As Clairsy & Lisa’s Perth Pub Crawl rolls on, today the guys spoke to Jamie Mercanti from Slim Jim & The Phatts who were a staple at the O.B.H. on a Saturday night in the late 80s. In fact the band released a cassette called Live At The O.B.H which went Top 10 here in Perth. The guys asked Jamie about those pub days and the band’s longevity.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We would be singing a minute works to twelve hundred
people that men at work and begin their own I.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Don't need the people party.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
And then the bands was a way of Lisa's pub
drawn today Slim drew himself Jamie mccanty, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Believe it. This is ob scene.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Getting up this hour of morning is like tortuing for
a rock and roll mate, What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What are you talking about? It was the defibrillator outside
for ready to go. Yeah, yeah, we didn't know you
needed a rider. Yeah. Sorry. Lisa is practically a doctor maker.
I'll give it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Google having about the mouse, did a condition? Google assussitation
time doctor Google that cassette. The quality sounded also, that
was unreal. I had a transferred to see a few
years back because I've got one cassette left right on
my shelf. And the interesting thing about it was on
the back of it, we had this sticker that we
had to put on manually. So we all came to
(00:57):
the office one day and sat down with you. I
think there was about two and a half thousand cassettes
and a couple of boxes, and then we had all
these stickers and we.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Had to apply the sticket to the back, which.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Was warning this cassette contains hidden Christian messages.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Oh like the opening ceremony like that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, that's been controversial, hasn't they?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, but it sold really well. Yeah good.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
You recorded that live at the OBA back then play
the full version because it went for about twenty five hours.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But the reason why I sent it through is because
it's really indicative of how that the crowd used to
go off at the OBA. It was an absolutely unique
in its own way because it was licensed for the
remy were playing. It was licensed for two hundred and
twenty five people, and I know because we had the
door charge on so we had a head count and
there was an excess of six hundred and six hundred
(01:48):
and fifty average every single Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So that was extraordinary. But it just wasn't shaped or
made for it.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But for some odd reason, it just had this atmosphere
like no other, like for.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Example, just what it was and eighties on the beat.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It was, and all that facade of the OBH was
covered in glass, yes, in the studio, and while we
were playing, especially in summer, the condensation with all the
people being sort of sort of so tightly packed in there.
He used to rain on the inside of the windows.
He was out of control, but that was your fault
because you guys were so good, right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, yeah good.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
It's a weird thing, though, cleary because the Fats Band's
history was one where none of us had any experience
playing in a band prior to join starting the Fats Band,
and we all came from very like bizarre sort of backgrounds,
like a Drummond was from a punk bank called the
Tarantulas and the Kansas City Killers KKK. It was spelt
and they used to play at the places like the
(02:43):
Wiz Bar, which you keep talking about in.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The last couple of weeks, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Our bass player never played bass before, but his brother
owned a bass.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It was close enough.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The lead guitarist was actually a bass player whose mother
had a left handed lead guitar because he was handed,
so he was in and this is how the story went.
So none of us really had an experience, but we
had this absolute drive to actually start a band because
I was working on a project called Godspell because I
came out of weight with the theater, Arts and journalism
degree and the band that we put together for the
(03:15):
orchestra for God's Spell was basically the embryo of what
the fat Span became. And none of us, as I said,
I had an experience in the rock and roll game,
but we thought, well, you know, this sounds pretty interesting.
And at that time that was coming into the recession
and there was no money being spent in theater or beings.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
You know, there was no funding.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
There was no funding it yet nothing was going on,
and all the theater companies were really alarmed. I could
see that my future as an actor was pretty limited
in Perth, so I thought, let's try something else, and
wanting to keep performing, we decided maybe the fat Span
might be.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
A good forum. And it just worked. It clicked.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But in those days, though, to be fair, I mean,
people gave us a lot of chances to get out
to learn our craft and get it right. And there
was great examples playing at the time, like the Frames,
the Jets, Flash Harry Flying fonts of rallies. I mean,
the bands were just epic. So you just go and
see some of these bands. It was like a you know,
(04:11):
a bridging course of how to how to play rock
and roll on Perth. So we learned our lessons pretty
quickly and for some reason, we went from zero gigs
from I.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Think June when we sort of launched them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
By July we were playing the Albion on a Thursday,
the Silver Slipper and Netlins downstairs, and the Broadway Fair
shopping Center on the Friday, and the Saturdays then became
the ABH and that was just it that just blew
out of proportion, and it stayed that way for several years.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
With so many great venues. It was like a smakes board,
wasn't it. It was?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And hearing in these interviews this week has been incredible.
