THE BEAT GOES ON

Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain

La de da de dee, La de da de dah

Sonny Bono 1967

It wasn’t going to be the same without Lew and we all thought that Winnie would never play again. I filled in the month of January (1978) with various gigs including my old stand-by as MD drummer for Sandy Scott at South Sydney Leagues Club and Cronulla Leagues Club. Sandy was still packing them in and Carol was happy to have me back so I could “stick it up the rhythm section”.

It was also a departure for me at the end of the month to play a gig with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. They were using the Terry Wilkinson quartet as a rhythm section for some songs that were being televised for the ABC. It was quite a challenge trying to keep a 50-piece orchestra together and I was happy to see one of my old buddies, Ian Bloxsom (Blocko) playing in the percussion section. The problem was, he was about 20 metres away from our rhythm section.

“Let’s take it from bar 152,” said the conductor. His baton came down and everyone started playing except for us. He waved the orchestra to a stop and looked over at our quartet in disgust. “Why doesn’t he count us in?” I whispered to the bass player, Bill Twyman. After a couple more times it finally dawned on the conductor that we were only lowly jazz musicians and we expected to be counted in. He reluctantly gave us an obvious “3, 4,” and away we went. I took some good advice from the guitar player Neddy Sutherland when he said, “Don’t try to play with them. Let them play with us. We know where the time is better than they do.”

The finished product sounded brilliant, but after we received our paltry cheque from the ABC, Terry Wilkinson was furious and we decided that we wouldn’t be in a hurry to do one of those gigs again.

Michael Lawler, Joe Travers and I were summoned to Winnie’s place in February for a rehearsal. Winnie’s agent, Brian Fogarty had convinced her that she should play again and Winnie agreed that she shouldn’t disappoint her legion of fans. We played quite a few gigs throughout the year, but there were times when Winnie looked a little sad and withdrawn. It wasn’t until we played the Sydney Opera House in March that Winnie really sparked up and looked like the Queen of the Keyboard that everybody knew and loved.

THE RETURN OF THE DELLTONES

During some of our Winifred Atwell north coast tours, Michael and I always took time to visit Pee Wee Wilson (the Bird) and his soul mate, Brian Perkins (the Duck) on their farm at Eungai. We tried to convince them that the time was right for them to make a return of the Delltones, but Pee Wee wouldn’t have a bar of it. Both of them had grown big long scruffy beards and they were looking very thin and tanned. Brian’s eyes were sunken and he looked like the castaway, Ben Gunn from Treasure Island. Pee Wee and Brian stuck to their ideals of growing everything organically without the use of sprays and now they were struggling to sell enough crops to make ends meet.

On the way home from the tour we called in again. Pee Wee and Brian had both built houses on adjacent hills with the farm in the middle. When we arrived, the Bird said, “Hang on, I’ll get the Duck on the yell-a-phone.” Pee Wee went on to the porch and yelled at the top of his voice … “Duck!” Sure enough, the Duck soon appeared out of the foliage and we sat down for a cup of tea. Michael suggested that Digger Revell could set up a Delltones’ tour, but they still weren’t convinced. Sep and Bob were still doing a few odd gigs as Martin & Pierse and they would jump at the chance to be Delltones again. The plan was that Digger and his band could do the first half of the show and then the four Dellies would come on as the starring act with Jon, Michael and Leon as the band. It was perfect. The Bird just lit up another joint and told us we were all mad for still being in the music business. When we arrived back in Sydney Michael told Digger to put some more pressure on the Bird when he called in to see them at the farm. Digger was most enthusiastic. “It would be fabulous to get the Delltones back together. I could sell the show easily.”

When Digger Revell arrived at the farm dripping with gold chains and money, Pee Wee and Brian had hit an all time low. The wives were selling vegetables on the side of the road, and the Bird had to make a compromise with his ideals and he finally started spraying the crops for survival. The last straw was a hailstorm that wiped out their entire crop of rockmelons. “Are you sure there’s money to be made?” said the Bird. Digger answered his question by opening up a suit case full of cash taken on his last tour. The Duck and the Bird were awe struck; they hadn’t seen that much money for years. With Digger’s persistence they eventually decided that they had nothing to lose and they agreed to a country tour. “As long as we don’t have to play in the city,” said the Bird adamantly.

