Perth Pub Crawl –Michael Parks –The Riffs: We Had Him Hooked Up To A Flying Thing!

Ahead of Clairsy & Lisa’s Perth Pub Crawl this Friday, Michael Parks (The Riffs) phoned in for a chat. Michael chatted about the inspiration behind the band’s name, which Lisa described it as ‘very West Side Story’. The guys chat about all the venues that no longer exist, ironically quite a few have been turned into retirement homes. Plus, Lisa asks about that infamous Red Parrot Christmas gig.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We would be singing a man at Work song to
twelve hundred people, and men at work began the roads.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Not only did the people party in the venue, but the.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Dance was a wavelock Colesyanly says pers Pub Crawl at Pinocchio's.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Magnet House is resurrecting Pinocchio's for one night only Magnet House,
a mecca of dance and diversity, right in the heart
of the city.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, gather up.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
All your stong bags. We're talking to Michael Parks about
the riffs.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning, mate.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Morning your morning.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Did that take your straight back?

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Oh god, it just makes me feel very, very very old.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Triple old.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, nineteen eighty one another yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, there we go.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
We did have that catch up last year talking about
when we did the Perth Pub Crawl series with Perfect Strangers,
but we thought we'd concentrate on the rifts today.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Mike, Yes, yeah, lovely. Okay, what would you like to know?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, let's start with the name. Obviously a riff of
musical riff?

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Was it?

Speaker 5 (01:04):
I know we came it came from a movie. I
think that it was about a gang of street thugs
and stuff and Barry Lytton sort of picked the name
and they were called the Riffs.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Okay, it was a west Side story, Yeah, it was
very west Side story.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, more more than Boggies and Widgies at Scarboro. Yeah yeah, yeah, Parks.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
I went through the Tragic Music Box yesterday and tragically
I found a gig ticket to the Angels Flowers and
Rifts Sunday, March one, nineteen Anyway Entertainment Center.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I remember that.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It must have been a huge night to play at
the Incense what I can remember.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yes, it was a very huge you know.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
I mean we used to knock around with those the
boys from the Angels back in the sort of Jimmy
and the Boys days.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, back in Sydney. But yeah, that it was lots
of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
What were the regular haunts around town for the Riffs.
I know you used to play at the Herdy.

Speaker 5 (02:03):
Herdy Sunday session at the SUBI We played there quite
a bit. Down at the Cot that was another sort
of gig Friday nights.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Oh god.

Speaker 5 (02:13):
Where lots of a hotel on Sterling Homeway that was
a big one for us. Yeah, yeah, lots of lots
of those places have closed down. Or they've stopped having
a real shame.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, well the lands are worth too much. But is
it weird when you drive past some of the old
venues and then and they're not open anymore.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah, they're usually retirement diligious.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
That isn't it?

Speaker 4 (02:38):
The Swan Born the Shed Hotel retirement is.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
I keep saying, we've come full circle. Yes, I used
to go there for that, and now I can go
there for that.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, I'll be going back.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Tell us about the band's last gig. It was pretty infamous.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Oh the last gig? Yes, where come on? Give me
give me some remember gig?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Christmas gig first and last Christmas show was the Red Parrot.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
I think the Red Parent that was. I don't know
whether that was a reunion gig. It might have been,
might have been.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
A reunion gig or I'm just trying. I can't actually
remember if it was the last.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
You did have a lot of reunion.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
It was like kiss just coming back, yeah, but like like.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
You were rip yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
You go, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. I'm pretty sure
that Red Parrot gig.

Speaker 5 (03:42):
It might have been one where Mikah was on a
We had him hooked up to a flying thing that
where he sort of came in.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Remember the red with the harness that was.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
It was he trying to be Pink years before Pink.
That's incredible. Was there any safety involved?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
No safety No, no, no, what is it? Nhi.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
You didn't have to pass any kind of test before him.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
I think about the Red Parrot though. It was as
I recall it was, it was a place where you
didn't show a great deal of emotion. You just sort
of you just swayed. You were you were all in
black and you just kind of swayed a little from
side to side.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
So that must have really woken up the audience.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (04:23):
Well, there was a lot of those sort of special
things that people were sort of into back those they
had that.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Sort of glazed look on their face.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, you were dancing like a lane from Seinfeld.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's the opposite a special thing, like a special sandwich
before the gig baby.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, basically sandwich. We won't going that to further.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, paksy is it good when you catch up with
some of the guys and reminiscens a bit of that
going on and you're all a bit too busy in
the world.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
Well, well, Barry Litton, the drummer who started this whole
thing off.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
He's in News Zealand.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
Yeah, he's over there. Glenn White, the guitarist who was
from Matt Finish that we came dragged over the.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Birth with us.

Speaker 5 (05:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's back in New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Porl Mika O'Har has left the planet, sadly floating away
in the in the ether somewhere.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
And Marshall Rushford, who was up We got him in
around nineteen eighty one. He used to playing in a
band called the Venetians. Yes, keyboard player.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
He's selling real estate over in Melbourne, real estate. I'm
really sure.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, you know you're doing all right mate, you do well?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yes, actually I think we were. We had a song
played earlier today. It was from the eighties and I said,
a nice saxophone came in New Clay. You said, what
was the eighties that the Sacks? It was John it was, yeah,
take the sack.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yeah, Duranne, Duranne, all the bands actually.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, even Spandal had one with Steven Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Many great men. He's We're really glad that you could
join backing again. Yes, I heard about our big party
on Friday.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, you were super bad.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
I've heard about this big.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Party, Pinocchio's Friday Night.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
If you're it's time appropriate to it's six to eight pm,
is it's appropriate?

Speaker 4 (06:19):
So sort of seven year olds can go along as well? Exactly, Yeah, beautiful.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
If you're not doing anything, we'll see the park and
I'll be checking you the door mat just in case
a special sandwich.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Thanks Michael.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Guys, thank Michael Parks So I used to call it
in Parksy after all years in the radio as well,