The ship and park was amazing, like you know, and
now it's not there. I mean I used to go
to the overflow like I'm sure you guys, and now
it's not there, you know. And seeing the Generator's gone,
the Florida Florida went, you know, the Herdsman changed. It's
quite sad because those rooms, albeit the fact there were
(05:04):
large scar rooms and could carry it at least one
thousand plus people, we became famous for sort of like
pulling big numbers into moderate sized venues and continually packing
them out for a few decades. So that was probably
what our Forte was. And the essence of the band
because of the way we didn't have any experience in
rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We always felt it needed to be a variety show.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So it was an eight piece band when we started,
with two girls and six guys playing multiple instruments, singing
all forms of stuff. And when we started, we were
basically a fifty five to sixty five era band, So
it was a bit like Fingerprints, but like a big
version of the Fingerprints in a way, because that's what
they were famous for.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And we sort of kept that energy going.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And as music morphed, like the Commitments came on board,
Tour of Duty was out with huge soundtracks coming out,
so that really fed our sixties vibe and also the
rhythm blues vibe, which I became a massive fan of
so and that's how the band sort of developed it.
But the variety aspect then and now is the most
(06:02):
the greatest asset of the in my opinion anyway, those.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Two Duty soundtracks, they were my research for the bands
that I've missed, you know, just ahead of my time,
and I don't think.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
A lot of people did. I'm sure of it.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
By the way, it's off topic, but I love God's
Spell who was that gorgeous woman that did Day by
Day in pre per year telethon back in the way.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We'll never forget it. Forgot she was Queen and Poppa once,
which he was. I will never forget that performance as long.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
But anyway, back on track, lovely college guys. The longevity
of your band, what what do you think has led
you guys to still be doing it around town time?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
The energy of the team collectively, always putting their cards
on the table every time they go to work. That's
the only way you can survive. I mean, I think
people will be pretty sick of me after thirty eight years,
so you know they are what they're going to get,
you know.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The hair is the hairstyle what never. It's not going
to saw some good hair photos of you. Yeah, but
that's that's the reason why I'm happy to be bored.
I had no conscious hairstyle whatsoever. And my mother was
a hairdresser and the day I walked in board, she
just shook her head and just went, what's.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Going on here?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah? It's really the energy collectively of the team that
put it out on stage, and it's just a joy
to be with. And we've had some reunions in recent years.
We went back to the A b H last year
at least from clean and it was it was really
nice to see not only the fans come back and
and sort of like misbehavior as they used to do
(07:44):
back in the day, because that was the thing about it.
There was nothing like the o BH. It was just
a different level of energy. And I'd been to the frames,
I'd been to flying Funds at the u w A
refectory and you know, and it was just pandemonium when
the Funds of Wellings were playing. But the OBH, do
I say it went to another level. I've never seen
misbehavior in an audience like it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Did you ever need the net in front of you?
The cage?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Blues Brothers for all days we went to the country areas. Yeah,
there were some places in the country we used to
think that maybe a fence up the front might be
a bit handed. We used to keep barriers at the
front of the stage to have stopped people trying to
jump on stage, but that never worked.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right, it works, Oh well, you don't want to stuby
your head what you're trying to see?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
No, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
But yeah, we've been really lucky for thirty ages playing
the OBH gig was fantastic, so a lot of the
original members came back to perform with the band.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And on the.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Other aspect of it too, which I thought was lovely,
was that some of the other members that created a
great foundation back in the nineties and so forth, when
we're doing that the Aberdeen every Friday night. I think
for twelve and a half years we had long standing
residencies at the Breakwater's having with four hundred and fifty
one shows there before the original lineup.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
When the break Horder was in the other location. Wasn't
it a.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Real breakwater with Ken and Anne Reid. Ken got to
love him his past now, but Ken showed his great support.
In fact, Ken was actually I've got to give Ken
a lot of credit because.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Nobody wanted to book the Fats Band.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
There was a time after about ten or twelve years
that the phone just stopped ringing, and then Ken gave
us an opportunity of playing on a Wednesday Wednesday night
at the Breakwater, and it went from whatever it was,
a couple hundred people to about seven hundred and fifty
people every single Wednesday night, and really for all of
us back in that generation. That's probably when the Fats
(09:36):
Band was working from Wednesday to Sunday. But on a
Tuesday night, I'd always go and see Never Never Acadney's right,
and that was just that was just the bomb. It
was our chance to see a band because we're always working.
