Tully (band)
Encyclopedia
Tully was an Australian progressive rock
group of the late 1960s and early 1970s which had a close association with the Sydney-based film/lightshow collective Ubu
.
's backing band The Dee Jays (1959), The Chessmen (1961), the Jimmy Sloggett Five (1963–64) and Max Merritt & the Meteors (1965). Carlos and Blake had both been members of popular Sydney mid-60s club band Little Sammy And The In People (1966–67).
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor met in the 1968 lineup of Levi Smith's Clefs, the Sydney R&B band led by veteran R&B singer Barrie "The Bear" McAskill. Many prominent Australian performers played in the various incarnations of this seminal Sydney club band and former members of the Clefs subsequently several other major Australian bands including Tully and Fraternity
.
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor left Levi Smith's Clef at the end of 1968 to formed Tully. Like their Sydney contemporaries Tamam Shud
Tully's music combined many disparate influences including pop
, rhythm & blues, soul
, modern jazz, classical music
, folk/world music
and psychedelic rock
. Unusually for that period in Australia, Tully played mostly original compositions and improvisation was a key feature of their performances.
Like Tamam Shud, Tully had close associations with Sydney underground media collective UBU; their debut concert as Tully was at the final UBU Underground Dance at Paddington Town Hall on 4 January 1969 supported by The Id (after which the dances were banned from the Hall because of complaints about the noise and the "casual attire" of patrons), and they played at many subsequent UBU gigs.
(19 Feb 1969) and although he was initially unimpressed, indicating a preference for somewhat heavier style of Tamam Shud, he was much more positive in a larger feature published in the subsequent 12 March issue. Go-Set and Elfick soon became strong supporters of the group.
Over the next twelve months, Tully's profile built steadily, and by mid-1970 they were one of Australia's foremost rock concert attractions. In February 1969 they became the resident band at the Adams Apple disco in Oxford St, Sydney, where they played for several months and on 11–12 April East Sydney Technical College was the venue for Alexander Nevsky's Homecoming, a happening
devised by David Humphries for the National Art Students' Union, featuring experimental theatre troupe The Human Body, with music by Tully and the Art Students Pop Orchestra, and lighting by UBU.
programs starring Tully, entitled Fusions. The series, which was the brainchild of former ABC current affairs producer Bill Munro (later the executive producer of the Aunty Jack spinoff Flash Nick From Jindivik).
Fusions originally featured lighting design by UBU's Aggy Read, although this partnership was terminated due to budget restrictions after the first two episodes. One of Tully and Reid's collaborations for the series was a 15-minute music/image improvisation on "Tully's Bicycle" (although UBU News reported at the time that the ABC studio crew were less than accommodating, refusing dim the main studio lights during the filming of a strobe sequence, rendering it largely ineffective). Guests included singer Wendy Saddington
.
Through their residency at the Adam's Apple disco entrepreneur Harry M. Miller
selected Tully as the 'house band' for the original Australian production of the controversial American 'tribal love rock musical' Hair
which premiered at the Metro Theatre, Kings Cross on 4 June 1969. Billed as "Tully + 4", the group was augmented by extra musicians for the production—veteran jazz drummer John Sangster
(percussion), Mick Barnes (guitar) and Keith Hounslow (trumpet). Tully vocalist Terry Wilson joined the cast of the show and sang the featured number "Aquarius". Tully stayed with the production until early 1970 (when they were replaced by Luke's Walnut) and during this period they performed on the original cast recording that came out late in 1969 on the Spin Records
label, which went on to earn a Gold Record award.
Fusions premiered on ABC on 1 August, and on 17 August Tully headlined a major concert at Sydney Town Hall, supported by the John Sangster Quintet and The Executives. A similar show at the Mandala Theatre was also a success. Towards the end of 1969 bassist John Blake left the group. He was replaced first by Graeme Conlan (ex-The Second Thoughts, White Wine) and then by Murray Wilkins, until Ken Firth was eventually recruited as a permanent replacement.
On 14 February, Tully performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
at the final 1970 Sydney Proms concert. This concert featured the world premiere of Peter Sculthorpe
's new work Love 200, for orchestra and rock band, with words by Tony Morphett
. The work was performed by the SSO, augmented by Tully and singer Jeannie Lewis
, conducted by John Hopkins, with special effects by Ellis D Fogg
. A studio performance was recorded by the ABC. Terry Wilson also moonlighted during 1970 as a member of Jeannie Lewis' Gyspy Train.
