It
had to happen - and now it has. Here are all the video clips I can
muster for the moment on two pages - this page and Videos
2. If you want you
can check them out on YouTube but you probably won't get the historical
(and occasionally hysterical) overview.
Mike
Rudd's Indelible String Band in Mt Evelyn
Mike
Rudd's Indelible String Band's rehearsal clip 16.1.22
- The world's first glimpse of this unusual gambit by Mike,
aided and abetted by arranger Noel Kennedy. To some it could
smack of a hapless superannuant's last fling as he gently declines
into senility, but Rudd would point out that as a sub-contracting
musician he's not entitled to suparannuation and he's already
forgotten the second point.
Mike
Rudd and Madder Lake play Bill Putt's It's a Lottery at the Memo
Mike
joins Madder Lake - and Brenden films that too! 13.4.18
- This swapping bands business
could get confusing! Back on Sunday the 11th of March (those
were the days) I joined Madder Lake for a few numbers, among
the songs being Bill's It's a Lottery. The Madder's
Brenden Mason can't help himself - he films anything that moves
- and he got very good coverage on the day with some extra volunteer
cameramen at his disposal, including Nick Carrafa, Samson Hall
and even Peter Lamont.
Bren and Bill were great mates and the clip features some very
amusing vignettes of Bill drawn from Bren's vast catalogue of
out-takes - Bren was Bill's go-to guy when he wanted to video
any of his songs, some of which appear on these pages.
The band sounds good too.
SPECTRUM*plus
with Brenden Mason - Play a Song / Make Your Stash
Brenden
Mason joins the band - and films the gig as well! 31.12.17
- It was perhaps a bold experiment but the rehearsals suggested
all the musical and personality elements fitted perfectly so
the gig on Sunday the 10th of December at the Satellite Lounge
in Wheelers Hill should've been fun for the band and the audience.
Which is the way it turned out too, only not too many people
outside the audience that turned up on the day would've ever
been able to work that out for themselves had not the latest
Spectrum inductee, Madder Lake's Brenden Mason, done the sensible
thing and taken it upon himself to plant four cameras about
the stage and record the entire show.
I think you'll get an inkling of what the band's about from
the opening couple of tunes - you can tell the band's enjoying
themselves and the arrangements are as quirky as they were when
they first arrived on vinyl (Play a Song That I Know from
Milesago and Ross Wilson's Make Your Stash from
Spectrum Part One) all those years ago.
Spectrum
to Ariel - I'll Be Gone
Akaroy
Films captures Spectrum to Ariel at the Semaphore 13.11.17
- Most of the
videos on these pages go back quite a long way, so this
video of I'll Be Gone at the Semaphore Workers
Club in South Australia is (almost) like a breath of fresh
air, having been recorded as recently as 2017. They are
in niftly monochrome and look crisp and as new as tomorrow,
a bit like GTK in that respect. At the very least they're
a record of the Spectrum to Ariel outfit that includes
the former Ariel stalwart Glyn Mason - not to be confused
with the S P E C T R U M combo featuring that other Mason,
Madder Lake's ace guitarist Brenden Mason.
Spectrum
to Ariel-
Some Good Advice
Akaroy
Films captures Spectrum to Ariel at the Semaphore 13.11.17
- All of the above, but this tune's the full metal
jacket version of Murtceps' Some Good Advice,
which Akaroy has incorrecttly, but understandably titled
Blow Your Mind.
Crying 10.7.14 -
There's been such a fuss made about this version of Roy
Orbison's Crying I sang with Jess Cornelius on RocKwiz
back in 2009 that I've had to add it to the list. It was
great fun though and I went on to do another live RocKwiz
show in SA with Jess which was perhaps regrettably unrecorded.
Soul
Man 28.8.11 -
You may have read that the 'launch' for the Breathing
Space As Well EP rather descended into farce when
the EP in question failed to show up. However, the second
objective, to record some footage for Soul Man,
was achieved satisfactorily, largely through the agency
of Wrokdown's Anita Monk and camerapersons Brenden Mason
and his wife Hilary. To them much thanks. I'm going to
tool around with some extra footage and see what comes
out, but in the meantime this will give you the idea.
Hooray!
Mike
Rudd's Indelibles
- Xavier Rudd Is Not My Son
Xavier
Rudd Is Not My Son 7.8.09
- Thanks to Wrokdown's producer, Anita Monk, there's
a 'bed' of the band performing the song in relaxed mode
at the Wrokdown taping last month, over which the antics
of Mr Morris Nylon, Strathie Bill, Capt. McTubby and Chopped
Liver have been lain. The song's title means that the
clip is rubbing shoulders with yer actual Xavier Rudd
clips on YouTube - I wonder if that'll eventually provoke
a response from the man himself? We've never been introduced,
although we met up with his parents and siblings a few
years ago at the Torquay Golf Club.
