I wish I had taken a shot of the interior of the Red Parrot back in the days. I couldn’t tell whether it is being used for anything now. Circled is the tree I vomited on in the early 80’s after an “all you can drink night”. The sapling has flourished since that fertilising incident. I’m sure that sort of promotion wouldn’t be legal now.
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The Asia Beat
The Worst of Perth 
From what i’ve heard over time it’s just used to store stuff for metros who own it? It’s been brought back to life a few times for some events as an extra ‘arena’.
Even young me has managed to have some awesome nights in that building.
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The venue shut down in 1993 when it was known as Berlin. After the operations manager fell through the roof, the powers that be slapped a work order on the place and it was going to cost millions that then owners and operators didn’t have available to them after splashing out on big refit spends on other venues. So it just sat there…
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LA, can you also cross-reference this as ‘All-time Worst stand-up venue’?
Some genius had the idea way back when the Parrot was the place to be that if you just turned off the music and stuck some comedians behind a microphone, everyone would sit down, shut up, listen and laugh. I got the warm-up gig, and was nearly drowned in cheap cocktails and beer, and every syllable was shouted down. The next week’s show was canned pronto.
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You’ve got to admit that the external decor has been improved somewhat.
It was places like the Parrot that almost got me onto the wagon; I couldn’t stand the smell on myself after being in there.
Not just the tobacco smell, but the stench of stale booze and vomit and, far worse, the lingering odour of stale sweat and the cheap (but strong) perfumes and deodorants worn by the bloody posers who frequented the place.
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That could have been my vomit Rolly.
Vic, yes, we both would have learnt that if the punters haven’t paid they don’t value it and won’t shut up. Did you do “Mary had a little lamb?”.
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Oh Rolly, the old decor was much better. Look here. It looks classy. There is something so 80’s about a parrot.
There are also some frightening sounds from inside… upstairs, the attic bar… The Parrot was a fine place.
http://somethingold-somethingnew.blogspot.com/2007/09/red-parrot-attic-tapes-bands-from-perth.html
The Holy Rollers! The Waltons! The Homecoming!
No smellovision though.
Surely someone has some interior photos?
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Note that tree has not grown as tall as the rest
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In my online idling, I came across a Hansard page where Sue Walker mentions she was a junior counsel on something called the Red Parrot brief. She says John Quigley was on the defence team. Any further info – something to do with the legendary place?
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Hmm that sounds weird, and a scary combination of crazy lawyers. You could try the state law publisher… I just had a look but it’s down at the moment.
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I saw beastie Boys there who were fantastic. Often went to see locals the Fatt, Kryptonics, Stems etc. Scientists and Triffids also.
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OMD, New Order, Violent Femmes, Killing Joke, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – to name a few bands who took centre stage at The Parrot. Oh yeah and Lush! I even met Miki Brenyi of Lush in London in 1998 – and even she remembered The Parrot. Oh the nostalgia. God it was an alternative dump that we all thought was ‘cool’.
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Best night I ever had at the Parrot was watching Died Pretty in an absolute frenzy – It was a close race between me and the band as to who was most chemically unbalanced, but there was a drum solo in there that almost tipped me over the edge…
Ahhh, Kansas City Killers, the Holy Rollers, Waltons, Love Pump.
Parrot, gorn! Shents, gorn! Old Melbourne, gorn!
Hey, did any of you happen to catch a performance by Die Monster Die and Slam Thunderhide in the backyard of my house in Leonard Street, Vic Park back in the mid 80s? We were dispensing $2 UDLs from a granny flat at the back.
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I was Died Pretty’s roadie for the Perth shows and that one at the Red Parrot was amazing. I remember the drummer Chris was so intoxicated that by the last beat on the last song he fell off his stool. The crowd were crying for an encore and he couldn’t get back up on his feet (in the band room) and I coaxed him for 5 minutes that he could do it and then holding him up I dragged him back to his kit. He finished of amazingly. I taped the that gig on the front of house mixer – amazing. You can hear Ron Peno thanking me over the PA.
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Have you uploaded the audio anywhere? Would love to relive it… Up to you.
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Whoa–what!?! Did you really tag this one ‘Worst Graffiti’? Man, I hate people griping about graffiti as some sort of scourge on this city. That shit–the whinging, that is–is truly the stuff of The Worst of Perth. After all, it’s just SO Perth to get all up-in-arms about graffiti, as if because a few kids tagged ‘Tuffee’ on the wall with spray paint, the city we still quaintly refer to as ‘town’ has suddenly turned into a ghetto populated by fearless street gangs. What’s up with that!?! I mean, I get it that some graffiti is just plain ugly and stupid; I really do get that. But this stuff on the Red Parrot… that’s some hot looking graffiti! Let’s not lump it all together. I know, I know: LA, you probably weren’t meaning to disparage this particular example of graffiti. This post was more about the Red Parrot’s history and whatnot as an example of The Worst of Perth. So mine is just a rant that I had to get off my chest, and you provided the impetus. Thanks for that!
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No it’s actually pretty good Mulberry, although it has a touch of the authorised and sanctioned about it rather than the preferable illegal. I prefer the interior of the Norwood, now under the hammer for the feel if not the artwork. It’s the only tag I have close enough to be able to pick up all graffiti on a search. Your dissention noted. There is a graffiti site watarush that comes up in the referrer stats quite often. Is that you?
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Only went there a few times – One of which was the Buzzcocks concert which was great. The other times, if my drunken recollections are correct, everone used to wear black & attempt to act impossibly cool.
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@11 = Cookster: I have watched this website since Day One (almost), and I have been compelled to post several times, but I cannot pass-up a Die Monster Die reference.
I have their Spocks Brain Is Missing 7″ (digitised, from tape) and I wish I had more.
(I was friends with a guy in high school whose sister may have been in the band, or not – either way it rocked.)
(I am also assuming this Red Parrot was the old Berlin, based on a few references and the Buzzcocks reference?)
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The Birthday Party played there once – a great gig, when Tracey Pew was on bass in his ten gallon Texan hat & Nick Cave was at his screaming best. I think they flew in and out in 24hrs such was the contempt they had for the place!
Nico from Velvet Underground also rocked up one night with a kick arse backing band as she twiddled about on what sounded like an old foot pedal organ.
The Parrot was a great, pretentious cocky and I loved it at 20! They bought in some fantastic acts.
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The reason the Birthday Party left in such a hurry because the hardcore Perth punks thought it was really cool to gob on them all night and to top it off local lead singer of Shuffling Hungarians, Ray Brown, rugby tackled Nick to the ground then stood up and leapt of stage. I was sitting behind the mixing desk and they had planned to do 3 encores, if needed, but left without doing any, despite the geneal crowd appreciation.
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That’s yet another interesting take on the Ray vs Nick incident, Margee. I somehow didn’t witness it, but have heard that he kicked Nick in the arse, and then Flunkyrat wrote in this thread on March 9th that Ray was thrown out for giving Nick “a hug”, and that he “saw NO SIGN of evil intent on Mr Brown’s part.”
I shared this house on Beaufort St with Paul Cummings, better known as Elroy Flicker, who formed the Shuffling Hungarians, and I honestly can’t recall the line-up, but was Ray the vocalist ? Perhaps you meant the Diddy Wah Hoodaddys ?
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To tell the truth I only saw the Ray vs Nick incident from the girls toilet, as the door shut slowly, so didn’t see the follow up. One of the great design feature of the Dead Parrot, may the only one, was the you could see the stage while cueing for the ladies.
I could have swore that Ray fronted the Shuffling Hungarians, as well as doing his pHd at UWA and although I remember Paul from a party at that house when I was 18, I don’t remember is he was in that band or not.
I do remember however him playing in the Dirty Hanks in Melbourne with Nigel Harford ex Stray Tapes, German Humour and White Cross.
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Re: The Ray vs Nick thing, I was hanging with Ray that night. He did not attack Nick. He got on stage to give Nick a hug and a kick cos he thought Nick was a pussy, and Nick fell over – under Ray, and got a blood nose, and so that was the end of a very short set. Yep, Ray got kicked out and some bouncer through me down the stairs and kicked me out too for protesting that Ray shouldn’t be kicked out. I think some other people were thrown out too. Ray was at uni as an undergrad then (Chem) and was either lead singer of Diddy Wah Hoo Daddies or the Shuffling Hungarians – cant recall which.
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ie, which band Ray was in at the time. He was lead singer in both.
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Snuff, hope you remember Suzi and Steve? Are you still in contact with Karen? Would love to hear from you guys. Karen is God-Mother to Lee-Anne, our first daughter.
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I remember someone flicking a lit cigarette into Nick’s stiff mane – he went ballistic over that. I also think someone had a fake gun which understandably had him nervous and furious. Didn’t the Moodists support or was that another night?
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Obviously this Red Parrot of which you speak was way before my time. Where exactly was it located?
BTW: Tagged.
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It’s corner Roe street and I think Milligan Northbridge.
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I watched Orhestral Manouvres in the Dark (OMD) play at the Red Parrot when I was 16 and they were bloody awful. But seeing the lead singer – what’s his face – practically strip naked in a fit of rage, probably at his manager for booking the gig in the first place, looking fearsome with his skinny white english body exposed to Perth ruffians heckling him in phrases neither he nor I could possibly understand was a sight to behold. It was both their music and all of Molly Ringwald’s movies that first attracted me to porn.
God bless the 80’s Parrot.
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Id suggest that the OMD hecklers were myself and my friend who had a terrible post teen bromance crush on the lead singer: Andy McClusky. I think we were calling out “Jimmy boy” or something equally innane over and over again in our drunken ‘ $2 Happy Hour’ stupour. Both the OMD’ers had a pretty confused look on their faces by the end of that gig I can tell ya. lol.
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On the second trip a few years later McClusky’s first words to the assembled mass were “I remember you, your the lot who are too cool to shit!”, I always wondered why he started off with that.
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@Grrr – grand to hear of someone who remembers DMD. I was a good mate of lead guitarist Mike Shrapnel (he of the wooly hair) and vocalist Vick… last name I can’t remember… probably never knew.
From what I recall, the band split when Vick had to return to the UK in a ‘hurry’, so Spock’s Brain is Missing is – I’m pretty sure – their only record.
Mike now resides in Hobart and last I heard he was playing with a group called Schemozzle… very different to DMD, but very, very entertaining in a Polish Polka, gypsy violins, devil may care sorta way.
Now, do you also remember 20th Century Crucifixion?
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Absolutely Remember 20th Century Crucifixion… I also have their EP record.
Wendy lead singer… Dave on Base… Hayden on Drums and Denis playing Lead Guitar…
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@ Cookster – I have 20th Century Crucifixion’s EP (“Movie Show” or something, haven’t listened in an age). I picked it up at a record fair in the mid-1990s.
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Nah, LA, watarush isn’t me. Not a half-bad site, though.
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@ Grrrr – I think that EP was called ‘Angel’. My best mate Hadyn was the drummer, with Denis on guitar, Crazy Dave on Bass and the very in your face Wendy doing the singing… it was quite the freak show.
I know that Hadyn’s now in China teaching English, Denis has just returned from a stint of teaching in the Orient, Crazy Dave is selling The Big Issue, but where Wendy is I have no idea.
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The timing of stumbling upon this blog is too good for me to pass up this opportunity to chip in. I was one of the DJs at the Parrot for it’s first 3 years, until Dennis Marshall sold it to Bill Oddy and it died, in any number of incarnations after that. It was certainly the right place at the right time, and rode the post-punk wave to perfection. The tone was set right from the opening night when the Manager, James, decided to bung on free drinks all night for everyone. It cost a mint, but everybody had such a wild time that it was no holds barred after that. And the grog was just to wash down all the other stuff. I’m yet to ever experience the extravagance and debauchery that always went down there again, and I don’t expect to.
As this blog seems to be related to architecture and design, it was again James’ wisdom to decree that the Parrot would have no decor as such, inside or out … just plain red bricks. His theory was that the building was essentially irrelevant, and it was all about the music, the lights, the people, and our substance abuse.
As a live venue, I personally preferred the Equator down on Beaufort Street, which really was off the edge. The Parrot suffered somewhat from its cool reputation, in that regard. Having said that, there were a lot of great gigs by bands like the Birthday Party, Hunters and Collectors, and who knows how many others. Anyone who attended the Parrot will understand that I can barely recall those 3 years.
Anyway, thanks for the photo, and for the quick trip down a memory lane which is very blurry at best. All I can say for sure is that I seriously had the time of my life there, and I suspect I’m not the only one.
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Best thing that happened to that dirty shithole was cleaning it up & becoming the Palladium
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Excellent snuff. Did you see the shot I took of The Firm interior?
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Thanks, TLA. I hadn’t seen that photo before, as I stumbled upon this blog for the very first time today. As is often the case, I’m not even sure which links I followed to get here. Anyway, I’m now subscribed, and if I get the time I’ll have a look around the archives. I’ve spent very little of the 20 odd years since the Parrot in Perth, so it’ll be interesting to reminisce occasionally.
The shot has a nice grainy ambience, by the way, and I think I recognise a few of the faces, but I couldn’t give you any names. It does capture the post-punk industrial era well. Interestingly, the Parrot’s utilitarian design actually predated the industrial chic of Manchester’s Hacienda, and the like. Speaking of names, it was great to see Sue Hammersley’s in the comments on the Firm photo. Sue was a real trooper, and was always right in the thick of it at the Parrot, and I guess later at the Firm. I DJ’ed at Meccano for a while, but had already left Perth before the Firm took off.
I’m not sure what the reference above about lawyers and a Red Parrot brief relates to. Given the prevailing climate, I think it’s safe to assume that very little, if any of it, was above board. My extravagant wages for 3 years were written off as ‘audio equipment’, as I recall. As I alluded to in my previous post, however, thanks to some fortunate timing, some inspired management, inordinate amounts of substance abuse, and the breaking wave of an international musical zeitgeist, everyone was having far too good a time to worry about diligent bookkeeping.
Funnily enough, I still get occasional flashbacks to the Parrot when I see the Harajuku kids or the hardcore wild young things out and about here in my beloved Tokyo, parts of which are like one great big Parrot.
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snuff…i’m still alive…drop me a line at ivolaric@gmail.com
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Beautiful writing snuff, write more! I am just that bit too young for its heyday, I think I only went there the last year or 2 of its existence.
The fact that nobody seems to have any photos kind of backs up the assertions of what a brilliant place it was. Who had the presence of mind to keep time & wages records or take pictures?
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TLA, I feel like I know all of those people in your photo from The Firm, but just can’t remember their names.
I saw mention of one David Zahari who I shared a house with at one stage… you’d be interested to know that he’s a rather portly computer nerd now, living in the UK.
How times change…
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Gotta defend Dave’s honour here….Portly? There’s nothing to him. He does work in IT in London though…
CJ
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Lots of people think they can recognise people in there. No definites yet. As I have said, it was at a Thou Gideon launch.
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Thanks, poor lisa. I’ll have a look through this blog’s archives sometime and see if there’s anything else I can contribute. I can’t recall ever seeing anyone taking photos at the Parrot, but as I’ve said, I can’t recall much at all from those golden nights. Given that there was so much dodgy activity going on, they probably would have had their camera smashed, anyway.
This afternoon I’ve remembered a few more of the excellent gigs that took place there, specifically Do Re Mi, Jonathon Richman, and that amazing double bill of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Screamin’ Jay’s band featured Joe Camilleri himself on sax, Hunters and Collectors’ drummer Doug Falconer, and Hunters’ bassist John Archer too.
One hilarious incident I do recall featured Anthony, who was appointed Manager when Bill Oddy bought the place, and who frankly, didn’t have a clue. The Stranglers were playing at the Entertainment Centre, and had booked the upstairs bar for a post-gig party. The place was packed and going off, when about 30 minutes before the Stranglers were due to arrive, Anthony kicked everybody out and draped a couple of groupies over the couches.
Anyway, the band arrived, walked straight up to the bar looking totally dismayed, and asked Stewart the barman, “Where the f*ck is everybody ?” Within seconds the revolting peasants were ushered back in, and the usual debauchery ensued.
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With regards to the Jonathan Richman gig, the Red Parrot was absolutely packed to the gunwhales with the devoted as Richman being considered something of a deity in Perth due to his championing by the one band to escape and be knighted by the NME, The Triffids, and there was an air of great expectancy.
What there wasn’t, however, was an air of nightclub as Richman proved himself to be years ahead of his time by insisting on a smoking ban for the duration of his set. This was highly unusual in 1985 and there was much disgruntled muttering about it, as there was, due to the fuller than full house, about the accessibility of the bar and the volume of the Modern Lovers played at, which was not a lot. Their Fender Twins were not only not mic’ed up but were barely ticking over, and they only used a small vocal PA – the big rock rig was for the support band who, on the demand of the idiosyncratic and/or downright portentous Richman, were not to play until after him.
So, you couldn’t smoke, you couldn’t drink and you couldn’t hear – six rows back from the stage the band sounded like they were on a building site radio, but it didn’t matter too much as he would be finished in a hour or so and then one could find one’s way to the bar, light up and generally get back to debauchery as usual were it not or one thing – Richman didn’t finish.
He went on at 10pm but as 2am approached he was still at it, which had the unintended consequence of triggering a backstage party of hard core refugees who could no longer cope with the sensory depravation being inflicted upon them but who felt a great affinity with Richman’s somewhat over the top rider. Much beer and vodka flowed until Richman eventually whispered his last ‘Goodnight, Sydney!’ and left the stage, at which point the support band leapt into action and attempted to get set up and bang out a tune or two before 3am closing time rolled around.
And so the backstage party was the scene of much fevered activity as the Modern Lovers picked over what was left of the grog and amplifiers were heaved over their heads until Richman yelled ‘Whoa! What are you doing, man?’
“Playing a gig!’
‘Not now you’re not! I don’t let anyone play after me for at least an hour! They ruin the ambience I’ve created in the room!’
‘But it’s two o’clock now! This places closes at three! We won’t get to play at all!
‘Tough, man. That’s rock ‘n’ roll!’
‘No, that’s complete bollocks! Call the fire brigade etc…’
The fire service weren’t that interested but the promoter, who saw that a little diplomacy could save the night, parleyed the hour into 30 minutes and so it was at 2.30am that the support band went on to complete their contractual agreement. He puts it down to that last vodka that hit him across the back of his head like a baseball bat as down as walked across the stage, but never in Elroy’s career did he play, or attempt to play, so drunk as he did that night. By the time he reached his microphone there were two of them and, of course, Elroy reached out for the wrong one and sent the real one to the floor in a squeal of feedback and clatter. ‘Oh well, never mind’…‘WeeeeeeThump!’ went Tanya-Lees’ mic as Elroy completely missed it sent the all the drum mics flying as he staggered to the other side of the stage in search of Thirty Hird’s sax mic, which immediately suffered the same fate as the other two and lay on it’s side, screaming, and all before Elroy had managed ‘Hello’.
Elroy faintly remembers standing on the feedback-filled stage, not having yet even plugged in his guitar, thinking that perhaps this wasn’t the best idea and suddenly thankful that the set would be so mercifully short, and the next thing he knew he was waking up in bed the next morning. He checked his guitar, found it missing two strings and sounded like it had last been tuned in 1965 and muttered ‘How the hell did I play a gig on this?’
The answer was ‘very badly’, but the performance was not without a certain entertainment value – apparently, the stark contrast of Jonathon Richman’s epic recital of intense lo-fi mini-masterpieces and Elroy’s inebriated caterwauling was the cause of much mirth among the stragglers and die-hards – it was viewed as comic relief, like the circus clowns that come on after some particularly earnest acrobats, and some punters were even running a book on whether Elroy would actually make it to the end of he allotted time or fall in a stupor where he stood like a billious bag of fat and bone.
And so it was that Anthony, who Elroy once called ‘Arthur’ by mistake and who continued to call be called ‘Arthur’ by Elroy every time he complained to Elroy about it, which was ever time he saw Elroy, continued to book Elroy Flicker and the Fitzroy Gutterslugs at the Red Parrot, most notably on their Thursday night soiree Club Oroonie, but more of that later.
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A STIRLING job reporting on the 1985 Richman gig Paul C.- I missed this one- I DID however see him on his FIRST trip to Perth, again playing The Parrot in 1983.
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I’m so glad I was out of there before that gig, although his earlier solo one was fine, and clocked in at around 2 hours. I do seem to remember that Elroy always calling Anthony ‘Arthur’ was a fine running gag along the barely disguised comtempt lines of Endora and Derwood. Steve Gordon always referred to him as Captain Handshake.
I look forward to reading of Club Oroonie, Paul C. As I mentioned here, those Thursday nights were my nirvana, hence I recall about as much of them as you do of the gig you just described, due principally to the early start at The Fitzgerald, which coincidentally our host TLA often attended.
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Not really the way I remember the gig. Jonathon didn’t drink, we may well have done.
It was a great show as I remember.
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Not how I remember Jonathon Richman either. We (Holy Rollers) supported him on several of his Perth gigs (Old Melbourne and at least once at Red Parrot). He was always very charming, even invited us out to dinner with him and the band if we promised to find a decent Indian Restaurant – not difficult, because there was a half-decent one pretty much across the road from the Old Melb. We always played first as per normal for support ct, and they were better than almost anyone else I can think of in terms of making sure we got a proper soundcheck, etc. I was at the non-smoking gig, but don’t recall a support act, so your account might well be accurate – just not the experience that we had with Jonathon.
