and friends
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Little Bands
Friends
of the Calculators used the bands equipment and practiced in their front room of their house in Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy,
for
most of the day and late into the night. The Calculators decided to use
their
friends as support acts, as life was much simpler setting up only one
band's
equipment during gigs and the Calculators only had a 30 minute set. An
emphasis was placed on "disposable bands" i.e. play once or twice and
reform into something completely different. All the Calculators formed
their own
little band or played in other little bands.
"Little Band" nights were occassionally held at the Champion Hotel and unknown people started turning up to play their 3 song or 15-minute sets. No major damage to Calculators equipment was experienced, except for the odd broken guitar string.
North Fitzroy Beat interview with Alan Bamford, John Murphy,
Greg Sun and Stuart Grant (Late 1979) - pdf *
Alan
Bamford and Jim Buck talking about Little Bands (1981) - pdf *
Frank Lovece and Jim Buck talking about Little Bands (January 5th, 1981) - pdf *
Tom Hoy and Jim Buck talking about Little Bands (February 17th, 1981) - pdf *
Arne Hanna and John Desailly
talking about Little Bands (1981?) - pdf *
Jim Buck's memories from Feb 3 1980 Little Band gig - pdf
Vikki Riley article about Little Bands in Vox (1981) - pdf
Interview
with Denise and Dave talking about Little Bands (2005) - audio
Michael Buckley's take on Little Bands (2021) - pdf
*Fom tapes transcribed by Alan Bamford.
Thank you Alan.
Info about Little Bands Part 2 here
Songs recorded by Alan Bamford on Soundcloud here
Dates of Little Band gigs from 1980 by Jim Buck
Little Bands Part 1 - August 1979 to early March 1980
Thank you Janis Lesinskis for taking the Champion Hotel photos below.
Thanks Max Robenstone for having a great record shop, letting us play there and pay for the pressing of our singles. RIP Max, loved your work.
Early versions of little bands included:
The Take with Frank Lovece and Marisa Stirpe.
Ronnie and the Rhythm Boys with Denise Rosenberg and Stuart Grant. 96 Tears - I wanna be your girlfriend (Recorded earlier in practice room at Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy)
The Leapfrogs with David Light, Lee Smith, Jules Taylor, Mark Ryan and Jim Addison.
The Primitive Calculators and MYL played as well.
The audience included Robert Palmer (in Melbourne at the time)and Bob Starkey. Robert liked the Take, but not much else.
Little Band gig supporting the Calculators.
Too Fat To Fit Thru the Door
The Take
Ronnie and the Rhythm Boys
Little Band gig at Champion Hotel, Fitzroy.
Wednesday December 19.
Probably to launch the Little Bands EP.
Photos/details to come if I can find any.
Released by Max Robenstone and Alan Bamford with plain black label.
Bands and songs included:
- Too Fat Too Fit Through The Door: "Flintstones Meet The Flintstones" (Marcus Bergner, Michael Buckley, Marie Hoy, Tom Hoy, Dave Light and Stuart Grant)
- Morpions: "Point Blank" (Lee Smith, Wendy Morrissey, Stuart Grant)
- The Take: "Summer" (Frank Lovece, guitar, Tom Hoy, bass, Marisa Stirpe, vocals)
- Ronnie And The Rhythm Boys: "Hey Joe" (Stuart Grant, vocals, keyboards and drum machine, Denise Rosenberg, vocals, Jules Taylor vocals)
Thrush and the C unts
The Hoy Family
Oroton Bags
Zye Ye Ye single
7" single from July 1981, released in England, after Stuart and Denise spent 3 months living in Taghazout, Morocco (Dec 1980 to Feb 1981).
Loosely based on a song learnt from a Sudanese man living in Taghazout, named Mohammad. Read Denise's memories from that trip.
Recorded and released in England with Stuart, John Murphy, Ollie Olsen, Marie Hoy, Andree Dolby and other Australians living there at the time.
1974 - 1980 | PC Releases | Use No Hooks | Bum Steers| Bum Club | Dogs in Space | 2009 - 2016 | Denise & Dave Sing | Home