Mental As Anything
Encyclopedia
Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave
–rock music
band formed at an art school
in Sydney
in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza
(real name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar
; Reg Mombassa
(real name Chris O'Doherty) on lead guitar
and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty
on bass guitar
and vocals; Wayne "Bird" Delisle (real name David Twohill
) on drums
; and Andrew "Greedy" Smith
on vocals, keyboards
and harmonica
. Their hit songs were generated by Mombassa, O'Doherty (Peter), Plaza and Smith, either individually or collectively.
The sentence "mental as anything" is late 1970s Australian slang for being crazy, outlandish, having extreme fun, or 'going off'.
Their top ten Australian singles
are, "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?" and "Too Many Times" in 1981, "Live it Up" in 1985 and "Rock and Roll Music
" in 1988. While their top ten albums are, Cats & Dogs in 1981, Creatures of Leisure
in 1983, Fundamental
in 1985 and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 in 1986. They had top 50 chart success with "Too Many Times" and its album, Cats & Dogs in Canada, which followed touring North America in support of Men At Work
. "Live it Up" reached the top 50 in European charts including peaking at #3 in UK, #4 in Norway
, and #6 in Germany
, after it featured in the 1986 Australian film "Crocodile" Dundee.
All of the early members are visual artists and have had combined studio displays, some have had solo studio displays with Mombassa's artwork also used as designs by the Mambo
clothing company. The majority of the group's record covers, posters and video clips have been designed and created by themselves or their art school contemporaries. On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
alongside Kev Carmody
, The Dingoes
, Little Pattie
and John Paul Young
.
, despite the fact that two key members (the O'Doherty brothers) were in fact immigrants from New Zealand
. The group's art school background and visual design skills also made them pioneers of the music video form in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and their videos rank as some of the funniest and most imaginative produced in Australia at that time.
Mental As Anything are comparable with British band Madness
, in that their music is typically delivered with a quirky, ironic sense of humour and a strong visual identity.
in 1976 when Martin Murphy (Martin Plaza
) met fellow student, New Zealand-born, Chris O'Doherty (Reg Mombassa
) at Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education (later a campus of Sydney College of Advanced Education
), the city's leading art school
. The duo were soon jamming in guitar
ist and vocalist O'Doherty's Darlinghurst
flat, Murphy, on guitar and vocals, brought in his college friend Steve Coburn (son of artist, John Coburn) on bass guitar
, while another student, David Twohill
(Wayne "Bird" Delisle), was recruited on drums
.
They were first billed as Mental as Anything on 14 May 1976, after some early party appearances without a name. Prior to the gig at a Chippendale Settlement Dance, they provided the promoter, Paul Worstead, with a list of possible names. Worstead chose Mental As Anything—which was how fellow artist Ken Bolton
described them after one of their earlier party performances—and designed an accompanying poster featuring an image of a truck hauling a giant cabbage (see at right).
Late in 1976, another fellow student, Andrew "Greedy" Smith
made guest appearances with the band on harmonica
whilst still a member of another band, and by year's end Smith had joined full time and he also played keyboards
. Coburn left the fledgling band in 1977 and Mombassa's younger brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty
joined on bass guitar completing the "classic" line-up. The first performance of the new line-up was at Sydney's Cell Block Theatre on 17 August, the day news broke in Australia of the death of Elvis Presley
. They played numerous Elvis covers
and two original songs, together with their usual set of Blues, Rockabilly
, Country
and 1960s covers including Roy Orbison
and The Monkees
. The band built up a live following in Sydney with their residencies at the Unicorn Hotel in inner-city Paddington
on Mondays and the Civic Hotel in the CBD
on Thursdays. At the Unicorn Hotel, their stage was on top of the pool table to free up floor space.
The band was spotted by film-makers Cameron Allen and Martin Fabinyi
, who founded their own independent record label
, Regular Records, in September 1978 to record and release the group's music. Fabinyi's brother Jeremy Fabinyi became Mental As Anything's manager. Their debut release was a three-track EP
, Mental As Anything Play at Your Party, in December. It featured all original tracks, and is their only release on which Plaza and Mombassa were credited by their original names, Martin Murphy and Chris O'Doherty, respectively. Sydney radio station Double Jay (now Triple J
), gave airplay to its most popular track, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger", a drinking song written by Plaza, which showed a stylistic debt to British New Wave
. Soon after the EP's release, the Australian arm of Festival Records took over distribution of Regular Records and released a remix of "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" as a single in July 1979. This was followed on 1 November by the band's debut album, Get Wet, with Allen producing. With support from nationwide TV pop show Countdown, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" became the group's first Australian Kent Music Report
top 20 hit, and also made #1 on the UK alternative charts when released there by Virgin Records
and remains one of the group's most popular songs. Get Wet achieved a top 20 position on the Kent Music Report albums chart.
By the time of the LP's release in November, all but Peter O'Doherty had adopted a pseudonym
: Chris O'Doherty became Reg Mombassa; Murphy became Martin Plaza—his name copied from the title of the pedestrian plaza in central Sydney, also known as Martin Place; Smith's voracious appetite saw him dubbed "Greedy"; and Twohill became Wayne "Bird" Delisle. Twohill was later billed under his real name from 1995. Shortly before the names had been settled, Peter O'Doherty had a pseudonym, Ouzo Pork—at that stage his brother was known as Brett Orlando—but he kept his real name for professional purposes, from June 1982 his nickname, as used in interviews, was Yoga Dog. The band completed their first national tour in late 1979, supporting British rockers Rockpile
, with members Dave Edmunds
and Nick Lowe
.
movie, which peaked into the top 40. Their fourth single, "Come Around" returned them to the top 20 in June, it was followed by a top 30 hit with "Just Like Romeo And Juliet", a non-album single in November 1980, an upbeat cover
of the 1964 hit by The Reflections
.
They scored a #4 national hit with Plaza's cleverly titled "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?" released in May 1981. Smith penned the follow-up, "Too Many Times", which became a #6 hit. It was accompanied by a music video shot on a building block in a Sydney seaside suburb and brought Mental As Anything international exposure by becoming a top 40 hit in Canada
in July 1982, when they toured North America in support of Men at Work
.
The next single, "Berserk Warriors" (December 1981), was a satirical tribute to ABBA
, although the concurrent release of the pop hit "Swords of a Thousand Men" by British band Tenpole Tudor
prevented Mental As Anything from realising their plan to make a Viking
-themed music video to promote it, although they did eventually make the clip as planned and included it on their subsequent video album compilation. All of the 1981 singles were included on their Bruce Brown
and Russell Dunlop
produced Cats & Dogs, which became their biggest success to date, reaching #3 nationally. Mombassa's "Let's Cook" (April 1982) was a radio-only single. Mental As Anything members were also visual artists
and held their first exhibition of their works in May. In June, during his tour of Australia, Elvis Costello
heard them and produced their next single "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" (August 1982), written by Plaza.
A compilation album, If You Leave Me, was released in September 1982 in the United States and Men at Work, then at the peak of their popularity, had included Mental As Anything as a support act on their US tour. Peter O'Doherty wrote the band's next single, the sentimental "Close Again" (November), from their fourth album, Creatures of Leisure
, released in April 1983 and produced by Brown and Dunlop, which peaked at #8. It provided two more singles, the Smith and Mombassa collaboration "Spirit Got Lost" (March), which was accompanied by an imaginative animated video clip, and Pete O'Doherty's "Brain Brain" (September). To promote, "Spirit Got Lost", Mental As Anything performed the single on Countdown with the episode's director, Kris Noble, using a dry ice
-filled coffin with a band member due to emerge; complaints from within the coffin were ignored by Noble with "It's only another 30 seconds", until a crew member remembered that dry ice could cause nausea, choking or even death.