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Anthony was a good bloke to deal with, but he really didn’t quite get the place I think.
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+1 David. It had ambiguous and also ambivalent qualities which made it hard for anyone to ‘get it’. It was cool and enjoyable though. I was happy out of the more grungy band venues, and there was a tradition going back into the very early 80’s with a quite cool New Wave scene, plus the fashion and gay aspect.
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Pammy probably took plenty of photos at the Pa rrot
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I seem to remember seeing Cave and Screamin Jay in Stirling Street in a former ice rink. I’m not 100 percent sure where it was, so maybe I’m thinking of the parrot. I saw jonathon richman at Curtin, a few paces from where I now work in a building which is now the student guild offices.
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Yes, TLA. The venue may well have been the Premier Ice Rink, or maybe they played both ? Given the state I was in, I’m surprised I can remember which country it was, let alone which venue.
One of the best gigs I’ve ever seen, anywhere, was a Violent Femmes underage gig at The Premier one afternoon. The kids went ballistic, and were singing along so loudly they practically drowned out the band. The Femmes also played a truly dismal gig, by comparison, at the Parrot on that tour. The first thing they said to me when I interviewed them on 6UVS was, “What the f*ck happens to people in this town when they turn 18 ?”
Jonathon Richman was a revelation. How one shirtless dag with a 50 watt amp could have been so magnificent still beggars belief. If you’ve seen him, I’m sure you know what I mean.
It’s funny you should mention Curtin. One of my all-time favourite urban myths involves the rumour that they’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on stationery and letterheads for the soon to be opened Curtin University of New Technology before somebody noticed that they might want to drop the New.
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The Premier is now a funeral home.
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Hey Lisa
I was talking about the Premier ice rink last night, is it a funeral home or is it Premier House on the corner of Stirling and Bulwer ?
Jen
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Hm I was pretty sure it was the funeral home on the corner of Beaufort & Bulwer but someone else said it was corner of Stirling & Bulwer & they may be right.
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… cos the only thing that would be more perth than converting an entertainment venue into a funeral home would be tearing down an entertainment venue, building a bland office on the site, then commemorating the entertainment venue by naming the bland office after it….
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The funeral home on Bulwer/Beaufort has been there a very long time. It’s not the location I don’t think.
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It’s heritage listed, so it must have been built at least post-1986. I’d say Premier House on Stirling/Bulwer is a more likely suspect, although I’m too young to remember ice skating anywhere more exotic than Mirrabooka.
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It’s definitely not, TLA. That funeral home has been there for donkey’s years, well before I lived just up the road in Beaufort Street.
The building that was the Premier Ice Rink is no longer there. For some reason there’s no google street view, but it was here at 295 Stirling Street, directly behind where Max Kay’s Civic Theatre Restaurant on Beaufort used to be.
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Yes it was always a funeral home. I’m rong.
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Its Premier House Lisa
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I too was at the Jonathon Richman gig at Curtin… am I correct in thinking that the support act was a Japanese punk outfit (Star Club…???) that was decked out like the Pistols and did some very polite spitting and finger gestures?
Or was I completely off my head?
TLA, did you attend any of the English Student Association parties in the mid 80s? I was the ESA president for a short tenure and believe I was the first to appropriate funds towards the purchase of hashish.
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Greetings Cockster,
I only just stumbled over this. The support act was indeed The Star Club From Japan. Four Japanese “punks” dressed up to look like Sex Pistols and played about as bad. Highlight was their manager dressed as McLaren who walked across the stage throughout their set carrying a briefcase, presumably a “We’re only in it for the money” tribute.
Highlight of the show was Cockster dressed in his favourite brown Courduroy jacket standing in front of the stage constantly eyeballing the lead singer with a dveil salute until said singer ran off stage frightened and set ended in chaos. How could I forget?
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ESA parties were held in that same venue quite often. I remember a lot of piss, but no hash. The Japaneser connection rings a bell. There was one where lecturer late Don Grant got into a shoving match with the fire brigade over I think the alarms being set off in the footy clubroom on the edge of the oval. I think that was an ESA.
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The hash was at an ESA party in my backyard in Leonard St Vic Park.
We rolled about 100 hash laced joints and it was my job to mingle with the crowd, lighting them up and dispensing them where appropriate. It was a very good party. As you can imagine.
I recall a particularly good bash over at Clontarf… I think… where someone tripped and fell off the stage and one of my mates called out, ‘bring him some water!’ A bemused Jon Watts responded with a garbled, ‘Water? Wat-er farce!’
One night the karate club had double booked the hall – I was on the horns of a dilema with that one, but we won out in the end. Bullshit overcame braun.
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wish I’d been around when this place was open! and here I was thinking that Perth had always been a barren wasteland. I had to content myself with Loft and Dominion when I was a young ‘un.
On a side note…is the Bill Oddy mentioned above the same Bill Oddy from The Goodies fame?
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No different Oddie, although the Goodies one does visit from time to time to check out our birdlife.
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“I’m sure that sort of promotion wouldn’t be legal now.”
On Fridays around 6pm early 90s Rumours had free full strength tinnies for an hour. I remember I could *just* down 4 and have 2 fresh ones in my hot little hands before the bell rang.
Then me and my mates would stagger down to some other pub that had the same offer from 7 to 8pm. I can’t bloody remember the name of it. It was a shithole. A basement nightclub type deal.
Or was it the shithole first, then Rumours?
And of course, we had to skoll the 2 fresh ones, otherwise we would miss VALUABLE FREE PISS TIME at the other establishment!
But yeah. Not good. Not good at all. That sort of thinking seems like another world now.
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The Firm had a free shooters competition where the winner was the one who drank the most. They had scrutineers in the toilets to check for cheating vomiters.
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I particularly treasure the time where I knew every single Firm employee and got all my many cans of VB for $1 all night. Then drove home. What a young fuckwit I was.
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There was a place in Shenton Park in the 80’s, a private house around nicholson rd that breifly operated as a private club, the door would half open and if you looked alright they let you in. The first thing you noticed was the black & white checkered floors and a small bar at the front that sold spliffs for $5, pool tables set up out back, quite bohemian!
You’d rock up after a gig at the Shenton Park Hotel- now a set of apartments I think!
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Yes remember it well it moved to North Perth legitimised itself as a Bacchanallian religion that drank alchohol as a sacrement…later it moved to Walcott St as the Temple where it survived into the 90’s
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As TLA points out, Marina, and I should perhaps have made clearer, the Parrot was bought by a different Bill Oddy to the renowned twitcher of Goodies fame. Even back then, the question would sometimes be asked.
Perth’s Bill was actually a fine fellow, compared at least to the tribe of lackeys who worked for him, and did very nicely with Cordingley Surfboards before investing in the club scene. He once commissioned me to put together a mixed tape of mellow saxophone tracks, ( which I subtly entitled Sax Maniac ), for him to create the appropriate ambience for the women cruising in his Jag.
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Ljuke found out what The parrot is now used for. Shame Perth Shame.
http://www.westernpower.com.au/subContent/aboutUs/mediaCentre/mediaReleases/Western_Power_unloads_for_winter_warmth.html
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Oh LA it could be a whole lot worse than housing what it would be quite churlish to call not a good cause.
The Shents is an OLD.AGE.HOME. (coming in at no 1 worst use of a great pub).
The Norwood is a rapidly diminishing pile of bricks.
The Underground is a boring backpackers.
The Wizbah is waiting for an interesting archeological dig in around 200 years.
Canterbury Court is a white elephant where major retailers can’t seem to shift whitegoods.
The Beaufort is becoming a Coles.
The Fitzgerald is a… business or something incredibly boring.
The Equator is a printshop or something.
The Coronado is a doctor’s surgery.
The Northbridge is a boutique hotel.
The Brisbane is the new queens, and who needed a new queens?
Steve’s is gone I think.
etc
Then there’s Fremantle, which I don’t know but doesn’t look too good for pubs (having been annexed by a Catholic University).
However the Hydey’s still there, and maybe the Grosvenor. Oh and the Flying Scotsman, which used to be the Cat & Fiddle, is going off with people who don’t want to be seen dead down the Luxe, Queens or Brisbane.
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The Cat and The Fiddle, the first itme I went there was the first time I threw up, while two little punk girls took the piss outside.
The second time I went there, I nearly passed out through lack of oxygen. They had never heard of smoke extracters.
It end up being sold and re-named the Public Office.
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…many great sunday sessions at the Cat and Fiddle…Rhythmn Method.Rockerderroes ….and yes it survives as a pleasant watering hole for the discerning…Velvet Lounge out back saw Ken Fullers band The Electromen play many xlant gigs.
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Hiya poor Lisa!
Re. The Wizbah is waiting for an interesting archeological dig in around 200 years.
I bought that cellar for 30 large in ’82 when it was the scungiest dive in the universe, named it the Wizbah and managed to despoil its reputation further. Sharing the blame are the usual suspects:
Richard G of Trigg
Neil Funboy One Wedd
Zelda
Andrew Ton-Ton Macoute Masterson
Ken Squasha Knight
Ken Miami Shaw
Glen Pink Galah Woodward
Deadly Dennis Bouros
Snuff
Ivan
Sonia
Pepper
… and that guy after a Scientists gig hiding under the stairs at the back until the cops left – if you are reading this glad you made it out or the archaeological dig could turn out awkward
Reg
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Great stuff Reg. Hope now youv’e found us you’ll stick around.
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Thanks Shazza, maybe I will.
For the record, the Parrot had passed its peak (brilliant job by Dennis/James) when Neil/Ken/Glen were cranking up the Old Melbourne with the Pink Galah downstairs and Milliways, managed by Richard G, going like the clappers upstairs, further depleting the Parrot crowd.
The Parrot changed hands the same time I sold the Wizbah. I figured the punters needed a venue, albeit not nearly as big as the Parrot so I accepted an offer by the boys to take over Milliways, changed to Meccano and sure enough, within weeks the Parrot started booking cover bands … result disastrous. That fantastic venue went stone cold dead. Meccano had queues going all the way down the stairs and up Milligan St.
The guys who took over Meccano and renamed as The Firm (is that you Shaz?) did a splendid job – think I still have my Firm Member card.
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Not me reg, I’m sorry to say.
Apart from my Parrot claim to fame, on this thread.
The other is via Mr Shazza. His father owned and ran the Parrots Roost.
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Uh..hu..hmmm, Reg….T’was I that handed you your firm member :}
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Ive been in Melbourne forever now but I did recall there was a fairly decent pub in North Perth near Hyde Park that had an inkling of ‘parrotitis’ about it. How has it fared in all this gentrification?
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The Hydey? Bought by Woolworths after the Higgins’ sold it.
Cleaned, gutted, gentrified, has a quarter acre of booze shop dan murphy stylee out back.
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And it managed to pull about 15 punters on the December Friday night I went there.
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oh lord, we went into the bottlo on christmas eve, i have never seen anything like it, and never want to do it again.
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oh
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Yeah, it’s played.
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The Fitzgerald is owned I think by the church.
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Thanks for that sobering, ( sorry … ), update, poor lisa. It’s so good to be reminded of The Cat, which we used to refer to as the world’s only licensed corridor. If you timed your run right, it was virtually impossible not to get up close and very personal with whomever you had your eye on.
Rhythm Method gigs were a highlight there in my time. They were blessed with the twin talents of Peter Hadlee on keyboard, who went on to become a professor of gamelan, and Scott Saunders on bass. Scotty later switched to keyboard himself and formed the brilliant Directions in Groove ( DIG ), whom you’ll recall scored with the hit single “The Favourite”, and released a few double platinum albums.
Along with DIG’s international tours with the likes of Herbie Hancock and Bootsy Collins, their residency at Sydney’s Basement is still the stuff of legend, and rightly so. As acid jazz went, they were peerless. You’ve got to love a band that records a song entitled “Hip Replacement”.
Of all my DJ gigs, Thursday evenings at The Fitzgerald were my nirvana. I’d lay down jazz, soul and blues tracks in between live sets from blues artists, most notably virtuoso Paul Cummings, better known as Elroy Flicker. Then at 12 we’d move on to the upstairs bar at the Parrot where Elroy would be joined by his band, The Fitzroy Gutterslugs, starring ‘Thirsty’ Karl Hird on sax, for some stompin’ R & B until 3.
Actually, in an effort to spell his name correctly, I’ve just googled around and found Karl’s Myspace. He’s in the UK now, and unsurprisingly, is still recording. What I do find somewhat surprising is that he’s still alive, but then he’d probably say the same about me.
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Yes….– venues I miss;the Equator{I donated the entire Ken Shaw collection of flyers to Ross Chisum the WA rock historian]the Clarendon the Metro in east perth where I 1st saw the teeny weenies yes Rythmn Method, Scott last seen at Chanis 21st where Spank played.and last but not least The Governor Broome on the Roe St William St intersection where I 1st saw the Triffids
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Great list, Rob. For mine, The Equator was the wildest place there was. With Ken running (?) the place, it was hardly ever going to be anything else. What an enigmatic figure he was. Half the time I thought he must have had some arrangement with the narcs to get away with … well, you know.
Good to hear Scotty’s still playing. I caught up with him in his days with DIG. And Peter Hadley’s still very much the anthropomusicological professor at Wesleyan in the States these days.
The Governor Broome was a great pub too, Rob. I used to catch the Quick and the Dead there with Kaz. Did you contribute to the pre-demolition demolition gig ? What a hoot ! It’s not every day you can turn up at a gig with a baseball bat.
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http://gruvve.wordpress.com/type/image/
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I didn’t make that one,
Snuff probably on father duty that night. Rag and Bone a neo punk band features the daughter of someone from The Quick and the Dead.She was most impressed I’d seen theirAdrians debacle
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Does anyone remember Charlotte’s Web? They were marvellous.
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just spotted this in passing: I saw them back in about 1990. My girlfriend’s mate was living with the guitarist’s brother.
they were distinctly ordinary. All I remember was some song that included the nursery rhyme ‘the farmer wants a wife.’
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Golly David Cohen- which version of “Charlotte’s Web” did you find “marvellous” ??-the one where Jeff Lowe (the founding and only consistent member) played with the future Northern Lights (Tim Underwood, Greta Little and Chad Hedley), the one where he conscripted the Holy Rollers rhythm section (Will Akers, Flick Dear and Craig Chisholm)- the one where Mandy Haines replaced Will Akers on bass because of Will’s usual “illnesses” ? The one where Lawrie Mansell replaced Craig Chisholm and Michael Zampogna replaced Mandy Haines ?- which Charlotte’s Web did you likie ?!?
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flunkyrat – your memory is better mine – nice little history of the line-up changes there. I bumped into Jell and Aurilly (spelling?) a couple of weeks back – both looking well.
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that would be “Jeff and Aurilly” – wtf?
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[Does anyone remember Charlotte’s Web? They were marvellous.]
I knew the Bass player, Michael Zampogna, formerly of RTR FM, Community Television and later of WA Animal Liberation Infamy :-)
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/corporate/Media/statements/2006/May/Animal_liberationist.html
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Sometimes it PAYS to read the “ancient” (ie- last years) posts on this blog…Charlotte’s Web ? Yeah I remember them- now what happened with THAT band is a tale unto itself.
First formed by Jeff Lowe and Tim Underwood (both formerly of “The Russians), they performed as a two piece at the Parrot in 1986/7 before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section (bass and drums respectively) Then they went to Sydney where Jeff was abandoned by Tim, Greta and Chad- Jeff returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers (former Triffids bass player) and the duo of Flick Dear (drums)and Craig Chisholm (lead/rhythm guitar) of the Holy Rollers/Ill Winds- this lineup lasted until Will suffered his usual “illnesses” and was replaced by Mandy Haines, making Charlotte’s Web a two girl/ two guy outfit.
In late 1988, after that band toured Newman and Denmark, Michal Zampogna replaced Mandy on bass, and some guy called Laurie (I think) replaced Craig on lead/rhythm duties.
Yeah- I remember Charlotte’s Web.
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Well I dunno if anyone will pay us for our mangled memories flunky.
I remember Charlotte’s web before they abandoned Jeff Lowe, but I remember them still, or once again, being around in 1991-92 with Jeff Lowe (again? still?) & a cellist added. I’m sure I remember that two of the band were hit by a car in Florence St West Perth. I was visiting a friend across the street at the time and heard the screaming.
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Small world poor lisa. The cellist was Kym ‘Krazy Kym’ Skipworth, and it was she and Jeff who were hit by the car – that was her screaming you heard. Afterwards she spent time in hospital with cerebro-spinal fluid dripping out of her nose.
But then things improved: she bought her first house with the compo, and met and married me.
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Brilliant, DFOC. Documentary, tragedy, soap, comedy and romance.
p.s. Happy Birthday.
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I bloody think channel 7 should make an australian drama out of that memory and pay me for it.
I’m glad I exercised unaccustomed delicacy and didn’t mention the other bits of unsubstantiated indie band gossip attached to that story (I would’ve made a crap journalist).
I remember that it truly was a terrible accident and I’m so glad it turned out well.
Talented Mrs DFOC – taking pics of sick AND playing the cello.
Happy Birthday too.
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So yeah-it was Laurie Mansell who replaced Craig Chisholm on lead/rhythm guitar duties-I remember seeing them at the Seaview in South Freo in ’89, and suggested to them that their song “Heart Trouble” was a potentiaal “Hit Single”- they took my advice and manager Pat Monaghan took the song and released it on Mighty Boy Records in 1990 (I think)-when I next saw them in 1992 with a mate at the Vic in Subiaco, they were a fully fledged pop outfit- and the late Dave McComb was in attendence and gave them his thumbs up.
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Heart Trouble, that was charlotte’s Web? That was actually a really good song.
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-and of course, Charlotte’s Web also (along with the amateur but capable Kym Skipworth) featured John Bannister- who these days interviews local Perth Musicains for the National Archive of Canberra-so far he has interviewed Kim Salmon, Kim Williams, Jeff Lowe and Hugh Veldon (possibly better remembered as “Marty Moon” of the Marigolds, Chevelles, King Wasabi and too many other bands to mention)
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and we used to watch our for Kym’s name on the credits of certain ABC shows – she did graphics among other things in the ABC as I recall. I used to stay at Kym and James’ flat in Sydney when I went there to do solo shows.
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What else did she do??
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…and surely somebody should shed a tear for the marvellous art deco, and now deceased, Swanbourne Hotel – also an OFH.
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Grrr & coookster
Theres a review of Die Monster Die here
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Yeah, and at their last show the singer introducing a song “This one’s called ‘Fook Off Danny Roogaroh’.” Danny and I cheered.
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Jeezus Christ Poor Lisa… the irony of that review is that I went to school with Danny Rugero (the reviewer) and he put me on to bands such as Pink Floyd (the early recordings) and the Sex Pistols.
He was always a grumpy bastard…
Does anyone remember the band that my namesake John Cooke played in? Was it The Marigolds??? Poor bugger got hit by a roadtrain on the Nullabor and all my friends at uni thought it was me. I turned up at the Curtin Tav one arvo after being in Darwin for a few months and people stared at me like they were seeing a ghost.
One more thing, any memories of Fat City Cafe in Nedlands?
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Cookster, the other John Cook was in The Passionfruit Club and also the unfortunately named Cremator. The Marigolds’ singer was Jamie Parry, later of The Neptunes.
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Of course, thanks Skylantern – I was having an 80s blank moment. I put it down to that dodgy white powder in pretty pink capsules that those two UWA professors were peddling, legally, back in the day.
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Snuff,
The Red Parrot was YOUR making. The music YOU put up was THE best.
daviddi@optusnet.com.au
David Di
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Thanks so much for that humbling compliment, David Di. It’s much appreciated, and I’m very pleased to hear that you enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s probably fair to suggest that I attacked my work with a ferocious obsessiveness, but I still think a lot of the credit should be given to the management, whom at a time when every other club was too scared to play anything but Top 40, had the nerve to give me a blank cheque, financially and artistically, and let we lunatics take over the asylum. Cheers, David.
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What are you doing in 东京 Snuff?
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Professionally, TLA, like almost every native English speaker here in Japan, I’m involved with language instruction. My day job in the school sector expeditiously pays the bills and secures me very long holidays, and my evening work online, and in the corporate sector, keeps me challenged and connected with the big end of town. Music continues perpetually to be central, but these days it’s strictly for pleasure.
Having said that, I’ve never been here for work. I’m here for Japan. I grew up fixated with two iconic paintings of Mt. Fuji which my father picked up when he was stationed here just after WW2. Now I live by the ocean in Fuji’s shadow, and I’ve never felt more at home. As a natural L’Etranger, I’ve seldom entertained the illusion of mainstream invisibility, and hence the works of Camus, Borges, Neitzsche, Basho, and Mishima, amongst others, drew me inevitably toward an existence where that status is manifest.