We couldn't see anymore unless they were multi band lineups,
and you get to see everybody else's band, you know,
you know playing back in the day, those looking bust.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Looking Busters and Yeah Rippers and.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There was the Pilothon rock shows and so forth, and
they were just incredible. So you catched up with all
these other bands literally for months or twice a year
in our own environment, which is you know, good and
dangerous at the same time.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Well, Tuesday night was a big night if you worked
in the industry, because that was the night that was
considered the night off. I remember we used to go
to the Underground on the on a Tuesday night round
so good.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But what a fire trap it was at the Underground.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
At the Underground when I was working as an actor
before I got involved with the Fats Band, I was
actually a statue in the really in the front cabinet
when he used to walk here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Like you're doing a bit of mine with your bit
of mind, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Just doing the statue thing. And then people would walk
up and bag the window. The windows becomes the face
like this and I'm going to die in a situation.
You know, you're sweating profusely because there was no it
was health and safety nightmare.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah. Absolutely, you could have been a Queen's guard mate
with all you're very stoic. How about the faces you
see in the crowds over the years. You must see
the multi generations show.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Oh yeah, you do.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And I've got to say, like again, it's just the
loyalty and the friendships that we've forged over the years,
not just in the band, but with the fans.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It's been incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And like you know that they come up and they
remind you of things that you've have forgotten about. Do
you remember this gig? And you sort of go, oh
my god, I can remember that, you know. So they've
obviously had a great time, and there's people coming back
now that probably haven't seen the band, Like they've gone away,
they've had their kids, you know, divorced, you know or whatever,
y oh, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
These days, you know, change sexualities absolutely, you know, and they.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Come back and they go you know, I remember these
days and they tell you stories and stuff and it's
just really lovely. Really, you know, I'm in a blessed
situation really, and a lot of the other people that
you've had on air, we'll tell you the same thing.
I mean, you know, it's a rare treat to be
able to do what you loved to do for your
entire career.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And albeit you know, I.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Do have other bits and pieces like theater and so
forth they go and do.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
But the energy of the Fats band.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
What I love about the Fat Span more than anything
being a front man with that band since it started,
is is you walk into chaos. It's pandemic, like you
don't know what it's just. Look, you don't know what
you're going to get each night, and you're just going
to deal with it. And you're sure the band's got
the songs to play. But it's how you approach the
audience and what are you going to try and to
vote from the audience, and that sort of game really
(12:27):
keeps you on your ties, and that keeps you mentally sharp,
and it keeps you pretty physically fit as well.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
You went to Wait, did you ever do any shows
at the weight Tavern?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I did?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I might have been there, yeah, taving one away. Yeah,
So you know that isn't funny. When I was at UNI,
I was seeing bands like the Riffs, innocent bystanders. As
I said, you know, when I started UNI, I was
also going over to u w WA because most of
my mates from Trinity went to u w W, and
we'd see bands like that Itchy Feet Flying Funds of
(13:00):
was just like if he went and saw the fonds
are all his back.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It was like an epiphany. It was. It was like
a religious yeathering, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I mean, Elf would call out dead ads and then
you've got eleven hundred people on their backs doing good ass.
It was the most ludicrous thing you'd ever seen in
your life. But it was hilarious. But I've never seen
a band motivated crowd like it. But in those days,
I mean, the Frames, the Jets, I mean, you know,
I'm going to embarrass myself with that. And they were
(13:30):
frost amazing band, you know what I mean. And they
were really good at their craft. They were great musicians.
And isn't it funny that you know even I should
mention absolutely the number they did and look at most
of our industry currently the leading band so like Ian Fork,
Dave Thomas.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Ian Fork was in tour tour back in the day.
Dave Thomas.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, Dave Thomas is with the Jay Babies when they
first formed Just Law in eighties. Underground is from you know,
Jay Babies. Todd's still working. Mark donald Hue from that
The Frames is playing with Todd now. Billy Jermaine was
playing drums at me for several years. He's playing with
Todd Steel. John Calabresi played in The Fast Man, He's
(14:15):
also playing with Todd.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean that generation of musicians, they.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Just know how to apply their craft to an audience
and it's still evident evident today.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I'm sixty.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I'm sure some of these guys are older and they're
still dishing it up and it's just marvelous.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I took about those big venues, big beer barns. I
do remember one one Sunday walking into the overflow with
my mate and down there in Inalu and be Capri
were on stage. And I've said this to Lesa a
few times. Its Fortnite, there were I reckon six hundred
girls down the front and the jealous boyfriends are all
at the bat the back. But the atmosphere in the
atmosphere was just electric because the great big beer barn.
