Parts 11 to 15

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 11

The early 1980s were like a hangover from the morning after the 1970s. The really big ‘snare drum from hell’ was still around the corner and out of earshot. But a lot was bubbling under the surface. Studio technology was about to bring a revolution of sound that was unprecedented. Little did we know we were still in the eye of the storm. All calm, dead ahead.

While all this was brewing, I was scratching my head and wondering how to start. I’d written a batch of tunes and it was decided that an arranger and a bunch of session musicians would be hired. It worked for Linda Ronstadt right? Right?

This old dude ( in his 40′s) with an ego the size of the world biggest pumpkin was brought in. He was a full time Ad (advertising music) guy and did a lot of session work around town.

My songs were still a bit floaty and with these 70′s kind of arrangements they sounded very dated. I was still a country girl, living in my own mind, so I didn’t know any different.

So with 5 or 6 songs cut and the obligatory photos, bio and with more front than Myers (a big department store in Melbourne that has a long frontage) I started to call around all the recording companies.

Back then it was not so hard to get though to speak directly with A&R (head of artist and repertoire). I don’t know how I did it, but I scored a couple of interviews with some of the majors (major recording companies) in Sydney.

I was on my way…

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 12

Here I am, 19 years of age, sitting in the offices of WEA Records with Steve, the A&R guy. I’m nervous, my hands are sweaty and I’m still really tired from the two solid days of driving 500 miles to Sydney.

He’s listening. He seems to like it. The tape recorder clicks off. Click!

There’s a bit of a pause and he smiles saying ” you know, this is really good but it’s not our style. I really think Fable (Records) would go for this. I’ll ring Ron and recommend you.”

This sounded reasonable to me. My first definite/maybe/sort of a recommendation. He thanked me and I walk out from my first appointment with one of the “big guys”.

Up the road, my next appointment was with Albert & Sons. They had made a fortune with the publishing for AC/DC’s tunes.

I can’t remember who the arrogant SOB was, but whoever I saw gave me this rant about how he doesn’t deal with female artists. He thought they were so unreliable. Hmmmm I wonder why?? Anyway after all of this boasting, he then declared that he was currently recording one of the Moya Sisters. They had previously had a few hits as a young harmony trio. Lucky girl??

Oh well, I still had Fable Records right? Right?

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 13

Back in Melbourne, I’m sitting in Ron Tudor’s office (Fable Records). I’m really excited because he’s the head honcho, not just the A&R guy. Steve from WEA had given him a glowing recommendation and I you could cut the sense of anticipation with a knife.

Tape goes in. Recorder clicks on. CLICK! Listening, listening……

Afterward he turns to me and says “Gee from what Steve said, I was expecting something totally different.” (Meaning – not this) He was very dead pan and straight forward. The sense of disappointment for both of us was now so thick that it was suffocating. He thought that he had found a new super star but instead he’d been palmed off this green teenager with dated tunes.

He was very gracious but I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.

I hiked it back to Nightingales place were I would often hang when I was trying to figure out this ‘life in the city’ caper. So plan A was out the door, enter plan B. Ah yes, she same as plan A but better songs.

Meanwhile, Nightingale introduced me to a friend staying over with her from Adelaide. She called him Tallulah after Tallulah Bankhead, the famous actress of the 1930′s. In all the years I knew him, I never knew his real name.

Tallulah was a real character. He was a session singer with a love of beautiful things and a wicked sense of humor. He spoke with such authority about singing that Nightingale and I were in awe of him.

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 14

While I was thinking about the next batch of tunes to write and record, I joined another cover band. It was with this band that I had my first paying gig.

This band was a four piece including a girl keyboard player and two bothers, one on drums and one on bass. The two guys were gung-ho on doing a three month stint on Dunk Island. There was some fantasy about chasing women by day and doing gigs and chasing women by night.

So to that end we got a few songs up and we asked Terry Blamey from PACE Entertainment (one of the leading booking agents of the day) to come and listen to a rehearsal.

Funny, you’d never get a booking agent to come to someones house to see a rehearsal these days buy anyway…

He listened to one songs and said “Right, you’ve got Dunk Island”. The boys were over the moon.

In the meantime, he started to book us into local gigs, the first being the DAVA hotel in Mt Martha. I have vivid memories of being stuck right next to the biane-maree, singing away with people walking past me with trays full of empty crockery to get their food. In fact, I was literally singing right next to the roast beef.

Needless to say, this didn’t measure up, even to the ‘singing in front of the mirror with a hairbrush’ experience, so it was not long after that I left this band. My heart was never really into doing Top 40 Covers, I just wanted experience.

Terry Blamey went on to manage Kylie Minogue. Maybe he got to Dunk Island?

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 15

I knew that my songs were not right. I knew that “stuff” was missing. Hooks mainly. My melodies didn’t repeat, they didn’t lift or fall in the chorus and there was not much in the way of tension and release.

I worked really hard to “get it” and it did start to fall into place. After a few months I had another batch of new and improved tunes. The next questions in my mind was where to record them. After the last batch of tunes turned out so dated I did not want to use the same arranger and musos again.

Unfortunately this was before the days of sequencing technology so my arrangement ideas had to stay on the back burner for now.

Then two things happened at the same time to bring it all together. Firstly I found management. Two lawyers with connections in the music industry and a guy in Sydney who had his own recording studio and he could play all the instruments for the tunes as well. This was starting to feel very positive.

The lawyers were going to bankroll the demo. YIPPEE!! So I was off to Sydney to put down my new pop tunes. I can still remember sitting in a cheap Chinese restaurant, a few doors up from the guys studio, having a bite to eat before putting down final vocals. Psyching myself up for a good performance.

It went pretty well and while it wasn’t release quality, it was pretty good.

There was only one tiny issue however. I got back to Melbourne only to find my managers knew nothing about the recording, let alone paying for it.

OOPPPS!!

In the end we split the difference and went our ways without malice. I was still pretty young, maybe 20 years old and feeling like a bunny in the headlights.

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Riley Jordan Song Girl