In 1977 Secretary of the Musicians Union Harry Bluck(dec) had the band headline a televised rally for youth unemployment in the Perth Supreme Court Gardens. A strong supporter of the band, Bluck instigated Tully members to begin a self-help group aimed at trying to solve some of the social and other problems prevalent among the contemporary music community of the time. The group held meetings at the Perth Musicians Union every Friday.
and their self-titled debut LP was released on the EMI's Columbia label in July 1970; it charted well, spending eight weeks in the Top 40 and peaking at #8. Around this time Michael Carlos purchased what is said to be the first Moog synthesiser to be imported into Australia, and they became the first local band to use one in live performance.
In late 1970 Richard Lockwood and Ken Firth contributed to the debut LP Hush by Sydney band Extradition, released in June 1971 and now a rare collector's item. Both bands had been closely associated for some time, and shared similar musical outlooks; this led to Extradition members Colin Campbell and Shayna (Karlin) Stewart joining Tully at the start of 1971. Campbell played an important role in the later career of Tully and he wrote or co-wrote a considerable proportion of the material on both the Sea Of Joy and Loving is Hard albums.
Terry Wilson and Robert Taylor both left the group in December 1970. According to rock historian Noel McGrath, this was largely due to the fact that Carlos, Firth and Lockwood were adherents of the Meher Baba sect (popularised by devotees like The Who's Pete Townshend) -- an interest Wilson and Taylor reportedly did not share. Taylor was not replaced, and Tully continued to perform without a drummer.
In 1971 Tully moved to EMI's new progressive label Harvest
, and released their only single, "Krishna Came" / "Lord Baba" (May 1971). This was followed in June by their second LP Sea Of Joy, which was also the soundtrack to the surf film of the same name by Paul Witzig, who had also previously worked with Tamam Shud. But just before it was issued Michael Carlos quit the band to rejoin Levi Smith's Clefs. Tully continued on without him for several months before finally splitting. Richard Lockwood had been playing occasionally with Tamam Shud and he joined them full-time when Tully split. Tully had stockpiled enough material prior for EMI to compile a third and final LP which was released in 1972 as the album Loving Is Hard.
, mixing rock and classical instrumentation. The lineup included guitarist Dave Kain (ex-Dr Kandy's Third Eye), jazz pianist Bobby Gebert (an in-demand session player, who also worked with Tamam Shud and Gulliver Smith), bassist Ian Rilen
(later of Blackfeather
, Rose Tattoo
and X) and cellist Adrian Falk.
In 1976 Robert Taylor reformed Tully in Perth teaming up with prodigious young guitarist Andrew "Frizby" Thursby-Pelham (ex - Berlin (Perth circa 1975)), and bassist John "Bass" Walton (ex - Graphic). The band performed mainly original rock/fusion pieces penned by Thursby-Pelham, and loosely covered other fusion artists such as "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", and "Jeff Beck", who's arrangements were interspersed with lengthy periods of improvisation. For a short time singer Bill Tahana (1977) was included in the lineup.
This incarnation of the band gained popularity quickly in the West, performing at three of the annual Parkerville Amphitheatre festivals as well as regular spots at venues such as Daly's Court, The Sandgroper, and the City Hotel. A notable feature of the band's performances was the unusually large number of local musicians who came to see them.
In 1978 bassist John Walton became chronically ill and was forced to leave the band. Finding a replacement proved impossible at the time due mainly to the difficulty of the material, much of which was scored in compound time under multiple key signatures. Walton's leaving ultimately signalled the end of the band.
guitarist - Pete Dickson. Along with Landing Party's singer Tom Jennis, Thursby-Pelham later formed "Red Square" under contract to Jimmy Lee and Brian Davidson of Focus Promotions.
Drummer Robert Taylor (dec) was a child prodigy, winning best drummer and best trio in Western Australia three years in a row from the age of 11.
John Blake joined The Original Battersea Heroes and performed in a 1985 revival of Levi Smith's Clefs.
Michael Carlos rejoined Levi Smiths Clefs in 1972, before moving into session work and arranging, contributing to albums by Jon English
, Jeannie Lewis
and Ross Ryan
(to which Shayna Stewart and Ken Firth also contributed). In 1972 he was appointed musical director for the original Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar
, followed by several years as leader of the Baxter Funt Orchestra working with Reg Livermore
and arranging and conducting the music for Livermore's acclaimed one-man shows. In addition to his extensive film, TV and advertising credits, in the late 1970s Carlos was closely involved in the development of the Fairlight CMI
, the world's first commercially-produced digital synthesiser.
