The Mexican Spitfires
Encyclopedia
The Mexican Spitfires were a Sydney
, Australia
-based indie rock
–indie pop
band formed in suburban Strathfield in the Strathfield Municipality in the mid 1980s. The band formed in 1986 and the original lineup consisted of Tim O'Reilly on bass and vocals, Michael Quinlan on rhythm guitar and vocals, Stephen McCowage on lead guitar, and Price Conlan on drums; however, O'Reilly, Quinlan and McCowage had previously played together in the psychedelic
1960s-styled indie-pop band Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers.
band with an collection of songs about Sydney. Their songs dealt with aspects of daily life, such as:
Similar lyrical territory was also being covered by Paul Kelly
& The Coloured Girls and John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
.
With three songwriters in O'Reilly, Quinlan and McCowage, the band had no shortage of original material and right from the first performance, set lists consisted predominantly of original material. Harking back to their earlier experiences in Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers, the band displayed a certain 1960s pop sensibility with strong harmonies from Quinlan and O'Reilly and covered songs such as The Beatles
"If I Needed Someone" and The Monkees
"Mary Mary".
In July 1986, The Mexican Spitfires played their first gig to a packed audience at the Lismore Hotel, located on Pitt Street in Sydney. They were discovered by Red Eye Records that same night and were subsequently signed to a record deal by that label. The band's debut six-track 12-inch EP
Lupe Velez was released in 1988. The EP was produced by Jon Schofield
of the Coloured Girls, engineered by Phil Punch, and featured a keyboard appearance by Russell Parkhouse (ex-The Riptides
). The first EP was an immediate success on the independent charts, moving straight into the top 5 in Sydney and scoring the band significant airplay on 2JJ (now 2JJJ), particularly for the songs "Sydney Town", "You Can't Run" and "Town Hall Steps". Lupe Velez received favourable reviews in English
music
magazine
NME
and in the Australian music press.
According to London
-based rock critic Andrew Mueller
as quoted in the "Who's Who of Australian Rock" the Mexican Spitfires produced
The EP was also favourably received in Germany
and Italy
, where "You Can't Run" received significant airplay on Radio Marte, Radio Luna
and Radio Delfino in Catania
. The video for the song "Sydney Town" made its debut on SBS
's world music show Rock Around The World before being shown on ABC
's Rage. The band also performed "Ivy Street" on the Network TEN
programme Ridgey Didge.
After their debut, The Mexican Spitfires returned to the Electric Avenue
Studio of Phil Punch to record their second six-track 12-inch EP Elephant during 1989 and 1990. That EP has not been released in any format, despite interest from indie pop
labels such as Catania's No Tyme Records.
Only two tracks, "Sydney Town" and "You Can't Run (Forever)", have ever been released on a CD as of the date of this entry. The two tracks are featured on the compilation of Red Eye Records artists Asides and Besides:The First Five Years, whilst "Sydney Town" is featured on the Sony Music double CD compilation Somewhere in Sydney: 30 Songs from the Harbour City, which was released in 2000 to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games
.
During the mid to late 1980s, The Mexican Spitfires played most of the legendary Sydney pubs of the time, such as: the Hopetoun, the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown
(aka the "Sando"), Paddington Green, and Harold Park. In 1988, they toured Melbourne with other Red Eye acts The Crystal Set
, Curious (Yellow)
and The Bhagavad Guitars
. The band also played with other bands such as: The Triffids
, Roaring Jack
, Penguins On Safari (later The Whitlams
), The Wet Taxis, The Last Metro
, The Upbeat
, Billy Baxter (musician) and The Hollowmen
and John Kennedy of John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
.
Following McCowage's departure in 1989, C.T. Wally O'Cool joined the band on lead guitar. That lineup supported The Proclaimers
on the Sydney and Canberra
leg of their 1989 tour supplemented by Dominic Killalea
of The Upbeat
filling in on drums. O'Reilly has since gone on to perform with the Sydney Gospel Music
choir The Elementals and recorded Live At The Basement.
Whilst The Mexican Spitfires have not played live as a band since early 1989, their music has been played on radio stations like 88.1 FM WMBR
Cambridge, Massachusetts
, and fans of their music can be found in Australia, Japan
, Germany, Italy and the USA.
featuring the songs:
featuring the songs:
Roy, Fallen Down, Long Time, written by Quinlan.
She, Desperate Ways, Just Like Any Man, written by O'Reilly.
features "Sydney Town".
features Sydney Town and You Can't Run(Forever)
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...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
-based indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
–indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band formed in suburban Strathfield in the Strathfield Municipality in the mid 1980s. The band formed in 1986 and the original lineup consisted of Tim O'Reilly on bass and vocals, Michael Quinlan on rhythm guitar and vocals, Stephen McCowage on lead guitar, and Price Conlan on drums; however, O'Reilly, Quinlan and McCowage had previously played together in the psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
1960s-styled indie-pop band Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers.