But it was it was he he was so full.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Was yeah, A look at those guys and they were
like a class models on their head side, you know
what I mean. Like me, I was adeen Stone and
didn't give us stuff about looking great for an audience.
It was just like slim gym and I just looked
the complete opposite. But that was my nickname at school.
That's where it came from, So slim Fats, you know,
(15:14):
Bill Haley in the comments.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
There was other bands around that time.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
That were doing really funny things with their names, like
Jimmynastics and the crash Mats.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I mean I thought that. I thought that was genius.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And I shared a house with a guy that was
a drummer for ELROYD Flicker and the Fits.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And I was just an incredible band.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
They recorded their album in our flat in Kings Park
Road was Perth, just incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I thought I Spit on your Gravy was a good one.
I think it was an helping punt on your gravy.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
We used to get away with I mean, I was
doing a version of Gloria where I changed all the
lyrics and.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Made it Maria.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But it was it was sung by like a very
pissed off Italian husband.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Her name was.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Em Remember a band called Snake People. They used to
do the Sunday session at the Queens when I worked
at the Queen.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
They also played the Brewerial House right shilling highways.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
The keyboarders used to do a great recorder solo in
wild Thing You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
It was always but we used to see them as
well because they were great guys. John Roberts was in
that band as well, and John ended up starting R
and R Music, which has now become a Henhouse rehearsals.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh yes, so it was originally built.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
In fact, I actually laid some ricks there and actually
for a couple of days, want to help out building
the place first.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
A couple of days laboring was good and good for
the soul. I've reckoned for many years. I've bumped into
you them boast in the Telethon green room. Oh yeah,
and so many, so many gigs for Telethon.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I started the Fast Band first appeared just after we started,
think October nineteen eighty six, and I think something like
coup Us three or four in the morning, one of
those special time slots.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And then a couple of years went on.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I think Peter Dean approached me at the end of
one of the shifts that I was working on, and
I think I was doing the phone room, obviously because
nobody else wanted the job, and Peter said, look, you
know I'm getting too old. I think I want to
move on stick with the Dave routine. I'm too old
to the late nights. That you consider coming in and
doing the late nights. And I said sure, and then
(17:27):
I sort of got involved with John Crilly and Gloria
Fryer and I started producing and hosting the midnight to
dawn thing for I think it was twenty plus twenty
two to twenty four years. But I was also the
missicle coordinator for telethhone for a number of years as well,
especially in that transition from the studio to PCC.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Yeah, go from the Stuart Hill base, coming from that
two hundred strong audience to two thousand, and then having
this sort of structure the show accordingly, So that was
an interesting way of doing it and taking your live
music knowledge to telephone and making.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
It work for the PC. Yeah, it was a good time.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Are you coming up to the Big four to Oh
really it was eighty six.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, we're already booked at the ABH. Yeah, get it up. Absolutely.
They were instilling windscreen ones on the inside.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Who the news is that we're playing out the back now,
because even though that we're playing in now has been
so renovated, we would go in there and harm there flooring.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's quite a fit out, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
So we're in the Bier Garden, which is where we
did the readinion shows last year. So we are booked
to play at the ABH that everybody is going to be,
Oh my god, you keep us posted. Yeah, well but
forty anything, you know, just to be able to achieve
forty and then down a stage with people that honestly,
I mean, I walked on stage last year, looked across
to my left to see the girls doing their their
(18:48):
routines on the right, see the guys doing what they
were doing, and I'm tearing up because it's just wonderful
to think that after all these years, we're still able
to do it and the energy is apparent, like you know,
the band gets counted in and the energy is like bang,
yeah there, So all the lessons that we've learned, all
the the Yeah, the drive is still there for all
(19:10):
the spirits there. That's probably the best thing about it,
and that means that the fortieth will be very very special.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
We can tell the spirits still there and the drive
still there, and we don't want to, but we have
to let you go.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah, we could probably talk for about four weeks and
I didn't need at all.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I know, but that might be afterwards, but it's certainly
going to be intravenous strips after doctor.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's all good. I love you guys, doing this so.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Lovely to reminisce about those days with you and for you.