To generalise, Japanese people don’t have interests; they have obsessions, and I find cultural extremism very attractive. For better or worse, they’ve never been lulled into the false security of The Lucky Country. Indeed, it was precisely countries such as Japan, more recently South Korea, and now of course China, that Donald Horne had in mind with his futile warning. As Horne was often to wryly concede, the fact that Australians knew the title, but not the content of his work, perversely exacerbated Australians’ laconic sense of entitlement.
Japan has long known that its resources lay between its citizens’ ears, and this knowledge produced the future yesterday. It’s come at a price, to be sure, but no place I know of embodies the spirit of infinite possibilities like Tokyo. Each to their own, but these days nothing fires my adrenalin as much as flying through the sci-fi labyrinth of downtown nights on a lethally fast motorbike. There is plenty of ‘worst’ here too TLA, of course, and I’ll submit some examples when I have time.
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There is a Red Parrot Remembered facebook group (categorised ‘history’) with hundreds of absolutely brilliant photos on it.
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There is also a facebook group named “The History of LIVE Music in Western Australia” with loads of photos which include bad mullets at the rock awards and
THE WIZBAH.
There is a firm group too.
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Speaking of which, someone has just posted Loaded Dice and their only appearance on Countdown miming their current single Telephone :-)
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Bonds raglan t’s never go out of style.
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Frank you mentioned Loaded Dices video has been uploaded. Youtube? I’m asking as I am a huge fan of theirs, have their album (recently purchased on CD this year), many tape recordings of their pub gigs plus some other music of theirs. Interested in getting a hold of the video.
Cheers
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Phil from Loaded Dice plays at a regular jam session in Bayswater thes days
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Ohisashiburi desu, David. Oops. I posted my reply to TLA’s question before I saw your post. It’s amazing where a few timely links can take you these days, and yes, fools seldom differ.
TLA’s link above (43) will show you what’s happening with the Parrot now, thanks to some fine detective work by Ljuke.
Speaking of links, your perthpunk one is giving me a 404. Perhaps you could repost it, or we’ll sort something out via email, although I’m not so sure I want to see that psychotic Archetypes singer. Seriously though, I would love to see some shots from Hernando’s, from where The Victims kicked off the whole damn scene. Adrian’s was the big gig, but Hernando’s was such a classic dive, and I loved playing there.
The Quick and the Dead video is hilarious and I recognise every single punk, although Andy and Murray are woeful. They should’ve just said, “We’re all violent, nihilistic nutters”, and been done with it. Great to see Andy Mac on the drums, but I preferred the early line-up with Steve Acres on vocals. He had a great sense of humour which kept it from all getting too earnest and lame.
Speaking of humour, the ‘will to work jumping on’ your father was successful enough for him, but he sure was wasting his breath on us … well, on me anyway.
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Thanks, poor lisa. You’re on fire ! I’m starting to get some idea of how Pandora must have felt.
I deleted my Facebook account last year after I got jack of their suss default settings, but it looks like I might have to open a lurking account. Cheers.
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Snuff,
Don’t I just HATE being talked to in another language…and not understanding what is being said?
Yes Snuff, Long time no see.
Since the Fantastic Buzzcocks at the Red Parrot 1992….I think…..
Lot’s has happened here since.
I mistakingly overlooked TLA’s link of the current use for the Red Parrot site. Western Power…… So it-is, a storage facility of some sort.
The very least they could do is make it look like anything other than what it does like now.
They manage to keep pretty much all else around there in some order that does’nt have that other really crap form of forced advertising……Tagging.
Typical government wastage though they did a fine job of the old East Perth Power Station site. No thanks to Western Power.
Try this: http://www.perthpunk.com/
I also remember seeing the Johnny’s at the Red Parrot in your day.
The amazing people and events that I experienced there.
Yes, dad wasted his breath……….
poor lisa , they are the best links. Thanks.
In it, I see Ian Jopsans made himself very useful. Think I’ll make a little donation. Ian was also one of the better dj’s at the Parrot in the beginning.
David
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hi there it was nice to read about those days
and we are still alive
cheers karl
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I knew some that didn’t live through, but yes we are still here.
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#44 How we have all forgotten The Silver Slipper even though it was brief
There was also a small jazz club in the East Perth end of Hay Street, if I remember upstairs….what was that called ?
#41 Yes, I remember the house and the parties in Shenton Park…..
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Silver Slipper was great. World’s smallest dance floor if my drunken memories are correct. Where the hell was the Cave bar? It was somewhere in Northbridge, used to have a massive cauldron of Kirup Syrup to dip plastic cups into.
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Mercifully brief, Groucho, unless you were a hairdresser. I’m stumped by the jazz club, though. Down around Hernando’s way, you mean ?
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Snuff…you really are knowlegdeable aren’t you. It was Hernando’s Hideaway and you are absolutely right about the Maurice Mead crowd at Silver Slipper. I think our little hairless Adrian was the Manager…I think…or was it a tall guy…..memory fading.
Reading your reminders of Bill Oddie and Dennis Marshall brought back some memories of those days. Eagle One was another one of their club empire as was Gobbles I think. I vaguely remember the back room drug sessions and them. Here’s one for you, their was a great band that played there for nearly a year called Production Line that I will always remember…great funk.
Just reading back through the tread, reminded me of a night club innovation when The Underground opened…pay when you leave and the value was based on the number of hours you were in there….that worked……ha ha ha
Saw some great bands at the Sandgroper…and even Cantebury Court in the early days, Sid Rumpo, La De Das…Fatty Lumpkin, Bakery
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@ Snuff – do you remember the Fat City Cafe in Nedlands???
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The name is certainly familiar, Cookster. I think it may have been over the northern, (Charlie Gairdner), side of the Stirling Highway, on Broadway. Or was it over the Broadway Tavern ~ Steve’s Hotel side ? Or maybe … remind me.
When I was too young to even bother trying to get past the bouncers, I used to stand just outside the Broadway Tavern and jam on my blues harp with Dave Hole, and The Elks ! Having always missed the last bus, I’d then hitch back to Mozzies and walk home with one of the recently discussed burgers from Eats, then skip brekky before school the next morning.
p.s. I snapped an eerily familiar dolphin theme-park boat today at the beach near Fuji-san by the way, TLA. As of tomorrow afternoon I’m off travelling all over Nihon for 3 weeks, so I’ll keep an eye out for international worsts, and send over a bunch upon my homecoming.
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Snuff, yes, you got it in one – on Broadway, just at the back of the hospital. Saw some killer gigs there by the likes of the Holy Rollers, Kansas City Killers, Love Pump etc.
It was a fairly glossy place if I remember, all chrome and steel, with bright walls and mirrors.
One night we turned up and there were people sipping cappucinos who had no idea what the Fat City Cafe was…
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Hehe … well it was Neddies, Cookster. Love Pump ! They rocked the Wizbah !
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Fill ‘er up, fill ‘er up, won’t you fill my love pump
I wanna love pump you baby…
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that building is owned by artrage now, they use it as a warehouse for storage and held an exhibition in it last artrage festival. for some reason they call it ‘the berlin’; was this one of it’s many incarnations before/after it was the red parrot?
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Berlin was indeed one of the Parrot’s later names, n.s. Before it was the Red Parrot, it was a Peter’s Icecream factory.
While I’m on the subject of names; for those who might not be aware of it, the Red Parrot’s original owner, Dennis Marshall, (of Claremont Football Club fame), lifted the name, and even the logo, from a club on 57th Street in New York which he visited and loved in the early 1980’s.
Here’s a link for some history on that one >
http://www.discomusic.com/clubs-more/2475_0_6_0_C/
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I lived in Perth in the early eighties and remember the Red Parrot with some affection.
Was there a red bus outside in the courtyard that served food?
I saw Birthday Party, Hunters And Collectors and a few others there.
I also frequented Eagle One, Pinnochios and Beethovens clubs which were all a bit stiff.
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Peter….you are indeed correct.
There was an old double decker bus in the courtyard that served deep fried trans-fats and other tasty treats.
I think it was there from around late ’82 to ’84 or so.
I spent many a great time at the Parrot, indeed I remember hearing about the opening in late ’82 but never made it….I had an appalling and momentary absence of black in my wardrobe at the time.
For my part I think the Parrot’s “best years” were circa late ’82 to late ’84, with the pick being 1983.
I noticed one biblious night, in late 1986 just before leaving Perth for good that something was very, very wrong with the place.
It was as if they’d opened the sluice-gates to the “anti-hip Jeans Westers”. The place began an inexorable slide.
The last time I set foot inside was a hideous and sad evening in late 1988. I do believe it was “Berlin” or some such other abomination.
They had mannekins of Annie Lennox and god knows who else festooned up high against the walls; a woman “soothsayer” dressed up like Yasser Arafat read palms…
Bad enough yes, but the worst was the “entertainment”, which comprised hapless idiot men and women ascending the stage.
The men would have a banana secured around their waists and women would genuflect and attempt to “gobble the banana”.
I kid you not. On the very same stage where trod all those great acts…..
The place should have been bricked up and killer bees released….the walls sandblasted a million times to erase all DNA and memory.
A warehouse is a more noble end than that Berlin atrocity.
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Ewww, Adrian. I’m so glad I was long gone by then and didn’t have to bear such hideous ignominy. Sacrilege. Make no mistake, it was all over the day Dennis, who had deservedly made a killing with the place, offloaded it to Bill.
p.s. Behind the double-decker was also an excellent spot for a little privacy when all the other best hideaways were taken.
p.p.s. Speaking of privacy, I hope it’s not giving too much away to mention that Perth’s best kept secret was the jacuzzi.
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Snuff….I knew the place was done as soon as the black was leavened with stone washed denim and the vertical hair dos went the way of the mullet.
When did Dennis sell? Judging from the shift in the place it must have been around late 85 or so?
Where or what was the jacuzzi? Hope it was loaded up with chlorine!!! :)
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I can’t actually put a date on it, Adrian, but I think you’re right, it was somewhere around ’85.
As I’ve previously mentioned in this thread, Bill was a nice enough bloke, but to be honest, Dennis saw him coming. All Bill knew was that the Parrot was killing him, financially, and so it probably made sense to buy out his competition when the opportunity arose. What he didn’t, yet probably should have realised, was that the place had already peaked in terms of its popularity, and as surely as fashionable hemlines rise and fall, it was on the way out anyway. Clubs come and go, unless they can engender the niche market loyalty of places like Connections, Dennis’s other heavensent cash cow. Having said all that, Bill probably wrote the Parrot off as a tax loss and couldn’t have cared less.
The punters, on the other hand, were no doubt hung out to dry, primarily because neither Bill, nor certainly any of his clueless staff, actually got, (my imaginary italics), the Parrot. These were straight, conservative, suburban clubbers, who never understood the hardcore post-punk ethos that the Parrot had so successfully tapped into. Hence, they did the only thing they knew how to do … run it down, along the lines you’ve described, into yet another commercial barnyard just like all their others. Enter the Firm.
p.s. The jacuzzi was just that. All I’m saying is that it was in the vicinity of the Manager’s office, and it was indeed always loaded up with the finest Columbian chlorine.
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I just remember one night some new door bitch told me that I couldn’t get in with a rip in my jeans and I knew things had changed. I thought it was when they put a new manager on called Deirdre and it was about 1984.
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Oh christ, Margee. I’d forgotten all about Deidre. But now I remember why.
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ha ha!!!
The old Columbian marching powder? God, I didn’t think such an animal existed in Perth in the early 80s! ;)
I think you’re spot on about people not understanding the original Parrot clientel.
The real tragedy, if indeed there is one in this story, is that the Parrot didn’t end up catering to any particular market.
It disenfranchised the hipster post Punk crowd, but never crossed the divide and won the stonewash denim bridgade. It continued to flirt with both but didn’t do either well, ending up a kind of confused half way house with little to commend or offer either group.
So it became “The Firm” after the Parrot and not Berlin? That sounds kind of familar.
I left Perth in late 86, went overseas several times and have been in Sydney (just finishing a five month stint in Melbourne before heading back to Sydney) and have scored a job that involves regular travel to Perth.
I must wander down and check the place out….
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Sorry if I wasn’t clear, Adrian. What I meant is that when Bill and his lackeys lost the Parrot crowd, then The Firm, which was upstairs in the Old Melbourne Hotel, happily inherited them. Berlin was indeed of the names they gave the post-Parrot.
I wouldn’t bother wandering down to check the place out, by the way. As TLA pointed out above @ 43, Ljuke discovered that the Parrot site is now used as a Western Power warehouse. Check out the link @ 43.
There’s a good thread on The Firm here >
Poor lisa also contributed some fine detective work above and came up with an interesting fanzine link @ 50, and the news @ 58 that “There is a Red Parrot Remembered facebook group (categorised ‘history’) with hundreds of absolutely brilliant photos on it”, and @ 59 that, “There is also a facebook group named “The History of LIVE Music in Western Australia” with loads of photos which include bad mullets at the rock awards and THE WIZBAH. There is a firm group too.”
They’re all well worth a look if you’re interested, and the Red Parrot Remembered group does indeed have an amazing collection of photos. I don’t know how I forgot, (all right, I know exactly how I forgot), but there was a guy named Michael Kuba who always had a camera around his neck, so he’s responsible for most of them.
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Oops. Berlin was indeed *one* of the names…
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Oh the Facebook site is hilarious, Snuff, you’ll know everyone. Most photos by Michael Kuba, why he though it worth keeping them God knows, but great that that he did.
Remind me did Pel Mel play first night, or was that first “live’ night? I think it might have been NYE or thereabouts anyway – I was over at “The Dream” AKA Adrian’s watching (Le) Hoodoo Gurus and the word spread…its going off at The Red Carrott (sic). And over we swarmed….
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It is, I do, and it was, Guzzer. They are an excellent visual archive. And according to some of the comments on the Facebook site, it’s the punters’ kids who are now getting the most enjoyment and the biggest laughs out of the photos, and good on ’em.
As I understandably fuzzily recall, Pel Mel were the first “live” gig … they definitely didn’t play on the opening night anyway, which was all discs.
If you’d like to see Adrian’s again, it’s featured in this old clip about the Quick and the Dead’s “Tuesday night experiment” there. Adrian was a seriously top bloke, but there was nothing experimental about that night, and I hope he was well insured. The outcome was as predictable as the sun hopefully coming up tomorrow. As I mentioned above @ 60, “The Quick and the Dead video is hilarious and I recognise every single punk, although Andy and Murray are woeful. They should’ve just said, “We’re all violent, nihilistic nutters”, and been done with it.”
p.s. I was involved in the destruction at the Perth Concert Hall featured in the clip, by the way. Whomever thought they could put Madness on there, and we’d all just sit and politely applaud, had rocks in their head. The funny part is that we were ordered to remove our boots as a condition of entry, so there were about 2,000 pairs of Docs in the foyer, and the destruction you see was caused by nothing more sinister than people dancing on the seats in their socks. I swear at least half of us went home in somebody else’s boots. I did very well, arriving in black, and waking up the next morning in Cherry Red 18-holers.
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Nostalgia overload!!!!! Nostaglia overload!!!
The Firm! Wasn’t that the old Mecanos or Milliways?
Guzzer (who I suspect might be my old stomping mate from thos days) and I would sneak in by going around to the side of building where there were a set of fire stairs, foolishy unattended and ungauarded.
We went up and then cut through a very big hotel kitchen and down the main stairs into Milliways when security weren’t looking.
All to save $5, a not insignificant amount for a thirsty 22 year old in those days.
I remember once we sneaked up and prepared ourselves with a couple of numbers of home grown nonsense (and significance Emu export) and passed out in one of the hotel rooms upstairs they were doing up at the time.
We were awakened the next morning (like 8:30am) by some painters.
The Quick and the Dead??
(in my very best Alex Guiness voice) “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time”.
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Snuff, I’ve indeed spotted that great site on Face Book “Parrot Remembered” and been over.
I have managed to spot myself plus a few of my scurvy drunken crew…..thirsty desparate yobs they were….but at least we were bedecked in basic black.
We also loved slam dancing anyone on the floor as soon as the DJ courageously put on “Holiday in Cambodia”. A Parrot staple in those days.
I remember we insitigated a near riot when we targeted a rival crew of desparate yobs with the “pincer slam” and “super slam” techniques that cleared the floor.
The song was promptly axed half way through and we stood there in the middle of the floor under the baleful glare of the rest of Parrot punters.
I never once heard Holiday in Cambodia at the Parrot after that…. :(
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Indeed, Adrian. As I mentioned in the “Name 6 of your favourite Red Parrot songs” thread on the “Red Parrot Remembered” Facebook site, although “Holiday” was a cherished personal favourite, it was somewhat superceded for me by the ultimate Dead Kennedy’s track, “Too drunk to f*ck”, which was more of a fortunately rarely achieved nightly mission statement than a mere song.
“Holiday in Cambodia” was an early favourite, but “Too drunk to f*ck” just had it all. My 12″ EP of it was also the loudest, sharpest, vinyl pressing I’ve ever heard, and was single-handedly responsible for turning the sub-woofers inside out on countless occasions. I should confess that I never felt more genuine affection for you Parrot punters than when you’d all just keep dancing even when the sound system was totally decimated. In those surreal moments, I kind of loved you. Nouvelle Vague do a very quirky fun version, by the way, which is worth a listen.”
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Well I came across this blog rather late – typical really.
Not that I remember much from those days at all to be honest.
I do remember that Screamin’ Jay played a solo gig at the Parrot. That was on the Nick Cave tour. But he took a night off from the tour to play The Parrot.
I remember the Lord (one of the General’s cohorts) requesting an autograph and Jay saying to him in that booming baritone voice, “You ain’t The Lord boy, there’s only one Lord”
I also remember the one time I was asked to DJ at the Parrot, I was so wasted I played the Dead Kennedys at the wrong speed. Strange I was never asked back. Maybe the invitation was lost in the post.
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God I just watched that Quick and the Dead vid!!!
What a hoot!!
Seriously, it’s like 400 years ago isn’t? The slap my face shock horror at all these naughty punks/skins.
But we all lived in fear of these brutes back then. Funny looking at them now….just little kittens and puppies!
I was just talking to a colleague who was bassist with MotorAce (not to be confused with MotorHead!) who had a few biggish singles out a few years ago.
He’s quite a bit younger than us (early 30s) and played in Perth back in 96, he said he was surprised anything edgey came out of the place.
I said these outwardly sterile places are often where most of the interesting edgey stuff can be found! Often in spite of it!
While Perth was admittedly bloodless in many ways, it also had the Orange People, Skins and Post Punkers/Alts all tossed around in a mindless quicksand of steak-fed vacuity.
Snuff, so you were a resident at the Parrot? It might have been you who wisely pulled Cambodia off the turntable that night back in 1983!
Too Drunk to F is great…but I must admit I always quite fancied Religous Vomit and their version of Raw Hide. There really is no need for a song to go longer than two minutes!
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It was almost worth enduring the Orange People just for the “Tough titties”. Rather than honourably dying of embarrassment when Bhagwan pulled the rug out from under them, I think they morphed into Osho’s, or some such, and moved to Kuranda where they are still hiding in the rainforest. That they are being devoured by mosquitoes and sandflies seems only fair.
I was indeed resident at the Parrot (@ 24), Adrian, but I don’t recall ever yanking “Holiday in Cambodia”, so it must have been Ian or Ivan. James, the Manager, was an incredibly tolerant man, and I can only recall a couple of occasions when he appeared in the doorway with steam blasting out of his ears. Just the fact that he was there, and his countenance, were enough to have the needle flying off whatever noxious vinyl had precipitated his visit.
The only such occasion I recall distinctly was when I had just become enamoured of a particularly nasty, abrasive track entitled “Clothes Hoist”, by an artist named Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel. It just so happened that Australian Crawl were playing that night, of whom I can only say I was glad I was being well paid. The doors opened at 8, and the punters slowly filled the place to the rafters over about an hour or so. Over that time I quietly played “elevator” music, until there was no escape. I cued up “Clothes Hoist”, cranked the amps up to 11, and blasted the living daylights out of them. I can still see them all staring up at the speakers in horror with their mouths open like so many hungry Koi. I knew it would only be a matter of seconds until James appeared, but it was worth it.
Oz Crawl (maaaaate) never actually finished that gig. After Tracy Pew started sporting his ten-gallon, and bands like the Johnnies were getting around, there was a bit of cowboy-chic fancy-dress going on. Towards the end of the gig one urban Perth cowpoke pulled out a toy pistol and pointed it at the stage, (yes, during “Reckless), from where the band instantly disappeared. The culprit, who shall remain unnamed, tossed the toy, and never got sprung. Onya **** !
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It was a DickHead move, that one. He got out of there.
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Hey it was the Orange People that introduced Ecstasy into Perth way way back in the early days…..nice powdered capsules they were.
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Scrapping Foetus off the Wheel….would that be “Foetus” by any other name I wonder?
Jim Thirlwell? We used to listen to a bit of Foetus back then, I am sure Guzzer can shed more light on this as I seem to recall spotting a few Foetus albums in his collection if my memory serves me.
I do seem to recall Clothes Hoist, something like…”I like the way you fill your clothes… I want to stick my head under your nose or hose”?
he he….reminds me a little (okay, not at all really) of SPK.
I remember seeing them at the Trade Union Club in Surry Hills in early ’84 with industrial machines on stage – band saws, lathes etc, sending red hot sparky tongues flying into the nervous crowd.
