The Easybeats

The Easybeats
The Easybeats in 1966
Background information
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Rock, pop
Years active	1964–1969, 1986
Labels	EMI, Parlophone, Albert
Associated acts	Vanda & Young, Flash and the Pan, AC/DC
Past members	Dick Diamonde Harry Vanda Stevie Wright George Young Gordon "Snowy" Fleet Tony Cahill

The Easybeats were an Australian rock band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and disbanded at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, echoing the Beatles' success in Britain, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single "Friday on My Mind".

The band's line-up exemplified the influence of post-war migration on Australian society. All five founding members were from families who had migrated to Australia from Europe: lead singer Stevie Wright and drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were from England; rhythm guitarist George Young was from Scotland; lead guitarist Harry Vanda and bassist Dick Diamonde were from the Netherlands.

History

1964-1965: Formation, Albert Productions and early success

The band formed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel (now the Villawood Detention Centre) and the band members' families spent their first years in Australia housed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in the early and mid sixties.

Beginning their career in Sydney at the little-known teen hangout, Beatle Village, in the basement of a pub at Taylor Square on Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, in late 1964, the band was inspired by the "British Invasion" spearheaded by the Beatles. They quickly rose to become one of the most popular groups in the city. Real estate agent turned pop manager Mike Vaughan took over as their manager and through his efforts they were signed to a production contract with Albert Productions, one of Australia's first independent record production companies. It was established by Ted Albert, whose family owned J. Albert & Sons, one of Australia's oldest and largest music publishing companies.

Albert signed the band to a recording contract with EMI's Parlophone label. After recording and writing a number of songs at the then abandoned 2UW Theatre (which was owned by Albert Productions' parent company, J Albert and Son), they chose the bluesy "For My Woman" as their first single. It was picked up by local radio Sydney radio and proved to be a minor hit, reaching #33 on the charts.

1965-1966: Rise to success and Easyfever

It was their next single "She's So Fine" that launched them to national stardom. The reached #3 and by the end of 1965 they were the most popular and successful pop band in Australia. Their concerts and public appearances were regularly marked by intense fan hysteria which was very similar to 'Beatlemania' and which was soon dubbed 'Easyfever'. On 23 September 1965, the group released their first album Easy. It was one of the earliest albums of all original material that was written by an Australia rock group.

During 1965 and early 1966, they released a string of hit singles in Australia, all co-written by George Young and Stevie Wright, including: "Wedding Ring" (#7), "Sad and Lonely and Blue" (#21) and "Women (Make You Feel Alright)" (#4). These songs would all be included on the group's second album: It's 2 Easy, released 24 March, 1966. The lead single from that album, "Come and See Her" reach #3 on the Australian charts. The Wright-Young songwriting team also wrote a number of hits for other artists, including "Step Back", which became a #1 hit for Johnny Young (no relation) in 1966.

In early 1966, while the group were still touring Australia, their manager, Mike Vaughan, flew to New York to attempt to secure an American recording contract for the band. After initial lack of interest, on the last scheduled day of his visit Vaughan was able to convince United Artists Records to sign The Easybeats. Ten days of negotiations resulted in a groundbreaking five-year contract for overseas releases. Just before relocating to London in 1966, they recorded a farewell TV show for the Seven Network, titled The Easybeats (but more commonly known as The Coca-Cola Special). The television special is regarded as one of the prime artifacts of Sixties Australian pop TV. The group left for the UK on 10 July 1966.

They briefly stopped over in Perth, Western Australia but a planned farewell performance on a temporary stage set up on the tarmac at Perth Airport had to be cancelled amid chaotic scenes, with 4000 fans breaking through barriers and storming the runway. A bomb threat then forced the group to evacuate the plane, and they had to be smuggled out the emergency exit into a catering van and driven to the end of the runway, where they hid for half an hour until they were able to rejoin the plane. In August 1966, Albert Productions released an E.P. of material recorded before the group left Australia. Titled Easyfever, it reach #1 on the Australian singles charts. Albert Productions would then release an entire album of material titled Volume 3 on 3 November, 1966. This too was a commercial success and its lead single "Sorry" topped the Australian charts.

1966-1967: International Success

Shel Talmy, Vanda & Young and "Friday On My Mind"

Friday on My Mind

After arriving in London the band recorded a number of songs with Ted Albert at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, but these were deemed unsuitable by UA and Albert was removed as producer. The band were then teamed with freelance producer Shel Talmy, who had achieved great success with his production for the Who and the Kinks.

One of the tracks they recorded with Talmy became their first big international hit, "Friday on My Mind". It made #1 in Australia, #6 in the UK, #16 in the US, and the Top 10 in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy, and #13 in Canada, eventually selling over one million copies worldwide, and being awarded a gold disc.^[1]

The song also marked the end of the Wright-Young partnership. With Dutch-born Vanda now having a stronger grasp of English, he replaced Wright as Young's songwriting partner from this point on.

