The year was 1983 and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was starting to find direction. It was like I had found the current in the water and I could finally move towards midstream.
In the meantime, the cover band that I had been putting together, was not working out. We couldn’t find a keyboard player, so in an attempt to make a few dollars, I started auditioning for bands that were already working.
For my first audition, I rocked up to Dane rehearsal studios in Brunswick. This was a huge converted warehouse with lots of black cubicles full of crappy PAs and guitarists with the volume on 11. If you walked by a cubicle with a heavy metal band blasting away, the sound spill was deafening.
Anyway, I walked into the the rehearsal room to meet the guys and who should be on keyboards but the bloke that we were auditioning a couple of weeks ago. I know Melbourne was a small place musically but this was ridiculous. Let’s call him ‘Keyboard Man’.
To cut a long story short, I got the gig and we started to work. I distinctly remember playing the Astrodome in Traralgon. A big barn of a place, packed to the rafters with punters letting off a lot of steam.
In the days before the Internet, play stations and .05 alcohol restrictions, cover band gigs were really popular. It was not uncommon, for a cover band to have roadies and full production. That is almost unheard of now except for big-name bands.
This band didn’t last long before it imploded but I got to know Keyboard Man a lot better and made a few more contacts. The bass player had a cutting edge studio in his home and fancied himself a producer. I needed a new demo which was really current and I had a new batch of songs ready for love.