Ken Firth worked in several bands with Barrie McAskill in 1972, including McAskill, Murphy, Maloney & Firth, and a new version of Levi Smith's Clefs. He was a member of the Stevie Wright Band (1972–74), The Ferrets
(1974–78), the Richard Clapton
Band (1975), Billy Miller's Great Blokes, Buster Brown (1976) and Divinyls
(1982).
Richard Lockwood joined Tamam Shud (1971–72) and followed Lindsay Bjerre into his next band Albatross (1972–73)
Terry Wilson moved on to Space (1971), Lepers Abandon, Original Battersea Heroes (aka Heroes) (1973), Slack Band, Leroy's Layabouts (1975), Doyle Wilson Band (1975), Wasted Daze (1976–77) and The Magnetics (1983)
Shayna Stewart joined the cast of the original Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar
and performed on the original Australian cast soundtrack LP. She also contributed to the debut LP by Jon English
, Wine Dark Sea.
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
group of the late 1960s and early 1970s which had a close association with the Sydney-based film/lightshow collective Ubu
Ubu Films
Ubu Films was an experimental film-making collective based in Sydney, Australia that operated from 1965 to around 1970. It was formed by Albie Thoms, David Perry, Aggy Read and John Clark at Sydney University in 1965. Group associates included Matt Carroll, Peter Weir, Phillip Noyce and Bruce...
.
Formation
Tully formed in Sydney in late 1968 with the original lineup of Jon Blake (bass), Michael Carlos (keyboards), Richard Lockwood (flute) and Robert Taylor (drums). They built up a strong following on the Sydney "underground scene" and later on the Melbourne concert circuit. Tully's members were all highly accomplished multi-instrumentalists with years of experience behind them, and their musical breadth quickly earned them a reputation as one of the most adventurous and polished concert bands of the period.Original members
The original Tully members were all seasoned veterans of the Sydney club scene. NZ-born John Blake had previously played in Johnny O'KeefeJohnny O'Keefe
John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
's backing band The Dee Jays (1959), The Chessmen (1961), the Jimmy Sloggett Five (1963–64) and Max Merritt & the Meteors (1965). Carlos and Blake had both been members of popular Sydney mid-60s club band Little Sammy And The In People (1966–67).
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor met in the 1968 lineup of Levi Smith's Clefs, the Sydney R&B band led by veteran R&B singer Barrie "The Bear" McAskill. Many prominent Australian performers played in the various incarnations of this seminal Sydney club band and former members of the Clefs subsequently several other major Australian bands including Tully and Fraternity
Fraternity (band)
Fraternity were an Australian rock band which formed in Sydney in 1970 and relocated to Adelaide in 1971. Former members include successive lead vocalists Bon Scott , John Swan , and his brother Jimmy Barnes...
.
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor left Levi Smith's Clef at the end of 1968 to formed Tully. Like their Sydney contemporaries Tamam Shud
Tamam Shud
Tamam Shud were an Australian psychedelic and progressive rock band, formed in Sydney in 1967, which released two albums, Evolution and Goolutionites and the Real People before disbanding in 1972...
Tully's music combined many disparate influences including pop
Pop 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...
, rhythm & blues, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, modern jazz, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, folk/world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
. Unusually for that period in Australia, Tully played mostly original compositions and improvisation was a key feature of their performances.
Like Tamam Shud, Tully had close associations with Sydney underground media collective UBU; their debut concert as Tully was at the final UBU Underground Dance at Paddington Town Hall on 4 January 1969 supported by The Id (after which the dances were banned from the Hall because of complaints about the noise and the "casual attire" of patrons), and they played at many subsequent UBU gigs.
Debut
Shortly after their debut, they recruited singer/guitarist/flautist Terry Wilson and took up a residency at Caesar's Disco in Sydney, although they reportedly had to leave after only a month because patrons couldn't dance to their music. Tully played at the first relocated UBU Underground Dance at the AMP Pavilion at Sydney Showground (with Tamam Shud) on 7 February and again with Nutwood Rug Band on 21 Feb.. They also featured on the cover of that month's UBU News (which bore the headline "Life is the Blood of Tully") and in the accompanying underground music story. Tully was reviewed in Go-Set by David ElfickDavid Elfick
David Elfick is a noted Australian film and television writer, director, producer and occasional actor. He is known for his association with writer-director Phillip Noyce with whom he has collaborated on films including Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence .Elfick began his film career as the...