1967-1969: Decline in popularity and break-up

Following up "Friday On My Mind" and the scrapped album

On 17 March 1967, United Artist released the follow-up single to "Friday On My Mind"; "Who'll Be The One". The single was a commercial failure and did not make the UK charts. The band were against releasing the single to begin with, as they felt it was not a strong enough track to follow "Friday On My Mind". Later that month, they toured Europe, supporting The Rolling Stones. In May, their first album for United Artists was released; Good Friday. That same month, they returned to Australia for a nation wide tour.

After a triumphant homecoming tour of Australia, drummer Snowy Fleet decided to quit the band, unhappy at the amount of time he had to spend away from his wife and young children. Returning to the UK without a drummer, in the interim, the group began several recordings with a session drummer, Glaswegian Freddie Smith (who had played with George Young's older brother Alex Young aka George Alexander of Grapefruit fame in Bobby Patrick & The Big Six).

During this period, the band recorded their next single. "Heaven and Hell" marked a turning point for the group, with its sophisticated song-writing and arrangements. Vanda and Young were influenced by the current psychedelic pop, popular in the UK. The single was produced by Glyn Johns, who had worked as an engineer on the Shel Talmy sessions. The band also began work on a new album with Johns, most of which was recorded and prepared for issue but was never released because of the band's complicated financial and contractual problems.

"Heaven and Hell" wad released in June, like the previous single, it also failed to make a mark on the UK charts. This was due, in part, to the song being banned by the BBC. The single also ran into problems in the US, where a censored version titled "Heaven", replaced the offensive lyric "Discovering some else in your bed" with "discovering that her love has gone dead".

After extensive auditions in London a replacement drummer was found; Tony Cahill (born 20 December 1941), formerly of the Purple Hearts. With Cahill, the band toured the US in August, supporting Gene Pitney. During their US visit, they recorded the next single "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" in New York. The single received moderate airplay in the US, but did not chart.

Vigil and "St. Louis"

The band returned to London and continued to work in the studio. Their next single "The Music Goes 'Round My Head" was Vanda and Young's first foray into the emerging UK Rocksteady/Ska scene. Around late 1967, Vanda and Young began writing for other artists. Two of their songs, "Bring a Little Lovin'" and "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia", were covered by Los Bravos (and later by Ricky Martin as "Dime Que me Quieres") and Paul Revere and the Raiders, respectively.

Still trying to get back into the UK charts, the band moved to a more pop friendly sound and released the soft rock, ballad "Hello, How Are You" on 8 March 1968. The plan worked and the song reached #20 in the UK charts. However, in retrospect, the band have cited the change in sound as a mistake, stating it alienated its long term fans. In May, the band finally released their second album for United Artists; Vigil. The album was a mixture of current singles, new recordings and outtakes from the scrapped 1967 album. One of the songs recorded for the abandoned LP, "Good Times" was released as a single; when broadcast on BBC radio it was reputedly heard by Paul McCartney on his car radio; McCartney apparently rang the station immediately to request a repeat playing.[2] The song featured Steve Marriott of the Small Faces on backing vocals and Nicky Hopkins on piano.

Through late 1968, the formerly tight-knit band began to drift apart. Drugs were a factor, but the growing independence of the Vanda-Young team as a creative unit was also a major catalyst. By this time the duo were working substantially on their own, and between them they could now play almost any instrument needed for recordings and had become skilled in engineering and producing their own recordings. They wrote prolifically, but many of their songs from this period remained unreleased for many years. They were also reluctant to do more than a few gigs per month, and so the band only came together for occasional performances or for 'demo' sessions at Central Sound Studios in Denmark Street.

In early 1969, Vanda and Young took over a flat in Moscow Road, London, which had previously been used as a jingle studio for pirate radio stations. With modifications, it became a 4-track home studio and Vanda & Young began producing demos, working mostly on their own. The only official recordings they made (which provided the songs for the last Easybeats single) was the rocking "St Louis" (presaging their later work with AC/DC), and the B-side "Can't Find Love", recorded in April at Olympic Studios with Ray Singer, a former member of UK band Nirvana, who had made a name for himself as a producer with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)". The single was issued in June in the UK and US, and began to chart there during their final tour later in the year.

In August "St Louis" was released in Australia, along with a new album released on Polydor. Friends was in fact not a real Easybeats album — the only true Easybeats tracks being "St Louis" and "Rock & Roll Boogie". The bulk of the tracks were Vanda-Young Moscow Road recordings, intended as 'demos' for other artists. The album was also issued in the UK in October, and in USA in November on the Rare Earth label (although the single 'St. Louis" was issued on Rare Earth, it was thought that the album was never released, as copies have yet to be found).