Those days have not stopped, so we're happy about that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Just a baby mate, good to see. That's so cool.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
You in trouble
We would be singing a minute works to twelve hundred
people that men at work and begin their own I.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Don't need the people party.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
And then the bands was a way of Lisa's pub
drawn today Slim drew himself Jamie mccanty, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Believe it. This is ob scene.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Getting up this hour of morning is like tortuing for
a rock and roll mate, What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What are you talking about? It was the defibrillator outside
for ready to go. Yeah, yeah, we didn't know you
needed a rider. Yeah. Sorry. Lisa is practically a doctor maker.
I'll give it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Google having about the mouse, did a condition? Google assussitation
time doctor Google that cassette. The quality sounded also, that
was unreal. I had a transferred to see a few
years back because I've got one cassette left right on
my shelf. And the interesting thing about it was on
the back of it, we had this sticker that we
had to put on manually. So we all came to
(00:57):
the office one day and sat down with you. I
think there was about two and a half thousand cassettes
and a couple of boxes, and then we had all
these stickers and we.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Had to apply the sticket to the back, which.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Was warning this cassette contains hidden Christian messages.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Oh like the opening ceremony like that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, that's been controversial, hasn't they?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, but it sold really well. Yeah good.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
You recorded that live at the OBA back then play
the full version because it went for about twenty five hours.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But the reason why I sent it through is because
it's really indicative of how that the crowd used to
go off at the OBA. It was an absolutely unique
in its own way because it was licensed for the
remy were playing. It was licensed for two hundred and
twenty five people, and I know because we had the
door charge on so we had a head count and
there was an excess of six hundred and six hundred
(01:48):
and fifty average every single Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So that was extraordinary. But it just wasn't shaped or
made for it.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But for some odd reason, it just had this atmosphere
like no other, like for.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Example, just what it was and eighties on the beat.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It was, and all that facade of the OBH was
covered in glass, yes, in the studio, and while we
were playing, especially in summer, the condensation with all the
people being sort of sort of so tightly packed in there.
He used to rain on the inside of the windows.
He was out of control, but that was your fault
because you guys were so good, right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, yeah good.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
It's a weird thing, though, cleary because the Fats Band's
history was one where none of us had any experience
playing in a band prior to join starting the Fats Band,
and we all came from very like bizarre sort of backgrounds,
like a Drummond was from a punk bank called the
Tarantulas and the Kansas City Killers KKK. It was spelt
and they used to play at the places like the
(02:43):
Wiz Bar, which you keep talking about in.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The last couple of weeks, which is great.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Our bass player never played bass before, but his brother
owned a bass.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It was close enough.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The lead guitarist was actually a bass player whose mother
had a left handed lead guitar because he was handed,
so he was in and this is how the story went.
So none of us really had an experience, but we
had this absolute drive to actually start a band because
I was working on a project called Godspell because I
came out of weight with the theater, Arts and journalism
degree and the band that we put together for the
(03:15):
orchestra for God's Spell was basically the embryo of what
the fat Span became. And none of us, as I said,
I had an experience in the rock and roll game,
but we thought, well, you know, this sounds pretty interesting.
And at that time that was coming into the recession
and there was no money being spent in theater or beings.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
You know, there was no funding.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
There was no funding it yet nothing was going on,
and all the theater companies were really alarmed. I could
see that my future as an actor was pretty limited
in Perth, so I thought, let's try something else, and
wanting to keep performing, we decided maybe the fat Span
might be.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
A good forum. And it just worked. It clicked.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But in those days, though, to be fair, I mean,
people gave us a lot of chances to get out
to learn our craft and get it right. And there
was great examples playing at the time, like the Frames,
the Jets, Flash Harry Flying fonts of rallies. I mean,
the bands were just epic. So you just go and
see some of these bands. It was like a you know,
(04:11):
a bridging course of how to how to play rock
and roll on Perth. So we learned our lessons pretty
quickly and for some reason, we went from zero gigs
from I.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Think June when we sort of launched them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
By July we were playing the Albion on a Thursday,
the Silver Slipper and Netlins downstairs, and the Broadway Fair
shopping Center on the Friday, and the Saturdays then became
the ABH and that was just it that just blew
out of proportion, and it stayed that way for several years.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
With so many great venues. It was like a smakes board,
wasn't it. It was?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And hearing in these interviews this week has been incredible.