Their final 1983 single was a cover of Roy Orbison
's "Working for the Man" (November), produced by Mark Moffatt and Ricky Fataar
. Internationally, Creatures of Leisure was altered to drop three Australia-only tracks and replace them with both sides of the "Working for the Man" single.
It was another year before their next single, Mombassa and Plaza's blackly humorous Christmas release, "Apocalypso (Wiping the Smile off Santa's Face)" appeared in December 1984, which was one of the first Australian recordings to be remixed as a 12" 'disco' version. The innovative stop-motion video by B Sharp Productions to promote "Apocalypso" later shared the "Best Promotional Video" award—with INXS
' "Burn for You" by Richard Lowenstein
—at the 1984 Countdown Awards held in 1985.
began to gain prominence with his songwriting success and became the lead vocalist on several songs. Plaza's deep, sultry vocals contrasted well with Smith's higher pitched pop and falsetto
. Smith penned and sang the next two singles, both from their Fundamental
album produced by Richard Gottehrer
and released in September 1985, which peaked at #3. "You're So Strong" (March 1985), which peaked at #11 in Australia and also charted in the top 30 of the US Billboard
Hot Dance Club Songs chart; it was followed by their biggest Australian hit "Live it Up" (May 1985) which climbed to #2. The single also reached #3 in the UK in 1987, and was a hit in Europe, after being included in the soundtrack of the hugely successful Australian 1986 film "Crocodile" Dundee.
The band performed three songs in the 1985 Oz for Africa
concert (part of the global Live Aid
program) - "Live it Up", "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? " and "You're So Strong". It was broadcast both in Australia and on MTV
in the US. Smith's "Date With Destiny" (September 1985) peaked into the top 30 but Plaza's "Big Wheel" (November 1985) did not reach the top 50. In December 1986, they performed under the pseudonym
, The Death Barrels, in a competition sponsored by Mambo
, Battle of the Surf Bands at Selina's Coogee Bay
Hotel.
1986 saw the release of "Greatest Hits Volume 1" which reached number 2 on the Australian charts. "Sloppy Croc", an instrumental that featured on the Crocodile Dundee Soundtrack alongside "Live It Up", was released as a single in Australia but with little promotion, failed to chart.
From late in 1986 to early 1987, Mental As Anything were the opening act on the multi-group Australian Made
concert tour where they were joined by former Dynamic Hepnotics
keyboardist Mike Gubb. The tour started with claims of mateship and cooperation; however arguments ensued between various band managers over the proposed concert series film. At the Sydney concert, Peter Trotter, playing saxophone
for Mental As Anything, collapsed on stage and died a week later. The tour ended in acrimony with two managers, Chris Murphy (for INXS) and Jeremy Fabinyi (for Mental As Anything), arguing backstage in Sydney and coming to blows. A film of the tour, Australian Made: The Movie, directed by Richard Lowenstein
, was released in July 1987, but contained no footage of Mental As Anything performing. They followed the Australian Made tour by extensive touring of Europe and the UK on the back of the success of "Live it Up" and to promote their album of that year Mouth To Mouth, again produced by Gottehrer
Mouth To Mouth charted in the top 20 in Australia and the two singles lifted from it, "He's Just No Good For You" and "Don't Tell Me Now" both charted in the Top 40, as did a further single at years end, a cover of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender".
In late 1988, a cover of the Chuck Berry
chestnut "Rock and Roll Music
"—recorded for the Yahoo Serious
movie Young Einstein
—went top 5 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) Singles Charts
. The single appeared on their next album, Cyclone Raymond, produced by Steve James, Mark Moffatt, Mark Opitz
and Robyn Smith; which peaked into the top 40 ARIA Albums Charts in October 1989. A planned first single for 1989, "Love Comes Running" was cancelled from release in Australia, instead appearing in New Zealand only. The first single released in 1989 from the album, "The World Seems Difficult" was a top twenty hit, but polished up for the overseas market, sounded unlike anything the band had previously released. Two further singles, "Baby You're Wild" and "Overwhelmed" did not peak into the top 50, and promotion of the album was hindered after Smith injured his arm in a horse riding accident, and was hospitalised, which forced tour concerts to be postponed or cancelled. By early 1990, Mental As Anything members agreed to take a sabbatical to work on solo work and side projects. Then Deputy Prime Minister
, Paul Keating
, opened their second group studio art exhibition in 1990.
and released the album, Two Heads One Brain. Studio musicians were Mike Gubb on keyboards
(ex-Dynamic Hepnotics
, Mental as Anything), John Bliss on drums
(ex-The Reels
) and Mark Honeybrook on bass guitar
. Further releases followed with EPs
, Kiss a Gun Down in October 1992 and Strange Brew in October 1993. After returning to Mental As Anything, they continued with their Dog Trumpet side project and provided three further album releases.
Mombassa also designed innumerable t-shirts, posters, videos and record covers for Mental As Anything and other bands. His most recent album cover is for Public Image Limited's "Greatest Hits So Far". Johnny Lydon
spied Reg's work on Mambo clothing and sought him out to do their album cover. Reg's talents extend to illustrations and writings for, among others, Rolling Stone
, Stiletto, RAM, Dolly and FMG.
In 1986 Plaza had released a solo single, a cover of the 1960s Unit 4 + 2
song "Concrete and Clay
", which was a #2 hit, the subsequent solo album, Plaza Suite, also charted. In 1991, during his sabbatical from Mental As Anything, Plaza collaborated with former member of Models
, James Freud
. As Beatfish, they released the self-titled album, Beatfish, which was one of the first Australian Dance or House flavoured albums. Plaza's 1994 album Andy's Chest, composed almost entirely of Lou Reed
covers. Another collaboration with Freud occurred in 1996 and resulted in the Hawaii
an inspired Moondog project with Plaza appearing on some tracks of the album, Postcard from Hawaii.
Smith performed with his band, Greedy's on the Loose, during 1992 but there was no recorded output; while Twohill returned to art college and finished his degree. In 1996, Smith released his solo album, Love Harmonica and toured with his band, Greedy's People which re-recorded his solo album and released it as, Greedy's People in 1997.
In 2006 Smith appeared on television gameshow You May be Right
, hosted by Todd McKenney
. The program pitches two teams of celebrities against each other as their knowledge of movies, music and television is put to the test in a series of fun trivia games.
, for the soundtrack to the Yahoo Serious
film Reckless Kelly
and released a compilation
of rare album tracks and b-sides Chemical Travel in November.
By mid-1994 the band recorded an album's worth of self-produced material but were having difficulty getting a release deal. They self released an EP of songs, Bicycle, and gave it away on their summer 1994/95 tour of NSW and Queensland. Radio station, Triple J
received a copy of the Bicycle EP on Christmas Day 1994 and put the lead track "Mr Natural" on immediate heavy rotation. Other stations followed and the demand led to the track being given a commercial release as a single and reaching the top 30 on the ARIA Charts (although charting higher in the States where the tour and free EP didn't reach). The resulting album, 1995's Liar, Liar Pants on Fire reached the top 40, with Mombassa's cover taking out the 'Best Cover Art' award at the 1996 ARIA Music Awards.
Three further singles were lifted off "Liar Liar" in 1995 and 1996, Mombassa's "Nigel" which just failed to chart, a cover of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" which landed just out of the Top 50 (Top 30 in Victoria) and O'Doherty's tribute to Ms Faithful, "Marianne", which was released as the band supported Chris Issak on his 1996 tour of Australia.