(19 Feb 1969) and although he was initially unimpressed, indicating a preference for somewhat heavier style of Tamam Shud, he was much more positive in a larger feature published in the subsequent 12 March issue. Go-Set and Elfick soon became strong supporters of the group.
Over the next twelve months, Tully's profile built steadily, and by mid-1970 they were one of Australia's foremost rock concert attractions. In February 1969 they became the resident band at the Adams Apple disco in Oxford St, Sydney, where they played for several months and on 11–12 April East Sydney Technical College was the venue for Alexander Nevsky's Homecoming, a happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
devised by David Humphries for the National Art Students' Union, featuring experimental theatre troupe The Human Body, with music by Tully and the Art Students Pop Orchestra, and lighting by UBU.
Major breaks
In June/July 1969 the band got two major breaks that brought them to the forefront of the Australian music scene. One was the commissioning of a series of six half-hour ABC-TVAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
programs starring Tully, entitled Fusions. The series, which was the brainchild of former ABC current affairs producer Bill Munro (later the executive producer of the Aunty Jack spinoff Flash Nick From Jindivik).
Fusions originally featured lighting design by UBU's Aggy Read, although this partnership was terminated due to budget restrictions after the first two episodes. One of Tully and Reid's collaborations for the series was a 15-minute music/image improvisation on "Tully's Bicycle" (although UBU News reported at the time that the ABC studio crew were less than accommodating, refusing dim the main studio lights during the filming of a strobe sequence, rendering it largely ineffective). Guests included singer Wendy Saddington
Wendy Saddington
Wendy June Saddington is an Australian blues / soul / jazz singer and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. She wrote for teen pop newspaper Go-Set from September 1969 – September 1970 as an agony aunt in her weekly "Takes Care of Business" column and as a...
.
Through their residency at the Adam's Apple disco entrepreneur Harry M. Miller
Harry M. Miller
-Early career:Born in New Zealand, Miller grew up in Grey Lynn, Auckland, and moved to Australia in 1963, where he established a company called Pan Pacific Productions with Keith and Dennis Wong, owners of the noted Sydney nightclub "Chequers"...
selected Tully as the 'house band' for the original Australian production of the controversial American 'tribal love rock musical' Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
which premiered at the Metro Theatre, Kings Cross on 4 June 1969. Billed as "Tully + 4", the group was augmented by extra musicians for the production—veteran jazz drummer John Sangster
John Sangster
John Sangster was an Australian jazz composer, arranger, drummer, cornettist and Vibraphonist born in Melbourne, most well known as a composer though also a gifted multi-instrumentalist...
(percussion), Mick Barnes (guitar) and Keith Hounslow (trumpet). Tully vocalist Terry Wilson joined the cast of the show and sang the featured number "Aquarius". Tully stayed with the production until early 1970 (when they were replaced by Luke's Walnut) and during this period they performed on the original cast recording that came out late in 1969 on the Spin Records
Spin Records
Spin Records was an Australian popular music label of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was established in late 1966 by Clyde Packer and a group of partners including entrepreneur Harry M. Miller. The label's first A&R manager was Nat Kipner who produced several early Spin releases...
label, which went on to earn a Gold Record award.
Fusions premiered on ABC on 1 August, and on 17 August Tully headlined a major concert at Sydney Town Hall, supported by the John Sangster Quintet and The Executives. A similar show at the Mandala Theatre was also a success. Towards the end of 1969 bassist John Blake left the group. He was replaced first by Graeme Conlan (ex-The Second Thoughts, White Wine) and then by Murray Wilkins, until Ken Firth was eventually recruited as a permanent replacement.
Notable performances
In January 1970 Tully was one of the top-billed acts at Australia's first outdoor rock festival, the "Pilgrimage For Pop", held at Ourimbah on the NSW Central Coast over the January Long Weekend.On 14 February, Tully performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
at the final 1970 Sydney Proms concert. This concert featured the world premiere of Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
's new work Love 200, for orchestra and rock band, with words by Tony Morphett
Tony Morphett
Tony Morphett , is a writer.Tony Morphett has written or co-written seven feature films, ten telemovies, twelve miniseries, and some hundreds of episodes of TV series drama as well as devising or co-devising seven TV series...