The first thing we would have to do was to arrange a recording session to put down a Delltones’ album. Sep Martin sold the idea to Seven Records and I was given a budget as producer to put down about 14 tracks later in the year when the tour was finalised. The wheels were now set in motion for the return of the Delltones.

The gigs during 1978 had become quite diversified and I really enjoyed the variety. I played a month of jazz at the Basement with Ray Alldridge (piano), Neddy Sutherland (guitar), Geoff Oaks (saxophone) and Dieter Vogt or Dave Ellis on double bass. The band was called Deputy Duck because we were filling in for the popular regular band, Galapagos Duck. The hip jazz crowd at the Basement was impressed with the Deputy Duck and applause always followed every solo.

Beside the Deputy Duck, a lot of other weird and wonderful gigs followed during the first half of the year and they included; - the Billy Hucker Trio at Revesby, the Ron Hearne Band at North Sydney, the Bob Taylor Band, Ken Bennett’s Band, Eric Cook’s Band, Joe Travers’ Band, Margaret Hooper’s Band, Roger Burke’s Band, the Kevin McMullen Trio, the Dave Cooper Band, the Kel Drady Band, Judy Stone, Marty Rhone, the Drifters, Jade Hurley and Carl Barriteau. A boring two-week tour with Barry Crocker, a stint with Sandy Scott and a few more weeks with Winnie – also recording sessions for Maureen Elkner, Frankie Davidson, Paul Martell and a gig in the lounge room with Tuffy McFrigg.… whooh! - And so it goes on. Please forgive my self indulgence there but I’ve still got the diaries. No wonder I needed a rest!

There were a lot of things going on for everybody in 1978, but since Lew’s death Mike Lawler and I felt an obligation to play for Winnie whenever we could.

BACK TO THE ROCK LEGENDS

Meanwhile, Jon Hayton and Jimmy Taylor were working with the legendary Chuck Berry and his bass player, Jim Masala. Jimmy Taylor was perfect for Chuck because he knew all the right piano licks and Jon tried to make sure that Chuck’s guitar was in tune for the shows. Before every show Chuck demanded that he must have US$1000 in his back pocket before he went on. This was a bit of a problem when they arrived at Revesby Workers on a Sunday for a show booked by Henry Hess. Chuck noticed that the place was packed and demanded his cash before he went on. Henry and the promoters were flabbergasted. “Where are we going to get US$1000 on a Sunday?” they cried.

“That’s your problem. You better get the cash or I ain’t goin’ on,” said Chuck. When the crowd started to get restless, Chuck went on and played one number. He then announced to the crowd that he would like to continue, but he hadn’t been paid.

“I’m gonna go off now and when I get paid I’m gonna come back and play for y’all.” The crowd went berserk and screamed out “Give Chuck his money!” Jimmy and Jon just shrugged their shoulders and dodged a few missiles that were thrown at the stage and in the meantime, frantic efforts were being made to get Chuck’s cash. When it eventually arrived, Chuck went back to the screaming crowd and played out his set. Chuck had so much money stuffed in his black crinoline pants that during his rendition of My Ding-a-Ling, the zipper broke on his fly. The audience burst into laughter and he leaned over to Jim and said, “Why are they laughing?” When Jim replied, “Because your fly is open!” Chuck was horrified. He went red in the face (if you can imagine that!) and turned his back on the audience for the last two numbers.

One of the guys behind the bar at Revesby was a dead ringer for Elvis Presley, and Glenn A. Baker asked Jon Hayton if it was possible to teach him to sing. Since Elvis died in 1977, Roy Hawkins had become very popular behind the bar and everybody called him Elvis. Roy, of course, was a big fan of Elvis and Jon had always been a fan of Scotty Moore, so they got on famously. Although Jon wasn’t renowned for his patience, Roy was determined to get it right and Jon persevered. “He’s got all the moves, now if I can only teach him to sing, he’ll be great,” said Jon, who had almost given up a few times.

Mike Willesee found out about Roy Hawkins and decided to put him on A Current Affair for a spot, so Jon called in Jimmy Taylor, Mike Lawler and myself to back him on the show scheduled for April 20. Jon wasn’t all that confident that Roy could pull it off. “I’ve been working on him for a while,’” said Jon. “He’s got no sense of time or pitch, but every now and then he gets it right and his resemblance to Elvis is uncanny.”