The ship and park was amazing, like you know, and
now it's not there. I mean I used to go
to the overflow like I'm sure you guys, and now
it's not there, you know. And seeing the Generator's gone,
the Florida Florida went, you know, the Herdsman changed. It's
quite sad because those rooms, albeit the fact there were
(05:04):
large scar rooms and could carry it at least one
thousand plus people, we became famous for sort of like
pulling big numbers into moderate sized venues and continually packing
them out for a few decades. So that was probably
what our Forte was. And the essence of the band
because of the way we didn't have any experience in
rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We always felt it needed to be a variety show.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So it was an eight piece band when we started,
with two girls and six guys playing multiple instruments, singing
all forms of stuff. And when we started, we were
basically a fifty five to sixty five era band, So
it was a bit like Fingerprints, but like a big
version of the Fingerprints in a way, because that's what
they were famous for.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And we sort of kept that energy going.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
And as music morphed, like the Commitments came on board,
Tour of Duty was out with huge soundtracks coming out,
so that really fed our sixties vibe and also the
rhythm blues vibe, which I became a massive fan of
so and that's how the band sort of developed it.
But the variety aspect then and now is the most
(06:02):
the greatest asset of the in my opinion anyway, those.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Two Duty soundtracks, they were my research for the bands
that I've missed, you know, just ahead of my time,
and I don't think.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
A lot of people did. I'm sure of it.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
By the way, it's off topic, but I love God's
Spell who was that gorgeous woman that did Day by
Day in pre per year telethon back in the way.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We'll never forget it. Forgot she was Queen and Poppa once,
which he was. I will never forget that performance as long.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
But anyway, back on track, lovely college guys. The longevity
of your band, what what do you think has led
you guys to still be doing it around town time?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
The energy of the team collectively, always putting their cards
on the table every time they go to work. That's
the only way you can survive. I mean, I think
people will be pretty sick of me after thirty eight years,
so you know they are what they're going to get,
you know.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
What I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The hair is the hairstyle what never. It's not going
to saw some good hair photos of you. Yeah, but
that's that's the reason why I'm happy to be bored.
I had no conscious hairstyle whatsoever. And my mother was
a hairdresser and the day I walked in board, she
just shook her head and just went, what's.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Going on here?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah? It's really the energy collectively of the team that
put it out on stage, and it's just a joy
to be with. And we've had some reunions in recent years.
We went back to the A b H last year
at least from clean and it was it was really
nice to see not only the fans come back and
and sort of like misbehavior as they used to do
(07:44):
back in the day, because that was the thing about it.
There was nothing like the o BH. It was just
a different level of energy. And I'd been to the frames,
I'd been to flying Funds at the u w A
refectory and you know, and it was just pandemonium when
the Funds of Wellings were playing. But the OBH, do
I say it went to another level. I've never seen
misbehavior in an audience like it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Did you ever need the net in front of you?
The cage?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
You know?
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Blues Brothers for all days we went to the country areas. Yeah,
there were some places in the country we used to
think that maybe a fence up the front might be
a bit handed. We used to keep barriers at the
front of the stage to have stopped people trying to
jump on stage, but that never worked.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right, it works, Oh well, you don't want to stuby
your head what you're trying to see?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
No, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
But yeah, we've been really lucky for thirty ages playing
the OBH gig was fantastic, so a lot of the
original members came back to perform with the band.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And on the.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Other aspect of it too, which I thought was lovely,
was that some of the other members that created a
great foundation back in the nineties and so forth, when
we're doing that the Aberdeen every Friday night. I think
for twelve and a half years we had long standing
residencies at the Breakwater's having with four hundred and fifty
one shows there before the original lineup.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
When the break Horder was in the other location. Wasn't
it a.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Real breakwater with Ken and Anne Reid. Ken got to
love him his past now, but Ken showed his great support.
In fact, Ken was actually I've got to give Ken
a lot of credit because.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Nobody wanted to book the Fats Band.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
There was a time after about ten or twelve years
that the phone just stopped ringing, and then Ken gave
us an opportunity of playing on a Wednesday Wednesday night
at the Breakwater, and it went from whatever it was,
a couple hundred people to about seven hundred and fifty
people every single Wednesday night, and really for all of
us back in that generation. That's probably when the Fats
(09:36):
Band was working from Wednesday to Sunday. But on a
Tuesday night, I'd always go and see Never Never Acadney's right,
and that was just that was just the bomb. It
was our chance to see a band because we're always working.