On 16 August 1997, Mental As Anything celebrated 20 years together with the same line-up with a free birthday show at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney. Late 1997 saw the band put together their third group art exhibition, Mentals III, which was opened by former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam
, at the Manly Art Gallery (Paul Keating
had opened their second group exhibition in 1990). Their 21st anniversary in 1998 was marked with the release of the last album by this lineup, Garàge, which did not reach the top 50, nor did the two singles lifted from it, "Just My Luck" and "Calling Colin". December 1999 saw the release of "Best of Mental As Anything" which was accredited by ARIA with a gold certificate by 2001, and a seasonal single "White Christmas", that was given away at their "Yule Party" gig at Sydney's Metro Theatre.
, and their art careers. The last tour by this line-up was a short trip to Vietnam organsied by the Australian Government. They were replaced by David 'Duck' Barraclough (ex-The Exponents
) and Murray Cook (ex-Leah Purcell
, Mixed Relations
). Cook (no relation to Murray Cook of The Wiggles
) left the band after the Beetroot Stains album (2000) and was replaced by New Zealand born Mike Caen, who had worked with Jenny Morris, Margaret Urlich
, Rick Price
, Daryl Braithwaite
and Tina Arena
. The Road Case album by this line-up appeared late in 2002.
In 2003 the band started recording favourite covers that had inspired the band in its early days, including songs such as "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
", "Lonesome Train", "Hangin Five", with a view to releasing an album under the title Songs the Lord Tortoise. Although completing the album in 2004 it was never released.
The next line-up change occurred in September 2004 when Twohill was sacked from the band by Plaza and Smith. Upon return to Sydney following a tour of Western Australia by the band Twohill was told at the airport that he had played his last show for the band. Twohill lodged a wrongful dismissal case against his former bandmates with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in 2007. At the hearing Twohill said he had "no inkling" that his fellow bandmates were dissatisfied with his performances and his attitude, whereas Plaza advised that the band had been discussing Twohill's future for some time and had issued the drummer with a warning after alleged unprofessional behaviour during a gig at Ettalong, north of Sydney, in December 2003.
Twohill was successful in his claim, with Justice Frank Marks stating that the band gave "no basis" for the expulsion. He was replaced by Robbie Souter, a veteran of Dynamic Hepnotics
, Slim Dusty
band and other country and roots music combos. This line-up recorded the acoustic Plucked, released in November 2005. In 2007 they toured Papua New Guinea
for the first time to play three gigs in the capital Port Moresby
as part of "Australia Week".
In May 2009 the band released the compilation album Essential as Anything, celebrating thirty years since the release of their first EP and national tour of their debut album. The album also included a DVD of all the video clips released by the band. Additionally Mental As Anything re-issued all ten of the band's albums as digital downloads. The band also released a new studio album, Tents Up, in June and toured nationally in support of both releases. On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
alongside Kev Carmody
, The Dingoes
, Little Pattie
and John Paul Young
. Mombassa said that it was an honour to be inducted and thanked fans and industry supporters. At the ceremony they were inducted by Roy Slaven and they performed "Live It Up", "The Nips are Getting Bigger" and "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too" with Mombassa and O'Doherty rejoining them onstage.
In October 2009 the band appeared live in Sydney's Apple store with a digital download EP in the "iTunes Live from Sydney: Aussie Legends" series appearing the next day. An extensive pictorial Biography of Mombassa, titled the "Mind Of Times of Reg Mombassa" appeared in November, and by virtue of the subject served as a defacto biography of Mental As Anything up to Mombassa's departure in 2000. The Summer of 2009/2010 saw a national tour for the current line-up supporting the B-52s and Proclaimers. In mid 2010 children's entertainers, The Wiggles
, released their "Let's Eat" album with the lead track being a collaboration with Smith, Plaza, Mombassa and O'Doherty on a re-recording of "Let's Cook".
The band continue to tour regularly, playing smaller venues throughout Australia's cities and regional centres.
(APRA) in 1982 to honour the achievements of songwriters and music composers, and to recognise their songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance, by its members annually. Andrew "Greedy" Smith
of Mental As Anything won the APRA Award
for "Most Performed Australasian Popular Work" in 1987 for "Live it Up".
|-
|| 1987 || "Live it Up" by Greedy Smith
|| Most Performed Australasian Popular Work ||
(ARIA) Awards including their 2009 induction into their Hall of Fame
. This induction recognised their achievement of a "significant body of recorded work" and that they "had a cultural impact within Australia".
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1995
|| "Mr Natural" || Best Pop Release ||
|-
| | "Mr Natural" by Reg Mombassa
|| Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 1996
|| Liar Liar Pants on Fire by Reg Mombassa || Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 1999
|| Garàge by Reg Mombassa || Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 2009
|| Mental As Anything || Hall of Fame
||
TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV
from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week
but then independently. TV Week had previously sponsored the 'King of Pop' awards. The Countdown Music and Video Awards were succeeded by the ARIA Awards.
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1979 || "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" || Best Single ||
|-
| | Mental As Anything || Best New Talent ||
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1981 || "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?" || Best Single ||
|-
| | Cats & Dogs || Best Album ||
|-
| | Mental As Anything || Most Consistent Live Act ||
|-
| | 1984 || "Apocalypso" || Best Video ||
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1985 || Fundamental
|| Best Album ||
|-
| | "Live it Up" || Best Single ||
|-
| | Greedy Smith
|| Best Songwriter ||
|-
| | "Live it Up" || Best Group Performance in a Video ||
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
–rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band formed at an art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza
Martin Plaza
Martin Plaza is the pseudonym of Martin Edward Murphy , who is a vocalist/guitarist/songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Plaza also has a solo music career and in 1986 had a #2 hit in Australia with his cover of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay"...
(real name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
; Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...
(real name Chris O'Doherty) on lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty
Peter O'Doherty
Peter O'Doherty is a musician with Australian band Dog Trumpet and formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything. He is also a recognised fine artist specialising in still life and everyday suburban scenes....
on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and vocals; Wayne "Bird" Delisle (real name David Twohill
David Twohill
David Twohill is a musician formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything who is also known by the pseudonym Wayne DeLisle or as Bird.-Early life:...
) on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
; and Andrew "Greedy" Smith
Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
on vocals, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. Their hit songs were generated by Mombassa, O'Doherty (Peter), Plaza and Smith, either individually or collectively.
The sentence "mental as anything" is late 1970s Australian slang for being crazy, outlandish, having extreme fun, or 'going off'.
Their top ten Australian singles
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
are, "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?" and "Too Many Times" in 1981, "Live it Up" in 1985 and "Rock and Roll Music
Rock and Roll Music
"Rock and Roll Music" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry which became a hit single in 1957 and has been covered by many artists....
" in 1988. While their top ten albums are, Cats & Dogs in 1981, Creatures of Leisure
Creatures of Leisure
- International Edition :The version of Creatures Of Leisure released in North America dropped the tracks "Space To Let", "Not Enough" and "Country In The Concrete", and added "Working For The Man" and "Seems Alright To Me"...
in 1983, Fundamental
Fundamental (Mental As Anything album)
Fundamental or Fundamental As Anything is the fifth studio album released by Australian rock/pop group Mental As Anything. The album, produced by Richard Gottehrer was released on Regular Records in March 1985, which peaked at #3 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums charts...
in 1985 and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 in 1986. They had top 50 chart success with "Too Many Times" and its album, Cats & Dogs in Canada, which followed touring North America in support of Men At Work
Men at Work
Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
. "Live it Up" reached the top 50 in European charts including peaking at #3 in UK, #4 in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and #6 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, after it featured in the 1986 Australian film "Crocodile" Dundee.
