Band Members:-
Andre De Moller – Vocal, harmonica & guitar
John Eddy – Guitar
Ken Kramer – Bass
Garry Lynn – Drums
Record Release:-
Help Me/Walk On By (HMV EA-4672) 12-64
This Perth combo recorded the Sonny Boy Williamson cover in late 1964 and by 1965 they had broken up.
The Moods c.1966
Band Members:-
Mick Hamilton – Rhythm Guitar (?late 1964-Oct 66)
John Livi – Lead Guitar (?late 1964-Dec 66)
Peter Noss – Bass Guitar (?late 1964-66)
Kevin Fraser – Vocals (?late 1964-66)
Carl Savona – Drums (?late 1964-66)
Ian Ferguson – Bass Guitar (?1965-66, didn’t play on the records)
Record Releases:-
Cos’Of You/Say Hello To Me (HMV EA-4747) 24-02-66
Rum Drunk/I Love You So (HMV EA-4768) ??-06-66
Come On Home (unreleased)
This interview was first written and published by Dean Mittelhauser with John Livi in his fan magazine The Livin’ End #2, September 1984 and is copyright © 1984 Dean Mittelhauser. (John Livi – JL, Livin’ End Magazine – LE)
LE: The Moods were formed in 1965?
JL: Either late ’64 or early ’65. I remember I’d only just turned 14.
LE: What was the lineup?
JL: Carl Savona (drums), Kevin Fraser (vocals), Myself (ld guitar), Mick Hamilton (r guitar) and Peter Noss (bass). Actually Peter left and was replaced by Ian Ferguson, though Peter did play play on both 45′s.
LE: You were all very young.
JL: I was 14, Carl was 16 and the others were 17 & 18. I didn’t really mix with them all that much apart from when we played.
LE: They were all old enough to go out and get pissed and rage!
JL: That’s right and I wan’t!
LE: Did that cause any problems?
JL: Not really. They used to pretty much look after me. My older brother Bernie hung around and he was their age.
LE: How did the band actually start up. They were in a group…obviously they weren’t going anywhere. Were they called the Moods then?
JL: I don’t think they had a name for the band when I came on the scene.
LE: Why did they ask you to join?
LJ: Bernie knew Kevin & Carl, and I was in another band called the Ravens. I’d been playing in various bands since I was 12 years old, but around then I was going in a different direction to the other members of the band. So they asked me to try out. At that stage we’d only practise once a week -it wasn’t serious.
LE: I noticed in the photos taken of the band you had the shortest hair. Was that because you were still at school
JL: Yes, all the others had left school.
LE: They were pretty tough on long hair in those days weren’t they? I remember reading about three guys in Melbourne that got kicked out of school for having long hair!
JL: I had a similar experience. Weh I’d just turned 15, the principal of the school gave me the option of either leaving the band or leaving school. Without telling my parents, I chose the latter option. It was very strict, a Christian Brothers school. My parents had to put me in a business college.
LE: How did your parents react to the fact you were in a band?
JL:: Pretty well actually. I was under my brother’s wing. They never questioned what I was up to.
LE: It was unusual for a band with a recording contract to have a 14 year old lead guitarist.
JL: It wasn’t a gimmick. I was fairly competent on the guitar, I’d been playing since I was ten. It was the when the Beatles first came to my notice that I felt like a change of direction. I remember sitting in the back seat of my father’s Holden, I was 13, and “I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND” was playing on the car radio…songs like that, they really grabbed me. They were such a change from what we were doing. At that stage we were playing songs like…
LE: I can probably tell you. The Shadows.
JL: Yeah.
LE: It seems like every band changed over from doing Shadows covers’ to Beatles covers’ almost overnight.
JL: I can remember…The Flies!…with Ronnie Burns singing, in Punt Rd where Kevin Dennis’ car yard used to be. They’d cleared the yard of all the cars one Saturday morning and the Flies were playing there. Nothing but Beatles songs. They would of have been one of the first bands on the scene to play Beatles stuff. But I’m digressing.
LE: Peter Raphael from Go Set managed you. How did that come about?
JL: I don’t know. He was already on the scene when I joined.
LE: You first single came out early in ’66. It got a great review in Go Set. That must’ve pleased all of you, it was Australian Pick of the Week.
JL: Oh yeah, nut the reality of it was that the review came from Go Set and Raphael pushed it. I don’t try and kid myself that it was an objective review.
LE: What exactly did Raphael have to do with Go Set?
JL: I don’t know precisely, he was just on the staff somehow. I heard he was involved with Max Merritt & the Meteors a few years ago. Anyway, regarding the review, we were full of dreams, but we’d rather have seen the single on the charts.
LE: Did it make any of them?
JL: I think “COS OF YOU” made #39 in one chart but I don’t think it went any further.
LE: How did you get the contract with HMV?
JL: That would’ve been Raphael. He just came up to us, told us he’d gotten us a recording contract, and that we had to find some songs to put down.
LE: Were you doing many covers then?
