THE OFFICIAL PITS HOME PAGE

[Macpherson Brothers Music] [Brisbands] [Members & Instruments] [Gigs][Discography] [References]

This page is dedicated to the memory of The Pits, a "punk rock" band from Brisbane, Australia.

The most significant performances were between 1978 to 1984. The Pits reformed in August 2003-2005. There have been occasional performances in 2006 and 2007.

SoundThe Bus Song

SoundSick & Tired

SoundI Know Something

SoundUnderwater Watch

 early photo with Iain's car Figurine/The Pits 2003 Alliance Hotel, 17 June 2006

The 1978-1984 Band

Early practice session To get gigs, we built our own PA system. Then we'd hire a hall. The Pits had a small group of loyal fans, but never got really popular.

Some musical influences were: The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, The Cramps, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, The Clash, Adverts, Patti Smith Group, The Rolling Stones, The Archies, and many others.

To help get our songs on the radio, we'd call 4ZZZ announcer Carl Rhiner on the Saturday night Request Show to play our songs. He did!

A collaboration with the One Flat art crew (Janelle Hurst, Richard De Souza, Gary Warner et al) at the George Street Art Bank was very influential in the late Pits Inc disco phase. The band had a recording studio downstairs in the old bank vault.

The original band eventually split about 1984 when too many other music projects needed our time.

The Gregs were the rhythm section in early Tex Deadly & The Dum Dums.

Greg Gilbert (aka Des Johnson) has played drums for several Brisbane acts. Most recently he plays drums for Corn Liquor.

Greg Wadley moved to Melbourne and has been involved with several groups to this day, including New Waver and Hi God People.

Peter Macpherson went to live in Sydney for a time during the mid-80's after dabbling with Tea For Two and MTTV.

He did a bit of solo work there before returning to Brisbane around 1990, and joining Airborne Toxic Event, also with David Macpherson.

Pits at Cement Box Theatre Greg Wadley on bass Des Johnson on drums
David Macpherson at Farfisa The Pits at Griffith University During the life of the band we used a lot of different musical instruments.

Peter liked to use some exotic guitars. The Gibson SG gave a heavy sound. An old Honer semi-acoustic guitar was very "pop". The semi-acoustic Rickenbacker was always very distinctive.

Usually the guitars were played "clean" without effects, but the small amps were cranked-up really high to give suitable distortion. An old Fender Champ valve amp provided a "rock" sound when amped-up through a PA system. An old Vox AC-30 valve amp was way-cool, and louder. Sometimes a fuzz-box was used with the guitar.

Greg Gilbert (aka "Des Johnson") worked at the Drouyn Drum Factory, and made his own kit!

Early on I played a Ibanez Left-Hand Les Paul copy (black). I moved to keyboards when Peter Jetnikoff joined, also playing guitar.

The keyboards changed as I could afford them. Most of the time, they were played through my Fender Delux Reverb guitar amp (close-miked into the PA). Pretty grungy....

The first synth played in the band was a monophonic Kawai 100F synthesizer. (Excellent!) Another favourite was a cheap Farfissa organ with a cheasy "beat-box" accompanist in it. A Roland Strings/Organ synth (with chorus and drawbars!) gave the band a more 1980's sound.

Des on drums and sings The Roland JX-3P synth was interesting in the later "disco" stage. Then I got a Casio CZ5000. In 2003 I prefered my old Casio CZ-1 synth on-stage.

One of my favourite combinations was:

Gigs

Peter Macpherson with Gibson SG guitar Pits with The Black Assassins at Surfers Paradise! Because The Pits were a punk band, we could not play in most normal pub venues of the time. I doubt we wanted to, in any case. Many of our biggest fans were too young for bars.

The very first performance was in a "Battle of the Bands" competition run by The Australian Academy of Music, a local rock instrument shop. We used to go there on weekends to drool at the guitars and check out the other bands.

The line-up then included the three brothers Macpherson (Peter, Iain, and David), plus Mick Crawley on drums. We played a few Ramones and rockabilly-style songs, and a few written by Peter and Iain.

It was an enthusiastic, but appalling racket!

Some in the audience were shocked. Greg Wadley was there in the audience, and wanted to join right away. He hadn't laughed so much in ages.

We did not win that time, but got some encouragement from the judges.

Another early gig was at a "Talent Night" at Cement Box Theatre, University of Queensland. People laughed. We rocked.
Pits Inc at Hacienda Other times we often arranged our own gigs, hiring a hall and charging only minimal entry of $4.00 (whatever), with a discount for 4ZZZ subscribers. Other bands like This 5 Minutes and Pork often shared equipment.

