June 8, 2025 • 6 mins
Today it was double Perth Pub Crawl day!
For round one, Martin Cilia reminisced about his first gig at Morley Senior Highschool, from there it was onto the Perth pub scene at fifteen! The Flying Fonzarellis started off in a garage in Balcatta. Martin also chatted to Clairsy and Lisa about being around the likes of Mental As Anything and Dave Warner’s From The Suburbs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I really would be singing a man at work song
to twelve hundred people and men at working down the road.
Not only did the people party in the venue, but
the bands.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Was a wavelong colesy, Li says person. Pub Crawl at Pinocchio's.
Speaker 1 (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 3 (00:19):
Special guest in our Perth pub crawl this morning is
Martin Celia from the Flying Fundsaarellies.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Martin, good morning, Welcome, Good morning guys. Yes, I was
just thinking this morning. Funds Aurelias was forty years ago. Oh,
stop paying the thing. I don't know how that happened.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
You just kind of gave your age away.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well you're about seven, so well.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I I did start very young, so you know that
gave me advantage.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Is it true, because I believe you were about fourteen
when you started playing in bands. Was your first gig
at Morley High School?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, it was with some high school friends. And I
think I'm thirteen when I did my first gig at
Morley High Wow. Yeah, I still remember that. We played
six songs and I still remember most of them. It's like,
it's funny where you start. Sometimes you still carry that
through to your career. But yeah, Morey High, about a
thousand people in the score Hall there and then it
(01:14):
went from.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
There popular with the girls being in a band.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Why you playing?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, it didn't do any harm. The interesting thing is
my time I was fifteen, I was playing the Perth
pub circuit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah you like Diesela get stuck in the back door
because you were so young.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, well yeah, my parents says to drop me off
or I go with one of the older guys in
the band. But they kind of knew me, so I
was okay. But on Wednesday nights we used to do that.
We're talking about the girl thing. We should to do
this hotel called the Sterling Arms, yes, which is in Guildford,
And Wednesday night they had stripper on so we'd player
set so you know, you get to know it's on
(01:57):
the girls. And I was so much into the band
and the new mu that I go to school next
day and the guys and girls and go, oh so
who's the strip one last night? How did that go?
And OK, well I don't know, but we've played a
great version of jump and get right.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So that's got how it went.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, But you talk about the girls reaction at school,
but what were the boys like? You know, were the
few of the tough guys a bit upset that you're
getting all the attention?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Not really because I didn't play up on it. But
I've still got friends from school now who some of
them play, some of them don't play music. And they
all said, well, the ones that don't play music, so
we will envy you. We wish we could have done
what you did, ye, which I at the time never saw.
I just thought it was a normal thing to do.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So enter the Flying Fond of Allies. Like so many
great bands. Half of the band was related.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Were they. There's two brothers in the band, yes, the
drummer and the piano player from Joda Massey. Yeah. So
we started off in a garage in Balcata, right, That's
where we started off rehearsing. Yeah, and we we used
to rehearse a tennis ten o'clock on Monday, and we
rehearsed ten to three or ten to two every day.
And then we got the band up enough so we
could play an hour set and then we went and
(03:10):
did a support to Mental as Anything at the Raffles
and got a great reaction, and then we kept grat
the sceing and got it up. In those days, you
had to play a three set dig in per three
five minutes sets, so you had to have enough songs
and enough content to get you through. So that's what
we did and it just went from there. And interesting
thing with Mentals was I ended up joining the band
years later.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Oh well, no, that's cool, that's very cool. I think
of the Flying Fonzias and I think of two words.
I think of fun and I think a party, because
that's what people just rocked up to see.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Wow, it wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's a really really good musical band, but it was
also a fun band. Everyone could play well, but also
everyone could perform, and we had the attitude of like
you've got to go to work, make it fun, you know,
and that rubbed off to the audience and the band
worked hard and yeah, so we had a really good
good run there in person.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You know what I think of when I think of
do Didy did he dumb? That must have gone off
at the shows.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yes, I remember we actually recorded that song and yeah,
I think I've got a big bit of action in
the first charts, and I remember doing two videos for it.
