Perth Rocks

50's & 60's Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly dance, music and venues in Western Australia
Keeping WA Rockers informed, fit and healthy

"The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll" - Muddy Waters
"If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'"- John Lennon
"Nothing against the Louvre. But you can't dance to DaVinci" - Stax Museum of American Soul Music
"You can stop the show, but you can't stop rock'n'roll" - Alan Freed
"You don't stop rockin' because you get old, you get old because you stop rockin'" variation from George Bernard Shaw
"A country man's song with a black man's rhythm" Carl Perkins description of Rockabilly music
"If there was rockabilly before Elvis, it wasn't like the rockabilly after Elvis" Craig Morrison

Website Menu

Breaking News and Views

WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT COLUMN End of February A Day on The Green - The Motown Event with The Four Tops, The Temptations and one of The Supremes (See "What's On". Dancers may want to organise a group through the Perth Rocks Facebook Group. If you do, set it up as an Event on the page, then "message all members" so interested parties can join the Event. Email from Friends Restaurant: The Ultimate Christmas Present. We have some wonderful entertainers booked for next year.  A gift voucher to one of our concerts or for any amount makes a great Christmas gift idea.  www.friendsrestaurant.com.au Great new article for record collectors and WA music  history buffs: see new article on MARTIN CLARKE AND CLARION RECORDS by Colin Nicol. Email from The Zodiacs: The Zodiacs Big Friday Night Rock'n'Roll Party is on again this Friday @ OPBC . We hope to see you all there!!! the Zodiacs Email from Trickster Music: THE SUNDAY RECORD HOP 22nd NOVEMBER 3.30pm till 8.30pm FREE entry. Upstairs @ Flying Scotsman 639 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley. Yes siree folks, our monthly rockin' get-together, in the upstairs bar of the Flying Scotsman has come around again - and with summer snapping at our heals, I can think of nothing I'd rather do on a Sunday arvo than drink beer to a knocked out soundtrack! As always I'll be sifting though dusty boxes of 45s, to bring you a wild selection of swingin' sounds with a focus on killer 50s rockabilly, rockin' blues, R&B and savage rock n roll mostly played off the original vinyl. This month, we've got a special treat for y'all with a live spot from the Rocket to Memphis gals' alter ego the Shanghai Sisters. Guest DJ this week is that rockin' cat Guido - and towards the end of the night, I'll be spinning a few voodoo/garage scorchers with him too. Get down EARLY if you can - we kick off at 3.30pm and I always start with a few Rockabilly monsters as a reward for those who make the effort to be early birds (or early geezas!). And don't forget to tell ya friends - there ain't no cover charge, so if you just wanna drop by for an hour or so, all it's gonna cost you is the price of a drink. Please spread the word - everyone's welcome. Keep rockin, Andy Best wishes emails: Thanks for all the best wishes. Celia and Josef Many of the pictures featured in "Recent Events" are on the Perth Rocks Facebook Group site. Unlike on this website, they remain up permanently and are put up full size. See our History of WA Rock'n'Roll page for archived articles on WA's Rock'n'Roll History.	See "Recent Events" for Saturday night celebration pics and John's Birthday Bash Video (9Nov).   DANCE SCHOOLS BREAKING NEWS COLUMN See "Dance Schools" page for lesson details. This column only has "Breaking News" Blue Suede News: 21st November Black & White Dance. Band Twist & Shout & DJ Geoff. Venue Scarborough Sportsmen's Club, Deanmore Rd Scarborough. Doors open 7:30 Admission $12, including door prize and free tea or coffee later. Tasty Curry Rolls on sale. Club has enlarged dance floor so it never looked crowded! Drinks at club prices. BYO snacks. Following Saturday: Our visiting Canadian West Coast Swing teachers, Mike & Inge Evans will be taking two swing dance workshops from 1pm @ Uniting Church Hall, 2 Grant St Innaloo. Workshops 75 minutes. Cost $15 per workshop. First workshop - learn , relearn or perfect basic essentials of West Coast Swing. Start 1pm sharp! Workshop 2 - more advanced moves and technique. Start time will be 2:30 pm. Because of small venue - limiting acceptances for these workshops, so PLEASE contact us through our email: djgeoff@rocknroll.com.au or our website www.rocknroll.com.au where you can book and prepay. Email from Freestylers: Time is just flying by and we're all ready looking to the end of the year and thinking about planning for next year. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.  Next week is the last week of this current set and then we are going to fit it a 4 week set leading up to our Christmas Dance on 19th December. Remember our member special of bring a friend on weeks 1 + 2 and you will get in for half price.  Tickets for the dance will be available at class from next Monday so get in early and secure your table etc. We've got the fabulous Roadmasters booked so it's going to be a great night.