Died Pretty were on the same bill and the lead singer collapsed half way through.
Guzzer and I took our beers and wandered upstairs to “The Gap” and checked out Chris Bailey just in time to see him topple backwards into the bass drum after being pushed by a punter doing a fair facsimile of early Dave Vanian. Black cape, calamine lotion and all…
Good, good days.
Oz Crawl! Pity the gun wasn’t real, pity the gun wasn’t loaded, pity the gun didn’t go off!!!!
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I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again…
Pel Mel were CRAP!!!! (In response to Guzzer’s post a bit higher)
Hey Groucho, Orange People have gone up in my assessment.
I went to one of their parties in Mosman Park in ’81 or ’82 and was offered a capsule of something by an Orange girl called “Sky”.
I asked her what it was and she said “it’s love”. I was 17 or 18 at the time and was none too impressed and went back to puffing on my soggy two paper joint.
damn……
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“I like the way, you fill out your clothes
I wanna stick my head, under your hose”
Yes, Adrian, Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel was indeed one of the innumerable monikers Jim Thirwell used, and continues to use. He’s still going hammer and tongs, as you can see here in his reasonably interesting website >
http://www.foetus.org/
“Clothes Hoist” was from his 1984 LP “Hole”. There’s a fair bit of Foetus on the net, but I haven’t yet found a “Clothes Hoist” video to link to. It’s got a beautiful blistering guitar sound.
I found SPK’s experimental work interesting, along the lines of early Cabaret Voltaire and Einstürzende Neubauten, and their performances were spectacular, but I think they tried to jump the shark, (unsuccessfully), with “Metal Dance”.
Speaking of performance, Died Pretty’s Ron Peno was a deadset star, and always gave 110%, as they say at the footy. There were a few gigs he didn’t get right through, and yet that somehow enhanced them.
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You know, sir, all this talk of Foetus, SPK, Einstürzende Neubauten, And An A and the like makes me think you should hire $Berlin for some sort of reunion night (I think it is technically a functioning venue).
Retro is big now.
I’d go – and would many of my friends (and most of us are too young to remember the RP) and you could probably convince Malinder to stop knob twiddling and break out some pre-Code Cabs.
It would be awesome. I may even know there whereabouts of an old RP sign (or I may be confused with Limbos/Fruition).
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As someone who spent $K to see Fad Gadget in London (best concert ever) and $600 to see Gary Numan, and will probably spend the same to see NMA in August…. I would totally spend $100 odd to see Cabs do KIno, Sensoria & Just Fascination live.
In Perth.
I can dream.
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I thought And An A were ahead of their time.
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Premier One ice rink was the venue for the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins/Nick Cave gig. I seem to recall almost everyone who was in a Perth band was in the audience, barely anybody in said audience wore black out of not wanting to be too obvious (although I do remember one dude in a Birthday Party T-shirt) and at the end of the show you could see what the more popular beer was, Emu or Fosters, as that was all they had, and the floor of the venue was littered with empty tinnies. As for the Red Parrot, it was pretty darn good when it first opened up, but the Firm, and previously Meccanoes/Milliways were always a lot more fun and a lot less posey. Some great comments from you lot.
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Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds actually played both venues on that tour, Andre. I have no recollection of what anybody wore or drank, but the Premier Ice Rink gig was definitely the better of the two gigs.
I should take this opportunity to make a possible correction to my post about the line-up for Screamin’ Jay’s band @ 30. On the original tickets and flyers the bassist was listed as Tim Millikan, not Hunters and Collectors’ John Archer. Perhaps Tim couldn’t make it for some reason, but I still seem to recall John playing those gigs.
There’s something incongruously enjoyable about yelling something out at a gig and getting a response. At the Premier Ice Rink gig Screamin’ Jay played “The Whammy” for an encore, wherein he sang the line, “I bought a shotgun”, and for no reason I can think of I yelled out the next line, “A big, long shotgun”. “That’s right”, he replied, turning to look at me, “A big, long shotgun” Made my day, it did.
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Actually, Snuff, we hate to have to pull you up on this but when the Nick Cave/Screaming Jay Hawkins road-show rolled into town to play the Premier Ice Rink, Cave did not go on the play the Parrot after – this invitation was extended only to Hawkins, apparently much to the chagrin of Cave who took as some sort of personas slight and much to the amusement of Perth’s microscopic R&B cognoscenti who agreed with him that indeed it was.
And much to the delight of Elroy Flicker And The Fitzroy Gutterslugs. One of the regular jobs performed by band members in the mid-‘80s was lobbying Neil Wedd for gigs, a chore that was generally endured on the corner of Sterling Street and Lake Street, outside the patisserie that Neil lived above.
This meant all negotiations with Wedd were undertaken through a cloud of whipped cream as he denied you work in muffled tones due to the éclairs, meringues and vanilla slices being crammed into his copious maw, but Elroy was pleasantly foam-flecked and surprised when Wedd, on this occasion, actually agreed that the Gutterslugs were the perfect band to play the support.
It is also recalled that Falconer was on the bass, and that Joe Cammelleiri apologised to Ivan Zar, who had found his way in as The Gutterslugs soundman, for the Hawkin’s band line-up – ‘I didn’t pick ‘em’ shrugged Joe as Ivan complained that the bands pedigree was more rock than roll and that none of them would know rythym and blues if it bit them on the leg.
But Ivan was, luckily, mistaken – the band were great and it was a mighty show. The Gutterslugs were on time, in tune and sober for God’s sake, about as much as anybody could have hoped for, but Screamin’ Jay was absolutely righteous – he was in fine voice, he was very, very funny and it was one of those gigs that stopped time. He was pretty funny when he signed autographs afterwards too – he was happy to oblige when Rockin’ Uncle Bob, the legendary rockabilly cab driver turned 6UVS svengali, asked Jay to sign his arm, but he was somewhat taken aback when Bob promptly wrapped it in cling-film and announced that he would have it tattooed on in the morning.
There was something of a rave-up backstage that night, culminating in reggae promoters ‘Lord ‘n’ General’ dutifully queuing up to genuflect to true royalty and have their posters signed. General stepped up and said ‘Make it to ‘The General’, thanks’, to which Screamin’ Jay cocked an eyebrow, but when Lord asked ‘just sign it to ‘The Lord’ that was too much. ‘Sign it to WHO?’ Jay thundered, and that was that – Lord scarpered with somewhat less dignity than his moniker suggested he bear and everyone was thrown out. Boo!
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Thanks for that clarification, Paul C, as it explains, apart from the more obvious reasons, why I vividly recall both of Screaming Jay’s performances, but could only recall Nick’s at the Premier Ice Rink. Junkies are sometimes prone to self destructive behaviour, but Nick was just asking to be blown off stage, and should have been awarded some masochism trophy for what I dubbed the Self Flagellation Tour when I first heard who was on the bill.
Thanks also for the confirmation that John Archer played bass, not Tim Millikan, (although I think you’ve mixed your Hunnas, as Doug Falconer was on drums). I can understand Ivan’s reservations, but the boys really rose to the occasion, and with Joe and Jay in full flight, it was a mighty show indeed.
Not that it matters, but Neil’s place was on the corner of Francis and Lake, site of many a fine time, including of course The Johnnys’ famous 2am rooftop gig.
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I think we all felt the same when we heard about that tour – Cave had seen Hawkins in action and declared him brilliant, so what was he thinking? Apart from ‘He’s good but I’m better’?
Correct on the bass face case – I was going on the information provided elsewhere on this page. Typical! If you want something done proper like…
And forgive m foolishness vis Sterling/Lake Street – my only pathetic excuse is my Interwebs were discombobulated when I wrote that and I promptly forgot to check it prior to publishing, but that’s the place I was thinking of. Mmmm…sticky….
Love and all that
Paul C.
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Hey Paul,
My man. Indded when Jay saw the aforementioned tattoed arm on his next sorty to Perth he declared “I ain’t seen nuthin’ like that before”.
Hey what happened to Tanya Lee?
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She is in Melbourne, still singing.
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Funny story about the eclairs.
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Wow this thread takes me back. The Parrot featured heavily in my youth and it was nice of someone to remember the red bus.
I first saw the Hoodoo Gurus there on their My Girl tour in about ’83. I was under age and didn’t get wasted. I was keen on souveniring posters from the wall opposite the Parrot. The posters of tours were plastered so thick you could use your keys to gouge off about 10 thick of them and clean up the edges at home.
I saw Hoodoo Gurus there again say in ’85 and they didn’t sound right. Half way through the gig Dave fessed up that all the instruments were borrowed and their stuff was stuck in a truck on the Nullabor. Brad Shepherd said “What the fuck is this! There’s a piece of metal sticking out of this guitar!” I hope the guy who had lent his precious guitar in good faith wasn’t too offended.
Almost every Saturday night in ’86 we would hit the Parrot at about 8pm to 10pm for $5 entry all you could drink for 2hrs. A great feature of the Parrot was the solid timber shelves on the walls that were just wide enough to hold drinks. We had the drinks lined up by 10pm so we could last another hour before stumbling to the Underground.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the name “Pallerdome” or something like that. This is the name it became in about ’88 and it was sliding downhill towards the “Berlin”. The Pallerdome was art-deco, pastel coloured with some neon. There were muppet style puppets overlooking the dance area that would sometimes dance to the music (someone behind them). I remember that this place was no longer about the music (they were playing Taylor Dayne on a Video Screen).
The Pallerdome had definately become the Berlin by ’92. Full of adidas sneakers.
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You’re right, The Pallerdrome was in full swing (or not) when I got back to P earth in 1990, an ugly desecration of those fine Parrot night memories.
The heady nights of the old parrot returned once the Berlin monicker kicked in. Rob Mac and Lisa can claim a large hand in re-invigorating the perth dance music scene at that time with their “raves” in the venue. New music, new generation, same building, same ingredients, loud music delivered by a kick arse sound system, backed up with wicked lighting, all fuelled by powders, pills, pot and piss (or water).
You might sneer at the adidas sneakers but this crew knew how to have a good time and they danced! all night.
The red parrot worked as much as a perving gallery as a dance club, it was simply fashionable to be there and be seen. berlin at it’s height was an amazing dance machine, absolutely electric and absorbing.
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Wow. Came across this I’m not exactly sure how – nice to see something with this much detail outside the gated garden of FB surviving instead of people waving the white flag and letting their domain lapse.
I was too young for the Parrot but was a hard core Firm-goer in 1999-1991 or thereabouts, and The Assylum as well for a bit…. Anyone remember Black Dance Parties??? We were also at The Hydey a lot, it was our local when we lived in a great rambling house on Grosvenor St….
Also, I am reasonably sure it was called the Palladium, rather than the Pallerdrome (this would explain the cognitive dissonance) it was dire, I went there several times during my first year of Uni with my “mainstream” classmates. That and Network (which became Rise – what else was it I wonder before that??)
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You’ve seen the Firm thread no?
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Jeff….yep, remember the muppets.
I posted a month or so back about my visit there in late 1988, I am pretty sure it was “Berlin” at this stage, although “Pallerdome” is ringing a distant and discordant bell.
As mentioned, they had Annie Lennox and, I think, Jimi Hendrix, mounted up on the walls.
No matter how you look at it, a bad idea is just that…..
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Mounted, or just holding hands?
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I’m really not sure Adrian, as it was mostly after my time , but here’s a photo of a pass from a club named Hippodrome, at 76 James St.
As you’ll see, I found it amongst the 358 (count ’em) photos on the Facebook site, “The History of Nightclubs in Perth WA – 70s 80s & 90s”. It’s an interesting collection of photos from Perth clubs, (other than the Parrot and the Firm, which already have dedicated Facebook sites), from mostly the late 80’s and early 90’s, but it does have a few earlier ones, so you might like to check them out sometime.
There’s a photo of a Firm Member keyring (amongst others) at #140, by the way, TLA.
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mounted….not mounting!!! :)
Snuff, oooooer…not so sure I want to see a “firm member”!
boom boom….
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Someone invited me to join “The History of Nightclubs in Perth WA – 70s 80s & 90s” on Teh Facebook. Might be interesting for all you nostalgic tragics.
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Red Parrot was heaven for a lot of us when it first started out. The only place in perth that actually played international underground music to a dancefloor of all sorts: Goths, punks, Mods, Skins, Rasta boys, New romantics, swampy goths, rockers, and teenyboppers. It was the place where we heard new sounds from Cabaret Voltaire, Kraftwerk, Cult, Section 25, The The, Sisters of mercy, Grace Jones, Siouxsie, Cure, Kryptonics, Duran Duran, OMD, SPK, Severed Heads, (early) Simple minds etc etc all mixed together. It was the first club where they actually mixed beats!
I saw Sugracubes, Transvision Vamp, OMD, Nick Cave, among a list too long to type, and I met people there who are still my best buddies.
It was a sanctuary for us all because we hated Cold Chisel, OZ Crawl, Mondo Rock and all that awful rock that we heard in pubs and on the radio. It was a place that Bowie, Simon Lebon popped into, had an excellent sound system.
It did have it’s heyday, and it faded after a good 5 years, then turned into the embarrassing hippodrome, complete with puppets sitting in high and fake balconies, the crowd was more suburban and less exciting, and we had noweher else to go aprt from the dying Underground and the tiny Meccanos (Old Melbourne Hotel).
So yes we have moved on, but it was really something quite unique. A sparkling oasis in a city peppered with bogans, surrounded by endless oceans and deserts.
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Parrot fan said:
“So yes we have moved on, but it was really something quite unique. A sparkling oasis in a city peppered with bogans, surrounded by endless oceans and deserts.”
Methinks it’s time that you moved on buddy.
Go find your self a nice ‘cultural’ squat in the slums of Paris or Berlin where all the other ‘avante garde’ live.
I’m not into defending Perth’s isolation and insularity but, dammit, the oceans and deserts are the best bits:
Far away from the ‘Metrocentic Twats'(©2008Rolly) that are spreading out over the countryside like some unstoppable cancer or invasion from outer space by some kind of self replicating evil slime.
Viva la paese.
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That’s as clear and accurate an appraisal as I’ve read anywhere, Parrot fan, and you won’t get an argument about that from anywhere but Dumbleyung. Whilst apparently not being into defending Perth’s isolation and insularity, at least one its residents does a passable impression of someone who is.
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Yeah Rolly, the dude was just teh remenisce. Cool your silos.
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Rhubarb !
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The country had nightclubs too, Superfly’s in bunbury FE.
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And Alberts Nightclub was another place to be scene amongst the Bunbury Yoof.
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Rolly’s there in Scabro lamenting the lost golden days of the White Sands. Oh hang on delete that, it’s still there and the band’s still playing Khe San.
Thanks Parrot Fan nice summary.
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The White Sands?
Did that become Club A…..?
I saw Stranglers there in ’05.
Excellent gig.
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Yeh, dear poor liza,
The said blot on the landscape is indeed still there and still contributing to the malodorous atmosphere of stale beer, urine and vomit generously distributed around the neighbourhood by departing patrons.
Ah! ’tis the season of goodwill.
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Hey Snuff, back on this thread after a while off.
A few months ago, when we were speculating about who yanked Holidays in Cambodia, and you mentioned it might have been “Ian or Ivan”.
Hey, was that Ivan “Velaorich” (sic),??
If it’s the Ivan I’m thinking of, he was “music director” of 6UVSFM and wanted to give me a show around 1983 but it never went further than the next beer.
Guzzer ended up doing a show, “Version Galore” a few years later, reggae of course.
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Yep, Adrian. It was Ivan Volaric I had in mind, who indeed had a fair bit of involvement with 6UVS. Ivan was a great guy, whom I insisted get the Parrot gig when Ian Jopson headed off to Sydney.
Ivan and I had an absolute ball working together, and racked up many misadventures, including an impromptu hitch to Melbourne. I’ve no idea what he’s up to nowadays, but he and his brother Darko, (great name), did extremely well in Sydney when they got in on the ground floor of programming in the 80s. No prizes for guessing where most of that money went.
Version Galore was an excellent institution, and I’m sure Guzzer can confirm that it was particularly useful having a window in the 6UVS studio for … ventilation.
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Ah!!! Now it all comes together.
Ivan and Guzzer were mates for a while and the last time I spotted Ivan….er…I was chasing him around a street party in North Perth circa late ’84 demanding to know where “my show” was.
He seemed quite perturbed and fled.
Never did see him again.
And Guzzer did indeed enjoy many a hydroponic inspired Version Galore session, although I seem to recall they were grown al fresco in those heady days.
Indeed, I raised a very nice gnarly weed in our backyard in Mosman Park for a few years….”Mossy Mellow” was quite a popular toke.
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Darko???
He’s not a giant rabbit perchance?
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Rolly wrote “Methinks it’s time that you moved on buddy.
Go find your self a nice ‘cultural’ squat in the slums of Paris or Berlin where all the other ‘avante garde’ live.”
I reckon Rolly might have spent some time at the Herdy’s in the 80s!
(insert smiley emoticon thing)
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Darko a giant rabbit, adrian ? Umm, no, but he was certainly more heavily built than Ivan, who was more gifted for perturbed flight. I’m happy to have connected the dots somewhat for you, and it’s funny you should mention Mozzies.
Apart from being my childhood stompem groun, it was also where Ivan and Darko were living when I first met them, in Fairlight Street just near the perfectly named Battle Street flats. I think they ended up changing the street name such was their reputation. I was very young when they were being built, and would spend my weekends braving the pitch-black 10 storey fire escape ascent in order to delight in the effect that being dropped out of where the windows would later be upon any objects the builders had left there.
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Snuff, a giant rabbit as in Donnie Darko.
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Thanks Adrian, but the rabbit’s name was Frank. Funnily enough, the film featured sounds from Parrot favourites Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and The Church.
As it happens, I had the pleasure of impersonating Darko Volaric, which I still think is an excellent name, for an Indian Pacific journey. I was young, and I needed the Student Discount.
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Just had Echo and Bunnymen playing! Now Elvis.
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Bunnies ? Punks ? You might want one of these for your next audience with She-Ra, TLA.
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While watching the April 6th 1980 edition of Countdown on Rage co-hosted by the late Christie Allen, I noticed that The Scientists appeared performing their then current single “Last Night”, and even Molly was gushing about how good their were.
If anyone is still awake there is still the 1980 TV Countdown Music Awards to go.
Full playlist here.
http://www.abc.net.au/rage/archive/s2461120.htm
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Good thread this – heaps of memories – prompted me to put a parrot playlist together – loving it.
i remember going to see simple minds at the embassy ballroom in around 1982 having not been in Australia for long. All these fanatastically dressed up crew there and I’m wondering – where do they go at night – soon after the parrot opened and gave this mass a safehouse. ( & me)
i still think that sound system (and those dropdown lights) were just brilliant
the sets ivan and snuff were doing were extremely influential in Perth eg. in amongst the dead kennedys etc, they could play a track like jocelyn browns ‘somebody elses guy’ could become a house favourite and fill the floor everytime. Or the Creatures – ‘right now’ – big band following on from release the bats – wonderful stuff.
And that 12″ saxy/flute version of The The’s uncertain smile always takes me back the RP
I lived with Ivan for a while in the late 90’s. We’ve lost touch but him & darko are still based in sydney to the best of my knowledge.
He could be (Ivan) very funny on his radio gig – I remember him interviewing Kate Cerebano with I’m Talking and launching into a ‘that’s not FUNK’ diatribe and playing James brown etc to illustrate his point.
Anyone know of Simon Kendrick (a parrot reg.) and his whereabouts
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That Simple Minds gig at the Embassy was absolutely fantastic, Bugle. I can never remember whether it was the last ever there, or whether that was the Stray Cats. Regardless, they were both brilliant gigs.
The lighting rig at the Parrot was inspired, but I recall Ian Jopson almost crushing a whole bunch of punters with it once. They’d sometimes forget to switch on the limiter after setting up the front rack for bands, and he was happily chatting away to somebody with his finger on the down button before I realised the rig was about a metre from the floor and people were laying under it. They probably thought it was all part of the show, but the compo bill would have shut the place down. The staff used to ride the rigs to the ceiling after hours, of course.
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I remember before opening hours seeing the lights being tested over the dancefloor where all the bouncers were ‘warming up’ for the evening doing what you’d call kung fu dancing. It was hilarious, some real hardcases there so unaware it was pure mardi gras to watch
Re my ‘Parrot Podlist’ – the one song (this week, maybe), though not by my recollection a regular track at the RP if at all, that captures the time and the place 25 years on for me is ‘Being Boiled’ by The Human League. It’s got to be that crisp electro drum and bass rythyms that triggered the parrot shimmery shoulder dance (you know the one)
Glad IV got in touch too – I look fwd to catching up with him
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That does sound a bit Billy Blanks, (as opposed to Bragg), Bugle.
“Being boiled” wasn’t on my copy of “Reproduction”, and although it was an album I liked, their early mixes were actually a bit flat, as you can hear on this Granada TV clip, and didn’t cut it at the Parrot. If I could have that time over again, however, I definitely would’ve given the remix a spin, which features the sound you’re referring to. I must admit I went off them after they jumped the shark with the girls.