JL: We were doing all covers then! It just wasn’t the done thing to do any of your own songs Raphael told us we nedded four tracks and we had about a dozen that I’d written, although we hadn’t performed any of them. We did do them live after we’d recorded them but not before.
LE: What about TV shows?
JL: Oh, we did Kommotion and the Go Show, and some Saturday morning show in Sydney.
LE: Saturday Date?
JL: I think so. We only did about four or five TV shows.
LE: You also supported the Stones around that time. How was that?
JL: Great! We got a real buzz out of that. The Searchers were also on the bill.
LE: Did you get to meet the Stones?
JL: No, we bumped into them in the passageway backstage, but they pretty much kept to themselves. That was the highlight over everything we did, the Stones tour.
LE: Did you support any other overseas acts?
JL: No, the Stones were the only ones.
LE: That must’ve taken a lot of pushing from Raphael to get that tour for you.
JL: Ummm…(long pause)
LE: Do you want me to turn off the tape?
JL: (Another pause)…no, it’s ok. From what I heard, Go Set had something to do with issuing of the tickets for the show. So there’s Go Set involvement again, and Raphael being with Go Set, plugged us to support the Stones.
LE: But with the type of music you were playing, you would’ve been a good support for them.
JL: Oh yeah, we used to do all the “heavy” stuff then. “THE LAST TIME”,”IT’S ALL OVER NOW”…god, you’re really taxing my memory!
LE: “SATISFACTION”?
JL: I remember when fuzz boxes first came out, they were
invention.
LE: And of course you went out and got one.
JL: I went straight out and got one alright! But nowadays they’re old hat.
LE: We were talking earlier about backing other artists. Did you ever back Denise Drysdale? I seem to remember seeing a demo of her somewhere that was labelled Denise Drysdale and the Moods.
JL: I honestly can’t remember. In the early days we did back quite a few female singers, but I’m not sure about about Denise. I remember we did back Pat Carroll at some stage.
LE: Did you back these artists in concert or on stage?
JL: In concert. Hardly any of the TV shows were actually done live.
LE: You just had to mime? That must’ve been a lot of fun.
JL: I always feel sorry for the drummer because he just couldn’t help but hit his cymbal every now and then.
LE: Did they have a live audience on these shows?
JL: Some of them did. Like, on Kommotion there was no audience, they had a tape of screaming girls and they’d dub that in at the beginning and end of each song. I’ve got a feeling that the Go Show had an audience but I can’t remember for sure.
LE: “RUM DRUNK” was released around June ’66. It also got good reviews. It’s a great track. Bad luck it didn’t make it.
JL: Yes, I still like that track myself.
LE: What happened after it’s release?
JL: We played for around four months, then Mick left around October. It was around that time that my parents hit on me to make a decision either for music or schooling. I’d already failed once at school, so I thought I’d leave also. That was about December ’66.
LE: Did the band continue on after you two had left?
JL: No, nothing else happened that I know of. I mean, you pull the two guitarists out of a band and that’s basically their sound gone. Not only that, it’s their knowledge. Ian (bassist) was still left, but it’s pretty hard for him to teach both the lead & rhythm to two new guitarists.
I’m a boy, boy and I’m blue,
I’ve got no one, no one ‘cept you
I was brought up, brought up in the slums
But now I’ve come back with nothing but rum
Got no money to pay my rent
Haven’t got not one whole cent
My only hope is to get on the run
And bring with me
My little bottle of rum
Although people pass me by
And when they say I’m no good,
It’s no lie
And though I might just lay down,
Lay down gonna die
My precious little bottle of rum never passes me by…
I’m a boy who’s down on my luck
Haven’t got one whole buck
My only hope is to get on the run
And bring with me my little bottle of rum
Rum Drunk (J.Livi), © Castle Music, 1966.
Tom Thumb - First line-up c.early 1967
Band Members:-
Graeme Thompson – Lead Guitarist (late 1966-??67/68)
Sammy Shaw – Drums (late 1966-??67/68)
Warren Willis – Organ (late 1966-??67/68)
Rick White – Vocals & Rhythm Guitarist & later Bass (late 1966-June 70)
Paul Newton – Bass (late 1966-May 67)
Mark Tretheway – Bass (May 1967-October 67)
Tom Swainson – Drums (late 1968-??)
Mike Farrell – Lead Guitarist (late 1968-??)
Bruce Sontgen – Vocals (late 1968-??)
Record Releases:-
Midnight Snack/Respect (La Gloria GSP083) ??-67
What’cha Gonna Do About It/You’re Gonna Miss Me (La Gloria GSP085) ??-67
I Need You/Got Love (La Gloria GSP087) ??-67
One/?? (HMV HR-3??) ??-68
Witchy Tai To/Meet On The Ledge (HMV HR-345) ??-69
Hey Bulldog/Everybody Sing A song (HMV HR-357) ??-69
If I Were A Carpenter/Stoney (HMV HR-365) ??-69
Still As Stone/When The First Tear Shows (HMV HR-378) ??-69
Heartbeat/I’ll Be Me (HMV HR-394) ??-70
Ludgate Hill EP -1.Prelude/Destruction -2.Dawning/Tomorrow (HMV-GEWM-6141) ??-??