 

New Articles:  responses, feedback, opinions welcome - perthrocks@optusnet.com.au. See Old News & Views page for archived articles. See our WA Rock'n'Roll History page for archived articles.   MARTIN CLARKE AND CLARION RECORDS WA's iconic entrepreneur remembered and written by Colin Nichol In the early 1960's Clarion was Western Australia's first and only significant record label, but it made a big impression on the national scene, with a number of singles further being licensed overseas in the US and UK. Owned and run by founder, record producer and WA music industry luminary Martin Clarke, Clarion was later distributed by Festival Records (now Festival / Mushroom / Warner), and had enough hits to keep going until the late 70's. Clarke was instrumental in not only the success of countless local artists, including Johnny Young and The Valentines, featuring Bon Scott, but also the development of the local music industry. Bon Scott was seen by Clarke on the stage of Canterbury Court Ballroom and he promptly recorded him in his studios in early 1967. "He had a good voice - very good", Martin confirmed to me. Those were the first studio records by Scott, along with the Valentines and then the Spektors. In recognition of Clarke's contribution he was inducted into the WA Music (WAM) Hall of Fame on 18 February 2005 which recognised his success in the fields of recording, promotion, talent-spotting and organisation. Of the early days, Clarke once said: "Good, bad or indifferent, it was nice to be able to be the first that really made successful recordings in Western Australia. People had been making all sorts of records in Perth, which never saw the light of day. The Clarion label brought it into the national and even international scope". Clarke said when Clarion was operating, especially during the 60s and 70s, it was a time when things "really happened" and there was always work around for people with talent. "You couldn't stop it. It was just happening. That to me was the age. But as far as product is concerned, I think there are good things still to come." In its heyday of almost three-decades long history, Clarion issued as many as five releases a week. Right up to mid-2006, Clarke was licensing re-releases of his early hits and compilations through UK labels and by then UK-based, was talking of bringing a major artist to tour Australia. In London, where he moved in 1978, he worked with Valentine Music finding, promoting and recording talent while organising tours and public relations for such performers as Dave Brubeck. He continued, as he had always done, occasionally commuting to the USA as part of his music activities. Passionate about music by the age of 12, Clarke worked at Radio 6PR at 15 and built the Clarion studio at 272 Hay Street Perth by the time he was 21. As a colleague and family friend, I recall the teenage Martin recording earlier in the living room at the family home on Glyde Street, Mosman Park, with drums isolated to the bathroom for sound separation. He was strong-willed and determined to put Perth on the national music map, despite critics saying Perth was too small. He described his purpose-built recording studio: "The studio was what we call a room within a room, the ceiling was high, it was 26 feet." However, it wasn't until 1966 that the Clarion label was really up and running. Clarke says that it was simply impossible to set up a label straight way so he was available for any type of recording. "I wanted to get into recording, not only music, but everything"; so he did just that, recording choirs, bands and, of course, his own beloved dramatic programs, one of which was called 'Deadline Plus Five', "All the action had to be finished within five minutes." What makes Clarke's accomplishment more incredible is that during the 60s most recordings, which were played on the less than 150 existent commercial radio stations Australia-wide, were coming out of Melbourne and Sydney. His studio was not only the best, it was the only one here of consequence, world standard and ahead of its time for Australia. The Clarion Records label he created put many Western Australian artists on the map and launched careers that might otherwise have been stifled by the isolation of Perth. I found the music talent through running my live dance shows around the city, metropolitan and country areas and Martin had the ability and facilities to record them. He had the gumption to get up there and do it, and he did something that nobody else could do, when he created his own label in 1962. His passion for recording radio dramas as well as music of all genres extended to his interest in theatre, working for the National Playhouse Theatre where he took part in a number of productions including Pygmalion, Cyrano de Bergerac and Aunty Mame. He always cited Johnny Young as his favourite recording artist and the key to his success. For his part, Johnny never hesitates to give Clarke full credit for launching his national career. Clarke's dedication to professional production saw him install world standard recording and disc cutting equipment ahead of elsewhere in Australia. His state-of-the-art specially imported Neumann lacquer-cutting lathe enabled him to have total control over his product and this remains a 'first' for Australia. Apart from occasional recordings with the symphony orchestra, it was mostly players from pubs who recorded on Clarke's label. He attributes being at the right place at the right time. "It just happened that all the talent was in Western Australia at the time because the hits that we made weren't just hits in WA, but hits in every part of Australia." Clarion had a subsidiary imprint Action, but few singles are known to have been