Australia was a veritable hot bed of mangy rhythm & blues bands in the 60's. For each of the popular groups like The Easybeats, The Twilights and Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs there were at least a dozen more hungry outfits scrambling for a piece of the action playing for scraps at local pubs and community church halls. What this lower class of shabby beat punks lacked in commercial appeal was cleverly compensated for with primal exuberance. The lucky ones that managed to invade a recording studio left behind a smattering of some of the grungiest slabs of sixties punk that rivaled even the most rotten offerings of The Sonics, The Swamp Rats and The Litter on the other side of the big pond.
THE SAVAGE FEW
THE MISSING LINKS: You're Drivin' Me Insane (1965) The first single with a newly retooled lineup. The chemistry was palpable and the sextet of shaggy miscreants launched an uber-heavy attack on the ears of Antipodean youth. Slathering feedback and distortion onto the gritty rhythm & blues style that was being popularized by The Rolling Stones and Yardbirds they undisputedly created the template for Australian proto-punk.
THE PURPLE HEARTS: Just A Little Bit (1966) Rosco Gordon's classic rhythm & blues mover was a staple in the set list of many Aussie beat bands. Not content with aping the typically tame spin that their peers applied, these unruly malcontents from Brisbane pumped it full of amphetamine fueled spunk. All the while ripping it apart, bit by bit!!
THE MASTERS APPRENTICES: Undecided (1966) In order to fulfill the request of Astor Records for a four-track demo, guitarist Mick Bower hastily composed this bone rattlin' barrage of ballistic beat punk to meet the quota. Jim Keays' indignant vocals are stoked by the incessant crunch of over-driven guitar.
THE ELOIS: By My Side (1967) These lads contradicted their clean cut appearance with an arrant declaration of teenage lust. The band thumps and grinds as they bounce between a 4/4 and 2/4 beat. The singer professes his unquenchable hormonal hunger, chanting "I need you girl by my side" over and over and over again.
THE ATLANTICS: Come On (1967) Formed as a surf band in 1961, The Atlantics plunged themselves into the rising swell of the rhythm & beat boom in 1965. With seasoned singer, Johnny Rebb at the helm they recorded a run of tougher rockers. "Come On" is an imposing chunk of American influenced garage punk with a notably dramatic delivery from Mr. Rebb.
For a further indoctrination into the wild and woolly sounds of outfits going under outlandish monikers such as The Throb, The Pink Finks, The Wild Cherries, The Hergs and Machine Gun Kelly's Rejects, sixties beat fanatics can find them meticulously gathered on the exhaustive "Before Birdmen Flew" and "Ugly Things" compilation series.
Adapted from an article originally published in Born Outta Time, No. 1, April 2020.
BORN OUTTA TIME
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