All of the early members are visual artists and have had combined studio displays, some have had solo studio displays with Mombassa's artwork also used as designs by the Mambo
Mambo Graphics
Mambo is an Australian surf and street clothing brand. It was launched in 1984, by and business partner, Andrew Rich in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.- Early Days :...
clothing company. The majority of the group's record covers, posters and video clips have been designed and created by themselves or their art school contemporaries. On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
alongside Kev Carmody
Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
, The Dingoes
The Dingoes
The Dingoes are an Australian country rock band initially active from 1973 to 1979, formed in Melbourne they relocated to the United States from 1976. Most stable line-up was John Bois on bass guitar, John Lee on drums, Broderick Smith on vocals and harmonica, Chris Stockley on guitar and Kerryn...
, Little Pattie
Little Pattie
Little Pattie is the stage name of Australian singer, Patricia Thelma Amphlett OAM later Patricia Thompson, who performed as a 1960s surf pop singer and then in adult contemporary music...
and John Paul Young
John Paul Young
John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
.
Style
Mental As Anything's music is characterised by poppy, accessible and well-crafted melodies and lyrics, and their work showcases an ironic, satirical and self-deprecating sense of humour. They are a typically "Australian" rock group, with their music and their satirical, good-time image deeply rooted in the milieu of Australian suburbiaSubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
, despite the fact that two key members (the O'Doherty brothers) were in fact immigrants from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The group's art school background and visual design skills also made them pioneers of the music video form in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and their videos rank as some of the funniest and most imaginative produced in Australia at that time.
Mental As Anything are comparable with British band Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
, in that their music is typically delivered with a quirky, ironic sense of humour and a strong visual identity.
Formation and early years: 1976–1979
The group formed in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1976 when Martin Murphy (Martin Plaza
Martin Plaza
Martin Plaza is the pseudonym of Martin Edward Murphy , who is a vocalist/guitarist/songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Plaza also has a solo music career and in 1986 had a #2 hit in Australia with his cover of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay"...
) met fellow student, New Zealand-born, Chris O'Doherty (Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...
) at Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education (later a campus of Sydney College of Advanced Education
Sydney College of Advanced Education
The Sydney College of Advanced Education was an educational institution in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that existed from 1981 to 1989. The Commonwealth government announced recommendations for a consolidation of higher education provision in March 1981...
), the city's leading art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
. The duo were soon jamming in guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and vocalist O'Doherty's Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst, New South Wales
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney...
flat, Murphy, on guitar and vocals, brought in his college friend Steve Coburn (son of artist, John Coburn) on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, while another student, David Twohill
David Twohill
David Twohill is a musician formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything who is also known by the pseudonym Wayne DeLisle or as Bird.-Early life:...
(Wayne "Bird" Delisle), was recruited on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
.
They were first billed as Mental as Anything on 14 May 1976, after some early party appearances without a name. Prior to the gig at a Chippendale Settlement Dance, they provided the promoter, Paul Worstead, with a list of possible names. Worstead chose Mental As Anything—which was how fellow artist Ken Bolton
Ken Bolton
Ken Bolton is an Australian poet and art critic.Bolton was born in Sydney and studied fine arts at the University of Sydney, where he also tutored. In the late 70s he edited the poetry magazine Magic Sam and began the small press Sea Cruise Books with Anna Couani. His first book of poems, Four...
described them after one of their earlier party performances—and designed an accompanying poster featuring an image of a truck hauling a giant cabbage (see at right).
Late in 1976, another fellow student, Andrew "Greedy" Smith
Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
made guest appearances with the band on harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
whilst still a member of another band, and by year's end Smith had joined full time and he also played keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. Coburn left the fledgling band in 1977 and Mombassa's younger brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty
Peter O'Doherty
Peter O'Doherty is a musician with Australian band Dog Trumpet and formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything. He is also a recognised fine artist specialising in still life and everyday suburban scenes....
joined on bass guitar completing the "classic" line-up. The first performance of the new line-up was at Sydney's Cell Block Theatre on 17 August, the day news broke in Australia of the death of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. They played numerous Elvis covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
and two original songs, together with their usual set of Blues, Rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, Country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and 1960s covers including Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
and The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
. The band built up a live following in Sydney with their residencies at the Unicorn Hotel in inner-city Paddington
Paddington, New South Wales
Paddington is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Paddington is located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of the City of Sydney and the Municipality of Woollahra...
on Mondays and the Civic Hotel in the CBD
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
on Thursdays. At the Unicorn Hotel, their stage was on top of the pool table to free up floor space.
The band was spotted by film-makers Cameron Allen and Martin Fabinyi
Martin Fabinyi
Martin Fabinyi is an Australian film and television producer and director, songwriter and screenwriter and has written books on the local rock music scene. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Mushroom Pictures from its formation in 1995 to 2009. His film projects include the features Chopper ,...
, who founded their own independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
, Regular Records, in September 1978 to record and release the group's music. Fabinyi's brother Jeremy Fabinyi became Mental As Anything's manager. Their debut release was a three-track EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Mental As Anything Play at Your Party, in December. It featured all original tracks, and is their only release on which Plaza and Mombassa were credited by their original names, Martin Murphy and Chris O'Doherty, respectively. Sydney radio station Double Jay (now Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
), gave airplay to its most popular track, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger", a drinking song written by Plaza, which showed a stylistic debt to British New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. Soon after the EP's release, the Australian arm of Festival Records took over distribution of Regular Records and released a remix of "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" as a single in July 1979. This was followed on 1 November by the band's debut album, Get Wet, with Allen producing. With support from nationwide TV pop show Countdown, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" became the group's first Australian Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
top 20 hit, and also made #1 on the UK alternative charts when released there by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
and remains one of the group's most popular songs. Get Wet achieved a top 20 position on the Kent Music Report albums chart.
By the time of the LP's release in November, all but Peter O'Doherty had adopted a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
: Chris O'Doherty became Reg Mombassa; Murphy became Martin Plaza—his name copied from the title of the pedestrian plaza in central Sydney, also known as Martin Place; Smith's voracious appetite saw him dubbed "Greedy"; and Twohill became Wayne "Bird" Delisle. Twohill was later billed under his real name from 1995. Shortly before the names had been settled, Peter O'Doherty had a pseudonym, Ouzo Pork—at that stage his brother was known as Brett Orlando—but he kept his real name for professional purposes, from June 1982 his nickname, as used in interviews, was Yoga Dog. The band completed their first national tour in late 1979, supporting British rockers Rockpile
Rockpile
Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave...
, with members Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds
David 'Dave' Edmunds is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.-Early bands:As a teenager Edmunds first...
and Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
.
The salad days: 1980–1984
Mental As Anything's next two singles—Plaza's "Possible Theme for a Future TV Drama Series" (November 1979) and Mombassa's "Egypt" (January 1980)—did not reach the top 50. Their second LP Espresso Bongo, released in July was named after the Cliff RichardCliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
movie, which peaked into the top 40. Their fourth single, "Come Around" returned them to the top 20 in June, it was followed by a top 30 hit with "Just Like Romeo And Juliet", a non-album single in November 1980, an upbeat cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the 1964 hit by The Reflections
The Reflections
The Reflections was the name of a number of musical groups.Perhaps the best known were a blue-eyed soul/doo-wop group from Detroit, Michigan. They had one hit single in 1964 called " Romeo and Juliet", written by Bob Hamilton and Freddie Gorman. The song was produced by Rob Reeco on Golden World...