released on that label. The first single issued on Clarion in 1962 was Jag Drag b/w Little White Star by Peter Piccini and His Orchestra, both composed by him. The A-side was an instrumental; the B-side was a song with monologue, about the then-recent space flight of John Glenn, which made reference to Glenn having seen the lights of Perth from orbit. Maestro Piccini, a renowned accordionist and composer-arranger, later became musical director for the Nine Network. He arranged, conducted and played on many Clarion recordings. The early releases from the label, distributed by Clarke himself, were largely by local TV personalities, but when he began recording local rock bands such as The Times, Russ Kennedy & The Little Wheels, Roy Hoff & The Off Beats, and especially Johnny & The Strangers, soon to become Johnny Young & Kompany, sales began to rise. 1966 saw the manufacture and distribution of Clarion recordings taken on by Festival Records from 16 May, on a national basis. This triggered the reissue of some of the records that had already been successful in Western Australia like The Skye Boat Song by Glen Ingram, songs by Robby Snowden, Johnny Young and others. Over the next few years sales were strong and the label earned three gold record awards. Clarke's success not only extended to the Australian market, but the international one as well, making trips to the US at least twice a year, for months at a time, promoting Perth-based artists. He worked hard for his artists, listing of whom covers the music scene of the period: Chris and John, Swingshift, Colin Cook, Maggie Hammond, the Proclamation, The Clan, Gemini, The Birds (a knock-off of the originals), Lloyd Lawson, The Hi-Five, The Offbeats, The Court Jesters, Chalice, Joy Mulligan, Sue Jennings, Bill Shepherd. The label's first major success was Johnny Young's double-sided hit Cara-Lynn/Step Back (May 1966) and Johnny featured prominently on the Clarion catalogue until mid-1969. Festival Records eventually took over the Young contract when buying the Clarion catalogue. The Valentines signed with the label in May 1967, as well as Glenn Ingram, Toni Lamond, Perth's 'pop prince' Robbie Snowden, and songwriter Bill Millar. It was Millar, in collaboration with Clarke, who recorded one of Clarion's most remarkable singles, the outrageous psychedelic confection Even Stevens Hypnotic Suggestion, which they released under the pseudonym 'The Vegetable Garden'. He enabled the likes of Hi Five, The Times, Swingshift, Wayne Pride, Les Meade, the Quarefellas, and many others to reach the greatest potential audience, even overseas. His list of artists is very long and includes as well: Fatty Lumpkin, Tex and Clem Croft, Watts and Martin, Bill Shepherd and Orchestra, Terry Walker, Toni Lamond, the Troupadours, Tony Tyler, Maggie Hammond, Russ Kennedy and the Little Wheels. In February 1978 the label was wound up. In 1989, still active in music, Clarke felt he had gone as far he could. His mother, the last of his family in Perth, had passed on in 1985 and he decided it was time to move on. "The world was changing, it always does, and music just keeps moving on." Having already seen the world thanks to his success with Clarion, Clarke finally made the decision to move to England, where he still had family connections and branch out in the music business abroad. "There's nothing wrong with Australia, I love Australia." After, according to him, some difficulties over the expiry of his agreement with Festival Records, Martin regained the rights to his catalogue and licensed the Clarion/Action catalogue to the British reissue label Cherry Red which, with other archive recordings, compiled the CD Clarion Call, an overview of the Clarion singles of the Sixties and mixes well-known hits with more obscure material, including the ultra-rare demo version of Johnny Young's breakthrough hit Step Back. His last release was of previously unheard archive recordings of Scott and the Spektors from an early Perth TV show, preceding the Valentines and the-later AC/DC. In his earliest days, rock legend Bon Scott was "quiet and polite; well behaved", Clarke observed to me. Little sign then, in 1966-68, of the wild behaviour that later became his trademark. Martin died suddenly of a heart attack in Surrey England, four months short of 66, on 28 March. 2006. He had been active and well known in the London music scene since leaving WA and was still deeply involved in the industry that was his life. Finding new talent was his driving force. "The standard of recorded sound he achieved is still held in high regard", WAMI (the West Australian Music Industry Association Inc) Executive Director Paul Bodlovich stated in part. "It's hard to overstate the impact that Martin had on the local music industry. His induction to the WA Music Hall of Fame drew considerable attention and reminded us all of the importance of acknowledging the past in looking to build a better future." Tributes to Martin Clarke came from, amongst others, artists, print media and radio stations, two of which devoted programmes to him. His impressive lifetime output, originally on vinyl then cassette, is now on CD and as the technology changes and moves on, so his legacy is carried on. And his memory continues to be valued by those who knew him. Acknowledgements: WAMI, Cherry Red Records, Miles Ago

We'd love to hear more stories of the era. That way we may slowly piece together a bit more of WA's rock'n'roll history. Send in your story, come and tell me your story and I'll write it up under dual authorship, or recommend musicians and participants who's knowledge can contribute to a richer picture of the Snake Pit days and the bodgies and widgies of the 50s and 60s era in WA.