We picked an easy song for Roy called Hard Headed Woman, but unfortunately every time we ran through it he stuffed it up. I thought he might have been a bit nervous but Jimmy was much more vocal.

“He’s gonna blow it and we’re all gonna look like idiots,” said Jim as we set up on the rostrum in the studio. Elvis impersonation was a brand new thing and when Roy changed into his jumpsuit and walked into the studio, he was suddenly transformed and Mike Willesee and the crew were stunned. “Christ! It really is him!” said one of the cameramen. As if by a miracle the normally shy Roy Hawkins actually became Elvis and when we ripped into the song he was absolutely perfect. It was in time and in tune and we were even more amazed than the Channel 7 crew. It seemed that all of Roy and Jon’s work had been vindicated.

In the merry month of May Joe Travers, Mr. Muckle and I flew off to Brisbane for a two-week gig at the Top Of The State with Winnie. While we were staying in Brisbane we met up with Joe’s old boss, Normie Rowe and he took us out on the town. Normie was full of life and he got up and sang at nearly every club we visited. Much to Joe’s delight, we also ran into Brenda Kristen and a great love affair ensued.

Winnie’s agent, Brian Fogarty booked us for two weeks in Perth at a place called Romano’s. When we booked into the Sheraton Hotel everybody and his dog was staying there, and the place was full of groupies. We had Cliff Richard down the hall as well as Dr. Hook’s band, The Ted Mulry Gang, Joan Armatrading and a few others we as yet hadn’t seen. A few groupies grabbed Joe and me in the hallway and asked us if we were famous. “No,” we replied, “But if you follow us down to the next room we’ll introduce you to someone who is.”

We took the girls down to Mr. Muckle’s room. When we went in Michael was under the bed sheets. “Who is it?” they asked. “Is it Cliff Richard or Dr. Hook?” They all started pulling at the sheets. Michael pulled the sheets back and gave them a huge brown eye and replied, “No! It’s Mr. Nobody!” The girls all screamed in unison and ran down the hall. “What’s all this commotion?” said Brian Fogarty appearing from the next room in his pyjamas. “It’s OK, Michael was just being attacked by some groupies,” said Joe. “Wow! I didn’t realise you guys had a following,” said the puzzled Fogarty.

When we went down to the foyer we were surprised to see Winnie sitting at a table signing autographs. An even bigger surprise was that Joan Armatrading was also waiting in the queue for an autograph from Winnie. “I’m a big fan,” she said unashamedly.

We were often amazed to find that some of our own musical heroes were actually big Winifred Atwell fans as well. When Elton John arrived in Australia, he demanded to see Winifred Atwell, because she was one of the biggest influences on him when he was a young boy learning the piano. He was thrilled when Winnie sent him a koala for saying nice things about her during his visit.

Winnie took Joe Travers to the Opera House to see his idol, jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson. Joe had a great seat sitting right up the front and he couldn’t understand why Oscar kept smiling and waving at him during the show. For a while, Joe thought he was really special until Winnie took him backstage to meet the great man, and he realised that Oscar had actually been waving at Winnie all night – not him!

When we returned from Winnie’s gig in Perth the following month, I received a call from Lucky Starr. It had been 6 years since the last Bandstand was televised on TCN 9 and I was commissioned to write some charts for a live Bandstand Show starring Brian Henderson, Sandy Scott, Lucky Starr, Little Pattie and Bryan Davies. The show was booked into St. George Leagues Club for a month starting in June. Brian Henderson was very nervous about appearing in front of a live audience, but the show was received very well and we were extended for an extra week.

It had been a busy 6 months and when Mr. Muckle rang to ask me if I would like to join him in Dunk Island, I jumped at the chance to escape the winter months in Sydney. The plane ticket arrived and I was off to the tropical Queensland sun. Michael was playing with ex-Festival musical director, Franz Conde, on piano. Franz also boasted that he wrote a few hit songs for Shirley Bassey.