.
They scored a #4 national hit with Plaza's cleverly titled "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?" released in May 1981. Smith penned the follow-up, "Too Many Times", which became a #6 hit. It was accompanied by a music video shot on a building block in a Sydney seaside suburb and brought Mental As Anything international exposure by becoming a top 40 hit in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in July 1982, when they toured North America in support of Men at Work
Men at Work
Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
.
The next single, "Berserk Warriors" (December 1981), was a satirical tribute to ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, although the concurrent release of the pop hit "Swords of a Thousand Men" by British band Tenpole Tudor
Tenpole Tudor
Tenpole Tudor are an English punk band fronted by Edward Tudor-Pole. The band has been active intermittently since 1977.-Origins:Tenpole Tudor formed in 1977 when Tudor-Pole met guitarist Bob Kingston , bassist Dick Crippen, and drummer Gary Long...
prevented Mental As Anything from realising their plan to make a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
-themed music video to promote it, although they did eventually make the clip as planned and included it on their subsequent video album compilation. All of the 1981 singles were included on their Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown is an American documentary film director, known as an early pioneer of the surf film...
and Russell Dunlop
Russell Dunlop
Russell Dunlop was a prominent Australian musician, singer, composer and record producer-engineer, best known for his partnership with Bruce Brown and their co-production of notable 1980s albums and singles by Australian performers including Mental As Anything, The Reels and...
produced Cats & Dogs, which became their biggest success to date, reaching #3 nationally. Mombassa's "Let's Cook" (April 1982) was a radio-only single. Mental As Anything members were also visual artists
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and held their first exhibition of their works in May. In June, during his tour of Australia, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
heard them and produced their next single "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" (August 1982), written by Plaza.
A compilation album, If You Leave Me, was released in September 1982 in the United States and Men at Work, then at the peak of their popularity, had included Mental As Anything as a support act on their US tour. Peter O'Doherty wrote the band's next single, the sentimental "Close Again" (November), from their fourth album, Creatures of Leisure
Creatures of Leisure
- International Edition :The version of Creatures Of Leisure released in North America dropped the tracks "Space To Let", "Not Enough" and "Country In The Concrete", and added "Working For The Man" and "Seems Alright To Me"...
, released in April 1983 and produced by Brown and Dunlop, which peaked at #8. It provided two more singles, the Smith and Mombassa collaboration "Spirit Got Lost" (March), which was accompanied by an imaginative animated video clip, and Pete O'Doherty's "Brain Brain" (September). To promote, "Spirit Got Lost", Mental As Anything performed the single on Countdown with the episode's director, Kris Noble, using a dry ice
Dry ice
Dry ice, sometimes referred to as "Cardice" or as "card ice" , is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is used primarily as a cooling agent. Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue...
-filled coffin with a band member due to emerge; complaints from within the coffin were ignored by Noble with "It's only another 30 seconds", until a crew member remembered that dry ice could cause nausea, choking or even death.
Their final 1983 single was a cover of Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
's "Working for the Man" (November), produced by Mark Moffatt and Ricky Fataar
Ricky Fataar
Ricky Fataar is a South African multi-instrumentalist of Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer, and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in the comedic television movie, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a spoof on the actual history of The Beatles, and for his performance as a...
. Internationally, Creatures of Leisure was altered to drop three Australia-only tracks and replace them with both sides of the "Working for the Man" single.
It was another year before their next single, Mombassa and Plaza's blackly humorous Christmas release, "Apocalypso (Wiping the Smile off Santa's Face)" appeared in December 1984, which was one of the first Australian recordings to be remixed as a 12" 'disco' version. The innovative stop-motion video by B Sharp Productions to promote "Apocalypso" later shared the "Best Promotional Video" award—with INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
' "Burn for You" by Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
—at the 1984 Countdown Awards held in 1985.
Living it up: 1985–1989
Greedy SmithGreedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
began to gain prominence with his songwriting success and became the lead vocalist on several songs. Plaza's deep, sultry vocals contrasted well with Smith's higher pitched pop and falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
. Smith penned and sang the next two singles, both from their Fundamental
Fundamental (Mental As Anything album)
Fundamental or Fundamental As Anything is the fifth studio album released by Australian rock/pop group Mental As Anything. The album, produced by Richard Gottehrer was released on Regular Records in March 1985, which peaked at #3 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums charts...
album produced by Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...
and released in September 1985, which peaked at #3. "You're So Strong" (March 1985), which peaked at #11 in Australia and also charted in the top 30 of the US Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Club Songs chart; it was followed by their biggest Australian hit "Live it Up" (May 1985) which climbed to #2. The single also reached #3 in the UK in 1987, and was a hit in Europe, after being included in the soundtrack of the hugely successful Australian 1986 film "Crocodile" Dundee.
The band performed three songs in the 1985 Oz for Africa
Oz for Africa
Oz for Africa was an Australian concert held on 13 July 1985 at the Sydney Sports and Entertainment Centre. It was broadcast locally and internationally as part of the worldwide Live Aid performances to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The concert featured 17 bands performing some of their...
concert (part of the global Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
program) - "Live it Up", "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? " and "You're So Strong". It was broadcast both in Australia and on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in the US. Smith's "Date With Destiny" (September 1985) peaked into the top 30 but Plaza's "Big Wheel" (November 1985) did not reach the top 50. In December 1986, they performed under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, The Death Barrels, in a competition sponsored by Mambo
Mambo Graphics
Mambo is an Australian surf and street clothing brand. It was launched in 1984, by and business partner, Andrew Rich in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.- Early Days :...
, Battle of the Surf Bands at Selina's Coogee Bay
Coogee, New South Wales
Coogee is a beachside suburb of local government area City of Randwick. It is located 8 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is also a part of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney....
Hotel.
1986 saw the release of "Greatest Hits Volume 1" which reached number 2 on the Australian charts. "Sloppy Croc", an instrumental that featured on the Crocodile Dundee Soundtrack alongside "Live It Up", was released as a single in Australia but with little promotion, failed to chart.
From late in 1986 to early 1987, Mental As Anything were the opening act on the multi-group Australian Made
Australian Made
Australian Made was a festival concert series held during 1986–1987 in the six state capitals of Australia and featured local rock acts Mental as Anything, I'm Talking, The Triffids, The Saints, Divinyls, Models, Jimmy Barnes and INXS. The series started in Hobart on 26 December 1986 and...
concert tour where they were joined by former Dynamic Hepnotics
Dynamic Hepnotics
The Dynamic Hepnotics were a successful Australian soul/blues/funk band during the 1980s. They had major success with their chart topping song Soul Kind Of Feeling in 1984 and 1985, followed up by Gotta Be Wrong later that year....
keyboardist Mike Gubb. The tour started with claims of mateship and cooperation; however arguments ensued between various band managers over the proposed concert series film. At the Sydney concert, Peter Trotter, playing saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
for Mental As Anything, collapsed on stage and died a week later. The tour ended in acrimony with two managers, Chris Murphy (for INXS) and Jeremy Fabinyi (for Mental As Anything), arguing backstage in Sydney and coming to blows. A film of the tour, Australian Made: The Movie, directed by Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
, was released in July 1987, but contained no footage of Mental As Anything performing. They followed the Australian Made tour by extensive touring of Europe and the UK on the back of the success of "Live it Up" and to promote their album of that year Mouth To Mouth, again produced by Gottehrer
Mouth To Mouth charted in the top 20 in Australia and the two singles lifted from it, "He's Just No Good For You" and "Don't Tell Me Now" both charted in the Top 40, as did a further single at years end, a cover of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender".
