BILLY POMMER JR, THE DRUMMER, WAS A COAST BOY MADE GOOD IN THE BIG SMOKE OF SYDNEY . . . HE HOOKED UP WITH THE POST PUNK LEGEND, SPENCER P JONES, HOODY AND RODDY RADAR TO START THE ROOTINEST, TOOTINEST BAND IN THE WEST . . . . THE JOHNNYS . . . . FOR THE SECOND TIME IN HIS LIFE, RODDY FOUND HIMSELF SACKED FROM A BAND HE STARTED, ENTER SLIM, THE FORMULA WAS RIGHT AND THE MOULD WAS CAST . . . .
One gig in particular stands out, New Year's Eve in Bundaberg '83 into '84, open air at the town's speedway . . . . a local act then a couple of Brisbane bands, us in The Ballistics, The Johnnys and The Radiators headlining . . . . on it from lunchtime in the motel, off to the gig totally cut . . . the three acts before us get to play then mother nature takes a gianormous piss and the rest of the night is cancelled til the next day . . . . back to the motel, ourselves and the Johnnys spend the rest of the night fully doin the do until sun up . . . . catch some scatty zeds then off to the gig . . . .
Take two . . . . super mudfest gig . . . . the locals are chomping at the bit, the three other bands get their sets outta the way, we lurch onstage and fumble through our show, The Johnnys take the stage and belt through their set . . . . ladies and gentlemen, please make welcome to the Bundaberg Speedway The Radi . . . . down it came again, The poor old Rads, best known for a tune called "Give Me Head" [Fess' Song as it's correct title] don't even get to play a note, their P.A system is waterlogged, two keyboards drown and the crowd turns ugly and starts pelting their truck and road crew with mud . . . .
Meanwhile, in another part of town . . . . The Johnnys and The Ballistics are honing their collective speedway skills in our Toyota Tarago on the track which is now a slimey, slippery wet horror show, the locals eventually cease their attack on all things "Rad" and cheer us on and out as we are summarily ejected from the salubrious surrounds of the speedway and escorted back to the motel by the local constabulary . . . . ah yes, fun times in Palookaville . . . .
Say brother, where might a bastard come across some of that old back catalog from your tender youth?
ReplyDeleteWell, as you put it so eloquently Brother Bastard . . . sadly mate, I never, until doing this blog thing, realised the significance of photos, videos, records, tapes, paper clippings and all the scrapbook kind of thing, now I really regret it. One of my closest mates and a bloke who was in both of my original bands in the eighties is trying to remedy this oversight as we speak.
ReplyDeleteFor the moment though, go to PooTube oh keen one, and punch in 'Bossonova Kids' [we gigged fulltime from '86-'91] doing a cover of "Dancetrain" the first single from my previous/first band, the psychobilly 'The Ballistics' [and this mob went from '81-'85]. Also on PooTube are a few tunes from myself and Tez, [previously mentioned close mate], doing a little 'studio only' fun thing called "Dexter Pendleton's Trainwreck", I've posted a couple of those a while ago.
Thanks for asking mate, it really brings out the realisation of the false modesty of the time in being blase and downplaying attempts to document more stuff, I only have one copy of the handful of singles I was part of as well, didn't worry me then but does now, especially for my daughters sake. Cheers Pat, keep out of harms way buddy, just so we can share that drink at some point in the future !!!