We couldn't see anymore unless they were multi band lineups,
and you get to see everybody else's band, you know,
you know playing back in the day, those looking bust.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Looking Busters and Yeah Rippers and.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
There was the Pilothon rock shows and so forth, and
they were just incredible. So you catched up with all
these other bands literally for months or twice a year
in our own environment, which is you know, good and
dangerous at the same time.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Well, Tuesday night was a big night if you worked
in the industry, because that was the night that was
considered the night off. I remember we used to go
to the Underground on the on a Tuesday night round
so good.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But what a fire trap it was at the Underground.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
At the Underground when I was working as an actor
before I got involved with the Fats Band, I was
actually a statue in the really in the front cabinet
when he used to walk here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Like you're doing a bit of mine with your bit
of mind, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Just doing the statue thing. And then people would walk
up and bag the window. The windows becomes the face
like this and I'm going to die in a situation.
You know, you're sweating profusely because there was no it
was health and safety nightmare.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah. Absolutely, you could have been a Queen's guard mate
with all you're very stoic. How about the faces you
see in the crowds over the years. You must see
the multi generations show.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Oh yeah, you do.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And I've got to say, like again, it's just the
loyalty and the friendships that we've forged over the years,
not just in the band, but with the fans.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It's been incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And like you know that they come up and they
remind you of things that you've have forgotten about. Do
you remember this gig? And you sort of go, oh
my god, I can remember that, you know. So they've
obviously had a great time, and there's people coming back
now that probably haven't seen the band, Like they've gone away,
they've had their kids, you know, divorced, you know or whatever,
y oh, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
These days, you know, change sexualities absolutely, you know, and they.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Come back and they go you know, I remember these
days and they tell you stories and stuff and it's
just really lovely. Really, you know, I'm in a blessed
situation really, and a lot of the other people that
you've had on air, we'll tell you the same thing.
I mean, you know, it's a rare treat to be
able to do what you loved to do for your
entire career.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And albeit you know, I.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Do have other bits and pieces like theater and so
forth they go and do.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
But the energy of the Fats band.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
What I love about the Fat Span more than anything
being a front man with that band since it started,
is is you walk into chaos. It's pandemic, like you
don't know what it's just. Look, you don't know what
you're going to get each night, and you're just going
to deal with it. And you're sure the band's got
the songs to play. But it's how you approach the
audience and what are you going to try and to
vote from the audience, and that sort of game really
(12:27):
keeps you on your ties, and that keeps you mentally sharp,
and it keeps you pretty physically fit as well.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
You went to Wait, did you ever do any shows
at the weight Tavern?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I did?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I might have been there, yeah, taving one away. Yeah,
So you know that isn't funny. When I was at UNI,
I was seeing bands like the Riffs, innocent bystanders. As
I said, you know, when I started UNI, I was
also going over to u w WA because most of
my mates from Trinity went to u w W, and
we'd see bands like that Itchy Feet Flying Funds of
(13:00):
was just like if he went and saw the fonds
are all his back.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It was like an epiphany. It was. It was like
a religious yeathering, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I mean, Elf would call out dead ads and then
you've got eleven hundred people on their backs doing good ass.
It was the most ludicrous thing you'd ever seen in
your life. But it was hilarious. But I've never seen
a band motivated crowd like it. But in those days,
I mean, the Frames, the Jets, I mean, you know,
I'm going to embarrass myself with that. And they were
(13:30):
frost amazing band, you know what I mean. And they
were really good at their craft. They were great musicians.
And isn't it funny that you know even I should
mention absolutely the number they did and look at most
of our industry currently the leading band so like Ian Fork,
Dave Thomas.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Ian Fork was in tour tour back in the day.
Dave Thomas.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, Dave Thomas is with the Jay Babies when they
first formed Just Law in eighties. Underground is from you know,
Jay Babies. Todd's still working. Mark donald Hue from that
The Frames is playing with Todd now. Billy Jermaine was
playing drums at me for several years. He's playing with
Todd Steel. John Calabresi played in The Fast Man, He's
(14:15):
also playing with Todd.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean that generation of musicians, they.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Just know how to apply their craft to an audience
and it's still evident evident today.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I'm sixty.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I'm sure some of these guys are older and they're
still dishing it up and it's just marvelous.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I took about those big venues, big beer barns. I
do remember one one Sunday walking into the overflow with
my mate and down there in Inalu and be Capri
were on stage. And I've said this to Lesa a
few times. Its Fortnite, there were I reckon six hundred
girls down the front and the jealous boyfriends are all
at the bat the back. But the atmosphere in the
atmosphere was just electric because the great big beer barn.
