The A&R guy from EMI was coming to see ‘my band’ in early December. It’s was now October and I had no band. Battle stations – code red. I needed one set of songs, about 20 minutes, for a show case.
To Do List:
- Find a backing band
- Find a venue at short notice, preferably a venue on ‘the gig circuit’
- Get my outfit together
Firstly the band. One of my friends brother was in a band called Bounty. I had been out to see them play a couple of times. They were good players and thank God they agreed to do it. I also roped ‘Keyboard Man’ into the gig as we were becoming good friends by this stage. I also needed a couple of backing singers so Nightingale came to the rescue as did a friend of hers who was good with harmonies. A couple of rehearsals – no worries – under control.
Finding a venue was a hairy challenge. I remember getting all dressed up and rocking down to the Prince of Wales in St Kilda to have a word with the manager. I can’t remember why I chose this venue but it was certainly on the map in the music scene then and it’s even bigger now. In those days is was a grungy old place with carpet stickier than fly paper mixed with velcro. The manager and his secretary were surprisingly helpful.
The secretary checked the booking schedule, they had a band booked, on the date that I wanted, but they said I could do my set before band. YES!
As I walked out the manager said to me ‘You’re a touch of Hollywood’. I said ‘What does that mean’. He said ‘You look like a movie star’. OK. All good so far.
So what to wear. At the time Madonna was just starting to hit the scene in a big way. I had it in my head that I would put together something funky and street so I got this jacket and ripped fabric into strips and put bows all over it. It’s sounds better than it looks, but at the time I thought it was pretty cool.
The big day was approaching. All was quiet on the western front. I could only wait and hope all would go well.
