Some memories of bands and musical experiences..
Index to the Following Pages (pages link appears at the bottom of this page):
Page 1 “The Avengers 1960’s“
Page 2 “The Loose Scratch String Band“
Page 3 1976-95 “Electric Fence”, “The 5 O’Clock Shadows”
Page 4 “Jack and the Flashbacks” and the “Surf Shadows”
Page 5 The 2000’s: Recording, “Angie Browning’s Greenshed Boys” and the reborn “Avengers”
Page 6 “Suitcase Full of Blues” and “Unfinished Business“
Page 7 Recording Through and Post COVID Years, Geoff McArthur, David Sullivan, The Infusers, The Hardies Hillbillies, the Greenshed Anthology
Mildura…
Mildura was a great place to grow up in. Plenty of sun and lots of time spent outdoors. My mum used to have the radio on the local station and we got a fair dose of 1950’s pop. Mum would hum or sing along, but I remember her saying “I don’t like those yowelling dames!” Much of it was pre-rock ‘n roll, but our ears pricked up when Bill Haley, Elvis and especially Buddy Holly came on! Dad and his Lutheran family liked to sing hymns around the family organ and in church. These were my earliest musical influences. I’ve written a few songs about growing up in Mildura–have a listen here.
The Avengers Story
My brother Owen (Oz) got an acoustic guitar in maybe 1962 when he was about 14 and I was 15. We’d become interested listening to records by the Shadows (Apache, The FBI, The Boys, Wonderful Land etc) and Duane Eddy (Rebel Rouser) and other guitar bands predominantly, and we had to have a go! Oz is right handed, I’m a leftie, but I used to pick up his guitar and play around anyway, holding it upside down and back to front. Eventually I got one of my own. The strings must have been half an inch off the frets, but I could change them around, packing out the buzzes on the nut and bridge with bits of cardboard or matchsticks, and I was on my way! I never had lessons–just learnt chords from diagrams and we would buy sheet music when we could afford it.
Oz got to know a young kid, Don Newman. In Oz’s words:
“Kev, I reckon I knew Donny from High School, somehow we both found out we were interested in music, and he played for Imps footy club. Then we started to get together and we had a bass player, Peter Vines, but he didn’t stay long. We only had acoustic guitars then. I heard of Rocky Page conducting classes at the Buff Hall on Deakin Ave. I only went a couple of times as he was into country music, but he did have sheet music of Shadows tunes and one time he had an electric guitar and amp. He used to come to Mildura from Renmark about once a month, so the next time he came I told Donny about the electric guitar and amp and he came along and had a listen. Then we used to jam in Tac’s (Peter Mills) lounge room using borrowed gear, guitar and amp from Kerryn Lamshed, who was being taught by Shirley Appelt. Then we met Laurie Munroe, a drummer, and played Wipeout.”
Oz and Don had electric guitars by now, and I bought a cheap Egmont bass so I could be part of it all. Lime green, the lead was hard-wired in–couldn’t be removed using a jack, and a single cutaway for a right hander! Well this would never do, so I got the carpenter next door to cut another cutaway to suit my left hand playing and, of course, had to paint it RED!!
Early rehearsals happened in various people’s lounge rooms or Don’s dad’s shed. We didn’t have amps at first, but knew some blokes who did, and they got invited along (so we could use their amps!). I can remember finding a jack socket in the back of our old radio and I used to play through it at home. Rob “Pud” Holcombe was also a drummer. Pud would fill in with us at things like school talent quests because Laurie didn’t go to Mildura High School. Over time we got our own amps. We started as “The Thunderbirds” (but there was a Melbourne band of that name), briefly became “The Swinging Surfies” and had these multi-coloured striped T-shirts but the surf didn’t get very high on the Murray River at Apex Park so we dumped that name. When the Beatles became popular, we needed to adapt, so we became “The Avengers”–inspired by the British TV show starring Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. The T-shirts were abandoned in favour of black skivvies. And, of course we had to have a singer. Chris “Jock” Carter, another school mate, filled the bill. Jock had a great Elvis-style voice, and we did our best to back him with harmonies.
The Avengers got a regular gig playing every second Friday night in a hall at the back of the Anglican Church. Our school mates and other kids used to come along. I remember we were paid 10/- (that’s ten shillings in the old currency), and thought we were on our way! We entered school talent quests, as the Avengers playing instrumentals (see pic), and backing Jock as a solo act. One heat of the talent quest, Jock, with some enthusiastic support from his school mates in 3G and 4G, got the assembly hall full of kids stomping and shouting to “Jailhouse Rock” and “Poison Ivy”. So much so that it brought some plaster down in the principal’s office which was below the hall! The principal labelled it “mass hysteria” and Jock was barred from any more performances.
In 1963-4-5 we were all too young to have a car or license to drive. Getting the gear around relied on parents (Laurie’s mum used to transport his drums, our dad didn’t have a car but was able to get us around using the SEC truck he was allocated as part of being on-call, and others helped out from time to time). If worst came to worst we would lift an amp onto a bike and wheel it around! Lucky Mildura was pretty flat!
The Avengers continued despite some turnover in members. Oz and Pud left Mildura to begin training as telephone technicians in Melbourne and Ballarat. I’m not sure how we replaced Oz in 1965 before he came back to Mildura later that year. Jock joined the army and left town and was replaced by Dave Goulet, who, likewise, had a great Elvis voice! Ian Noyce (Noycey) briefly played sax with us as we tried to replicate Sounds Incorporated and Duane Eddy’s Rebel Rouser. I left Mildura to go to Uni in 1966 and Peter “Hank” Davis took over on bass. Hank was a younger kid who lived quite close to us and who we became very interested in because he knew about electronics and could do things like solder broken leads and even build amps! Hank had learned piano and had a good musical knowledge, so he was a good fit! Tragically Hank took his own life in December 1966. To this day we don’t understand the circumstances. The Avengers were pall bearers at his funeral. I think of that day as the end of youthful innocence. Laurie and Jock have also died now, and, in 2023, Ronald Graeme “Chooka” Thouliss did too. Chooka played guitar and didn’t quite make it into the Avengers, but he was always around and was a great friend of the band. More about Chooka and Jock later when I talk about the resurrection of the Avengers in 2010. My great friend Noycey, who features often on subsequent pages, died suddenly of a heart attack in April 2025
Other bands in Mildura in the early 60’s included the Rhythm Rockets (the premier band that we used to gawk at every Saturday night hoping to learn some tricks) and the Planets. Our contemporaries included the Kommotions with some very good musicians--Ben Rogers, Gary Smith, Lou Hesterman and Kentley Miles--and the Creatures who eventually had a career in Sydney.
One of the highlights for us as budding rock stars was when the “Easybeats” came to town in December 1964 for a residency at the Murray Moon dance hall. It was just before they became famous. We went along and auditioned as support band but didn’t get the gig, although they said they liked our drummer (Laurie was very good!). I did manage to get on stage–Laurie and I were asked to provide bass and drums for a couple of blokes from Ballarat (Graham Hodge and Peter Clift) who sang a few songs before the Easybeats came on one night. I later met Hodgey in Ballarat where he played in some of the best bands and established his own professional recording studio, “Redwood”.
I’ll have to rely on others to fill in the years after I left in February 1966 to go to Uni. I’m not sure how long after Hank’s death in December 1966 the Avengers continued. I know Don left town as did Laurie eventually. So, that’s my recollection of the Avengers from the 1960’s BUT…they make a comeback 50 years on, so stay tuned for a follow up!
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Greenshed Music 