Every afternoon, dressed in his Hawaiian shirt and loose shorts, Franz liked to play requests on the piano for the guests. One guest approached Franz while he was playing and whispered, “Excuse me, Franz, do you know your balls are hanging out?” “No,” replied Franz, “But if you hum a few bars I’ll try and play it for you.”

As well as playing six nights a week, Michael also scored the job as unofficial entertainment and recreational director during the day. This meant that he organised day trips and excursions for the guests and typed up the day’s activities. One pleasant duty every Wednesday was a trip in a glass-bottomed boat to Portaboi Island where we would arrange a barbecue and snorkelling for the guests. It was all very pleasant, but after a month I decided to leave Michael and Franz and return to Sydney. When the management at Dunk Island realised that Mr. Muckle’s two gigs were making him more money than the manager, he was also terminated a couple of weeks later. It was just as well, because our “Return of the Delltones” project was about to begin. I spent the next few weeks furiously writing arrangements for the Delltones album, while I filled in the nights with Margaret Hooper’s Band and a few more Sandy Scott gigs.

OVER THE EARS

The first Delltones session at ATA was scheduled for October 4, and I booked the old gang of Jon Hayton (guitar), Michael Lawler (bass) and Billy Hucker (piano & organ). My engineer was Duncan McGuire, who had just finished recording a great album for Doug Parkinson in the same studio. Once we finished the rhythm tracks we called in the over-dubs, which included: Mick Kenny (trumpet and keyboards), John Hoffman (trumpet), Don Wright and Col Loughnan (saxophones), Herb Cannon (trombone), Jimmy Doyle (guitar), Ian Bloxsom (percussion) and a string section led by Gordon Bennett. At first I felt a little embarrassed conducting the strings, but I got the hang of it after a while. The string players didn’t know that I was the drummer; they just thought I was the arranger and they were very helpful every time I interrupted their knitting for another take.

When it was time to bring Pee Wee and Brian down to the big city for the vocal sessions the media became interested and the cameras were there to meet them. This made Pee Wee a bit nervous, but his personality shone through when they told him they were interested in the project because the Delltones were part of rock’n’roll history. “That’s lovely isn’t it?” said Pee Wee, “Every one thinks we’re history.”

With Duncan McGuire’s help we finished recording the vocals on the album, some of which were remakes of earlier Delltones hits like; Get a Little Dirt On Your Hands, Come a Little Bit Closer and Hangin’ Five. Pee Wee proudly announced that Seven Records decided to name the album “Over The Years”. The Bird’s enthusiasm soon drained away when Jon quipped, “What a crappy name. ‘Over the EARS’ would have been better”.

NOVEMBER 8, 1978: Our first night at Forster-Tuncurry RSL, Pee Wee and Brian were shaking with nerves in the dressing room, whereas Bob and Sep couldn’t wait to get on stage. The place was packed and Digger and his band played the first half as the Digger Revell Revue. Digger had been doing shows with his band ever since they returned from Vietnam and the USA, and their show was very polished. After interval Digger made a very solemn speech about the return of the Delltones and finished with; “Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in 10 years (it was actually only 6), I’m proud to present to you … THE DELLTONES!”

Jon, Michael and I played the introduction to the first song and the reaction was more than any of us expected. When the Dellies came on, the entire audience stood up and gave them a standing ovation for about five minutes before they had even sung a note. It was a very emotional moment and it took the guys a little time to regain their composure and launch into the first song. By the time we played a couple of encores at the end, the worried look on Pee Wee’s face had disappeared completely and Digger joined them on stage for a rousing version of Shout.

The same reaction continued at Taree, Tamworth and Casino. The show was a winner, and after a spot on the Mike Walsh Show at TCN9 with Geoff Harvey, we hit the road for another week of NSW clubs in Forbes, Young, Bega, Dapto and Singleton. When the album was finally released, the Delltones were big news again and we were booked for a week at Twin Towns and a week in Brisbane. The Dellies were even talking about playing the clubs in Sydney, now that they were feeling more confident with the show.

It was an exhilarating few months for all of us. The Duck and the Bird went back to the farm for Xmas, and I finished the year off with a week at South Sydney Juniors with Sandy Scott. It was beginning to look like the whole of next year would be taken up with the Delltones.

To Chapter 32 Still Cruisin

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