In late 1988, a cover of the Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
chestnut "Rock and Roll Music
Rock and Roll Music
"Rock and Roll Music" is a song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry which became a hit single in 1957 and has been covered by many artists....
"—recorded for the Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious , born Greg Pead , is an Australian film actor, director and score composer. He is best known for his 1988 comedy Young Einstein. He also created Reckless Kelly in 1993 and Mr. Accident in 2000...
movie Young Einstein
Young Einstein
Young Einstein is an Australian comedy film directed by and starring Yahoo Serious, released in 1988.-Plot:Albert Einstein, the son of an apple farmer in Tasmania in the early 1900s, splits a beer atom with a chisel in order to add bubbles to beer, discovers the theory of relativity and travels to...
—went top 5 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) Singles Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
. The single appeared on their next album, Cyclone Raymond, produced by Steve James, Mark Moffatt, Mark Opitz
Mark Opitz
Mark Opitz, started his career with ABC TV in Sydney in the 1970’s and has since gone on to work with many of the great Australian musicians that have graced both the Australian and international music charts for the past 25 years....
and Robyn Smith; which peaked into the top 40 ARIA Albums Charts in October 1989. A planned first single for 1989, "Love Comes Running" was cancelled from release in Australia, instead appearing in New Zealand only. The first single released in 1989 from the album, "The World Seems Difficult" was a top twenty hit, but polished up for the overseas market, sounded unlike anything the band had previously released. Two further singles, "Baby You're Wild" and "Overwhelmed" did not peak into the top 50, and promotion of the album was hindered after Smith injured his arm in a horse riding accident, and was hospitalised, which forced tour concerts to be postponed or cancelled. By early 1990, Mental As Anything members agreed to take a sabbatical to work on solo work and side projects. Then Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the second-most senior officer in the Government of Australia. The Deputy Prime Ministership has been a ministerial portfolio since 1968, and the Deputy Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime...
, Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
, opened their second group studio art exhibition in 1990.
Side projects and sabbatical: 1986–2006
Mombassa and O'Doherty formed the duo Reg & Peter/Peter & Reg (they alternated names whenever interviewed) and released a single, "Jean" in March 1991, before adopting the band name Dog TrumpetDog Trumpet
Dog Trumpet is an Australian rock band, formed by brothers Peter O'Doherty and Reg Mombassa . Both Mombassa and O'Doherty were founder members of the iconic Australian band Mental as Anything, and they formed Dog Trumpet as an outlet for their original material...
and released the album, Two Heads One Brain. Studio musicians were Mike Gubb on keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(ex-Dynamic Hepnotics
Dynamic Hepnotics
The Dynamic Hepnotics were a successful Australian soul/blues/funk band during the 1980s. They had major success with their chart topping song Soul Kind Of Feeling in 1984 and 1985, followed up by Gotta Be Wrong later that year....
, Mental as Anything), John Bliss on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(ex-The Reels
The Reels
The Reels is an Australian rock/indie pop group which formed in Dubbo, New South Wales in 1976 and initially disbanded in 1991, they eventually reformed in 2007. Their 1981 song, "Quasimodo's Dream", was voted one of the Top 10 Australian songs of all time by a 100-member panel from Australasian...
) and Mark Honeybrook on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. Further releases followed with EPs
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Kiss a Gun Down in October 1992 and Strange Brew in October 1993. After returning to Mental As Anything, they continued with their Dog Trumpet side project and provided three further album releases.
Mombassa also designed innumerable t-shirts, posters, videos and record covers for Mental As Anything and other bands. His most recent album cover is for Public Image Limited's "Greatest Hits So Far". Johnny Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
spied Reg's work on Mambo clothing and sought him out to do their album cover. Reg's talents extend to illustrations and writings for, among others, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Stiletto, RAM, Dolly and FMG.
In 1986 Plaza had released a solo single, a cover of the 1960s Unit 4 + 2
Unit 4 + 2
Unit 4 + 2 were a British pop band, who had a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1965 with the song "Concrete and Clay". The track topped the UK chart for one week.-Early days:...
song "Concrete and Clay
Concrete and Clay
"Concrete and Clay" is the title of a 1965 #1 hit single recorded by the UK pop group Unit 4 + 2: the song was written by group membersTommy Moeller and Brian Parker....
", which was a #2 hit, the subsequent solo album, Plaza Suite, also charted. In 1991, during his sabbatical from Mental As Anything, Plaza collaborated with former member of Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
, James Freud
James Freud
James Randall Freud was an Australian rock musician-songwriter. He was a member of Models during the 1980s and wrote their two most popular singles, "Barbados" and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight"....
. As Beatfish, they released the self-titled album, Beatfish, which was one of the first Australian Dance or House flavoured albums. Plaza's 1994 album Andy's Chest, composed almost entirely of Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
covers. Another collaboration with Freud occurred in 1996 and resulted in the Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an inspired Moondog project with Plaza appearing on some tracks of the album, Postcard from Hawaii.
Smith performed with his band, Greedy's on the Loose, during 1992 but there was no recorded output; while Twohill returned to art college and finished his degree. In 1996, Smith released his solo album, Love Harmonica and toured with his band, Greedy's People which re-recorded his solo album and released it as, Greedy's People in 1997.
In 2006 Smith appeared on television gameshow You May be Right
You May Be Right (game show)
You May Be Right was an Australian television game show, jointly produced by dSPBeyond & the Seven Network, and was hosted by Dancing With The Stars judge Todd McKenney. The show was aired on Sunday nights at 7:30pm and premiered on 13 August 2006. The format pitted two teams of Australian...
, hosted by Todd McKenney
Todd McKenney
Todd McKenney is an Australian entertainer. He is best known as a judge on Australia's version of Dancing with the Stars.He has won many dancing titles, and has trained in jazz, tap, acrobatics and ballroom dancing...
. The program pitches two teams of celebrities against each other as their knowledge of movies, music and television is put to the test in a series of fun trivia games.
Return from sabbatical: 1993–1999
During the sabbatical, Mental As Anything still played short tours and one off gigs, but by 1993 they were back on record, providing the song, "Ride", produced by Tim FarrissTim Farriss
Timothy William Farriss is a member of the rock band :INXS.-Early life and the formation of INXS:...
, for the soundtrack to the Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious
Yahoo Serious , born Greg Pead , is an Australian film actor, director and score composer. He is best known for his 1988 comedy Young Einstein. He also created Reckless Kelly in 1993 and Mr. Accident in 2000...
film Reckless Kelly
Reckless Kelly
Reckless Kelly is a 1993 Australian comedy film written, directed and starring Yahoo Serious. The story is a satirical take on a modern day Ned Kelly who is forced to Hollywood in order to make enough money to save his family's land. As it goes against his belief, he cannot simply rob banks for...
and released a compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of rare album tracks and b-sides Chemical Travel in November.
By mid-1994 the band recorded an album's worth of self-produced material but were having difficulty getting a release deal. They self released an EP of songs, Bicycle, and gave it away on their summer 1994/95 tour of NSW and Queensland. Radio station, Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
received a copy of the Bicycle EP on Christmas Day 1994 and put the lead track "Mr Natural" on immediate heavy rotation. Other stations followed and the demand led to the track being given a commercial release as a single and reaching the top 30 on the ARIA Charts (although charting higher in the States where the tour and free EP didn't reach). The resulting album, 1995's Liar, Liar Pants on Fire reached the top 40, with Mombassa's cover taking out the 'Best Cover Art' award at the 1996 ARIA Music Awards.
