Rick Pointon Interview - Vocalist and Bass Player of The Second Thoughts (Newcastle Series Ep #2)

Rick is best known for his time in the local 1970s band Benny and The Jets; however, in this episode, Rick and Jack discuss his musical work throughout the ‘60s. Rick joined his first band, The Mystics, in late 1963 during the instrumental music craze of the early ‘60s. By the time The Beatles stepped onto Aussie shores in 1964, Rick had joined another local group, The Mystery Men. Possibly Rick’s greatest success during the ‘60s was his time in The Second Thoughts. In July 1966, The Second Thoughts would record a single at Nat Kipner's St. Clare Studios in Hurstville. A few nights beforehand, in the same studio, Kipner had just recorded and produced the Bee Gees' breakthrough hit, Spicks and Specks. Rick and the rest of the band would be among the first people ever the hear this Bee Gees hit. The Second Thoughts would record three songs with Kipner in one session. Two of them, Run Back Home and The World Keeps Going Round, would be pressed onto a 45 single and become a number one hit in Newcastle for The Second Thoughts. However, the third song from that session, a cover of The Kinks' song Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight, has never seen the light of day. At first Jack thought this recording was lost to time having never been released; however, Nat Kipner gave Rick a copy of the recording on cassette some time ago. Rick, at some point, had the song on the cassette transferred to CD and has dug out that CD to be played in this Vinyl Vibes episode. This song has never been heard anywhere since being recorded by Rick and The Second Thoughts in 1966. 

After The Second Thoughts, Rick would form Butter Suite in 1969, the band which he would stay with for the remainder of the ‘60s. More recently, Rick has written a book called Hey Rock and Roll, which reflects on his time in music and the Newcastle music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

In this episode Rick discusses with Jack his first guitar, the instrumental surf craze of the early '60s, how Rick came to join his first band The Mystics, The Beatles tour of Australia, seeing The Shadows live in 1965, the formation of The Others, how The Others became The Second Thoughts, recording with Nat Kipner, being one of the first people ever to hear Spicks and Specks, his time in Bitter Suite and his book Hey Rock And Roll. 

"When we left the studio it was agreed by Nat that 'The World Keeps Going 'Round' would be the top side..'Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight' would be the flip side and we wouldn't use 'Run Back Home' but when the record came out the record company had pressed it up differently...those things happened in those days, it was a bit slap dash." - Rick Pointon on this epsidoe of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording of The Second Thoughts local number one single  

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