Mike
Rudd's Indelibles - Rocket Girl
Mike
Rudd's Indelibles Rocket Girl clip
13.8.22 - It's odd. I lost the Rocket Girl
clip on this site - I'm not sure when - and it took an
enquiry from Wrokdown's Anita Monk for me to organise
a replacement mp4 from Miranda Worthington, the clip's
director back in 2008.
The concept was to recreate a monochrome GTK-type band
performance (in retro '70s gear) and marry it with Billl
& Mike fighting over what TV program to watch - the
band performance or a manga style Sci-fi love affair.
Plenty going on then! It's quite fun - watch out for the
tag featuring Robbo.
I thought the problem might be a YouTube thing, but it
turns out it was a corrupted table on the website page
that was the problem.
Mike
Rudd's Indelibles
- Summertime with Judith Durham
Judith
Durham and Spectrum perform Summertime 13.10.09
- It's one of those once in a lifetime opportunities,
and I'm really quite chuffed the Wrokdown cameras captured
this beautiful performance by Judith of the Gershwins'
classic with Spectrum doing the back-up. Many thanks to
Wrokdown's Anita Monk for providing the Wrokdown footage
and to Judith's management for giving permission for us
to upload it to YouTube for the world to enjoy.
*See
more Spectrum now videos on Videos
2
Spectrum
- I'll Be Gone in stereo at last!
13.1.09 - I
could say the original and the best, but actually this
is even better than the original! Some of you children
wouldn't even know what 'mono' (monaural) is, but the
original I'll Be Gone release in 1971 pre-dated
stereo, in Australia.at least. So a few years ago I had
the notion of re-striping the stereo edit of I'll
Be Gone onto the original and much-loved black &
white film clip, directed by Chris Lofven all those years
ago. The National Film & Sound Archives painstakingly
interpolated extra frames to bring it back to true pitch
and after nearly two years of struggle and perseverance
I'm sure you'll be happy and possibly a little surprised
with the result.
Spectrum
- I'll Be Gone (Move)
Spectrum
- I'll Be Gone - but wth a twist!* 3.7.09
- This was
given to me by my mate Trevor Leedon, who bought it from
the Camberwell Market. Play it through and see if you
notice something odd..
Did you pick it? The reprise was supposed to be the second
verse, (and I actually mime the second verse), but what
is actually played is the first verse. I have
the vaguest memory that the backing might've been from
a tape supplied to Move by EMI, but I don't really know.
Curious though..
Incidentally, a fashion note: Bill's wearing a wrist watch
(!) and it appears I'm wearing socks with my sandals.
*Sherbet
playsI'll
Be Gone!
Mike
and Mark 'Tinno' Tinson do I'll Be Gone in Newcastle
The
full Technicolor rendition of I'll Be Gone 13.1.21
- 'If you want something done properly, go interstate',
could be the message of this version of the GOS.* Recorded at
Lizottes in Newcastle late in 2018 on the occasion Mark 'Tinno'
Tinson's 64th birthday and the release of his auto-biographical
book Too Much Rock 'n' Roll (which I've read incidentally)
this version of IBG has everything going for it, not least a
very decent band led by Mark himself.
*Grand
Old Song
The
original Spectrum - Launching Place Part ll 11.12.08
- I mentioned this a
while back but have just got round to adding it to the
assortment of clips on this page. Simon Kain from ABC
Archives mentioned he'd like to use this clip to introduce
their website page of Music Collections and has given
us permission to use it and a couple of others here. This
is a classic performance from a 1970 edition od GTK featuring
a very young Mark Kennedy and the unique Hammond organ
stylings of Lee Neale.
Spectrum
- Make Your Stash (GTK)
Spectrum
- Make Your Stash 14.3.09
- Daz tipped me off about this other Rettrodooddiscovery - the second lineup of Spectrum on GTK with
Ray Arnott on drums, and quite a (subtly) different version
to the orginal on the Part One album.
*See more Spectrum then videos on Videos
2
Ariel
- Jamaican Farewell 16.4.15
- I discovered this
on my iPhone and I guess owe Farkle Berry a big thanks
- I haven't seen this ever I don't think. Probably
catching the band at its ebullient eye-rolling best very
early in its career. There's a comment by someone to the
effect the song got shredded by NME - but they changed
their tune later. It's a shame the band couldn't be held
together - we could've been heavy-weight champeens of
the world!