. The work was performed by the SSO, augmented by Tully and singer Jeannie Lewis
Jeannie Lewis
Jeannie Lewis is an Australian musician and stage performer whose work covers many different styles such as folk, jazz, Latin, blues, opera, rock, fusion. Her music often includes a strong social consciousness and she is capable of making very strong political statements in her work.-Early...
, conducted by John Hopkins, with special effects by Ellis D Fogg
Ellis D Fogg
Ellis D Fogg is the pseudonym of Roger Foley who the National Film and Sound Archive have described as Australia's "most innovative lighting designer and lumino kinetic sculptor." The term Lumino Kinetic Art was first used in 1966 by Frank Popper, Professor of Aesthetics at the University of...
. A studio performance was recorded by the ABC. Terry Wilson also moonlighted during 1970 as a member of Jeannie Lewis' Gyspy Train.
In 1977 Secretary of the Musicians Union Harry Bluck(dec) had the band headline a televised rally for youth unemployment in the Perth Supreme Court Gardens. A strong supporter of the band, Bluck instigated Tully members to begin a self-help group aimed at trying to solve some of the social and other problems prevalent among the contemporary music community of the time. The group held meetings at the Perth Musicians Union every Friday.
Releases
Tully signed with the Australian division of EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and their self-titled debut LP was released on the EMI's Columbia label in July 1970; it charted well, spending eight weeks in the Top 40 and peaking at #8. Around this time Michael Carlos purchased what is said to be the first Moog synthesiser to be imported into Australia, and they became the first local band to use one in live performance.
In late 1970 Richard Lockwood and Ken Firth contributed to the debut LP Hush by Sydney band Extradition, released in June 1971 and now a rare collector's item. Both bands had been closely associated for some time, and shared similar musical outlooks; this led to Extradition members Colin Campbell and Shayna (Karlin) Stewart joining Tully at the start of 1971. Campbell played an important role in the later career of Tully and he wrote or co-wrote a considerable proportion of the material on both the Sea Of Joy and Loving is Hard albums.
Terry Wilson and Robert Taylor both left the group in December 1970. According to rock historian Noel McGrath, this was largely due to the fact that Carlos, Firth and Lockwood were adherents of the Meher Baba sect (popularised by devotees like The Who's Pete Townshend) -- an interest Wilson and Taylor reportedly did not share. Taylor was not replaced, and Tully continued to perform without a drummer.
In 1971 Tully moved to EMI's new progressive label Harvest
Harvest Records
-References:* Harvest Records collectors guide ISBN 978-5-9622-0021-7...
, and released their only single, "Krishna Came" / "Lord Baba" (May 1971). This was followed in June by their second LP Sea Of Joy, which was also the soundtrack to the surf film of the same name by Paul Witzig, who had also previously worked with Tamam Shud. But just before it was issued Michael Carlos quit the band to rejoin Levi Smith's Clefs. Tully continued on without him for several months before finally splitting. Richard Lockwood had been playing occasionally with Tamam Shud and he joined them full-time when Tully split. Tully had stockpiled enough material prior for EMI to compile a third and final LP which was released in 1972 as the album Loving Is Hard.
Changes
In October 1971 Wilson and Taylor formed the innovative (but short-lived) Space, a band that apparently explored similar musical territory to Roy Wood's Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
, mixing rock and classical instrumentation. The lineup included guitarist Dave Kain (ex-Dr Kandy's Third Eye), jazz pianist Bobby Gebert (an in-demand session player, who also worked with Tamam Shud and Gulliver Smith), bassist Ian Rilen
Ian Rilen
Ian William Rilen was an Australian musician, he was bass guitarist and songwriter with Rock N' Roll band Rose Tattoo and led punk rock group X also providing lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals...
(later of Blackfeather
Blackfeather
Blackfeather was an Australian rock group in the 1970s. The group had many members and went through two major incarnations - the earlier heavy rock version of the group, which recorded the album At The Mountains of Madness and the hit single "Seasons of Change", and the later piano-based lineup...
, Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...
and X) and cellist Adrian Falk.