History
The Mexican Spitfires were an inner-city–suburban 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...
band with an collection of songs about Sydney. Their songs dealt with aspects of daily life, such as:
- Romance on Ivy Street, RedfernRedfern, New South WalesRedfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...
, which is a dilapidated street familiar to Sydney University students who walk coming to or from Redfern Station, in the song "Ivy Street". - Treading the moral tightrope between the City and Kings CrossKings Cross, New South WalesKings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
down Park Street with the song "Sydney Town". - Meeting on the steps of Sydney Town HallSydney Town HallThe Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral...
in the aptly named "Town Hall Steps". - Spending time in Katoomba in the nearby Blue Mountains in "Until".
- "Rookwood" talks about Rookwood CemeteryRookwood CemeteryRookwood Cemetery is the largest multicultural necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
.
Similar lyrical territory was also being covered by Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
& The Coloured Girls and John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
John Kennedy is an Australian musician, a singer-songwriter with a penchant for strong melodies and "heart on your sleeve" pop songs often with country and western influences.-Early life:...
.
With three songwriters in O'Reilly, Quinlan and McCowage, the band had no shortage of original material and right from the first performance, set lists consisted predominantly of original material. Harking back to their earlier experiences in Prince Vlad & the Gargoyle Impalers, the band displayed a certain 1960s pop sensibility with strong harmonies from Quinlan and O'Reilly and covered songs such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
"If I Needed Someone" 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,...
"Mary Mary".
In July 1986, The Mexican Spitfires played their first gig to a packed audience at the Lismore Hotel, located on Pitt Street in Sydney. They were discovered by Red Eye Records that same night and were subsequently signed to a record deal by that label. The band's debut six-track 12-inch 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...
Lupe Velez was released in 1988. The EP was produced by Jon Schofield
Jon Schofield
Jon Schofield is an Australian musician who has played in a range of bands from indie rock 1960s inspired band, Grooveyard, to The Coloured Girls of Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls.-Biography:...
of the Coloured Girls, engineered by Phil Punch, and featured a keyboard appearance by Russell Parkhouse (ex-The Riptides
Riptides
The Riptides were a band from Brisbane Australia and worked largely as a vehicle for the song-writing talents of Mark "Cal" Callaghan. Over a career spanning 6 years from 1979 to 1983 the band also featured a number of notable musicians.-History:...
). The first EP was an immediate success on the independent charts, moving straight into the top 5 in Sydney and scoring the band significant airplay on 2JJ (now 2JJJ), particularly for the songs "Sydney Town", "You Can't Run" and "Town Hall Steps". Lupe Velez received favourable reviews in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
and in the Australian music press.
According to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based rock critic Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller is an Australian-born, London-based journalist and author. He is a contributing editor at Monocle, and also regularly writes for The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Financial Times, Esquire, The Guardian, Arena, The Times, Uncut, High Life, Harper's Bazaar, New Humanist,...
as quoted in the "Who's Who of Australian Rock" the Mexican Spitfires produced
"Impressive songs in the Kelly/Kennedy vein with a slightly English sounding pop touch."
The EP was also favourably received 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...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where "You Can't Run" received significant airplay on Radio Marte, Radio Luna
Radio Luna
Radio Luna is a radio station in Montenegro. Its headquarters are in Plav. It is part of RTV Luna....
and Radio Delfino in Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
. The video for the song "Sydney Town" made its debut on SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
's world music show Rock Around The World before being shown on ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Rage. The band also performed "Ivy Street" on the Network TEN
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
programme Ridgey Didge.
After their debut, The Mexican Spitfires returned to the Electric Avenue
Electric Avenue
Electric Avenue is a street in Brixton, London. Built in the 1880s, it was the first market street to be lit by electricity. Today, the street contains several butchers and fish mongers and hosts a part of Brixton Market, which specializes in selling a mix of African, Caribbean, and Portuguese...
Studio of Phil Punch to record their second six-track 12-inch EP Elephant during 1989 and 1990. That EP has not been released in any format, despite interest from indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
labels such as Catania's No Tyme Records.
Only two tracks, "Sydney Town" and "You Can't Run (Forever)", have ever been released on a CD as of the date of this entry. The two tracks are featured on the compilation of Red Eye Records artists Asides and Besides:The First Five Years, whilst "Sydney Town" is featured on the Sony Music double CD compilation Somewhere in Sydney: 30 Songs from the Harbour City, which was released in 2000 to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
.