This article appeared on pages 20 and 21 of the The Livin’ End #6, July 1986. Article was written & published by Dean Mittelhauser.
They were born in late 1966, out of Wellington on the north island of New Zealand. It seems that their self proclaimed leader was Rick White, an ex-photographic assistant. He handled vocal chores and played rhythm guitar, and previously been in a band called the Relics. (Ed: The Relics released one single, Hanky Panky/Jambalaya on Viking records (VS.206)) Drummer in the band was 17 year old Sammy Shaw, originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Back in the land of the orange & green he’d played in a band called the Green Onion, and, if you believed Tom Thumb’s publicity, he’d also done a stint in Them. Also seventeen was keyboard player Warren Willis. Graeme Thompson, their lead guitarist, was just outta college. He’d previously played in a college band called the Untouchables. The old man of the band was 19 year old Paul Newton, the bassist. Originally from Devon in England, he had supposedly been working for Decca records as a bass/lead guitarist. It was his job to fill in for any member of the group that, one reason or another, couldn’t make the session.
Accordingly he played sessions for the Fentones, the Mojos and the Who.
It didn’t take them long to secure a contract with La Gloria records, a label recognised as being pretty wimpy. La Gloria could’ve been going down the plughole by this stage and maybe it was their attempt to dredge themselves outta the swamp that led them to sign Tom Thumb. Whatever, La Gloria was near the end of of it’s lifespan, and the three crazee 45′s that Tom Thumb served up to ‘em didn’t alleviate the problem.
The ‘Thumbs (as they were known) first 45 for La Gloria, Respect, early in 1967, was an inauspicious entry into the recording limelight, and althought it was OK, it didn’t even come near to the two killer singles that followed it.
Their tuff rhythm and blues sound were becoming popular in Wellington and there was talk of them laying down tracks for an album, but in May 1967 Newton was replaced by an unknown, Mark Tretheway, a newcomer to the music business who had been playing a scant three months. Around this time White dropped the rhythm guitar to concentrate solely on vocals. He also smashed a lot of tambourines during this period, so wild was his satge persona.
Tretheway didn’t last long though, for in October, White, pushing his dictatorial powers to the limit, gave Tretheway his marching orders. (Boy, sounds a bit like Jim Keays!) White took over from Tretheway on bass. Since the bands formation he’d played every instrument in the band at one stage or another, as well as singing.
Despite all these various line-up changes, the band were at their peak and the next two 45′s, Whatcha Gonna Do & (The Small Faces’ cover) I Need You (This isn’t the Kinks’ version but an original group composition) were hot. With two fantastic B sides to back ‘em up (You’re Gonna Miss Me – is a 13th Floor Elevators’ cover), it’s surprising that the band didn’t make the charts. (Maybe this isn’t really so surprising when you hear the total wyldness of the tracks.)
You're Gonna Miss Me
The history of the band from hereon in is pretty vague. It appears that they went into some kind of limbo for the rest of ’67 and most of 1968. White seems to be the only one who hung in there. By mid to late ’68, he must’ve assembled another band under the Tom Thumb banner, because they somehow got a contract with HMV, and late in 1968 they released a cover of Nilsson’s One.
Late in 1968 the band secured a full page article in Playdate, (NZ’s equivalent of our Go Set) in which they admitted that there had been many personnel changes in the intervening period, and that instead of the soul and blues material the old Tom Thumb had been noted for, the new group would be playing strictly commerical numbers which would appeal to teenagers!! “They do not want to be a group that is appreciated only by other musicians.”
I Need You
They toured up and down both the south and north islands, to mixed receptions. Some thought they were fantastic, others were unimpressed. Without trying to be too broad and condescending. they adopted a Procol Harum-ish kind’ve sound.
By late in 1969 when their second to last 45 had come out, When The First Tear Shows, the line-up had firmed at drummer Tom Swainson, lead guitarisr Mike Farrell, vocalist Bruce Songten, and the erstwhile Rick White on bass. The article that I got this tidbit from stated that they were yet to make the NZ charts with any of their records, an interesting fact considering they had seven 45s under their belts. Tom Thumb broke up in June 1970. They’d been together for four years and had seventeen different members. Rick White stuck it out to the bitter end. Whatever happened to the various members -well, I s’pose nobody really cares now. But let’s make allowances to the fact that those two La Gloria 45′s are as good as anything that came out of the UK, the US or Australia.
c.1966
Band Members:-
Pieter de Vries – Bass
Keith Cannon – Vocals
Robert Ingram – Guitar
Andrew Ingram – Drums
John Thompson – Bass
Ian Winters – Guitar
Record Releases:-
Happiness Street/Beautiful Delilah (HMV EA-4738) c.late 64.65
All My Dreams Come True/You Were The One (HMV EA-????) ??-65
This cover is a rollicking Chuck Berry number (Beautiful Delilah).
Any info on this band would be greatly appreciated!