The final Australian tour and break-up

In September, the band undertook a short European tour and then reluctantly accepted the offer of a five-week Australian tour. The group were worn out, disillusioned, and at odds with their management; they reportedly viewed the tour as a last-ditch attempt to bail the group out of its mounting pool of debts. Again they were the victims of bad timing, having reverted to 'no frills' hard rock, while the Australian pop scene was preoccupied with progressive rock, soul and bubblegum pop. The situation was further complicated by Parlophone's unwelcome release of the psychedelic 1967 song "Peculiar Hole in the Sky" as a single, presumably to cash in on the tour. Regardless of its merits as a song, it was released against the band's wishes, since it had been made purely as a demo for the Valentines.

In October the band made a valedictory TV appearance in the ATN-7 Easybeats Special, then gave their final Sydney performances at the Trocadero and Caesar's Disco. Once the tour was over, The Easybeats drifted apart, although there was no official announcement of the split. After a final gathering for Dick Diamonde's wedding in late October, they went their separate ways.

Post break-up

The original lineup reunited for a warmly-received series of Australian concerts in 1986.

The 2000s saw a band calling itself "The Easybeats" tour and make TV appearances around Europe.^[2] No members were in any line-up of the Australian band or played on any of the records, despite the lead singer using a similar name.

Vanda and Young

Vanda and Young remained in the UK for three years, working to pay off debts incurred during the Easybeats years (and recording under various names like Paintbox, Band of Hope, Grapefruit, Haffy's Whisky Sour and Marcus Hook Roll Band). They returned to Australia in 1973 and reunited with Ted Albert and became the house producers for his new Albert Productions record label, writing for and/or producing many chart-topping acts including Stevie Wright, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah, and the Angels.

They wrote and produced several major hits for John Paul Young including "Love Is in the Air" and "Yesterday's Hero", which was also a hit for Bay City Rollers, and produced the first six albums for AC/DC (which featured George's younger brothers Angus Young and Malcolm Young).

Vanda and Young also recorded several Australian hit singles under the pseudonym Flash and the Pan, including "Hey St. Peter" and "Down Among the Dead Men". They had even more success in Europe with hits such as "Waiting for a Train", "Midnight Man", "Early Morning Wake Up Call", and "Ayla", from the number 1 albums Early Morning Wake Up Call, Headlines, and Nights in France. Singer-model-actress Grace Jones also recorded a successful cover version of their song "Walking in the Rain".

Stevie Wright

Stevie Wright went on to become a cast member of the original Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar (1972–73) and then launched a successful but short-lived solo career with the hit single "Evie" and the album Hard Road in 1974, which reunited him with Vanda and Young, who produced the records and wrote many of the songs, including "Evie", an ambitious three-part suite split over two sides of a single.

In later years Wright suffered debilitating drug and alcohol problems which were further exacerbated by his self-admission to the notorious Chelmsford Private Hospital in Sydney. Its director, Dr Harry Bailey, administered a highly controversial treatment known as "deep sleep therapy" which allegedly cured drug addiction with a combination of drug-induced coma and electroshock.^[3] Many patients, including Wright, suffered brain damage and lifelong after-effects, while others died as a result of the treatments.

Wright's substance abuse problems spiralled out of control in the 1980s and 1990s and he came close to death on several occasions, but was pulled back from the brink by his current partner, Faye. In 1999 journalist Jack Marx published a much-anticipated book about Wright, entitled Sorry - The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright.^[3] It was critically applauded by some reviewers - Australian music historian Clinton Walker calling it "gonzo journalism at its best",^[4] while The Bulletin later referred to Sorry as "one of the most harrowing rock books ever written".^[5]

Nevertheless, Sorry earned the disdain of its subject, Wright's many fans and other critics. Internet reviewer Ken Grady (Luna Cafe, 1999) described Marx as "a self serving hypocrite" and concluded his review by observing: "The only thing that Marx has achieved is to depict himself as a very unlikeable, morally bankrupt leech."^[6]

By 2002, Wright was well enough to perform as part of the all-star Long Way To The Top national concert tour. His autobiography, Hard Road, was published in 2004.

On 31 January 2009, Wright closed the Legends of Rock festival in Byron Bay, Australia.

After falling ill on Boxing Day 2015, he was admitted to hospital on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He didn't recover and died on the evening of 27 December 2015.

Snowy Fleet, Tony Cahill and Dick Diamonde

Original drummer Snowy Fleet became a successful builder in Perth, Western Australia, and now runs a rehearsal studio based in Jandakot, Western Australia. His replacement, Tony Cahill, remained in the UK for a time, briefly joining the final studio lineup of Python Lee Jackson as a bassist, before moving to the United States. Cahill died in Sydney on 13 August 2014, as the result of a brain tumour.^[7][8] Bassist Dick Diamonde moved to the New South Wales North Coast and retired from performing, after some years of singing and playing in local pubs.