During the mid to late 1980s, The Mexican Spitfires played most of the legendary Sydney pubs of the time, such as: the Hopetoun, the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown
Newtown, New South Wales
Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
(aka the "Sando"), Paddington Green, and Harold Park. In 1988, they toured Melbourne with other Red Eye acts The Crystal Set
The Crystal Set
The Crystal Set was a Sydney-based Australian indie rock band formed in the early 1980s featuring Russell Kilbey , Phillip Maher , Davey Ray Moor and Tim Seckhold ....
, Curious (Yellow)
Curious (Yellow)
-Members:*Mike Caen *Phil Hall *Karin Jansson *Michael Knapp *Violinda *Les White -External links:* *...
and The Bhagavad Guitars
The Bhagavad Guitars
The Bhagavad Guitars are a Sydney-based indie-rock band formed in the late 1980s featuring John Kilbey , Jeremy Butterworth, Adrian Workman and Matt Kerr...
. The band also played with other bands such as: The Triffids
The Triffids
The Triffids were a seminal Australian alternative rock and pop band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in May 1978 with charismatic, David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist. They achieved negligible success in Australia, but greater success in the U.K...
, Roaring Jack
Roaring Jack
Roaring Jack is an Australian Celtic punk/Folk punk band of the 1980s and 1990s. The band formed in 1985 and played their first shows in Sydney in 1986...
, Penguins On Safari (later The Whitlams
The Whitlams
The discography of The Whitlams consists of six studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album, and eighteen singles.-Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Videos:-Music videos:-Awards:...
), The Wet Taxis, The Last Metro
The Last Metro
The Last Metro is a 1980 film made by Les Films du Carrosse, written and directed by the French filmmaker François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu....
, The Upbeat
The Upbeat
The Upbeat was formed in 1985, in the small beach-side community of Carpinteria, CA. Heavily influenced by the 2 Tone Ska of the late 70s and early 80s, the group was formed by rhythm guitar player, Eric "Scaric" Vallen, bass guitar player Brandon "Hossinn" Seider, lead singer Mike "Oreo"...
, Billy Baxter (musician) and The Hollowmen
The Hollowmen
The Hollowmen is an Australian television comedy series set in the offices of the Central Policy Unit, a fictional political advisory unit personally set up by the Prime Minister to help him get re-elected. Their brief is long term vision; to stop worrying about tomorrow's headlines, and focus on...
and John Kennedy of John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
John Kennedy is an Australian musician, a singer-songwriter with a penchant for strong melodies and "heart on your sleeve" pop songs often with country and western influences.-Early life:...
.
Following McCowage's departure in 1989, C.T. Wally O'Cool joined the band on lead guitar. That lineup supported The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
on the Sydney and Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
leg of their 1989 tour supplemented by Dominic Killalea
Dominic Killalea
Dominic Killalea is a New Zealand musician who was a Sydney-based indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who played in different bands during the 1980s and 1990s including The Upbeat, The Go and Zoo Story. He played with The Mexican Spitfires during their 1989 tour of Sydney and Canberra with...
of The Upbeat
The Upbeat
The Upbeat was formed in 1985, in the small beach-side community of Carpinteria, CA. Heavily influenced by the 2 Tone Ska of the late 70s and early 80s, the group was formed by rhythm guitar player, Eric "Scaric" Vallen, bass guitar player Brandon "Hossinn" Seider, lead singer Mike "Oreo"...
filling in on drums. O'Reilly has since gone on to perform with the Sydney Gospel Music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
choir The Elementals and recorded Live At The Basement.
Whilst The Mexican Spitfires have not played live as a band since early 1989, their music has been played on radio stations like 88.1 FM WMBR
WMBR
WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds...
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and fans of their music can be found in Australia, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Germany, Italy and the USA.
Discography
- Lupe Velez (12" EP, 1988)
featuring the songs:
- "Sydney Town", "You Can't Run (Forever)", and "Until", written by Quinlan.
- "Town Hall Steps" and "Ivy Street", written by O'Reilly.
- "Rookwood", written by McCowage.
- Elephant (12" EP, 1990, unreleased)
featuring the songs:
Roy, Fallen Down, Long Time, written by Quinlan.
She, Desperate Ways, Just Like Any Man, written by O'Reilly.
Compilations
- Somewhere in Sydney: 30 songs from the Harbour City (Compilation CD, 2000)
features "Sydney Town".
- Asides & Besides: The First Five Years (Compilation CD, n.d.)
features Sydney Town and You Can't Run(Forever)
Further reading
- Who's Who Of Australian Rock, Chris Spencer, 2nd ed., 1989 The Five Mile Press