Ariel
- Disco Dilemma
Disco
Dilemma 9.3.09
- I got told about this clip being on YouTube last
week and I got pretty excited. I don't have a copy of
the single or the video and I've been thinking we should
incorporate the song in our set list - Disco Dilemma
was our third biggest seller after IBG and Jamaican
Farewell. I put in an unintentionally camp performance, (what's
with the white make-up?) as the the band tries to look
enthusiastic. Paul Drane apparently directed the clip
and Angie Keith, a friend of ours, did the classy dance
sequence, which mightn't be very disco, but then neither
is the song.
I'll
Take You High 16.5.20
- Very remiss of me not to
get to this track before now, but the Covid-19 mess has provided
both the incentive and the opportunity. We weren't happy with
the way this track had turned out, as the fierceness on display
might attest. There were a couple of unauthorised overdubs i.e.
the sax and the cowbell, courtesy of Colin (Smiley) Peterson,
that were no doubt added with the best of intentions but didn't
help in any material way and were the cause of bad feeling between
the band and EMI. The beginning of the end for what had been
a very productive relationship overall.
Now to see if I can find the clip for the Ariel's first CBS
single, I Can Do Anything.
Australian
Girl 21.4.09
- I just rang Daz to get a phone number and he was
foaming at the mouth about The Heaters' Australian
Girl clip up on YouTube. Well, I've got the Countdown
'live' version at home, but I'm obliged not to share it
with you, which is a shame, because I have to say it's
a fraction less embarrassing than this version. It gets
one wondering what happened to all those girls - if any
of you are out there from the day we recorded the clip
down in Oakleigh in 1980, get in touch. Incidentally,
that's Ariel's Tony Slavich on keys, Paul Grant on guitar,
(respect), and the ever-affable Manny Paterakis on drums
Mike
Rudd & The Heaters - Laser
Lover
Laser
Lover 27.8.09
- Lairie Tunnicliffe
loves this period of the band's career.(see the
Correspondencepage) To quote: '..its a disgrace that this 80's electro-pop
group is trading on your name. This group obviously set
the drum machine to 120 beats per minute and recorded
one long song with all the typical synth/keyboard sounds/lines,
and carved it up into 12 tracks.'
I'd forgottten that we released Laser Lover as
a single. Almost disco/reggae in feel and a cute sci/fi
conceit, but like Laurie now, nobody in the '80s bought
The Heaters' as a pop band either..
*See more
Mike Rudd & The Heaters videos on Videos
2
WHY's
Woman of Steel 12.5.09
- I'm
not sure that Tony Fossey actually played any live gigs
with WHY - maybe the short-lived Hey Hey It's Saturday
Night. WHY enjoyed an equally asteroid-like career,
plummeting through the thin Australian atmosphere before
plinking harmlessly onto a Melbourne pavement.
This was the only one John Kapek managed to salvage from
the Present Tense album. Itwas recorded
on analogue, converted to digital and then released on
12" vinyl - go figure.. *See more WHY videos onVideos
2
Chants
R&B live at the Wild Things show
25.6.09 - I had an e-mail from Al
Parks in Christchurch the other day, still waxing lyrical
about the show we did there in 2007 and wondering if we
might repeat the effort at some stage. It provoked me
into having a look at the DVD that John Baker (Velvet
Tiger) produced of the show we were part of at the Monte
Christo Room in Auckland, along side such luminaries as
Ray Columbus, The Breakaways (who appeared with us in
Christchurch), Pete Nelson & The Castaways and others.
It's raw and loud - but there's something exciting about
it..
Rosewood 2.5.09
- This is a very touching musical and visual tribute
by Bill to his partner Rosemary and her property Rosewood
in the fire-ravaged hills and valleys of Strathewen, an
hour or so north east of Melbourne. The first half shows
Rosewood as it was before the fires - then, bookended
with Rose's prescient painting of the hill that overlooks
the property, the mood becomes more sombre as Bill's photos
show the same scenes a week or so after the fires (20.2.09).
You get an inkling of how brave Bill was in saving Rosemary's
house, and how lucky he was to have simply survived
when so many in the vicinity perished.
Bill
Putt - Rosewood + Song for Marilyn
Rosewood
- Song for Marilyn 4.2.11
- The third in Bill's
Rosewood trilogy shows the recovery, regeneration and
restoration of Rosemary's Strathewen home and property
since the disastrous Black Saturday fires in 2009.
Bill
Putt - Zippo Blues
Bill's
Zippo Blues Everytbody
loves Bill, and everybody seems to love this clip! This
is Bill's unique contribution to the world of advertising
- the Zippo people actually like this a lot. Our mate
Brenden Mason deserves a gong for producing
the clip and putting the finishing touches on the recording
- not to mention putting up with Bill.
*See more Bill
Putt videos on Videos
2