I’m looking forward to catching up with Ivan, too. He was a fine partner in misadventure, of which we shared many, along with jobs, music, at least one girlfriend, and even the back of a panelvan from Norseman to Port Augusta, nonstop.
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I met Ken West at the Simple Minds show. Changed my life.
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Thats were I met Ken West and started my career in the music business.
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to cookie and grrr i posted a note somewhere on this site.find it or say hello here vic {d.m.d.}
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Ah yes, the Scientists on Countdown. James was wearing a pink skivvy as I recall, and played/mimed the entire song (“Last Night”) without a Bass Drum- as he was told to have the regulation “Billy Hyde Drum Clinic” logo and he categorically refused. Kim looked tough, Ian looked normal and Ben was a hippy.
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Oh yes- and the band was introduced by that guy from “The Aliens” too I think- dunno if “Goosebumps” Christie had anything to do with it, but my memory isn’t what it was…
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Hey guys don’t knock it. Red Parrot, aka Adrian’s was the breeding ground for an entirely new generation of now fat and middle-aged establishment types.
Who can forget the days of vomiting on the dance floor at the Hunters and Collectors gig after lugging empty compressed air bottles onto the stage?
Who can forget the first snort of speed in the kitchen out back at the go betweens concert (rest easy Grant, you always were a glutton)?
Who can forget the chubby little girls sitting at the Flight Deck sandwich bar cum front-for-drug-dealers slavishly copying the I’ve-paid-the-cover-charge stamps with ball point pens?
Who can forget smoking a joint in the piss-stinking alley out the back and then getting beaten up by skinheads just for a laugh?
Such formative years. Such “kulcha”.
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Who can forget that Adrian’s was on James Street, and that the Parrot was on the corner of Roe and Milligan ? Seems like you had a little too good a time, Sergej, and sorry to hear about your weight problem.
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Hmmm- what I remember is local legend and Diddy Wah Hoodaddy lead singer Ray Brown being bounced out of the Parrot at “The Birthday Party’s” gig (May 18th, 1983) for giving Nick Cave a hug….- as he was being removed, he was saying “Sorry..Scuse Me …Pardon Me” etc.. Also some nurse (“Jacqui” bit Nick on the leg through his leather kecks. Fun times.
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I heard somewhere that Ray booted him the in the arse, flunkyrat. I wonder if that was before or after the hug, (which was more likely a stranglehold, anyway) ? That was a fantastic gig, and served perfectly as their farewell kiss to Australia. The late great Tracy Pew was in fine form, and along with downing a couple of bottles of Jack, taunted the punters mercilessly. Every time the moshpit started to get animated and look like we might be starting to enjoy ourselves, he’d stride to the front of the stage and thump out a thunderous single note, causing the whole thing to collapse like a giant black souffle.
Poor ol’ Nick seems to have a bit of a history of being man-(and woman)-handled in Perth. At the Premier Ice Rink gig with the Bad Seeds he fell off the stage onto my then girlfriend, and scrambled back on fairly swiftly when she started bashing him for his trouble. And it’s still happening, albeit more friendly apparently, as shown in this great clip from the Belvoir in January.
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It was a nurse called Zelda that bit him.
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Well snuff- I was there (you were too, obviously- were you “compus mentis” or Dr*g F**ked at the time ?!?)- and I saw NO SIGN of evil intent on Mr Brown’s part…-more “over enthusiastic bouncers” unsure of Ray’s stature.
As for Jaqui’s fangs-one hopes Mr Cave got a tattoo of the bite mark…
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yep – I was there too. I recall Ray getting thrown out the back and then 10 mins later he was in the crowd again about 5m back from the stage with a big grin on his face – he had simply walked round to the front and Anthony let him in again. That is my memory at least.
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I’m sure you’re right, flunkyrat, as I only heard about the incident with Ray, and didn’t see it. You’re also absolutely right about the bouncers, who never needed much of an excuse to throw their weight around.
I’d make some awful crack about a rabies shot, but Jacqui was hawt.
Compus mentis ? At the Parrot ? As if.
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RE other venues who remembers Adrians on James st???
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Wasn’t it the Dream before it was Adrians and Tracey with the blue hair was the door bitch.
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The Dream was after Adrians I think?
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The Dream was after Adrians. Didn’t Adrian move on to start the Silver Slipper? Now that was a cool joint. Smaller than my living rroom with a slot in the door that opened to check you out before they allowed you in.
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Different Adrians, Bob. See here and here.
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Well same venue. Adrian moved on, but the name stuck until the insurance money from the Quick & The Dead paid for the place to be revamped. It was originally intened to change it to a yuppie venue. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to smash our beer glasses after the change. It was all downhill from there :). I do remember in that venue the Liquor & Gaming Squad were regular visitors and disappeared into the manager’s office when they attended.
On the first night it re-opened some Yuppie called me a rockabilly. When I sneered at him, he said “Sorry, I don’t like to upset you punks”. I don’t think I ever saw anybody move as quickly as him from the subsequent roar from my mouth. :)
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Different Adrians, Bob. Not different Adrian’s. Plural; not possessive.
The first link shows its co-manager Adrian Rainsford at the Silver Slipper. The second features a brief interview with the Adrian who owned Adrian’s, whose second name I don’t recall.
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God, I mentioned the size of the Silver Slipper above. Dancefloor size of a handkerchief, great little venue though.
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Reg Mifflin uploaded a few albums of photos from the Slipper (and other venues) to Facebook last year, Lou. If you use it you can see them here.
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Hey rob crow, gidday. What do you wanna know about “Adrians” (Aka “The place that sucks”- graffiti on the [sadly deceased] Emu Export Brewery wall circa 1981] ??
What I CAN tell you is that in 1981 they opened the club to a certain NF band, whose fans were largely NF skinheads and some violent (and not so violent) wimpy art-punx- (eg…me). Lead singer “Andrew Bored” claimed the $5000 dollars (in 1981 AUS money) happened because people were “having a good time”…some of us saw it differently.
Search “youtube” “quick and the dead”- a chap by the name of stumblef*ck has posted the ABC news coverage of this shambolic event.
Adrians- it had it coming…but I had some good times there.
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That tQ&tD news report is outstanding.
So measured and refined.
You wouldn’t get that kind of balanced reporting these days.
I loved the way the ‘punks’ handed out a good solid kicking and the camera tilted away from the violence. And there was no retribution…. not what you’d see these days.
Did I see Jim King in there? I’m lucky enough to have missed most of the Perth skinhead contingent, but I do recall Jim was bouncing clubs at the start of the ’90s.
But I never realised how strong the Perth skinhead scene was. It may go some way to explaining why the ANF posters were everywhere when I was growing up in the suburbs.
(I have probably just dated myself as being somewhat younger than most of the people still in this thread).
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Alternatively, Rob, you could just click here.
I’ve been slack, and just copied and pasted my comments on the topic in this thread from back on September 24.
“If you’d like to see Adrian’s again, it’s featured in this old clip about the Quick and the Dead’s “Tuesday night experiment” there. Adrian was a seriously top bloke, but there was nothing experimental about that night, and I hope he was well insured. The outcome was as predictable as the sun hopefully coming up tomorrow. As I mentioned above @ 60, [back when this blog had numbered comments], “The Quick and the Dead video is hilarious and I recognise every single punk, although Andy and Murray are woeful. They should’ve just said, “We’re all violent, nihilistic nutters”, and been done with it.”
And yes, flunkyrat, Adrian’s was a great venue.
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The arrival of the skinheads in Perth signaled the greatest seismic shift ever to have occurred on the streets of Perth.
Working in Northbridge during the ’80’s you got used to the brawls on the street, it was a natural part of that ocker larrikin culture, all out on the street, exchange a few blows, the police might attend and do likewise, but in the end, bar a few blood noses, black eyes, bruises and split lips, the antagonists would generally get up and walk away, the aggression and adrenalin spent.
The skin heads arrived with a different bent altogether. These were seriously sick people who were from a culture that encouraged a kill or be killed mentality fed by an underlying hatred of anyone of colour or ethnic difference.
They forever and for the worse, changed the culture to one of lethal violence.
It was they who introduced the glassing, that cowardly and savage act of aggression which disfigured and terrorised so many.
It was they who introduced the kicking until unconscious, motionless or dead, leaving a trail of victims who never regained their mobility.
In response the Italians started carrying shotguns in their car boots, lots of people learnt martial arts and the entire act of defence was lifted to that of offense, strike first, strike hard, fight dirty and put them down so they stay down.
The outcome is a culture of violence which is hard and vulgar, where there’s a real risk of death simply because the limits and respect have gone and the only real response to conflict is a dispassionate, psychotic attack.
Andy Bored and the Q&D were”nice” enough guys but what they did and who they encouraged to do it has been a terrible and tragic legacy.
The saddest part of it all was that Punk somehow got dragged into and mixed up with the entirely noxious and poisonous Skinhead movement, the subtlety of the distinction far too fine for the media of the day.
SO RIP Q&D and may we never have to mention them again.
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Excellent comment, 3am eternal. What’s perhaps even sadder is that the early skins movement in the UK evolved from the 1960s ska and rude boy culture. I still have an album entitled “20 Skinhead Classics”, which features Doc Martens and braces on the cover, and every single track is 1960s Jamaican ska, including “Young, gifted, and black”.
The Two Tone label, and bands like the Specials, Madness, the British Beat, UB40, Bad Manners, and even the Clash, to some extent, to name just a few, built on this tradition in the early 80s. It wasn’t until the National Front raised it’s ugly head that things went arse up in the manner you’ve described, adding injury to insult. A travesty.
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-and let us NOT forget- this STUPID f*ckin’ warcry/sports theme “Aussie Aussie Aussie…Oi Oi Oi”- people of my vintage remember this as “Oggy Oggy Oggy …Oi Oi Oi” -usually the last thing you heard before some arsehole gave you a kickin’ w/ his 16 hole Docs. I’d SO like to kick those muthafuckas arses now. Still, Time Wounds All Heels, and most of them are dead and in Howard Sattler’s words-“I think that’s GOOD”.
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Young, Gifted and Black was a big fav of mine. (Have it on CD) Have loved Reggae & Ska since I was 14 yrs old. I still love Specials, Madness & UB40.
Another fav track when I was in UK in the early 70’s was 54-46 was my number by Toots & The Maytals. I like to play that track really loud whilst driving ☺
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Thanks for your comment. Kazzzamatazzz. Were you in Perth for the Madness gig at the Concert Hall, or UB40 at the Noonkenbah Hotel ?
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Only saw UB40 at Metros Perth and then again at Raggamuffin at the WACA.
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Anyone recall The Loaded Dog, opposite the Sunday Crimes in Stirling Street? God, I loved that all black decor. I’ve never spewed apple cider anywhere else.
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The place you’re thinking of was a hotel called the Shaftesbury (in 1983 at least when the Slipper was open
a few doors up). I saw Triffids there, and a band doing covers of King Crimson and Zappa. Wish I could remember there name; frontman was Norbert on bass (ABC sound engineer, RIP) also Claude on keyboards who was previously in Visitor in their late phase.
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“The New Shaftesbury” as it came to be known opened in mid-1982- I know this because one of my shitty cover bands played there, along with AND AN A, The Telephones and too many others to mention.. When the Triffids returned from over East (Sydney and Melbourne) they launched their then new single “Spanish Blue/Twisted Brain”- and then their EP “Bad Timing and other Stories”. In early 1983, this venue hosted the NEW Scientists (Kim Salmon, Tony Thewlis, Boris Sudovic and the late Brett Rixon (Cheryl’s little brother.) Once again – FUN TIMES !!
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Norbert Roth
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Yep… a wine bar, the interior was not black but a dark mission brown latex… rocked on a Monday night. There is a Facebook group…
The Shaftesbury was up the street, remember seeing the scientists there
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Still got the scar on my head from having my face beaten to a pulp by a couple of US marines at Loaded Dog. Before it was Loaded Dog, it was the notorious Shaftesbury Wine Bar. Loaded Dog was not allowed to sell beer. Used to get tanked on disgusting cider there.
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This now transplanted and Citizenised Yank remembers that bar…
The one that had a stylised Disney Goofy as their logo..
I was taken there by my “Hippy Chick” girlfriend that was later my wife…
Cider, which for yanks is called Hard Cider was plentiful, the bands loud, dope plentiful and the air so smokey you could hardly breath and when you got out you smelled like you had rolled around in an ashtray…
Fond memories still, though now an Over Easter in NSW..
🎵Those were the days my friend… {:~)
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“Anyone recall The Loaded Dog, opposite the Sunday Crimes in Stirling Street ?”
– Not THAT particular venue Vic- I DO remember “The Silver Slipper”- originally the piano bar at the Fitzgerald Hotel (if I’m not mistaken) where David Helfgott played, then shifted holus bolus (“The Firm” style) to a spot above “Theo’s Musical Instruments” in [Aberdeen Street ??- I think it was- damn my decaying brain cells…]- you could go there on a MOnday nite, have the place to yourselves (w/your mates) drink “Blue Lagoons” (their specialty)and then stagger home.
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As Groucho mentioned back on July 28, flunkyrat, The Slipper was very much the spot for the Maurice Meade crowd, and Adrian Rainsford did imbue it with a cosy and eclectic ambience. Just for the record, it was indeed upstairs, but on the corner of James and Stirling.
And the wine bar where David Helfgott played was Riccardo’s, next door to the Fitz. You did have a good time, didn’t you ?
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And it was Murray Kimber, “Big Red” who later went on to Club bay Spew and a guiding light at the Leedereville Hotel, who joined the illustrious Adrian Rainsford as host at the slipper. A hairdressers salon indeed, action and appearance.
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Your not confusing the Loaded Dog that used to exist in Melbourne? I think it might have been Fitzory
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OK you lot, here’s the scoop. Adrian is correct to say that there was a Loaded Dog in Melbourne – St George’s Road, North Fitzroy to be precise – but in the early ‘80s it was still the Aberdeen Hotel, a great room that specialized in R&B acts and which reached its zenith with performances by The Shuffling Hungarians MkII.
The Loaded Dog in Perth was, as Vic Demise originally indicated, opposite the Sunday Times in Sterling Street but it was not, as ronggly suggested, a part of the Shaftsbury Hotel. The Loaded Dog was a shop-front (double shop front, if memory serves) operation catered to a decidedly hippie clientele and ran on the uniquely Perthian wine bar license, which explains the cider.
The Loaded Dog was next door to an old-skool barber’s shop, and was but one of a strip of seedy shops in an arcade formed around the Shaftsbury Hotel – there was even a scary-looking alley way that ran through the guts of the building and the location of more than one band publicity picture for those trying to promote that NY look.
The Shaftsbury hotel was a splendid establishment, a comfortably down at heel boozer which depended near exclusively on the employees of the Sunday Times for its income. One trick pulled to keep these customers satisfied was the provision of free food, so the hungrier among us were happy to discover that a couple of hours spent in public bar would provide one with a steady flow cheese, bratwurst and crackers followed by hot chips – not bad for the price of a midi.
Music at the pub ebbed and flowed – legend has it that No Fixed Address played a tumultuous gig here in the late ‘70s – early ‘80s complete with Perth’s own Reg Zar on drums, Bart Willoughby having done himself something of a mischief on the road – and And An A certainly featured at least once in 1983.
This glorious Victorian edifice was on the same block as the Premier Ice Rink of the Bad Seeds/Screamin’ Jay Hawkins 1985 tour fame, was flattened sometime in 1986/87 and is now a car park. Viva progress!
The Silver Slipper was indeed the haunt of the Maurice Meade set, and Jonny Lagdon’s 21st birthday party (‘As you are, I was – as I am, you will be’) but it was NOT once the piano bar of the Fitzgerald Hotel and Riccardo’s was NOT next door to the Fitzgerald Hotel – Riccardo’s was on Aberdeen Street, behind the Fitzgerald Hotel.
The Silver Slipper was definitely above Theo’s music, now the Mad Cat Backpackers, and was opposite the above mentioned Premier Ice Rink. The Slipper, however, DID move holus bolus – in 1985 it tottered off to the old Broadway Tavern in a shopping centre in Nedlands where, strangely enough, the one and only Tony Joe White, who once gigged there for a week in the ‘70s in order to raise the money to get him and his band home after being stranded on tour.
So the Broadway, once dark and dingy once home to everybody from the Rockets to the Triffids, became the Silver Slipper, all windows and sunlight, and home to Elroy Flicker & The Fitzroy Gutterslugs of a sundee session.
As for the Fitzgerald, the best pub that ever was or will ever be in WA, well…
Cheers
Paul C.
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Your comments are always well worth the wait, Paul/Elroy. Being named after one of Lawson’s most popular stories, there are, and have been, Loaded Dogs all over Australia, and even overseas. Perth’s was indeed a double shop front on Stirling Street, and was kind of Northbridge’s Stoned Crow. Cider … ewww.
The Shaftsbury was, as a you mention, a splendid dive, as was the Broadway Tavern, which I may have mentioned elsewhere in this thread was also home to Dave Hole and The Elks, amongst others, back in my underage days.
When I wrote that Riccardo’s, (of David Helfgott fame), was next door to The Fitzgerald, I meant on the corner of Aberdeen and Fitzgerald Streets. As you can see, The Fitz still looks fine, (or did when they googlemapped), but Riccardo’s is long gone.
I reckon, however, that you’ve got Canterbury Court mixed up with the Premier Ice Rink, which as I recall was way down near Bulwer Street on Stirling, and which is now apparently a funeral home. I put a spell on you, indeed.
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some great memories there Paul. And that alley way was also host to several band video clips – most notably one by Steve Tallis.
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Wow this thread takes me back. Unfortunately i seem to have missed the Parrots best years. Only event of interest I can report from my time there was coming very close to going home one night with Peter OBrien (of Neighbours fame) And would have if not for my pesky boyfriend of the time spoiling my chances at the last minute.
Yes, I was quite the trollop.
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Peter “Shane Ramsey” O’Brien?
With the mullet?
Well, that’s a turn-up for the books.
I was just reading about how he has been cast in the Dr Who special due at Easter.
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Onya, shazza. Who wasn’t ?
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Thats the one.
He was pretty hot back in the day. I was willing to dump the current boyfriend for the bragging rights of one night in the sack with Pete but we didnt get out the door fast enough.
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I, um, know you, don’t I shazza?
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Bugger Bento – have I relayed that story to you before or did you just figure it was my typical MO?
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Mrs Bento?
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no Mrs Bento is a class act and would never brag about trying to shag an 80s idol.
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-thanx for the corrections snuff- of course you are right- it was RICCARDOS Helfgott played at- next to the Fitz…and Silver Slipper was NOT in Aberdeen but the corner of James and Stirling. I remember little bald Adrian- he seemed like a pussycat, but probably like Reg Mifflin (Wizbah) and Ken Equator (promoter- with Neil Wedd at one stage -is this right ??) had a ruthless capitalist streak that raised the hackles of us “so called anarchist art punx”. Geoff Summerhayes Jr was managing the Slipper at one stage- I knew the guy so I always got in – but he drew the line at some of my mohawked mates…he previously ran “The Underground”.
-and we haven’t even traced the history of the post-punk Freo venues !! Tarantellas is a tale unto itself ! (Stoned Crow (now Mojos) goes w/out saying.
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You’re welcome, Flunkyrat. Tarantellas, as well as having a brilliant name, was a fantastic dive. And the Crow was an interesting venue, to say the least. The Triffids played, (rehearsed), there for about 7 years. Was Reg at The Wizbah ? I worked for him upstairs at The Old Melbourne, when it was either Meccano or Milliways, or both.
I don’t think any of the people you mention were particularly averse to entrepreneurial opportunities, shall we say, along with having a very good time indeed. To be honest, I never thought too much about where the money was coming from as long as they agreed to my unlimited music and drinks accounts, so in retrospect I’m kind of glad somebody did. That’s with the exception of the sets I played at Prohibition, which was a love job. You’ve got to love a club that opens at 3 am.
I’m still in touch with Neil Wedd, by the way, who’s still going hard promoting gigs in Melbourne. What a trooper.
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Hey Snuff was Tarantellas the downstairs bar at the Southern end of Murray street?
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Nope, Shazza. Tarantellas was in Freo.
Southern end ? I thought Murray St ran east-west, but I could be wrong. It’s been a while.
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You are right that Murray connects east and west perth. I always think of is as south as the east end is also the gateway to the southern suburbs.
As for Tarantellas confusion, perhaps I am thinking of that dingy Kinsellas?? Is that the name of a pub near there corner of Pier and Murray (anyone?)
It was a great pub to grab a quick middy whilst on student rallies/marches. You could run ahead, down a beer, and come back out just in time to join the rear of the procession.
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Kinsella’s is a famous bar in Sydney, shazza, and the Grosvenor was on Hay Street, so somebody local might need to answer that one.
Admirable commitment to a cause, by the way. I like you, a lot.
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Well I am getting my bars in a muddle. I did spend a few interesting years in Sydney from 89-91 so may have staggered in, or out of, Kinsellas on the odd occassion.
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I think it was Hickey’s Tavern downstairs under the Greater Union cinema on Barrack/Murray Streets. Sasellas (sp?) is above Carillon.
Ah Shazza – I do recall one particular march where, in between our demands for revolutionary change, we managed to fit in drinks at Ziggy’s, Hickey’s, Bobby Dazzler’s, and finally Fuel (but it was called something else then, I think).