Three further singles were lifted off "Liar Liar" in 1995 and 1996, Mombassa's "Nigel" which just failed to chart, a cover of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" which landed just out of the Top 50 (Top 30 in Victoria) and O'Doherty's tribute to Ms Faithful, "Marianne", which was released as the band supported Chris Issak on his 1996 tour of Australia.
On 16 August 1997, Mental As Anything celebrated 20 years together with the same line-up with a free birthday show at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney. Late 1997 saw the band put together their third group art exhibition, Mentals III, which was opened by former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
, at the Manly Art Gallery (Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
had opened their second group exhibition in 1990). Their 21st anniversary in 1998 was marked with the release of the last album by this lineup, Garàge, which did not reach the top 50, nor did the two singles lifted from it, "Just My Luck" and "Calling Colin". December 1999 saw the release of "Best of Mental As Anything" which was accredited by ARIA with a gold certificate by 2001, and a seasonal single "White Christmas", that was given away at their "Yule Party" gig at Sydney's Metro Theatre.
Changing faces: 2000–present
In April 2000 Mental As Anything announced the first official change to their line-up since 1977. Brothers, Peter O'Doherty and Reg Mombassa left to pursue their own musical projects, including their band Dog TrumpetDog Trumpet
Dog Trumpet is an Australian rock band, formed by brothers Peter O'Doherty and Reg Mombassa . Both Mombassa and O'Doherty were founder members of the iconic Australian band Mental as Anything, and they formed Dog Trumpet as an outlet for their original material...
, and their art careers. The last tour by this line-up was a short trip to Vietnam organsied by the Australian Government. They were replaced by David 'Duck' Barraclough (ex-The Exponents
The Exponents
The Exponents are a New Zealand rock group led by vocalist and songwriter Jordan Luck.Their major hits, including "Why Does Love Do This To Me", "Who Loves Who The Most", "Victoria", "I'll Say Goodbye " and "Whatever Happened To Tracey" have been taken up by successive generations of younger New...
) and Murray Cook (ex-Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell is an Australian actor, director and writer.-Biography:She is a film, television and theatre actor, singer, director and playwright. She is the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal and white Australian descent. Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer...
, Mixed Relations
Mixed Relations
Mixed Relations are an Australian band formed by Bart Willoughby. They play a mixture of reggae, pop, rock and jazz.Mixed Relations have toured extensively throughout the Aboriginal communities, Australian cities, Pacific Islands, New Zealand, USA, Europe and Hong Kong...
). Cook (no relation to Murray Cook of The Wiggles
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...
) left the band after the Beetroot Stains album (2000) and was replaced by New Zealand born Mike Caen, who had worked with Jenny Morris, Margaret Urlich
Margaret urlich
Margaret Urlich is an ARIA Award-winning musician based in New South Wales. Urlich came to Sydney, Australia, in 1988 to pursue her singing career. Her debut solo album, Safety in Numbers, was highly successful winning Breakthrough Artist - Album at that years ARIA Awards, as was the follow-up...
, Rick Price
Rick Price
Rick Price is an Australian singer and songwriter.-Early life:Price was born in Beaudesert, a small country town near Brisbane, Queensland. He began playing music at the age of nine appearing with his family band "Union Beau". "It was kinda weird I guess...
, Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite is an Australian pop singer. Best known as the lead vocalist of Sherbet, Braithwaite has also sustained a successful solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including the No...
and Tina Arena
Tina Arena
Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena is an Australian singer, songwriter and musical theatre actress. She has won several awards, most notably 6 ARIA Awards and in both 1996 and 2000 she received the World Music Award for the world's best selling Australian artist...
. The Road Case album by this line-up appeared late in 2002.
In 2003 the band started recording favourite covers that had inspired the band in its early days, including songs such as "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis. The song was made famous by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition in 1969. "Ruby" was originally recorded in 1967 by Johnny Darrell, who scored a number nine country hit with it that year....
", "Lonesome Train", "Hangin Five", with a view to releasing an album under the title Songs the Lord Tortoise. Although completing the album in 2004 it was never released.
The next line-up change occurred in September 2004 when Twohill was sacked from the band by Plaza and Smith. Upon return to Sydney following a tour of Western Australia by the band Twohill was told at the airport that he had played his last show for the band. Twohill lodged a wrongful dismissal case against his former bandmates with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in 2007. At the hearing Twohill said he had "no inkling" that his fellow bandmates were dissatisfied with his performances and his attitude, whereas Plaza advised that the band had been discussing Twohill's future for some time and had issued the drummer with a warning after alleged unprofessional behaviour during a gig at Ettalong, north of Sydney, in December 2003.
Dynamic Hepnotics
The Dynamic Hepnotics were a successful Australian soul/blues/funk band during the 1980s. They had major success with their chart topping song Soul Kind Of Feeling in 1984 and 1985, followed up by Gotta Be Wrong later that year....
, Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
band and other country and roots music combos. This line-up recorded the acoustic Plucked, released in November 2005. In 2007 they toured Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
for the first time to play three gigs in the capital Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
as part of "Australia Week".
In May 2009 the band released the compilation album Essential as Anything, celebrating thirty years since the release of their first EP and national tour of their debut album. The album also included a DVD of all the video clips released by the band. Additionally Mental As Anything re-issued all ten of the band's albums as digital downloads. The band also released a new studio album, Tents Up, in June and toured nationally in support of both releases. On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
alongside Kev Carmody
Kev Carmody
Kevin Daniel "Kev" Carmody is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter. His song "From Little Things Big Things Grow" was recorded with co-writer Paul Kelly for their 1993 single; it was covered by the Get Up Mob in 2008 and peaked at #4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association singles...
, The Dingoes
The Dingoes
The Dingoes are an Australian country rock band initially active from 1973 to 1979, formed in Melbourne they relocated to the United States from 1976. Most stable line-up was John Bois on bass guitar, John Lee on drums, Broderick Smith on vocals and harmonica, Chris Stockley on guitar and Kerryn...
, Little Pattie
Little Pattie
Little Pattie is the stage name of Australian singer, Patricia Thelma Amphlett OAM later Patricia Thompson, who performed as a 1960s surf pop singer and then in adult contemporary music...
and John Paul Young
John Paul Young
John Paul Young is an Australian pop singer who had a 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air"...
. Mombassa said that it was an honour to be inducted and thanked fans and industry supporters. At the ceremony they were inducted by Roy Slaven and they performed "Live It Up", "The Nips are Getting Bigger" and "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too" with Mombassa and O'Doherty rejoining them onstage.
In October 2009 the band appeared live in Sydney's Apple store with a digital download EP in the "iTunes Live from Sydney: Aussie Legends" series appearing the next day. An extensive pictorial Biography of Mombassa, titled the "Mind Of Times of Reg Mombassa" appeared in November, and by virtue of the subject served as a defacto biography of Mental As Anything up to Mombassa's departure in 2000. The Summer of 2009/2010 saw a national tour for the current line-up supporting the B-52s and Proclaimers. In mid 2010 children's entertainers, The Wiggles
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...
, released their "Let's Eat" album with the lead track being a collaboration with Smith, Plaza, Mombassa and O'Doherty on a re-recording of "Let's Cook".
The band continue to tour regularly, playing smaller venues throughout Australia's cities and regional centres.
Current members
- Martin PlazaMartin PlazaMartin Plaza is the pseudonym of Martin Edward Murphy , who is a vocalist/guitarist/songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Plaza also has a solo music career and in 1986 had a #2 hit in Australia with his cover of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay"...