I don't know why we did two videos for that
one song, right, you have recollection of doing two different
videos for it because it was so many.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
That was one of those songs I was djaying at
the times and it saved you saved your baking so
many times. I love that song.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, it doesn't fail, does Yeah, we have fun with
that and yeah I said that was eight ninety eighty
three to eighty five eighty six somewhere around there.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yep, absolutely, Well, everyone loved the shows because full house
signs used to go up before your gigs even began.
That's that's would have to be reassuring to head out
onto stage with. What were some of your favorite places
to play other than the Raffles.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, the Raffles we played there every Saturday night any months,
I think to well, okay as the house and the
only problem was when we start getting a lot of people.
You get to the gig and you can't park any with.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's still like that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yes, we have to get reserve parking or something. But
that was when you know you're doing well. Generator was.
I grew up in Morley, so I was Generator was
was a was a home gig for me. Yeah, that
was pretty good. And I had a car at a time,
and I remember I didn't get out of second year
to get there. It was petrol was just starting it
(05:25):
up and then but there's different times then and then
looking by right tool the overflowed that was always ky.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So what are you doing now, Martin? You're still playing.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I hadn't stopped. I still two the last thirty years. Yeah.
I moved to Sydney with a bank called Dave worn
of some suburbs. Yes. Good. So after ponzarelli Is teamed
up with Dave and we were doing gigs record we
recorded a few albums and then one time we're in
Sydney and I thought I'll just stay for a little bit,
(05:57):
you know, maybe a couple of months. And it went
onto a year. And I'm still based out of Sydney
because the bands that i'm with two are out of
Sydney Airport, so I have to be near that. But
I'll go to come to Perth all the time, and
I get a few weeks here and they're still such
a great place.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And you mentioned Dave Warner about you. You've rubbed shoulders
and work with a lot of great people, including that
boke who wrote somebody of those great Skyhawks Melbourne epics,
Greg McCain's from Skyhawks as well.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yes, I spent a lot of time with Greg. We
toured together in the nineties as part of the show
and a band, and I see Greg quite regularly and
still the same.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Well, when you're in town, come visit. Martin. It's been
lovely to chat to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Bring back the memories, Yeah, absolutely great memories.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Good times, they were really good times. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And forty years in the road. That's going to be
your memoir title, I reckon, Yes, you right, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's about one. Martin Celia from the Flying Funds are allies.
Good morning, see ya
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thanks mate, thank you, thank you.
I really would be singing a man at work song
to twelve hundred people and men at working down the road.
Not only did the people party in the venue, but
the bands.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Was a wavelong colesy, Li says person. Pub Crawl at Pinocchio's.
Speaker 1 (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 3 (00:19):
Special guest in our Perth pub crawl this morning is
Martin Celia from the Flying Fundsaarellies.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Martin, good morning, Welcome, Good morning guys. Yes, I was
just thinking this morning. Funds Aurelias was forty years ago. Oh,
stop paying the thing. I don't know how that happened.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
You just kind of gave your age away.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well you're about seven, so well.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I I did start very young, so you know that
gave me advantage.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Is it true, because I believe you were about fourteen
when you started playing in bands. Was your first gig
at Morley High School?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, it was with some high school friends. And I
think I'm thirteen when I did my first gig at
Morley High Wow. Yeah, I still remember that. We played
six songs and I still remember most of them. It's like,
it's funny where you start. Sometimes you still carry that
through to your career. But yeah, Morey High, about a
thousand people in the score Hall there and then it
(01:14):
went from.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
There popular with the girls being in a band.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Why you playing?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, it didn't do any harm. The interesting thing is
my time I was fifteen, I was playing the Perth
pub circuit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah you like Diesela get stuck in the back door
because you were so young.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, well yeah, my parents says to drop me off
or I go with one of the older guys in
the band. But they kind of knew me, so I
was okay. But on Wednesday nights we used to do that.
We're talking about the girl thing. We should to do
this hotel called the Sterling Arms, yes, which is in Guildford,
And Wednesday night they had stripper on so we'd player
set so you know, you get to know it's on
(01:57):
the girls. And I was so much into the band
and the new mu that I go to school next
day and the guys and girls and go, oh so
who's the strip one last night? How did that go?