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You just dont see that sort of commitment from uni students these days.
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Yes, under the cinema was called Kinsellas at one stage I think.
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LA I am so glad to see someone else has the same recollection as I. Phew!
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It was no Albert’s Tavern though. Heh heh. Is there still something down there? Will check.
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Alberts? Even I am a stranger to that one. What about that classic bar further down Murray (east) that always welcomed the US sailors? Shit its driving me nuts trying to recall the name. It had bamboo and palm trees painted on the wall at the front.
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I think I remember !Memories like the corners of my mind yadda yadda yadda memories of the way….
Anyhow I think it was Mangoes. I recall having a beer in there one night with Rob Riley not long before his unfortunate demise.
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Alberts was underground on the corner of Forrest Place and Murray. It’s sort of underneath where there’s a crap Aussie souvenir shop on the outside of Myers.
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Well I never. Really, I never did have the pleasure of drinking at that tavern and I cannot place it. There is another underground taverna off Hay st, which also has an entrance off Barrack. Once again my memory fails me so cannot recall the name. But I am starting to suspect there is some worst gold lurking beneath the surface of our fair city with all these underground watering holes. I think some serious research may be in order.
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Run out of reply quota for the conversation below, but I last went into Alberts maybe 1982.
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The reply button seems to have died but:
Circa 1991 there was a bar on the first level outside Myer called Chasers. Could that have been related to Alberts?
There is another underground taverna off Hay st, which also has an entrance off Barrack. Once again my memory fails me so cannot recall the name.
Hickeys?
t that classic bar further down Murray (east) that always welcomed the US sailors? Shit its driving me nuts trying to recall the name. It had bamboo and palm trees painted on the wall at the front.
Mangos? It’s still there as was well into the 2000s, but is some sort of new age spa now.
No one has mentioned Satellas (SP?) yet. Apparently the first tavern in Perth. Neither good nor a worst…. just kinda there.
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[Shazza: What about that classic bar further down Murray (east) that always welcomed the US sailors? Shit its driving me nuts trying to recall the name. It had bamboo and palm trees painted on the wall at the front.]
It was called Jools before Mangoes. I remember its opening sometime around 1983. It ran a hideous ad in the back pages of the Daily News showing a woman in a bikini standing inside a giant peeled banana, with the byline “Funk ! Taste it at Jools”
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Geez ronggly, your’e late out of the starting blocks, but what a memory.
Please keep perusing this site and filling in the few other gaps that Snuff couldn’t.
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Mother Bento used to go to Jools when she was newly divorced, and I was a mere unagi.
I want to hear no more discussion of this establishment’s sea-going clientele, for the love of god.
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Replies reach limit, but @ Bento 1 up. What happened to the straight lines? Shouldn’t there be some seamen tag?
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LA @3 down. I am ashamed to have missed that line.
Ribald jokes about Mother Bento, and Red Sea Pedestrian gags at Cohen’s expense. You’re having quite a night.
Somewhere, Mother Rattler is laughing at me now.
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I saw sailors rapping there one night, probably 83. Was an education to watch all the girls out for a grope.
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I’m thinking Kinsellas = Cinecellars
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CineCellars was on the corner of Murray and Barrack street, under the CineCentre. Dunno of the bar still exists, but the Cinema complex still does and last time I was in it, the foyer was used as a wedding dress shop.
Jools if i remember correctly was on the north side of Murray St, just before the carpark on the corner of Pier. It was down an allyway between the last building and the carpark, you had to go downstairs to get in – top forty joint iirc.
Another underground bar was the Golden Rail, under the National Mutal Arcade in the Hay st mall (where ToysRUs opened, think it’s now a big chemist)
Dave Hole played there, along with Lucy Fingers, the chalkboard out the front used to read –
Lucy Fingers
Dave Hole
I used to find it funny back then! The Golden Rail was a hangout for us lowly Perth Tech students on a Friday afternoon.
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IIRC Alberts Tavern was downstairs on the corner of Forrest Place and Murray St, the stairwell to it was right next door to the original Angus & Robertsons bookshop which was part of the Boans building.
Of course, just around the corner on Forest pl was the well known Forest Menswear.
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Sassellas was in Plaza Arcade, as I recall Steve Gordon talking about it on his show when talking about the history of Plaza Arcade.
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Yes there’s a maximum number of replies
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I’ll pop one down here then, TLA. Alberts was a great little dive. I seem to recall that The Elks played there, but I could be wrong. Another good little dowstairs pub, very popular amongst the punks / mods / skins crew was the Alhambra, (or something like that), which I think was at the eastern end of the Hay St mall, kind of driectly below White Rider Records.
That Mangos mural (?) shazza mentioned was truly tragic. With a wide angle you could’ve got it and Miss Maud’s into one epic worst shot.
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Yeah- Alberts- in mid/late ’81 I frequented the place regularly to see the late Johnno Rawlings band “The Bopcats” – saw the “Real Dreamers” there also- this was Phil Kakulas, David Backler, Byron Sinclair and Alsy McDonald (before he rejoined “The Triffids” and they booted their stand-in drummer Mark Peters- one of the “forgotten men” of the Triffids family tree- again- FUN TIMES !!
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I’ve just read your comment from 9:38pm yesterday, shazza, and I reckon the downstairs bar on Hay St you were trying to recall the name of was indeed the Alhambra, as the location seems right, and it did also have a Barrack St entrance.
*directly
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Does that mean we could gum up the thread completely, waxing nostalgia for a bygone era?
Excellent.
Time to ask how many people will be paying $140 odd to see Madness and The Human League at a venue not unlike the Perth International Beer Festival then, isn’t it?
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Not I Grrr. As a mum of 3 I dont get out much these days. (thanks to LA for those Warnie musical pics. Helps me feel connected to the outside world in some small way, though I lament the apparent return to 80s fashion with the thin ties, shoulder pads and of course Pattis hair. But I digress..)
I saw Brian Ferry at that Zoo gig some time back and have since sworn off going to see any band I admired in the 80s. Although Joan Armatrading was prety good.
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Tarantellas is now an up-market BnB (possibly more correctly a boutique hotel??). That club had the best facade to any club in the world I would suggest – a brilliant piece of architecture. It doesn’t look as good now that it has been cleaned up – it was very dark and foreboding in its day. I only went there once and we stayed for one drink and left because the place was full of what looked to us like evil Mafia hoods – probably let our imaginations get the better of us, but we were certainly intimidated.
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And Ken was called Squasher right?
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Nope, TLA. Ken Shaw and Squasher were totally different beasts.
This is Ken Shaw, and this is Squasher, whose name was Trevor or Neville, or something like that, heading up to the Old Melbourne I imagine.
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Squaher worked with Wayne Smith the most sleezest man in Perth rock history, who by the way also was an accountant.
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“Squasher” of course has the distinction of being mentioned in James Young’s biography of Nico called “The End” – James was a member of “The Faction”, the band who backed Nico on her appearance at the Red Parrot in 1986, supported by The Holy Rollers. I quote-
“Before we left Australia, Nico met a biker in Perth called Squasher. He had a Harley and plenty of what Nico liked.”…”For some time after Nico would refer nostalgically to her Knight on the shining Harley. ‘Sqourscher…I miss him so’ “
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I remember that gig well. We were interviewed by (?Daily News, not sure) a few days after that gig and asked if we got to meet Nico. We explained that we said hello to a few of her backing band who seemed polite, but she was sectioned off behind a curtain. The curtain wasn’t properly closed and we got glimpses of her. We were asked if she was well or not cause she seemed a little tired. Craig promptly explained that would be because she is diabetic, or she must be cause I saw her with her insulin injection. The hapless interviewer later wrote that Nico is diabetic. We just assumed that the sarcasm was properly understood.
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hello snuff, it’s been a pleasure reading your submissions, I hope you’re well; still blond and close shaven?
Ken Knight, the illustrious squasha, is still in tha business, he and his brother are the business end of Altered States, the promotion company responsible for the Perth big day Out.
Ken Shaw is (was) a Brahma Kumaris and was responsible for their ever expanding media enterprises.
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Thanks 3am eternal, and I’m pleased to hear that. I’m just happy to do my bit to recall what I can of what was clearly a seminal epoch for many. I’ve never felt better, as it happens, and yes, the haircut hasn’t changed, although these days it’s tailored slightly more toward the corporate rather than punk end of town.
I saw some pics recently of Squasher and his brother at Neil Wedd’s 50th, and Ken … well Ken just continues to amaze and surprise.
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Squasher’s name was Ken – but not the same Ken.
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Hey Snuff,
I use some of my thousand-odd photos from Wizbah/Meccano/Parrot days to teach marketing students about segmentation demographics etc. One of my students did a search on me (busted) and directed me here.
You’re damn right about none of us being averse to a few spondoolies, but the key objective was to have too much fun!
(I owned the Wizbah, contract managed the clubs.)
Take care mate,
Reg
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It’s great to see your name on the comments list, Reg, and as always, I hope you’re very happy and well. There’s a photo from the Firm here, in which nobody has yet been able to put names to faces. You may be one of the few people who can. I’m sure our host, TLA, would love to see some of your prized photos too, by the way.
As usual, you’re spot on about having too much fun, and in my experience, not always but often, when a lot of people are doing just that, and what they love, then the dollars just tend to follow.
It was always a genuine pleasure working for you, Reg. Onya.
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Gee, you got me there Snuff. Like others I remember those guys well … but not their names. What I do remember is they were cool, nice guys.
Re the photos most of the developed ones have been requisitioned by the people in them – little do they know I still have the negatives – you have renewed my interest in having them developed. Our host TLA is welcome to them.
Working with you was my pleasure and this is not pocket-pissing – you really were the leader in terms of music at the time. And I’m loving that you are still doing stuff you love.
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Reg you will note if you stick around that many sporadic posters will make comment about us regular TWOPers ‘getting a life’.
If only they knew!
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Just noticed that this once dominant post (in terms of comments) was eclipsed by rurotards post in just a few hours.
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That’s no reflection of the country vote TLA, simply an indication of how far you have come.
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Never mind the quality, TLA, feel the width of those B&Stards.
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They will Shazza. In fact they will come to realize we have forgotten more than they know about life.
They will also realize it is important to document the marginalia, the real stuff, so we can explain our lives to ourselves and our kids … as they will to their kids …
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Love the sentiments reg, though to be honest, there are parts of my life I would much rather my kids, and theirs, know nothing about :)
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We’ve got marginalia up the ying yang here reg, although what our offspring will think about us after viewing this, I don’t know.
The spelling alone will repulse them.
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Heh! Good point TLA, although I’m not sure they can recognize poor spelling.
OK, I am tempted to submit pics that GenXers will doubtless condemn as the worst hairstyles/clothes/posters/band outfits etc
What makes me pause, however, is some concern about privacy (what happens in the 80’s stays in the box in the shed) and a recent incident after I dug out some photos for a group of teenagers. One of them excitedly pointed out her godfather who she clearly recognized as he had been part of her extended family all her life. A couple of her friends remarked on the obvious physical similarity …
I felt a bit average.
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Well surely the posters will be OK? I leave the rest to your judgement.
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and I gotta say thank you to you Reg and to Andrew Masterson – you guys gave us (the Holy Rollers) our first set of gigs in our own right (had done a few Triffids supports in 83/84 in earlier line-ups of Holy Rollers and pre-curser bands). You took a punt on us, and other similar bands, and that gave us the start we needed.
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I just used to put shows on the Equator
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Adrian was a good guy. I just used to put on events at The Equator. We did the Ice Skating rink and Canterbury Court. The owner lent me the money do put the Jonathon Richman tour on.
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I saw Jonathon R in the hall where the Curtin Guild offices now stand.
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Actually I tink you gave me a free ticket Neil
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-and apropos of Perth venues now deceased- how come they all turned into old age homes or backpacker hostels ??!!-I hope to find a place at one of the venues as my dotage rapidly approaches.
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Such is life flunkyrat. At the opposite end of the spectrum you find the King Street transformation.
It was once a wasteland frequented only by the alternative set who trundled down to Orphans to spend their pay (or dole) on something to wear. Now…well what can i say. Wheels and Doll Baby are as wild and carzy as it gets.
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Will you hate me if I suggest Wheels and Doll Baby is neither wild nor crazy?
In my high school ways we trudged up to the far end of Hay Street (which was anything beyond 78s) in search of W&DB (without Leonard Nimoy). We found a boarded up doorway where it was supposed to be, and a dinky Italian gentleman’s hairdresser next door.
We know it was a gentleman’s hairdresser beyond the walls were plastered with pictures of naked women, and the “reading material” were old copies of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler with the mastheads ripped off.
Now that would have made a Worst of Perth.
Never did find out what the haircuts were like.
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Had my hair cut there. Was a lovely photo of black woman with huge afro and boozies. is it now gone?
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You know, I think that’s the one.
There’s a hairdressers in roughly that location still, but I have no idea if it’s still the same… or if I am even on the right street.
They were crazy days. It was before House of Wax moved to (the then) unfashionable King Street and was in… er…. Centro? Near the gaming shop (Tactics?).
I have just outed myself as a nerd too.
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Now Kim’s record store (House of Wax) was originally in the same arcade as “Thompson’s Tune In”- run in the mid-70’s by one Dixie (last name excapes me, but TRUST ME it WASN’T Marshall !!- think she was involved with 6PR [mebbe 6IX]DJ “Jim Beam”)-who supplied the nascent Triffids schoolboys with their import record needs. So- “hip” record stores in those days were White Rider, 78’s, Thompsons and Dadas.
I fear we(well, I am anyway) are drifting off topic -but what the hey…
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Was her last name Battersby ?, as Mr Beam was born one Errol Battersby and was recently involved in the ill-fated Aboriginal Radio Station which had it’s licence revoked and was finally based in the old 6IX Studios at Tuart Hill – Jim was on IX, PR as “Big Red” and also on 6KY playing Beautiful Music, as well as 6PM.
Check out a recent pic here – he’s aged terribly.
Click to access RadioGram105_color.pdf
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Oh and I just remembered that Dixie was the WA promotons manager at one of the major record companies (EMI) and eventually became WA State Manager of same, a quick google search confirms she is still in that role.
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Frank you are the Rainman of radio.
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There’s no on or off topic here, flunkyrat. TLA’s is a very broad church, so I wouldn’t worry about that. If anything, we recidivist commenters seem to take a perverse pleasure in seeing how far we can venture off the beaten track, and what surprises we might find there.
I went to Hollywood High, (ok, I wagged it mostly, but was enrolled ), with the Triffids nucleus, and they played a few gigs in the school hall. For the record, we can probably charitably attribute teenage hormones to the fact that they were named Eric + The Ions. True story, historians.
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Eric and the Ions included Byron Sinclair and Gavin White (in some Bez type role i understand, a kind of muse). Their released cassette called Blips included “Coles New World” I hate the place, CNW is just a waste of space I hate the managers guts the people there drive me nuts.
Eric was of course Eric Dante the science teacher, who mentored many concepts including ions.
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They recorded, mikemacao ? That would make for some interesting listening. Hollywood’s history teacher was named Richard Head. We were kind of disappointed, as coming up with abusive nicknames was our job, and it was hard to improve on that.
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I have a copy of that tape – I think. I’ll see if I can dig it out – and if it still works. (I still remember Mr Head’s lunchtime solo jazz jam session… that was recorded too…)
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Oh my. Mr Head. Hollywood High. All the repressed memories, stay.the.fuck.back.
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Ah yes Shazza-King Street before regentrification into the Louis Vuitton/TOTALLY upmarket zone it is now -not only featured Karen’s hipster store Orphans, but also was the home of Perth’s premier alternative bookshop “Black Plague”- run by the late Marina Kapsalos/Gorham and her husband Mark Gorham…THE place to get the best alternative comic books (Weirdo, Comical Funnies,anything by Gilbert Shelton, Maus- all the GREAT Graphic Novels of the early/mid eighties.) Later Clint Walker took it over to run “The Book Cellar”, and later still, Kim Williams inherited the premises for “House of Wax” mach 2…yep- King Street was HELLA HIP in the mid eighties/early nineties.
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Marina took pity on me during my student days and I used to occasionally work at Black Plague. She had the most incredible assortment of handmade mixed tapes I’ve ever seen and I’m pretty sure they were all given to her by the bands themselves. Her only instructions were that the coffee pot stayed full and any musos who turned up were to get free coffee and could hang out for as long as they liked. The last time I saw Marina was at the Nick Cave/Screamin Jay gig at the Ice Rink. She was a truly amazing person.
I also used to work at the Olympiad kebab/coffee place on Francis Street. This blog is a real memory jolt. I left Perth in 1990 and the previous decade was a bit of a blur.
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Marina was a truly lovely person. Sadly missed. You’ve brought back a wonderful memory – that coffee pot.
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You do remember Wheels and Doll Baby started in Perth? Upstairs in, wtf was that place called at 931 St Georges Terrace. It was there 1986-87. Run by Melanie and Brett. I hung out with them way too much, talking records with Brett.
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Welp- Yep Dixie’s Surname WAS INDEED Battersby, thankyou Mr Calabrese…it’s funny how these details slip. Dave McComb formed a “hipster art mob” (of sorts) with Alsy McDonald, Byron Sinclair, Gavin White (deceased-life taken by his own hand in 1982) and “the LUNCH BUNCH” from Hollywood High. Dave and Phil went to Christ Church…but were FAR from “typical” Private School Boys. Christ Church’s “lunch bunch” consisted of Phil Kakulas, Richie Gunning, Julian Douglas Smith, David Lang (this one I can’t swear to)-Franklin Tate was the school nerd, and was picked on MERCILESSLY by the Liberal Voting contingent. I saw all this first hand- I was a year above them, and envied them their SHEER TALENT. Oh well…
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Oh yeah- and Ray Brown did indeed sing with both the Shuffling Hungarians w/ Mr Cummings (who did a brief stint in Perth’s first Industrial Band- “And An A”) and “The Diddy Wah Hoodaddies”- this raised the hackles of elitist “original music ONLY” Perth fans- who couldn’t see what these guys were capable of.
Ray went on to lead “Ray Brown and the Vegas Payback”- look, just admit it Perth- the guy should be canonised for his efforts in the eighties/early nineties in this city.
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Thanks for those informative entries, flunkyrat. Will we ever get to the truth of the Ray vs Nick incident ? Given the state everyone was in, it might end up like the 3 blind guys describing the elephant.
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Well spank my arse and call me Charlie, my husband has just informed me that his father owned and ran the double decker bus at the Parrot!!!!!!!!
So I am now thinking you may know my Father in law.
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Gladly, Charlie. I can’t recall whether I ever actually ate at the bus, but I do vividly recall some liaisons behind it. As I may have mentioned somewhere else in this thread, it wasn’t a bad spot when all the other hiding places were occupied.
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Flunkyrat – what was the And An A track that remained mildly successful into the 90s (well, Loft played it, at any rate)? I had no idea they were from Perth.
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what was the And An A track that remained mildly successful into the 90s (well, Loft played it, at any rate)?
Affirmation (or Ambition – I’m at work right now, but I’m sure the labels were reversed).
They had a third EP in the late 1990s “Earth Am Flat, Sun Do Move” which I pulled out last night. They had a website for Square World Music as I recall.
Put the EP out, did nowt to support it…. went nowhere.
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Yeah, AND AN A- look, NO history of Perth Post Punk would be complete without investigating the INTENSE catholic streak that drove the screaming industrial machine that was headed by Messrs Dave Kelsall and Tony Roncevic- those were the (as far as I’m concerned) motivators of the band whose lineup varied as did their whim. Two 12″ vinyl singles and one CD is the total of their publically released material, rarer than RHS these days. I HAD “Ambition/Affirmation”- it was lost/purloined in the late 80’s. Mar Bucknell used one of their tracks to introduce his talk show “NEWS FROM NOWHERE” for a while. They SHOULD have been bigger, but their fans were pretty much on the money with them.
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I heard from Vince (Crimson Boy) that there was at least a third unreleased 12″ that never made it to the pressing stage.
I was lucky enough to see And An A at 2-3 gigs in the early 1990s (one with Snog, one at The Shents with Favourite Game and one at The Grosvenor) and they never disappointed.
The CD was…. not so good.
The 12″ singles turn up now and then. I’m sure a kind word with the nice man at Dada’s would help you out. I used to have ‘Affirmation’ on my website as an MP3 but was never happy with the quality of a vinyl-MP3 rip.
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Dave and Tony were the core of And An A, Nigel was a long time collaborator on bass, Paul got a gig shuffling the drums after his induction into the Perth scene roadying for Straytapes, and everyone else orbited around the core of Dave & Tony, two stranger nor nicer humans could you hope to meet.
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David Kelsall, mild-mannered apparatchik of the SGIO by day, screaming avant garde rock god on selected dates, one day told his happy-go-lucky bass-playing elf Nigel Harford that they needed a new drummer as the previous one, an affable fop whose name might have been Ashley, had flounced off to flop his fringe in more exotic locales. ‘The trouble is’, said Dave, ‘we need an intelligent one.’