Most times the bands got more money than if we had played at "straight" venues in any case. There were inevitable scenes of outrageous drunkeness etc....

We built our own PA system to get more gigs. Unfortunately this was stolen after an eventful gig at Indooroopilly RSL Hall. Violence during the gig and loss of the PA affected band morale for a while afterwards.

A gig for Prisoners Action Group at Wooloongabba Blind Hall with The Black Assassins, This Five Minutes, and Pork was well recieved. It was complete anarchy.

After a while, some publicans became more interested in having "Band Nights" for mid-week entertainment. The Atcherley Hotel's "X-Roads Club", and Australian National Hotel's "Purple Hearts Scooter Club" were favourite places for The Pits to perform.

Other Brisbane venues the band played at were: Griffith University, The Silver Dollar, Cement Box Theatre, Pete's Bingo Hall (Fortitude Valley), CPA Hall, Romeos Nightclub, Atcherley Hotel, Australian National Hotel, New York Hotel, South's Leagues Club, Indooroopilly RSL Hall, Caxton St Hall, Treasury Hotel, Orient Hotel, Hacienda Hotel, Camp Hill School of Arts Hall, Redcomb House, One Flat Art Bank, 4ZZZ Joint Efforts, as well as several parties etc.

A "Pits World Tour" involved playing each night for two weeks. The band played one memorable performance at Connections the Keyhole Nightclub, at Surfers Paradise. The Black Assassins and Les Bon Bons also performed. The locals just didn't understand. After that exhausting experience, the band had trouble getting motivated, and fell apart.

The 2003-2007 Band

Bluey's Bigtop 3 July 2004 poster.
The Pits at The Alley, 2006		 At East Brisbane Bowls Club 30 July 2006 After reforming in 2003, the band played at Paddington Workers Club, the Melbourne Hotel, West End, Rick's Cafe, Fortitude Valley, Blue Pacific Hotel, Bribie Island, and The Polo Bar in the City.

During 2004 the revamped Pits band played several times at the Jubilee Hotel, in Fortitude Valley. A gig there in support of Melbourne band New Estate was pretty good. Virtually no-one was there to see it, of course.

The band still played the old songs like Underwater Watch, Dumb Things, and Words.

This line-up of the band wound up in mid-2005.

Ricks Bar 10th June 2007 poster The Pits (with Iain singing) reunited on my 50th birthday, playing Rick's Cafe on 10 June 2006! I play guitar again. It's a Magnum Left-Hand Stratocaster copy (sunburst).

An early line-up reformed with Peter Macpherson, Greg Wadley, Greg Gilbert, and David Macpherson for David's 50th birthday party at Alliance Hotel, Spring Hill on 17th June 2006.

The Pits were on the line-up for a "Bremer Beat" gig at East Brisbane Bowls Club on 30 July 2006. The gig was a in support of a colleague John Spresser. Donat's drums caught fire in the back of his car, and he needed to borrow a kit.

Another gig was 23 September 2006 at The Alley, at Milton. Donat played guitar and sang! New drummer Simon Pearlman also had a go at the guitar.

Peter Macpherson sometimes performs a solo act, with newer material. Since early 2007 he's been doing duos with Nigel Kimber.

An old-style of The Pits (with Richard and Donat) played at The Zoo on 4th March 2007. The few punters there to see it enjoyed the show.

Members & Instruments

The 2007 The Pits band:
Also played:
  • Nigel Kimber: guitar
The 2006 The Pits band:
Also played:
  • Iain Macpherson: vocals
  • Simon Pearlman: drums, guitar
The 2003-2005 The Pits band:
Also played:
  • Johnny Powell: drums

In August 2003 the band reformed after briefly performing as Figurine:

 Peter and Richard at Melbourne Hotel
The band that played together most often in 1970's & 80's:
  • Peter Macpherson: guitar and vocals
  • David Macpherson: keyboards, guitar, and vocals
  • Greg Wadley: bass, drums, and vocals
  • Greg Gilbert (aka "Des Johnson"): drums, guitar, and vocals
Other members included:
  • Iain Macpherson: vocals and bass
  • Mick Crawley: drums
  • Margot Hoyt: drums
  • Peter Jetnikoff: guitars, keyboard, and vocals
  • Ian Wadley: bass and drums
Iain Macpherson in Bus Song pose

Discography

CDs

Can't Stop It cd cover

Cassette Tapes

Film

References

Out of the Unknown, 1988 Know Your Product Program of Events

Books

Links

The Pits on Myspace
The Pits at mp3.com.au
[Main Index] Back to ToxicoH ome Page
Information provided by David Macpherson
Brisbane, Australia.