(Martin Murphy) – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals (1976–present) - Greedy SmithGreedy SmithGreedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
(Andrew Smith) – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocals (1976–present) - David Barraclough – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals, guitar, keyboards (2000–present) - Mike Caen – guitar, vocals (2002–present)
- Robbie Souter – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(2004–present)
Past members
- Reg MombassaReg MombassaReg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...
(Chris O'Doherty) – guitar, vocals (1976–2000) - Steve Coburn – bass guitar (1976–1977)
- David TwohillDavid TwohillDavid Twohill is a musician formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything who is also known by the pseudonym Wayne DeLisle or as Bird.-Early life:...
(Wayne de Lisle) – drums (1976–2004) - Peter O'DohertyPeter O'DohertyPeter O'Doherty is a musician with Australian band Dog Trumpet and formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything. He is also a recognised fine artist specialising in still life and everyday suburban scenes....
(Yoga Dog) – bass, vocals (1977–2000) - Mike Gubb – keyboards (on tour) (1986–1987)
- Murray Cook – guitar (2000–2002)
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... |
CAN Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
||||||||
| 1979 | Get Wet Get Wet (album) Get Wet is the debut studio album released by Mental As Anything. It was released in November 1979, produced by Cameron Allan, and peaked at #19 on the Australian Album charts. The first single, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger", written by Martin Plaza was released in July 1979 and peaked at #16 on... aka Mental As Anything
|
19 | — | — | AUS: Platinum | |||||
| 1980 | Espresso Bongo Espresso Bongo Espresso Bongo is the second studio album released by Mental As Anything. It was released in July 1980, produced by Cameron Allan, and peaked at #37 on the Australian Album charts. The only single released from the album, "Come Around", written by Martin Plaza was released in June 1980 and peaked... |
37 | — | — | AUS: Gold | |||||
| 1981 | Cats & Dogs aka If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?
|
3 | 44 | 2 | AUS: Platinum; NZ: Gold | |||||
| 1983 | Creatures of Leisure Creatures of Leisure - International Edition :The version of Creatures Of Leisure released in North America dropped the tracks "Space To Let", "Not Enough" and "Country In The Concrete", and added "Working For The Man" and "Seems Alright To Me"... Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , Cassette |
8 | — | 37 | AUS: Platinum | |||||
| 1985 | Fundamental Fundamental (Mental As Anything album) Fundamental or Fundamental As Anything is the fifth studio album released by Australian rock/pop group Mental As Anything. The album, produced by Richard Gottehrer was released on Regular Records in March 1985, which peaked at #3 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums charts... |
3 | — | 22 | AUS: Platinum X2 | |||||
| 1987 | Mouth to Mouth
|
14 | — | — | AUS: Gold | |||||
| 1989 | Cyclone Raymond
|
34 | — | — | ||||||
| 1995 | Liar Liar Pants on Fire
|
32 | — | — | ||||||
| 1998 | Garàge
|
75 | — | — | ||||||
| 2000 | Beetroot Stains
|
— | — | — | ||||||
| 2002 | Road Case
|
— | — | — | ||||||
| 2005 | Plucked
Liberation Music Liberation Music is a boutique, independent Australasian record company, started in 1999 by Michael Gudinski and Warren Costello. Its stated aim is to find, nurture and then to develop new talent for a world market while remaining independent in the process... BLUE0812 |
— | — | — | ||||||
| 2009 | Tents Up
|
— | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
|||
| 1986 | Greatest Hits Volume 1
|
2 | 36 | Platinum |
| 1993 | Chemical Travel
|
- | — | |
| 1999 | Best of
Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
42 | — | Gold |
| 2009 | Essential As Anything - 30th Anniversary Edition
Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... /DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... |
55 | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||
Extended plays
| Year | EP details | AUS Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... chart peak |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Mental as Anything Plays at Your Party
|
— | |
| 1995 | Bicycle
|
— | |
| 1997 | Minus Bonus
|
— | |
| 2001 | Borscht
|
— | |
| 2009 | iTunes Live from Sydney
|
— | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
Singles
Video albums
| Year | Video details |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Monumental As Anything
|
| 1999 | Monumental II
|
| 2004 | Basemental
DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... |
APRA Awards
These awards were established by Australasian Performing Right AssociationAustralasian Performing Right Association
The Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA) in 1982 to honour the achievements of songwriters and music composers, and to recognise their songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance, by its members annually. Andrew "Greedy" Smith
Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
of Mental As Anything won the APRA Award
APRA Awards
The APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
for "Most Performed Australasian Popular Work" in 1987 for "Live it Up".
|-
|| 1987 || "Live it Up" by Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
|| Most Performed Australasian Popular Work ||
ARIA Awards
Mentals As Anything has won two Australian Recording Industry AssociationAustralian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) Awards including their 2009 induction into their Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
. This induction recognised their achievement of a "significant body of recorded work" and that they "had a cultural impact within Australia".
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1995
ARIA Music Awards of 1995
The Ninth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 20 October 1995 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. There had been a 19-month gap since the previous award ceremony which was moved to be "closer to the business end of the music industry's year"...
|| "Mr Natural" || Best Pop Release ||
|-
| | "Mr Natural" by Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa
Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Chris O'Doherty, a New Zealand born artist and musician. Resident in Australia, he is as well known there for his musical exploits — founder and former member of the popular Australian band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet - as he is for his art...
|| Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 1996
ARIA Music Awards of 1996
The 10th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 30 September 1996 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre...
|| Liar Liar Pants on Fire by Reg Mombassa || Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 1999
ARIA Music Awards of 1999
The 13th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 12 October 1999 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre...
|| Garàge by Reg Mombassa || Best Cover Art ||
|-
| | 2009
ARIA Music Awards of 2009
The 23rd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards took place on 26 November 2009 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. The ceremony was telecast on the Nine Network at 8:30pm that night...
|| Mental As Anything || Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
||
Countdown Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week
TV Week
TV Week is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in December 1957 , and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV.The publication is still publishing weekly...
but then independently. TV Week had previously sponsored the 'King of Pop' awards. The Countdown Music and Video Awards were succeeded by the ARIA Awards.
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|rowspan="2"| 1979 || "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" || Best Single ||
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| | Mental As Anything || Best New Talent ||
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|rowspan="3"| 1981 || "If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?" || Best Single ||
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| | Cats & Dogs || Best Album ||
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| | Mental As Anything || Most Consistent Live Act ||
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| | 1984 || "Apocalypso" || Best Video ||
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|rowspan="4"| 1985 || Fundamental
Fundamental (Mental As Anything album)
Fundamental or Fundamental As Anything is the fifth studio album released by Australian rock/pop group Mental As Anything. The album, produced by Richard Gottehrer was released on Regular Records in March 1985, which peaked at #3 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums charts...
|| Best Album ||
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| | "Live it Up" || Best Single ||
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| | Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith
Greedy Smith is the pseudonym of Andrew McArthur Smith or Andy Smith , who is a vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including "Live it Up" which peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart...
|| Best Songwriter ||
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| | "Live it Up" || Best Group Performance in a Video ||
Polls and other awards
A number of songs from the band featured in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown. They were as follows:- Spirit Got Lost (1787/2006)
- Just Like Romeo And Juliet (1577/2006)
- If You Leave Me Can I Come Too? (1402/2006)
- Come Around (1331/2006)
- You're So Strong (1067/2006)
- The Nips Are Getting Bigger (951/2006)
- Mr Natural (903/2006)
- Too Many Times (321/2006)
- Live It Up (270/2006)
External links
- Mental As Anything - Official Website
- Biography on BBC Radio 2
- [ Mental As Anything biography] on AllMusic.com