But it was it was he he was so full.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Was yeah, A look at those guys and they were
like a class models on their head side, you know
what I mean. Like me, I was adeen Stone and
didn't give us stuff about looking great for an audience.
It was just like slim gym and I just looked
the complete opposite. But that was my nickname at school.
That's where it came from, So slim Fats, you know,
(15:14):
Bill Haley in the comments.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
There was other bands around that time.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
That were doing really funny things with their names, like
Jimmynastics and the crash Mats.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I mean I thought that. I thought that was genius.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And I shared a house with a guy that was
a drummer for ELROYD Flicker and the Fits.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And I was just an incredible band.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
They recorded their album in our flat in Kings Park
Road was Perth, just incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I thought I Spit on your Gravy was a good one.
I think it was an helping punt on your gravy.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
We used to get away with I mean, I was
doing a version of Gloria where I changed all the
lyrics and.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Made it Maria.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But it was it was sung by like a very
pissed off Italian husband.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Her name was.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Em Remember a band called Snake People. They used to
do the Sunday session at the Queens when I worked
at the Queen.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
They also played the Brewerial House right shilling highways.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
The keyboarders used to do a great recorder solo in
wild Thing You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
It was always but we used to see them as
well because they were great guys. John Roberts was in
that band as well, and John ended up starting R
and R Music, which has now become a Henhouse rehearsals.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh yes, so it was originally built.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
In fact, I actually laid some ricks there and actually
for a couple of days, want to help out building
the place first.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
A couple of days laboring was good and good for
the soul. I've reckoned for many years. I've bumped into
you them boast in the Telethon green room. Oh yeah,
and so many, so many gigs for Telethon.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I started the Fast Band first appeared just after we started,
think October nineteen eighty six, and I think something like
coup Us three or four in the morning, one of
those special time slots.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
And then a couple of years went on.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I think Peter Dean approached me at the end of
one of the shifts that I was working on, and
I think I was doing the phone room, obviously because
nobody else wanted the job, and Peter said, look, you
know I'm getting too old. I think I want to
move on stick with the Dave routine. I'm too old
to the late nights. That you consider coming in and
doing the late nights. And I said sure, and then
(17:27):
I sort of got involved with John Crilly and Gloria
Fryer and I started producing and hosting the midnight to
dawn thing for I think it was twenty plus twenty
two to twenty four years. But I was also the
missicle coordinator for telethhone for a number of years as well,
especially in that transition from the studio to PCC.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Yeah, go from the Stuart Hill base, coming from that
two hundred strong audience to two thousand, and then having
this sort of structure the show accordingly, So that was
an interesting way of doing it and taking your live
music knowledge to telephone and making.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
It work for the PC. Yeah, it was a good time.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Are you coming up to the Big four to Oh
really it was eighty six.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, we're already booked at the ABH. Yeah, get it up. Absolutely.
They were instilling windscreen ones on the inside.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Who the news is that we're playing out the back now,
because even though that we're playing in now has been
so renovated, we would go in there and harm there flooring.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's quite a fit out, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
So we're in the Bier Garden, which is where we
did the readinion shows last year. So we are booked
to play at the ABH that everybody is going to be,
Oh my god, you keep us posted. Yeah, well but
forty anything, you know, just to be able to achieve
forty and then down a stage with people that honestly,
I mean, I walked on stage last year, looked across
to my left to see the girls doing their their
(18:48):
routines on the right, see the guys doing what they
were doing, and I'm tearing up because it's just wonderful
to think that after all these years, we're still able
to do it and the energy is apparent, like you know,
the band gets counted in and the energy is like bang,
yeah there, So all the lessons that we've learned, all
the the Yeah, the drive is still there for all
(19:10):
the spirits there. That's probably the best thing about it,
and that means that the fortieth will be very very special.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
We can tell the spirits still there and the drive
still there, and we don't want to, but we have
to let you go.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah, we could probably talk for about four weeks and
I didn't need at all.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I know, but that might be afterwards, but it's certainly
going to be intravenous strips after doctor.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's all good. I love you guys, doing this so.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Lovely to reminisce about those days with you and for you.
Those days have not stopped, so we're happy about that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Just a baby mate, good to see. That's so cool.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
You in trouble
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.