And OK, well I don't know, but we've played a
great version of jump and get right.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So that's got how it went.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, But you talk about the girls reaction at school,
but what were the boys like? You know, were the
few of the tough guys a bit upset that you're
getting all the attention?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Not really because I didn't play up on it. But
I've still got friends from school now who some of
them play, some of them don't play music. And they
all said, well, the ones that don't play music, so
we will envy you. We wish we could have done
what you did, ye, which I at the time never saw.
I just thought it was a normal thing to do.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So enter the Flying Fond of Allies. Like so many
great bands. Half of the band was related.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Were they. There's two brothers in the band, yes, the
drummer and the piano player from Joda Massey. Yeah. So
we started off in a garage in Balcata, right, That's
where we started off rehearsing. Yeah, and we we used
to rehearse a tennis ten o'clock on Monday, and we
rehearsed ten to three or ten to two every day.
And then we got the band up enough so we
could play an hour set and then we went and
(03:10):
did a support to Mental as Anything at the Raffles
and got a great reaction, and then we kept grat
the sceing and got it up. In those days, you
had to play a three set dig in per three
five minutes sets, so you had to have enough songs
and enough content to get you through. So that's what
we did and it just went from there. And interesting
thing with Mentals was I ended up joining the band
years later.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Oh well, no, that's cool, that's very cool. I think
of the Flying Fonzias and I think of two words.
I think of fun and I think a party, because
that's what people just rocked up to see.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You guys.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Wow, it wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's a really really good musical band, but it was
also a fun band. Everyone could play well, but also
everyone could perform, and we had the attitude of like
you've got to go to work, make it fun, you know,
and that rubbed off to the audience and the band
worked hard and yeah, so we had a really good
good run there in person.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You know what I think of when I think of
do Didy did he dumb? That must have gone off
at the shows.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yes, I remember we actually recorded that song and yeah,
I think I've got a big bit of action in
the first charts, and I remember doing two videos for it.
I don't know why we did two videos for that
one song, right, you have recollection of doing two different
videos for it because it was so many.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
That was one of those songs I was djaying at
the times and it saved you saved your baking so
many times. I love that song.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, it doesn't fail, does Yeah, we have fun with
that and yeah I said that was eight ninety eighty
three to eighty five eighty six somewhere around there.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yep, absolutely, Well, everyone loved the shows because full house
signs used to go up before your gigs even began.
That's that's would have to be reassuring to head out
onto stage with. What were some of your favorite places
to play other than the Raffles.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, the Raffles we played there every Saturday night any months,
I think to well, okay as the house and the
only problem was when we start getting a lot of people.
You get to the gig and you can't park any with.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's still like that.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yes, we have to get reserve parking or something. But
that was when you know you're doing well. Generator was.
I grew up in Morley, so I was Generator was
was a was a home gig for me. Yeah, that
was pretty good. And I had a car at a time,
and I remember I didn't get out of second year
to get there. It was petrol was just starting it
(05:25):
up and then but there's different times then and then
looking by right tool the overflowed that was always ky.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So what are you doing now, Martin? You're still playing.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I hadn't stopped. I still two the last thirty years. Yeah.
I moved to Sydney with a bank called Dave worn
of some suburbs. Yes. Good. So after ponzarelli Is teamed
up with Dave and we were doing gigs record we
recorded a few albums and then one time we're in
Sydney and I thought I'll just stay for a little bit,
(05:57):
you know, maybe a couple of months. And it went
onto a year. And I'm still based out of Sydney
because the bands that i'm with two are out of
Sydney Airport, so I have to be near that. But
I'll go to come to Perth all the time, and
I get a few weeks here and they're still such
a great place.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And you mentioned Dave Warner about you. You've rubbed shoulders
and work with a lot of great people, including that
boke who wrote somebody of those great Skyhawks Melbourne epics,
Greg McCain's from Skyhawks as well.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yes, I spent a lot of time with Greg. We
toured together in the nineties as part of the show
and a band, and I see Greg quite regularly and
still the same.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Well, when you're in town, come visit. Martin. It's been
lovely to chat to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Bring back the memories, Yeah, absolutely great memories.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Good times, they were really good times. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And forty years in the road. That's going to be
your memoir title, I reckon, Yes, you right, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's about one. Martin Celia from the Flying Funds are allies.
Good morning, see ya
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thanks mate, thank you, thank you.
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