headcat starring Slim Jim (and Lemmy)...SO...The Cats....

Without doubt the biggest group of the early-'80s rockabilly revival, the Stray Cats scored  big time with several big hits on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to there striking visual appearance, the boys were tailor made for early MTV, ..BUT...unlike some of the godawful crap that was on MTV, these boys  had some genuine musical chops that evoked the best players of rockabilly's original heyday.

The Cats were formed by Brian Setzer in the Long Island town of Massapequa, NY, in 1979. At first, Setzer played rockabilly covers in a band called the Tom Cats with his drumming brother Gary and bassist Bob Beecher; however, Setzer soon abandoned that group to join up with newly rechristened school friends Lee Rocker (born Leon Drucker) and Slim Jim Phantom (born James McDonnell).

However, their retro '50s look and sound didn't go over well around Long Island, and in the summer of 1980, the boys split for England, where a rockabilly revival movement was just beginning to emerge....After one of their gigs in London, the Stray Cats met producer Dave Edmunds, well known for his love of early rock for his work with Rockpile and as a solo artist. Edmunds offered to work with the group,

 and they entered the studio to record their self-titled debut album, released in England in 1981 on Arista. They were popular right out of the box, scoring three straight hits that year with "Runaway Boys," "Rock This Town," and "Stray Cat Strut." The follow-up, Gonna Ball, wasn't as well received, and stung by the negative reviews, the Stray Cats decided to return to the States and make a go of it.

They signed with EMI America and in 1982 released their U.S. debut, Built for Speed, which compiled the highlights from their two British LPs. Helped by extensive airplay on MTV at the height of the anything-goes new wave era, "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut" both hit the American Top Ten, over a year after their British chart peaks.

As a result, Built for Speed was a smashing success, and the Stray Cats were seen as the leaders of retro style. Their second American album, Rant n' Rave With the Stray Cats, appeared in 1983 and produced another Top Ten hit in "(She's) Sexy + 17," as well as a minor Top 40 entry in the doo wop-styled ballad "I Won't Stand in Your Way."

Personality conflicts began to emerge in the ways the individual members handled their new found success; Phantom married actress (and former Rod Stewart paramour) Britt Ekland, while Setzer made guest appearances with stars like Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks and became the concert guitarist for Robert Plant's Honeydrippers side project. In late 1984, Setzer pulled the pin on the band amid much bad blood.

Rocker and Phantom immediately teamed up with guitarist Earl Slick and recorded an album as Phantom, Rocker & Slick, while Setzer waited a couple of years before releasing his roots rock solo debut, The Knife Feels Like Justice.

By 1986, fences had apparently been mended enough for the Stray Cats to reconvene in Los Angeles and record the covers-heavy Rock Therapy, which didn't sell that well.  The trio returned to their respective post-Stray Cats projects, which both released albums that performed disappointingly.

In 1989, they reunited once again for the album Blast Off, which was accompanied by a tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan. No longer with EMI, the Cats entered the studio with Nile Rodgers for the lackluster Let's Go Faster, issued by Liberation in 1990.

1992's Dave Edmunds-produced Choo Choo Hot Fish also attracted little attention, and after another covers album, Original Cool, the group called it quits again.

They have since reunited periodically for live performances....and while Ive never seen them live and in person, I am the proud owner of one of the best concert dvds ..EVER..Stray Cats "Rumble in Brixton" filmed during their 2007 reunion tour.

Setzer, of course, went on to spearhead the '90s swing revival with his Brian Setzer Orchestra, which performed classic big band swing and jump blues tunes, as well as Setzer originals....and Slim Jim recently hooked up with the mighty Lemmy Kilminster to form HeadCat (which is briliant, have I mentioned)

SO..there you have my homage to the Cats..hope you dug it

THIN LIZZY : Greater than Guiness

I was asked, why the bands so far on the blog?...here is the answer,....There are few among us who can say that they have seen all their favourite bands...I cant, BUT I have seen a few, and they are bands Ive stuck loyal too, I was trying to figure out why, then it occured that all the bands I like, for the most part, visited aussie in the mid 70's, so it must be a case of "if you can be bothered to pop in and say g'day, then your on my list of best bands...simple really......

SO....to a band Ive seen twice....Thin Lizzy ......Seen them at full roar, on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in 19 and 78  with 30, 000 of my closet mates and then saw them in Holland in 2010, just after Ricky Warwick took up the microphone, and a good job he does [just quietly]...In '78 at the Sydney Opera House ( or the steps thereof anyway ), Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham and Gary Moore bashed us liberally about the hearing equipment for a couple of hours and rest assured, a good time was had by all that afternoon.....