This was something of a poser, the words ‘drummer’ and ‘intelligent’ being mutually exclusive back in 1981 – what they wanted was someone who could vaguely keep time without all the other elements that make the species so demanding, the constant ‘How long is this song, anyway?, You don’t LIKE my Chinese ride cymbal?’, ‘What about a sort of 5/4 disco beat here?’ and ‘What the fuck do you call THAT?
They wanted someone who could listen to Sun Ra and the Art Ensemble of Chicago without going ‘What the…’?, someone who understood less about the Beatles and more about the Birthday Party, some one who would eschew The Who for Pere Ubu, but what they wound up with was the Stray Tapes’ roadie and self-proclaimed spiritual advisor, a remorseless eating machine and would-be guitar-slinger with nothing better to do known as Paul Cumming who thought that the Birthday Party was a source of free food and drink.
Paul was an environmental refugee from ol’ Blighty (he didn’t like the cold), a gormless slob who had glommed onto Nigel’s other band, the Stray Tapes, in order to get some vicarious music biz jollies. He was a dyed-in-the-wool, proto-retro rock ‘n’ roll traditionalist whose idea of an alternative rocker was someone who knocked out Chuck Berry licks left-handed, so the idea of playing slide guitar with a portable radio tuned into ABC classical so that a flute could be picked up by the, er, pickup and fed through a fuzz box to become a continuous loop via the sound-on-sound feature of a Korg Stage Echo SE 500 in a fit of proto-sampling while hiding behind a Marshall stack had not quite yet occurred to him , but then again neither had flanging an amplified power-drill or attacking a 44-gallon drum with a ball-peen hammer in the name of percussion; however, that was before he went to a dank basement in Fremantle below Papa Luigi’s to witness the subversive guitar stylings of Tony Roncevic and the overall aural challenge of And An A.
It is possible that, for Paul, this performance was something of a watershed moment, an art awakening, a glimpse of what could be possible as opposed to merely probable so that when the invitation to join was extended he was consumed with a drive to challenge accepted norms; on the other hand, because he was nominally a guitarist he naturally thought he was a perfectly brilliant drummer, maybe he was just looking for any excuse to prove it. Whatever, as he could vaguely keep time and was reported to have read a book, he filled the brief and was in the band.
Paul played his fist gig with And An A at Casablanca’s in Wellington Street, near the corner of Street. Dave and Tony took performances very seriously and so were not much impressed when Cumming turned up without a drum kit, an accoutrement one might have considered somewhat handy for a drummer. As the And An A practice kit was held up with house bricks and thus deemed by Cumming to be unsuitable for public exhibition, he arranged to borrow a nice big shiny new blue kit from some bloke who promptly forgot all about it and went to the drive-in with his sheila.
Of course, Cumming only discovered this forty-five minutes before start time when he rolled up to be faced with Dave and Tony shaking their heads with sorrow and disbelief – ‘How could you DO this?’ – so Paul commandeered a car, bolted over to Leederville to pull a drum kit from beneath the pounding sticks of a mid-rehearsal Tony Pola and only start the gig half-an-hour late, just in time to see Ray Brown throw a beer over Nigel Harford – ‘How could he DO that?’ and thus start a twenty-year blood feud.
Paul Cumming played with And An A at Adrian’s in James Street a lot – or was it ‘Dream’ by then? It was definitely Adrian’s before it was Dream – and…that’s about it. Playing at Adrian’s/Dream was popular with And An A as they could be as wacky as they liked and they got to mic everything, especially the dreaded 44-galln drum, and it always pleased Dave greatly when the rock ‘n’ roll roadie would point a Shure SM57 at the drum with a boom stand and say “I’ve never tried to mic one of these things – about here alright?’ Dave would say ‘Yes, that’s fine’ and await the moment that the number started with gleeful anticipation as 44-gallon drums, when whacked with ball-peen hammer, are pretty loud and Dave loved seeing the mixer scream ‘Fuck!’ and scrabble to pull the cacophony out of the mix and thus preserve the audiences’ ears and his PA – indeed, Paul thinks that this bit of guerrilla warfare was the only reason that the number was still in the set.
They also played the Subiaco Hotel once, to the utter bemusement of all present, but the others are lost to history – there was, however, a trip to Mutant Mule in North Fremantle where a demo was recorded for good ol’ prosperity, and it was during the final mix of this masterwork that Paul was retrenched/downsized/rightsized/fired by the long suffering Dave and Tony.
They had been merciless in their sarcasm over the hidebound conservatism of Paul’s side project and could not possibly believe that he would give it priority over their mission to subvert the dominant paradigm, so when that other band suffering Cumming’s drunken buffoonery was booked to play the Herdsman (!) on the same night as And An A were due at the Shaftsbury Hotel, Dave and Tony were not amused.
They were not prone to hiring deps and nor were they accustomed to having to negotiate, so they took it very badly and shook their heads in sorrow and silence – Paul Cumming was a traitor, a Judas who had stabbed them in the back and betrayed them for however many piece of silver the Herdsman paid for rock ‘n’ roll cliché.
And An A played the Shaftsbury that night with the late Peter Bates on drums, a disaster that led Dave and Tony to find a more reliable replacement with better information retention capabilities and less propensity to want to play rock ‘n’ roll lead guitar – an LM2 LinnDrum – while Paul Cumming played, for the first and last time, the Herdsman Hotel, another disaster for completely different reasons.
And so that was that – Dave and Tony subverted on regardless and never spoke to Paul Cumming again, rock ‘n’ roll collegial camaraderie not being their strong suit, but Cumming, who had rather come to like giving the ol’ dominant paradigm a good boot every now and then, thought that Dave and Tony had overreacted somewhat.
He truly thought that And An A had created something new, original and unlike anything else anywhere, but then he actually heard the Birthday Party and Pere Ubu and realised that when it came to being derivative And An A were actually right up there with the Shuffling Hungarians.
And An A were not for everybody – when holed up for the night in Mullawa, a racist spec 100 ks east of Geraldton, he had a conversation with the publican’s son that went something like this:
Red-haired Publican’s Son: Youse from the city, eh?
Paul Cumming: Um…yeah.
PRHS: I went there once. Went to a nightclub and everything.
PC: Oh…good for you.
PRHS: Yeah, saw a band.
PC: Oh. OK. Who were they?
PRHS: I dunno. They were fucking shithouse, but.
PC: You don’t remember what they were calle…
PRHS: Ah yeah. Andana
PC: Who?
PRHS: Andana. Fucking shithouse.
PC: Oh, And An A…yeah, um, I was in that band.
PRHS: Oh. (Pause). But you weren’t the drummer, eh? Fucking dickhead was using a ball-peen hammer on a 44-gallon drum!
PC: Um yeah, I was the drummer. That was me.
PRHS: Oh. (Long pause). Jeez, youse were fucking shithouse..
So trawl through your collection of early ‘80s ephemera and dig out Fast Forward Cassette Magazine No. 13 (late 1981) to hear ‘Holiday Crowd’ and see a picture of Paul Cumming whacking a 44-gallon drum with a ball-peen hammer – fucking shithouse or not the only hard evidence of Paul Cumming’s brush with the avant guarde and two of the stranger and nicest people you could hope to meet.
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WOW!
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Christ on a bike. Respect, Elroy.
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Take a bow, Elroy.
Surely this is worth setting to an 11-minute power ballad??
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Congrats “Elroy” on a truly accurate and yet hysterically funny retracing of the early footprints that were left by And An A…I remember once telling Dave K that all the band needed was a “B” in front of the “And”- and they could have been a BANDANA…Dave was NOT amused.
Their early gigs (I was at that Subi Hotel one in 1982) NEVER failed to impress, even when the Linn Drum was poorly programmed. Jeez I loved that band-and again, they deserved to be MUCH bigger than they turned out to be. Perhaps it was part of Perth’s small town conservatism, and mistrust of the “arty”…one can but ponder.
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Golly! A knot of And An A fans! Who’d’ve thunk it?
Perth too conservative? Maybe, but it is hard to achieve critical mass when your hard-core audience fits into a 44-gallon drum, ball-peen hammer included. If Dave and Tony had been in Melbourne they would have been urban legends still spoken of in revered tones but, as it is, it’s up to us.
So can we assume that no-one here would be interested in free copies of the Mutant Mule sessions?
Cheers
Elroy
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Damn me. I left this thread early, and now it’s two years later and I want those tapes, damnit.
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I’m with Grrrr on this
even after the equipment theft
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There’s a contact link for Elroy on this site, Grrr and Orbs, which might be your best shot.
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Loved And An A. Ahead of many other bands.
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you need to write a book. I would buy it. I still see David at every Big Day Out (although I haven’t been to the last two) and occasionally at the supermarket.
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-further to “the Ray and Nick” incident- I DID see it (AND AN A had done the support, conscripting one Byron Sinclair for the nite) and Ray (as was his wont at the time) was “slightly the worse for wear”- and he’s a BIG man, about Nick’s height but about 1.5 to 2 times Nick’s weight- shall we say “slim” frame…Ray DID NOT KNOW HIS OWN STRENGTH…and a hug from him would have KILLED a lesser mortal than Nick.
Again- the fact that he was apologising profusely to all and sundry as he was being frogmarched out confirms (to me at least) no evil intent on his behalf.
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Oh- and I should also mention that Byron Sinclair at that time looked UNCANNILY like Ian Curtis from Joy Division- and when New Order played at the Old Melbourne in 1982 for their Blue Monday tour, and Byron happened to be in the front row- I bet Barney, Hooky and Stephen were literally FREAKED OUT !!
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I dunno – Ray would have apologized to all and sundry because he didn’t want to be thrown out – which he was, and severely beaten too. Still, if I remember the tale properly he jumped the fence and was back in before anyone could say ‘What the fuck happened to Ray Brown?’
It wasn’t a hug, though – it was a rugby tackle. Ray did not suffer wankers gladly, even though he hung out with Paul Cumming. Curious…
Cheers
Elroy
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Okay, I can’t stay silent any longer.
Ray was trying to give Nick a reechy kiss. I saw it.
It was the best part of the gig at the Old Melbourne.
The punks lobbed gobbies at Nick, as they did to Iggy Pop years later, congratulating themselves when they landed one in his mouth.
I knew Ashley, who set up And and A, and asked me if I knew an intelligent bass player. I introduced him to Nigel Harford.
The Red Parrot was usually horrible.
I preferred the Cat and Fiddle, Adrians, The Shenton Park, The Stoned Crow, That place in Subi where the Shuffling Hungarians played, and what about that place down near Steves where the Triffids played.
And that place near the Railway line (towards Midland?), where Rhythm Method played sometimes.
Yes, the skinheads were vile.
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Pingback: Red Parrot - Free Pass « Claudemono’s Blog
All I can say is if you’ve lost your memory, records or are in need of a nostalgic lift go to Claudemono’s Blog and indulge in his fine mix mp3- ah, sweat memories!
Go on click the link you know it’s what you’re missing…
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Welp 3am- all I can say is I’m F*cking up something on Claudemono’s blog- coz I’ve tried and tried but it just DOESN’T seem to wanna d/load for me… I suspect an overly officious firewall at my end.
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The first link doesn’t work but the second one links to a download for the first!!!???
atb
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This is what parrot goers’ children (grandchildren?) are or will be doing at night.
http://loversandlobbers.blogspot.com/
Hilarious.
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Isn’t this the blog mentioned in either Inside Cover today, or featured on the radio bulletins ?
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WAtoday went big on this story today, and Shallow Spice featured it in her blog
somebody posted a link to it here a few weeks ago
do these young ladies get dressed in the dark? I think they need a stern talking-to
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Ahh, so it was in TWAT :-) I just saw the headline and didn’t click on the story.
Oh and have you noticed Dr Karl is wanting more powers to ban “Drunken Thugs” in Northbridge – nicely timed after Barcelona Tonight’s “Special” on Perth – City In Strife.
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You are volunteering for the tongue-lashing, skink?
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And Ch 7 News are running a Tut Tut story about it as well – will post the url to Seven’s story when it comes up on West TV.
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Oh how embarrassing. This is what happens when you stop consuming media, someone gives you a link and you think you’re the first to see it.
It doesn’t look all that different from clubbing in my day, just there are lots more drugs.
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More drugs? Dont believe the hype!!
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I’m still trying to work out what lobbing is….
And given the places that blogger goes… I probably don’t want to know.
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Ummm is that really the guys name? I am assuming its a ndp, but I would have thought Richard Head would be more appropriate.
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HA !- all I can say is- “kids don’t know what their parents did first”…I reckon it all looks pretty tame, but then I REALLY saw some shit in Perth/Freo in the late seventies/eighties.
One titbit I can share- saw Brad Shepard of the Hoodoo Gurus having FULL ON SEX w/ a groupie on the hood of her car outside the Parrot in 1986.
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Would that be “….on the *bonnet* of her car….”, flunkyrat ?
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Hood/Bonnet- whatever…it’s a TRUE story.
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-And a FAR more embarassing incident (for me at least) was when I was raving to somebody upstairs at Milliways (Old Melbourne Hotel) about how GREAT the late Robert Quine had been as Lou Reed’s Lead Guitarist in 1984/5 (look, it’s a LONG time ago- the years tend to blend)-and how if I ever met the guy I wouldn’t know what to say to him regarding how much I LOVED his guitar work with Richard Hell and now Lou Reed- the friend I was talking to said “now you know he is standing right behindyou”=apparently Richard Quine simply shook his head and walked away…
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I remember the night. After the Lou show we had a party. Met Lou’s body guard, who had kidnapped Ronny Biggs from Brazil.
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I chatted with Robert Quine that night for a short while not wanting to wear out my welcome and he was very charming. Alongside Tom Verlaine, he was my guitar hero.
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-And in that last sentence, when I said “Richard Quine”- obiously I meant ROBERT QUINE.
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Okay, here’s one for the EXTREME trivia buffs- who remembers FRANCE’S coffee shop on Hay Street East- ?? I think it was run by some (now famous) types- Fiona Scott-Norman, Andrew Masterson, and a guy called Nick (an Engineer I think)- it ran from late’81 thru 1982- and was underneath a “pleasure palace” (eg- a massage parlour/brothel) and hosted such wonderful outfits as “The Silent Type”,”The 3D’s” and various comedy acts/poets and writers. Beatnik Bar some 20 years after Beatnik happened.
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I can’t say I remember the cafe, flunkyrat, although the name seems vaguely familiar, but I do recall, (now famous, apparently), Fiona and Andrew.
Silent Type were an excellent outfit, and I still have their rockin’ “Bigger in Texas” single. I can’t remember why, but I saw one of their earliest gigs, at a bowling club. It may have even been their first ever gig. I think it was one of their rellie’s birthday parties, or something.
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I recently found a flier amidst my dusty archives that places “Frances Cafe” at 232 Hay St East- somewhere east of The Grosvenor on Hill St and somewhere west of Plain St (I think)-I think it’s now either a Used Car Lot or simply a Parking Lot…a similar fate befell “Victim Manor”, where Dave Flick and James Baker once resided. This is of course WAY back in the day- we’re talking late ’70’s here.
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If it was near the original 6PR Building, you’ll find it is now part of the Mercedes College playground.
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You MAY be right concerning Mercedes College Frank- but as I recall, Frances Cafe was on the SOUTH side of Hay Street- isn’t most of Mercedes College premises on the NORTH side of Hay Street ? Once again- I expect you have the greater knowledge in this department…
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I think this club was called Hernando’s hideaway. I saw the Victims there many times (proto hoodoo gurus). It was above the old post office opposite the Carlton Hotel.
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Yes that was Nick Klietnicks .He was sharing with Pammy Chani and i in Mt Lwley. Thanks Nick for the intro to Joy Division.
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Yes, “The Silent Type”- I can remember Andrew Masterson of Frances, and then later Wizbah fame putting out a keyless typewriter in front of Frances Cafe one night when they couldn’t show up…I laughed like a drain that nite !!!
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And Andrew’s “underground” mag was called?
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Andrew Masterson and Reg Mifflin ran an Underground Magazine called “Rash”, Slanderer, from about 1983 I think. This was after a 1982 effort that was known as “HSVII” (Herpes Simplex Virus 2)- and before the days of the Cipriani Bros “X-Press”.
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Speaking of X-Press, did I see in this week’s that V-Capri are getting the band back together for some sort of “Industry” shindig along with assorted Scientists and such?
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THat is indeed correct, it was also mentioned in the Wired section of The worst.
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Ah yes, Industry Hacks V-Capri… who could forget the B-side of their first Single- it was a “test-tone” that could (after sandpapering) been used as a sampled backing track for And AN A.
Got in some troub for calling Todd a ‘PIGF*CKING INDUSTRY C*CK-GUZZLING mofo” to his face at a UWA quiz Nite. Grant Woodhams gonged me off.
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Fair enough, too. A little respect for our porcine friends please, flunkyrat.
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Actually there was no B Side – just a black and white photo of the Band. And Haunting Me’s initlal run had a colour pic.
Oh and if you owned the Album (now reissued by a US Company and apparently Tod doesn’t get Royalties from it they re-recorded Haunting Me with WASO.
http://www.almacantarrecords.com/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=73&osCsid=a54447e49f7e6503039579312cb318c4
And I recall V Capri’s appearance at the only WAMI’s awards ceremony televised by Ch 7 and they were the only act to mime and they “performed” That’s The Way with a team of synchronised Karate Exponents showing off their wares.
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And I forgot to add it was simulcast by 96FM and it was the only time that their station played V Capri and all of those Perth Acts which weren’t on their playlist.
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Around the same era was another rag called Five O’Clock News (FON). Pretty short lived effort but if memory serves, one of the editions had a launch story on The Red Parrot, complete with a b/w pic of the amazing (at the time) movable lighting rig.
Had all the FON issues at one point, but lost them during house moves :(
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FON was Joe Cipriani’s predecessor to XPress. As Spare Times put it, “doesn’t want to rock the boat but become the boat, or at least the rudder”.
(Spare Times being the fanzine thing George Blazevic did 1982-1985 after doing Live magazine 79-80.)
I’d mercifully forgotten Rash until now.
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-well, yes -I’ll grudgingly admit to Tod’s “Stage Presence” and abilities. One wonders if it’s the result of his genetic makeup (Jenny McNae and MR JOHNSON) or his years at the Johm=nny Young Talent School. Either way- this was CORPORATE INDUSTRY ENTERTAINMENT- and should NOT be treated with any artistic credibility. That’s what I reckon anyway.
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Don’t you mean Jill Perryman and Kevan Johnson, who according to Peter Harries was the original Percy Penguin.
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Tod’s a Barra. An amiable tryer who has unfortunately tried the wrong things. You have to give him points for doing stuff, but you have to take away points for the stuff he’s done.
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Once again Mr Calabrese, you have corrected one of my very BASIC errors…I apologise to Ms McNae- and commiserated with Mrs Johnson.
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I bumped into Mr Raymond Brown at the WAMI Reunion thingy last nite (6th May) as Kim Salmon and James Baker were belting out “Frantic Romantic”-and attempted to quiz him about the 1983 “Nick Cave Incident”…he was very cryptic, and made me think- “Rugby Tackle or Bear Hug ?!” So, sorry all- but this one remains a mystery for the ages
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But the $64 + GST question remains – How did V Capri scrub up ? Considering back in their Heydey thney were poo poohed by the majority of the “Industry”, or are they now WA’s “Kylie” – once demonised, but now are cool and trendy ?
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Hmm, V-Capri, I know they were previously Harlequin Tears but I have a vague memory that says they were prior to that, Skydiver and even earlier, Muff and the Divers?
Sorry to branch off into the mainstream, but I guess its all about Perth’s 80’s band/bar/club culture :)
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Oh- and regarding last nite’s Reunion show- welp, the bands, due to a VERY packed lineup bill were limited to 3 songs each- which meant that each lineup was obliged (pretty much) to play their “hit”- Representatives of “The (Perth) Boys” did “When You’re Lonely”, Salmon/Baker did “Frantic Romantic”, Dave Warner did “Suburban Boy”, the combo of Mariani and Lane from the Stems did “At First Sight”- golly I somehow managed to MISS V-Capri (I was hoping for their B-side, but one’s dreams are not usually fulfilled at an evening like this)- Saracen put in a remarkably RESTRAINED metal performance (never saw them in the ’80’s so I can’t be a credible judge of this particular combo)- Dave Faulkner gave a GREAT speech following his induction into the WAMI “Hall of Fame”- and then I left- probably missing Brian Cadd’s performance (was unaware that he was a North Perth Boy…)
Overall- yep, worth the $40…
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Dammit, I wouldn’t have minded seeing The Boys again (known for being underage whilst playing in pubs at the time). Was Brent back singing?
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Stu’s posted a fine update here, TLA. Apparently it’s still a work in progress, but it’s definitely an improvement on this now vanished worst graffiti.
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Oh, gods, I HATE Stormy Mills psuedo-banksy artwork (sans comment).
Worst of Perth, anyone?
Also, what happened to numbered comments?
How do we know if this thread has broken the 200 mark?
Finally, which movie is this from?
It’s bugging me.
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Yeah it’s the INSIDE that would be more interesting. I saw this and didn’t even pop the ridiculously poorly designed Canon camera case. Meh to the meh.
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still preferable to the “tags” that used to (and still do a bit) adorn it (see pic at top).