In 1976 Robert Taylor reformed Tully in Perth teaming up with prodigious young guitarist Andrew "Frizby" Thursby-Pelham (ex - Berlin (Perth circa 1975)), and bassist John "Bass" Walton (ex - Graphic). The band performed mainly original rock/fusion pieces penned by Thursby-Pelham, and loosely covered other fusion artists such as "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", and "Jeff Beck", who's arrangements were interspersed with lengthy periods of improvisation. For a short time singer Bill Tahana (1977) was included in the lineup.
This incarnation of the band gained popularity quickly in the West, performing at three of the annual Parkerville Amphitheatre festivals as well as regular spots at venues such as Daly's Court, The Sandgroper, and the City Hotel. A notable feature of the band's performances was the unusually large number of local musicians who came to see them.
In 1978 bassist John Walton became chronically ill and was forced to leave the band. Finding a replacement proved impossible at the time due mainly to the difficulty of the material, much of which was scored in compound time under multiple key signatures. Walton's leaving ultimately signalled the end of the band.
After Tully
Andrew "Frizby" Thursby-Pelham went on to play with "Landing Party" (1983) replacing Mother GooseMother Goose
The familiar figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes which are often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a character, she appears in one "nursery rhyme". A Christmas pantomime called Mother Goose is often performed in the United Kingdom...
guitarist - Pete Dickson. Along with Landing Party's singer Tom Jennis, Thursby-Pelham later formed "Red Square" under contract to Jimmy Lee and Brian Davidson of Focus Promotions.
Drummer Robert Taylor (dec) was a child prodigy, winning best drummer and best trio in Western Australia three years in a row from the age of 11.
John Blake joined The Original Battersea Heroes and performed in a 1985 revival of Levi Smith's Clefs.
Michael Carlos rejoined Levi Smiths Clefs in 1972, before moving into session work and arranging, contributing to albums by Jon English
Jon English
Jonathan James "Jon" English is an Australian rock singer, musician, actor and writer. English emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1961...
, Jeannie Lewis
Jeannie Lewis
Jeannie Lewis is an Australian musician and stage performer whose work covers many different styles such as folk, jazz, Latin, blues, opera, rock, fusion. Her music often includes a strong social consciousness and she is capable of making very strong political statements in her work.-Early...
and Ross Ryan
Ross Ryan
Ross Ryan is an Australian singer-songwriter and producer who is best known for his signature tune "I Am Pegasus" .-Early years:Ross Ryan was born December 13, 1950 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. The family moved to Albany, Western Australia in 1959...
(to which Shayna Stewart and Ken Firth also contributed). In 1972 he was appointed musical director for the original Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, followed by several years as leader of the Baxter Funt Orchestra working with Reg Livermore
Reg Livermore
Reginald Dawson Livermore AO is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer and television presenter.-Childhood:From a young age, Livermore demonstrated an interest in the performing arts...
and arranging and conducting the music for Livermore's acclaimed one-man shows. In addition to his extensive film, TV and advertising credits, in the late 1970s Carlos was closely involved in the development of the Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
, the world's first commercially-produced digital synthesiser.
Ken Firth worked in several bands with Barrie McAskill in 1972, including McAskill, Murphy, Maloney & Firth, and a new version of Levi Smith's Clefs. He was a member of the Stevie Wright Band (1972–74), The Ferrets
The Ferrets (band)
The Ferrets were an Australian pop / rock band from Melbourne and Sydney, which formed in 1975 and disbanded in 1979. Their second single, "Don’t Fall in Love", was released in 1977 and peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart...
(1974–78), the Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, New South Wales. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" and "I Am an Island"...
Band (1975), Billy Miller's Great Blokes, Buster Brown (1976) and Divinyls
Divinyls
Divinyls were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980 and featuring vocalist Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. As the focal point, Amphlett performed on stage wearing a school uniform and fishnet stockings, often using an illuminated neon tube as a prop and displaying...
(1982).
Richard Lockwood joined Tamam Shud (1971–72) and followed Lindsay Bjerre into his next band Albatross (1972–73)
Terry Wilson moved on to Space (1971), Lepers Abandon, Original Battersea Heroes (aka Heroes) (1973), Slack Band, Leroy's Layabouts (1975), Doyle Wilson Band (1975), Wasted Daze (1976–77) and The Magnetics (1983)
Shayna Stewart joined the cast of the original Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and performed on the original Australian cast soundtrack LP. She also contributed to the debut LP by Jon English
Jon English
Jonathan James "Jon" English is an Australian rock singer, musician, actor and writer. English emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1961...
, Wine Dark Sea.