.the first time I heard Lizzy was the 45 they released of Whiskey in the Jar...quite the homage to Eire if there ever was one, and still one of, NO, my favourite Lizzy Tunes...most of the world got onto the boys when the famous "Boys are back in town" was released...

After playing in bands like the Black Eagles and similar, Phil, Brian and Eric Bell, hooked up, and Eric while reading Eric Claptons favourite comic The Beano, found a female robot called Tin Lizzie and with a couple of tweeks, they had a band name they all agreed on..

.they gigged around Eire for a bit, got signed by Decca and packed up and left Ireland, but they landed in London to a massive wave of who gives a crap...UNTIL....they put Whiskey on vinyl, that was and they were off and running...they gigged around for a while on the strength of the album, BUT after a few stinks with Phil about his perfectionist attitude and after downing massive amounts of whiskey, beer and hash, Eric decided to pull the pin and go home and dry out...and just quietly it was probably a good thing otherwise he woulda been the first Lizzy casualty.

Gary Moore sat in for Eric for a bit but split and Lizzy toured Germany with two guitarists then their Decca deal ran out after releasing "Vagabonds of the western world" and the single "The Rocker"...by this stage Brian Downey had a proper case of the shits and retired, Phil begged him to come back,  Phil proposed the idea that two guitarists has to better than one RIGHT?" and if one leaves we would still have one that knows the stuff, Downey agreed, so 17 year old, mad as a hatter, Glaswegian, Brian "Robbo" Robertson joined and, just before his work visa ran out, tall, yanky guy Scott Gorham auditioned on a piece of crap guitar that clearly got the point across and he joined the group...this line-up released "Nightlife" and toured the States with Bob Seger and Bachman -Turner Overdrive.

The boys released "Fighting" which actually charted in the U.K, then after doing a multi band tour as support to Status Quo, Lizzy released "The Boys are back in town" and "Jailbreak" both stunning successes, the lads toured the state again with Aerosmith, Rush and REO Speedwagon, then Phil did a Brian May in America and got Hepatitis (what is it about pommy (or irish) muso's and hepatitis when touring the states?, can
anyone smell conspiracy)

While he was crook, Phil wrote 90% of Johnny the Fox, releasing the single "Dont believe a word", they were getting ready to tour America again with Queen this time, when the night before leaving, instead of packing, Robbo had a stink at the Speakeasy in London and nearly lost a finger in a glassing incident, hardly good news for a axe slinger...Phil was filthy with Robbo and called Garry Moore to plug into the stack,  Phil
asked Moore to stay but he had Colosseum II going and didnt hang around, Lizzy toured Canada as trio after Moore left, then hit the studio to record what would become "Bad Reputation" ...Scott did all the guitar parts for the first month, then Robbo showed up, but unsure of his position, told people he was only a session player, Phil said he was a guest, the single "Dancing in the moonlight" was released and the album hit # 4, the boys headlined Reading in '77 (Robbo included).

Then came 78 and the release of Classic Rocks magazine GREATEST LIVE ALBUM EVER...Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous, with Robbo, Scott, Phil and Brian giving it some welly, there is a dispute by Tony Visconti that everything was overdubbed, well, not the audience, BUT I for one dont fkn care, its a great album.

Anyway, Robbo split to form Wild Horses with Jimmy Bain (of Rainbow), speaking of which, Lizzy hooked up with Jimmy, and Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook to form a "Super "group called Greedy Bastards....WHERE WAS I...oh yeah, Robbo "left"  and Gary Moore once again plugged in and they toured the states and also crossed my path on the 78 tour of Aussie and En Zed, except Brian, he had pneumonia....rockin gig it was.

When they got back home they re-grouped and recorded "A Black Rose" with the resulting 45's "Waiting for an Alibi"and "Sarah".... it was about this time that some serious "class A "narcotics started fucking with Phil and Scott, Garry had enough and pulled the pin mid-tour, he said later he could of done it differently, but he had to get out of the situation.

For some bizarre reason, maybe it was the smack, but Phil had Midge ure from Ultravox play with the band on tour, dont get me wrong, I like Midge.. BUT WHAT THA?...Come 1980 and while Lynott searched for the second axe, he recorded "Solo in Soho" with various ex-lizzys and a Thin LIzzy band album "Chinatown", the 45 Killer on the Loose was released on the same day that "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe got pinched (can anyone say IRONIC), much shite publicity followed.....