Popular culture

In 1973 David Bowie covered "Friday On My Mind" on his Pin Ups album, and in 1977 the punk band London introduced the song to a new generation on a four-track EP for MCA Records; the London version, produced by Simon Napier-Bell, was recorded in the same studio (IBC Studios in Portland Place) in which the Easybeats had cut the original.

A cover version of "Good Times" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes became a #47 hit in USA after being featured on the soundtrack of the film The Lost Boys in 1987 and a #2 in Australia as well the previous year, becoming the biggest selling single on Mushroom Records.

In 1998 Australia Post issued a special edition set of twelve stamps celebrating the early years of Australian Rock ‘n’ Roll, featuring Australian hit songs of the late '50s, the '60s and the early '70s.

"Each of them said something about us, and told the rest of the world this is what popular culture sounds like, and it has an Australian accent."^[9]

One of the stamps featured was the 'She's So Fine' stamp.

Australian Rock duo Divinyls recorded a cover of "I'll Make You Happy" on the B-side of the single "Science Fiction" in 1982 which later appeared on the album Desperate. However, since the vocalist was a female, the lyrics "If you don't think I'm your man, Find somebody if you can, And ask them to hold your hand, Not me." were changed to "If you don't wanna be my man, Pass the bottle and the empty cans, I just want to hold your hand, Just me."

In 1982, Los Angeles California's the Three O'Clock released a version of "Sorry" on their Baroque Hoedown EP on Frontier Records.

In 1993, New Jersey mod/power poppers the Insomniacs released a version of "Goin' Out Of My Mind" on their German only four song EP for Outer Limits Records.

In 2007, Stevie Wright performed at the Gathering Festival in Yandina, Sunshine Coast.

In 2011, punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes released a version of "Friday On My Mind" on their Australian-themed 7", Go Down Under.

In 2014, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band covered "Friday On My Mind" on their tour of Australia.

in 2015, San Diego mod/power pop quintet Manual Scan released a version of "She's So Fine" on their 10" EP, The Pyles Sessions, released in Spain.

Discography

Albums

Title	Release date	Label	AU Chart
Easy	September 1965	Parlophone	4
It's 2 Easy	March 1966	Parlophone	3
Volume 3	November 1966	Parlophone	7
Good Friday/Friday On My Mind	May 1967	United Artists Records	N/A
The Best of The Easybeats + Pretty Girl	June 1967	Parlophone	3
Vigil	October 1968	Parlophone/United Artists Records	-
Friends	January 1969	Polydor	-
Best of The Easybeats - Volume 2	October 1969	Albert	-
Easy Ridin' (U.S. release of Friends)	Unreleased (planned for August 1970 release) [10]	Rare Earth	N/A
The Shame Just Drained	October 1977	Albert Productions	-
Absolute Anthology	November 1980	Albert Productions	35
The Easybeats (compilation)	September 1981	Hammard	76
The Definitive Series	September 1992	Albert Productions	-

Charting singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions
		AU	US	UK
1965	"For My Woman"	33	-	-
	"She's So Fine"	3	-	-
	"Wedding Ring"	7	-	-
	"Sad, Lonely and Blue"	21	-	-
1966	"Women (Make Me Feel Alright)"	4	-	-
	"Come and See Her"	3	-	-
	"Easyfever" (EP) (Feat. "I'll Make You Happy")	1	-	-
	"Sorry"	1	-	-
	"Friday On My Mind"	1	16	6
1967	"Who'll Be The One"	14	-	-
	"Heaven and Hell"	8	-	-
	"The Music Goes 'Round My Head"	33	-	-
1968	"Hello, How are You"	34	-	20
	"Land of Make Believe"	18	-	-
	"Lay Me Down and Die"	59	-	-
1969	"St. Louis"	21	100	-
	"Peculiar Hole In The Sky"	53	-	-
	"I Love Marie"	93	-	-
1980	"Friday On My Mind" (Re-Release)	92	-	-

Audio samples

	The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind excerpt An excerpt from "Friday On My Mind"
Problems playing this file? See media help.

References

1. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 204–205. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
2. Archived 7 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
3. Marx, Jack (1999). Sorry: The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright (1 ed.). Sydney: Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9780732909208. Retrieved 27 December 2015 – via books.google.com.au.
4. "It's Pretty Ugly In This Head", The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 1999.
5. "Stevie Wright's Wrong Way", The Bulletin, 14 April 2004.
7. "Tony Cahill (1941 - 2014)". Tributes.smh.com.au. 2014-08-16. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
8. Tait, John (2014-08-27). "Easybeat drummer became hit as bass player". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
9. Archived 11 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
10. "Rare Earth Label". Rareearthworld.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-06-30.

External links

• The Easybeats discography at MusicBrainz
• MILESAGO - The Easybeats