There is a cool pic of the insides during the 80’s on the facebook group, Snuff will know it, but i agree we have to somehow bust inside and get a gander of it now. I did rattle the front door as I passed it …. wishful thinking I know
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I have to break rank here and say I think that’s a pretty neat piece of public art.
For Perth one might even dare to say it is bordering on avant-garde.
Sorry Grrr, but I will take up the opposing ‘not worst’ position.
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Thankyou mrs stone. Here, let us link arms to defend this view.
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Good Lord! Grrr ( if that is your real name)
there is no way that the artwork on that building could ever be considered as a worst.
The fact that it is unsullied by Neanderthals armed with spray cans is a testament to logic beyond normal understanding.
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You mean 300 comment mark? Only a Chong can hope to match that.
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The Chong/China (Tianshen?) thingy was on this week.
Did anyone go? Where’s my outrage?
And who is this Prada-totting lawyer mentioned in ROB BROADFIELD’S INSIDE COVER (ft Dan Hatch) today?
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One thing separates this establishment from so many others.
Lack of vandalism!
I am not familiar with the history/relevance of this building but it would appear from my observations that the artwork is thankfully original.
and this from a city riddled with angst.
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It might be a little difficult to ascertain any accurate history on the proceedings and circumstances involving this locale, Richarbl, as so few attendees remembered anything at all on the ‘morning after’ and, what they might have have recalled was, in all probability, hallucinatory.
In fact quite a number of them suffered permanent brain and liver damage as a consequence of the cocktails of chemicals consumed at the time.
The damage sustained to many of their personalities remains evident to this day on these very postings.
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I guess it’s only appropriate you should mark the 300th comment with such a glowing endorsement, Rolly. Cheers.
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Rolly I have never met a Welshman who didn’t like more pints than was good for him. I’m starting to doubt your Taffy cred.
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mrs. stone, It seems to me self evident that you have been associating with only men of the lower orders of
Welsh manhood.
Those who, like me, were guided to adulthood by the firm tee-total hands of the likes of the Reverend Mr. Tobias Rhys-Jones and his esteemed wife, Mrs Tobias Rhys-Jones (she, Angharad Pryse-Edwards that was) of the Ebenezer Congregational Chapel, are to be forever haunted by guilt whenever we give in to the evil temptation of the demon drink.
Playing Rugby, or indeed doing anything even mildly entertaining, on the ‘Lord’s Day’ still carries with it a lingering possibility that one will descend into the everlasting fire that is the just reward for those who defile the Lord’s day of worship, prayer and thanksgiving.
God, how we were so deceived and misled, and how the embedded “uprightness” still echoes down the years.
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… and it’s still all the rage in Svenken.
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Tis true Rolly.
My brother was named after Gareth Edwards and played at state level, my Uncle was, in days gone by, the Captain of the Rumney Rugby Team, and I spent my formative years in and around the ARKS rugby club here in Perth.
Consequently I know all the words to Swing Low Sweet Chariot, complete with accompanying hand gestures.
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It’s more than just a little sad that amongst the baggage of goods and chattels transported half-way around the world by migrating people, comes also the cultural baggage of the habits and ways of the “old country”.
Translocating with the view to a “fresh start” seems, at times, rather pointless when one carries with one all the prejudices and social “norms” of the very culture that you’re escaping from.
It’s even more disappointing when you find they they are already well established in your new home.
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Jesper? Is that you?
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299
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300
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Mine of May 9, 2009 at 9:20 pm was the 300th. mrs s.
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Ahh, the Red Parrot. I was there on it’s opening night. I played there (in Adventure Stories) for a couple of gigs in about 1982 or so, great place awash in booze. No wonder the door nazis were choosey…
To correct some info. from an earlier poster, New Order actually played at Her (His?) Majesty’s Hotel up Hay Street, not at the Parrot
Booze, girls, and a late night kebab – all great memories of when Perth was real.
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Real what?
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I’ve always wondered what the building in question is being used for these days myself. I suspect that the door nazis got so choosy that they wouldn’t even let people out of there, let alone in. It’s probably stacked to the rafters with the corpses of Acid House casualties from the late ’80’s and early ’90’s.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/04/spandau-ballet-new-romantics/print
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hey Sunff,
So you went to Hollywood too?
I was there 1980 to 1981, before matriculating (not to be confused to micturating..then again) to UWA.
We used to wander into Karrakatta with some of my prime Mossie Mellow weed (grown in Mosman Park no less) and then head back to the curiously (though aptly) named Mr Head’s history class.
I actually did my economics TAE stoned and scored my highest mark ever! (no great feat as it turns out).
Anyway, I left Perth in 1986 for overseas and east and have just returned for two years with work.
And as a dog returns to its vomit, they generously bowled Hollywood over and built me a new house!!!
By the way, what ever happened to Billie Coke Bottle? From memory he used to be on that high calibre Watsy and Martin show.
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It’s probably not really accurate to say I went, Adrian. I was enrolled, but as I may have mentioned elsewhere on this blog, although I was geographically supposed to go to Swanny, I made a point of enrolling at Hollywood due to its reputation for sex, drugs and truancy, all of which I enthusiastically pursued. I was in a few classes with Alsy from the Triffids, and recall their gigs in the school hall as Eric + the Ions. Alsy was a cool guy, and there also were a few junkies in my class who formed a group called The Suspects. Richard Head, (you can’t make this stuff up), of course played some great lunchtime sax gigs.
You’re quite right that the cemetery was very handy, not that discretion seemed to matter much at Hollywood. Molly Lukin used to do laps of the school, and one occasion sprung us at the bus stop rolling massive spliffs. She just eyeballed us, gave us the slow head shake, and cruised off again. Onya Mol.
Wattsy and Martin ? Pass the propraponol.
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Lukey Dukes!!!! She was my biology teacher and once chastised me for leaning over a microscope with half my left buttock emerging from my ripped jeans.
Richard Head, was he the history teacher I referred to before?
There was quite a “friend of the Triffids” contingent at Hollywood when I was there, and from memory they played a lot at Adrians, the same venue where the Quick and the Dead played their ill-fated “experiement”.
As captured on you tube of course!
The Suspects? Hmmmm, did they play around town? Sounds kind of familiar, but then it’s the type of band name that would.
Where was Adrian’s by the way? James Street?
We are staying at a place in James Street (just down the road from the Parrot) at the moment while our stuff meanders over from Sydney.
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Yes, Richard was Hollywood’s bearded sax playing history teacher, who so cunningly took the wind out of our nicknaming skills that we just gave up, and called him Mr Head, Adrian. The Suspects may have played a few low key gigs, but never really went beyond the garage, where admittedly they sounded ok, a few stencils around town, and pretending they were the smack chic era Rolling Stones.
Adrian’s was indeed at 160 James Street, upstairs. I can’t tell from the google street view if it’s the same building redone, or a completely new building.
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Yes indeed! Mr head!!
I remember once a whole load of my chums absconed from his history class and headed to the Shents.
I didn’t get wind of the plan until too late and attended the class. Mr Head wandered up and inquired where the rest of the crew were.
He answered his own question that all and sundry were most likely at the pub before gazing into the middle distance and saying” “I wish I was with them”.
He used to get very worked up about what a bastard Stalin was for icing Trosky……with an ice pick.
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I reccomend a trip to Trotsky’s House in Mexico City. The interior feels like a North Perth rental of the 80’s, apart from the bullet holes.
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Particularly check out Trotsky’s washroom.
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/720-the-leon-trotsky-museum-murder-and-marxism-in-mexico-city
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and what was the name of the loathed and reviled Social Studies, Geography teacher who went by the tag “Slug”?
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Graham Weston was a social studies teacher, drove a 240 or 260z and would pride himself on picking up school girls from the bus, aiming to woo these young ladies with his Saturday Night Fever cassette tape.
I recall particular fun selling his cars, both the Datsun, and an earlier Corolla, regularly, and for a good price, in the Sunday Times.
One could also advertise personal services from his place. He lived with his mum. He was still teaching at Shenton College and attracting simular student accolades only a year or two ago…
The great History teacher was Jim Head – by name and nature.
Some clear headed 79 grads have them all listed:
http://ja-jp.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=79621764579&topic=8433
Some highlights from the Parrot for me were Mme Paterson’s Fashion Galah, The Residents gig (amazing dance/lighting using auto inspection lamps), and of some great DJing by Snuff, Peter Farrell and Mike Edmonds.
There were also plenty of memorable and hard to remember journeys home down Hood st behind Subi Railway station.
The Parrot building is lately being used by Artrage (who have The Bakery around the corner) as a store, and for some festival Gigs, they commissioned the artworks.
Ken at the Equator, Neil Wedd, and Fiona Scott Norman / Andrew Masterson efforts were a bootleg venue inspiration for later efforts with warehouse and other City ‘venues’ such as Vultrec, Money st, Boans, Gasworks, Jack Sue, and the Bakery.
For me the worst of Perth is that there are not venues like this anymore and so little ‘free’ space. Fun policing, sanctimonious liquor licensing that favours incumbency and monopoly, a developer dominated city council, oppressive and reactionary state bureaucracy and supine, corporatist ‘cultural’ advocacy have put an end to that.
When I Run Through The Jungle in Northbridge nowadays I wonder if Saturday Night fever was really that bad?
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I was just talking about that Residents gig. They had the giant eyeballs as heads right?
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Yep, 3 big eyeballs but one skull for the Parrot gig as they got an eyeball stolen in sanfranciso, so they were kind of grieving.
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From your email address Heidi you seem like the kind of person who could get a picture of the inside of the Parrot now.
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yes I’ll be back in Perth in a few weeks and will try to get some to post.
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Heidi!
That’s him, Slug Watson, a sluggy Watsoney type of cad if there ever was!
And I do recall the stories about the car and bus stop pick ups.
Here’s some irony. I left Perth in ’86 and returned a few months ago, work posted me back here for the next few years.
Work has kindly rented us a townhouse built upon the old Hollywood High site, I think we are where the library used to be.
When were you at Hollywood Heidi? I assumed 79?
I was there 80 to 81.
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A year earllier, I left in 78. G Weson memorabley divide up our 1st year class in 1974 into 3 groups: University students, Tradies, No hopers…
A you’d imagine it was pretty memorable experience for all of us in the latter category. He was also a big fan of the SLADE….
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From my Twitter feed.
Slade, Status Quo unite to debunk Mayan apocalypse. The Quo’s Rick Parfitt claimed both bands had tours cancelled for 2012 due to panic over…
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Lazy Aussie, it kind of reminds me of the place work put us up in James Street, although that toilet (washroom, thunderbox) seems to have a more contemporary feel.
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The Red Parrot, Equator, Wizbah, Milliways, Meccanoes, ,Adrians,Lowlife, The Firm……all starting to ring bells, clouds are clearing
Jim King where are ya , you old bastard? Seen Andy Moore at all???
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This is one dead parrot that just won’t die.
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Get in touch with Dr Philip Nitschke.
He’s a humane guy.
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I touched Michael Hutcheons hair at the Red Parrot- upstairs in the attic bar. I loved the music, bands and dancing. I was never cool enough for the Red Parrot crowd but I put in a regular appearance and enjoyed every minute of it. I’d love another night back there in the 80’s.
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Ben Reddal, Andy Moore how about Cranny the mad bastard.Where did we go to see Quick & the Dead, Jerry you out there?
I remember being in a sea of bald heads and mowhawks sitting there in my parka with my dad, bought the band to Mt Newman.
How about Ziggies bar, and Skinhead Micks record shop, what was it called?
Max the Mad Austrian Punk, loitering in Haystreet, soul and ska nights & scooter runs.
Got heaps of poasses still, Mechano,s phsychadelic nights on a Wednesday dj,d by Brett Mullherran and Vince, i could really dribble from here, but i think ill wipe my face and quit while im ahead.
Oliver – still keeping the Faith.
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Hey Ollie, Just seen this. Lots of names and people I havent thought of in ages. Bringing back memories of fun pubbing n clubbing that was Perth 1980-89. Those early days were both wasted and fun…though on many ocasions would have prefered to be on the dancefloor than the dj booth. Pretty sure I still have heaps of stuff from those days packed away somewhere. We need a reunion of the old mod crew. Glad to know you’re still keeping the faith.
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a 80s band called Hooker featuring steve letch (vox), phil foord (bass), gary dunn (guitar), rob galley (keys) & sam (drums) at the nookinburra hotel innaloo perth western australia 1982
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Thanks, KmG. As ’82 New Wave goes, I’ve heard worse. Saw a couple of great bands at the Nookenburra around that time as it happens, including UB40, and The Tourists.
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Where is the bird because i think i might be Snuffparot by any chance. This is the funniest thing ive ever thought.
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That’s it, my favourite TL101 post ever, right there.
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Tough call, but it’s definitely up there. I like how just as the “true” L101 begins to emerge, as lately, there’s an immediate regression to classic 101-isms.
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Yeah, I’d noticed that. But still, I can’t tell whether he’s for real or not. It’s quite an achievement… or not.
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It’s definitely the long play…
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feel free to go hunting my old post’s if you like them.
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Thx=Thanks
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Thx.
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thx
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1138?
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Dont Copy!.
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ooh ive missed the major discussion about the much maligned and missed ‘dead parrot’ by a couple of years!!!! oh well…i just want to have it on record that the reason that so much of us in Perth in the 80’s bloody LOVED the parrot( & the underground nightclub) was that it was an escape from Perth in the 80’s – which largely consisted of mullets,bad wooly jumpers and casey casom & americas top 40!!! anyhting outside those realms was considered subversive,and dangerous- i can remember being seriously harrassed by cops in the hay st mall in the early 80’s whilst sat there with 2 girlfriends because the clothing we wore did not come from irene whytes or katies…we were wearing black miniskirts and harrington jackets and did not have the usual nasty ‘flicked’ bleach blonde streaked hair that was considered suitable for young ladies in their teens! Were we doing anything ‘naughty’ at the time- harrasssing passersby, shoplifting or anything worse??? no- just daring to sit in the sun in the mall and chat!!! Perth in the 80’s was generally a barren wasteland for anyone who subscribed to anything other than the american fodder fed to us through the ‘popular’ radio stations of the time…..i still have an eternal loathing of the eagles and fleetwood mac- as this was all you ever heard on Perth radio at the time, despite there being a huge chage in music and trends in the rest of the world ( ska,mod,punk etc) in fact im sure it wasnt until the mid 90’s that i actually heard the bands Madness & the Jam on Perth mainstram radio – long after they had broken up & gone – obviously they were then deemed to be ‘safe’ to play!!!
I loved theParrot & the Underground – both allowed me to listen to & dance to the music i loved as well as socialise withthe fellow outlaws that were lurking in Perth at that time!!!
nuff said
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Thanks, Milly. Minis and Harringtons was a great look.
If you lurk on Facebook, there are hundreds of photos and discussions of the Red Parrot here, and of the Underground here.
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Milly you got it right! To be a 16 year old clubbing in Perth in ’80 is an experience that can never be accurately described tpo the current generation. It was a different world. Many ways worse….many ways better.
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ok well just describe what its like to be 47 then, because I’m pretty sure 16yo will find that fascina…
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The 80’s also had Monday Night Madness at ZuZus where it was all you could drink(spirits too) for $30/head from 8pm and some other bar where girls were suspended(tastefully) in cages hanging from the rafters. The Shents, the Swanbourne Hotel, Henry Africa’s, the Old Floreat hotel, pre-yuppified Cott hotel and Godivas also bring back memories of the 80’s
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This thread’s still going. Geez, stop living in the past you dolts and start sucking my cock.
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Hi to all,
I have had my PA, who is young enough to manage such things, turn hundreds of pre-digital negatives into positives and uploaded. It was just in time, too, as these mostly black & white photos are now sepia and deteriorating – still ok though. I suspect many of you are in these shots, also in a deteriorated state (but still ok.)
Responses after show and tell with some gen Y’s: hey you guys were pretty cool when you were young! (doncha love those backhanded compliments)
Anyway, how do I share these? I shun Facebook and don’t have the time to make a web page. If, however, if there is any demand I might ask my girl friday to make a webpage.
Any thoughts?
Reg
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Just do a simple webpage Reg, tumblr or somesuch would be the best I think, but it should be somewhere where people could make comments. I think it would be huge! Nothing wrong with facebook for it either. If you want to send a sample of a few pics here to the worst of perth to get it going, or even to ask others for suggestions on how to display it please do so. Many of that era frequent the blog. Once whatever you do is up, it should be archived for posterity by the state library. I’m sure they will do that for you. I can let you know where to send such a request.
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Flickr is your best bet for sharing photos.
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Yes Frank, but you have to be a fkickr member to comment, so i’m not sure it would be the best on this occasion.
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…..and you have to be a Facebook member to access it.
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Did Reg ever upload anywhere else besides Facebook?
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Ah yes homemade punk clothes with pins (had to hide these from the grownups before leaving home), Shakir looking dangerous and bored at the same time, Iggy Pop the thinnest man in rock and roll, Hoodoos, Died Pretty, Nick Cave, all those crazy gigs and I kind of remember a ten year punk night in 1982, I think I was lusting after one of the guys organising it, I would have fallen over in a dead faint if he had spoken to me. It was a challenge to get in as 16 year old, but that smell was unmistakeable – my pillow used to stink for days after a big Saturday at the Parrot. Lovely.
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Nick Cave played at The PArrot. A friend of mine bit him on the leg. I missed the night a member of a band pulled a toy gun on James Reyne and they emptied the venue. Had some great nights there.
Put lots of shows on there. Working with Baz, working out how many songs in a row I could pick. Loved running Milliways, genuinely exciting club some nights.
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Someone should have pulled a toy James Reyne on Nick Cave.
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Are you referring to the “Ray Brown Incident”, Neil ? There’s about half a dozen versions in this thread alone.
I was there, unfortunately, on the night XXXX pulled the toy gun on Australian Crawl, as I described here. It didn’t empty the venue, but thankfully it got them off stage. Was XXXX in a band?
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Yes, indeed. A fine, funky band.
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I thought the cops cleared the place.
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Nope. Business as usual.
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Yep, Mr Clarinet had that effect on people, I can recall a couple of years earlier a ‘friend’ of mine slashing his back with some keys at the old Darlinghurst Gaol. After personally escorting the lady from the stage, he retired to the band room for a mo’ and then returned with an encore of “dirt’ by the stooges. Blood spattered the adoring front row punks as he stomped about the stage.
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I DJ’d a few 60’s psychedlic nights at the Parrot in the 80’s. I setup oil wheel projectors and played a video of mind manefesting images to set the tone. No big crowds and by 11pm I was required to spin current hits for the late night–just looking for anybody–crowd. I fondly recall the Screamin Jay Hawkin’s gig and saw him at the Fillmore in San Francisco just as enigmatic. I’ve seen the Violent Femmes in the U.S. on four occasions, but their Parrot gig was them at their prime riding on the heals of their first album. I recall Sade comming up to the back room (upstairs) by the DJ booth after her Perth gig and the Jam Tarts were hanging out. I recall a having conversation with one of the Tarts and English comedy writer Ben Elton, whom she went on to marry. The owners sucked and never knew how to promote the place which is how someone like me with no DJ’d style worked there. The place was too open and the decor sub par. The bouncers scared away customers for the fun of it, so weak was management. Compared to some of the other clubs I don’t recall it that fondly. Having lived in the USA for 20 years and raged at proffessionally run venues through-out California, if not for fond memories of youth, I regret going there.
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I just stumbled onto this and laughed when I read “Shakir looking dangerous and bored at the same time” :) too funny… I was probably neither but it was fun to read.
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In case anyone’s interested: http://www.nowbaking.com.au/ticketing/EventDetails.aspx?EventGuid=41969b15-d088-431d-91e7-e4b12eaf5a76
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Parrot was always Good Fun , the variety of the crowd ,Was a place where ,when ever ya went was some one interesting to talk too.The DJ booth was tha best ya could go in with some mates and lock tha door and Toot, toke and Sex it up whilst DJ ing .Best thing is ya didnt have to take requests or speak to drunken cold chisel fans jus lock tha door & have a great time ..general justice
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Since this thread is dragged back up… amusing quote from in there somewhere “As this blog seems to be related to architecture and design,”…. well maybe in 2008 it was…
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The human architecture of the design of life.
The HUMANITY.
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Well the last post tagged with worst design was just yesterday. And only last week we had two extensive architectural surveys of Nyack New York, soooo..?
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I honestly thought those posts were just fronts for cock graffitti. It’s like “sure… it’s a laundromat”…
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I’m going to approve this films porno spam. Because it says “films porno” and “une fille sexy”. And it’s the 500th comment on Red Parrot.
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films porno
governors general
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I loved reading blog this so much. You all seem so familiar. I remember smoking stalks at the Stoned Crow, driving to Cravings in Murray St in an old Ford Prefect, dropping in for Rhythm Method at the Broadway. I never went to the Red Parrot that I can remember, didn’t wear black, wore cheesecloth shirts and was absent from Perth from 1981 to 1985, on a search to find my true self. Well I never permanently found him/her/it. But I did miss out on a lot of free beer and vomit at the Red Parrot it seems. Alas. A wasted opportunity.
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