ANYWAY... Snowy White from Pink Floyd got the spot as second axe slinger....trouble is Snowy always felt he was only a session player...a greatest hits package was released in 1981 called "The adventures of Thin Lizzy"...then came the "Renegade " album, but,  its been said that Phil wasn't listening to any opinion by this stage and kept releasing songs he only liked, and to be fair there is some dross on the album.


Comes 1982 and Downey had enough and Scotty collapsed from smack induced exhaustion....Phil  carried on regardless, Snowy left and John Sykes took up the axe, and along with Sykesy released "Thunder and Lightning" a cracker album to be fair...the resulting tour would be the farewell tour although Sykesy wanted to keep going.....Lizzy had a bad tour of Japan, due to the lack of available heroin in the country...they got
back to the U.K and played their final gig on Sept 4 1983 at the Reading Festival...word has it that the set sucked badly, shame really...Scott faded away to get clean and play golf, Brian took a break from everything music related , Sykesy started working with Coverdale and Phil did various solo projects, some good, like Grand Slam, and the Out in the Fields "song with Gazza Moore....some, not so much.

Phil's health started to go sideways and his ever faithful mom, Philomena got her boy to hospital, he started looking good then took a sudden and fatal turn and Phil passed into music history on January 4th 1986.

POST PHIL SHENANIGANS

There have been many a tribute for Phil since then and even a band with Downey and Robbo and a couple of mates calling themselves Thin Lizzy -A tribute to the music of Phil Lynott (long fkn name) in 1991.


In 1996 John Sykes on lead vocal, got the band going again with Downey, Gorham and Darren Wharton coming back with Marco Mendoza playing bass...they recorded a live album called "One night only"......Brian left after a while and Tommy Aldridge took up the drum seat, this line-up lasted till 2000 when Mendoza nicked off to play with Nugent.

2000 -2003 :
Scott left to play with his band 21 Guns and Sykes released a couple of solo albums

2004 - 2009: Scott and Sykes brought in Randy Gregg and Michael Lee with Mendoza and Aldridge flitting in and out, they played supporting Deep Purple and did a couple of tours of their own, Scott said that Phil still got the loudest cheers of the night, anyway after a few accidents and what have you, they pulled the pin

2010 - 2011

in '10, Scott reformed Lizzy with Brian, Darren Wharton and Vivain Campbell on guitar and Ricky Warwick...then came a slight re-shuffle Viv went back to Leppard and and the band carried on with a variety of second guitarists ....then in 2011, the band decided to pull the pin, Ricky Warwick said that this doesnt mean that Lizzy would be gone for good....Ricky and Scott still play together as The Black Star Riders.

When I'm in England, I say I'm from Ireland

Whem I'm in Ireland, I say I'm from Dublin

When I'm in Dublin, I say I'm from Crumlin

When I'm in Crumlin,I say I'm from Leighlin Road

When I'm in Leighlin Road, I say i'm a Lynott

Band members

Current members

Brian Downey – drums (1969–83, 1996–98, 2010–present)

Scott Gorham – guitar, backing vocals (1974–83, 1996–2001, 2004–present)

Darren Wharton – keyboards, vocals (1981–83, 1996–2001, 2010–present)

Marco Mendoza – bass guitar, backing vocals (1996–2001, 2005–07, 2010–present)

Ricky Warwick – lead vocals, occasional guitar (2010–present)

Damon Johnson – guitar, backing vocals (2011–present)

Former members

Phil Lynott – bass guitar, lead vocals (1969–83; died 1986)

Eric Bell – guitar, backing vocals (1969–73)

Eric Wrixon – keyboards, backing vocals (1969–70)

Gary Moore – guitar, backing vocals (1974, 1977, 1978–79; died 2011)

Brian Robertson – guitar, backing vocals (1974–78)

Midge Ure – guitar, keyboards and backing vocals (1979–80)

Dave Flett – guitar, backing vocals (1979)

Snowy White – guitar, backing vocals (1980–82)

John Sykes – guitar, lead and backing vocals (1982–83, 1996–2001, 2004–09)

Tommy Aldridge – drums (1998–2001, 2007–09)

Randy Gregg – bass guitar, backing vocals (2004–05)

Michael Lee – drums (2004–07; died 2008)

Francesco DiCosmo – bass guitar, backing vocals (2007–09)

Vivian Campbell – guitar, backing vocals (2010–11)

Richard Fortus – guitar, backing vocals (2011)

Thin Lizzy (1971)

Shades of a Blue Orphanage (1972)

Vagabonds of the Western World (1973)

Nightlife (1974)

Fighting (1975)

Jailbreak (1976)

Johnny the Fox (1976)

Bad Reputation (1977)

Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979)

Chinatown (1980)

Renegade (1981)

Thunder and Lightning (1983)