Send Message
Weather | Buy&Sell | Forums |  |
Weather | Buy & Sell | Gallery | Forums | |
This from news.com.au, really sums up the era.
Six ways Angels frontman Doc Neeson helped change the face of Australian music
THE Australian music industry is mourning the loss of Angels singer Doc Neeson, who has died of a brain tumour at the age of 67. He is remembered as one of the greats of Australian rock music.
It was the perfect late-1970s storm that first allowed The Angels to become one of Australia?s most loved rock bands.
There were no booze buses
There were also no strict fire regulations or capacity restrictions for venues. No poker machines in pubs. No internet. No iPads and iPhones. FM radio, with its big, rich sound, was just around the corner. People who moved next to a venue and made noise complaints were laughed at rather than appeased. All the elements were in place for an explosion in the Australian live music scene.
Teenagers loved live music
It may seem like the dark ages now, but back then teenagers did two things on weekends ? we went to the movies or we went see live bands. Even if we were under age, it didn?t matter ? all we needed was the paper ID from an older sibling to blag our way into a pub. Enter The Angels, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Australian Crawl, The Radiators, The Saints, The Sunnyboys, Mondo Rock and Rose Tattoo.
Venues, venues, venues
It?s hard to believe in these days of boutique pubs but live music venues were literally everywhere. Some of them held over 1000 people. The term ?beer barn? was born. Others had bands on seven nights a week. Much of it was loud music propelled by pummelled drum kits, fat beefy bass lines and raucous, raging guitars. It was music to sweat to, dance to, drink to, spew to. It was music that left our ears ringing for days afterwards. We exited the venues into the cold night in a sweaty, ebullient heap.
The Angels were the masters
The Angels were masters of this smoky, booze-soaked domain. Drummer Buzz Bidstrup and bassist, the late Chris Bailey, formed one of the great Australian rhythm sections, fat and solid without showing off. The Brewster Brothers Rick and John played taut, fast, muted downstrokes and great ringing power chords. Boys around Australia bought their first guitars and tried to mimic the sound.
The chant
The band had major success over four decades with songs such as Shadow Boxer and Take a Long Line, but it was Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again that became their anthem as audiences created their own iconic chorus, replying ?No way get f***ed, f**k off!? It has become arguably the most famous audience chant in rock history.
And then there was Doc.
Tall, imposing, mysterious, intimidating. Wearing a suit, shaking maracas, staring into the middle distance and ramping the crowd into a frenzy. He took the Angels beyond meat and potatoes rock?n?roll.
The Angels represented another place and time in Australian history. We will not see those days again.
Nice work The Phil, though I've always struggled to believe the Doc was a non user of anything, like he claimed.
Seeing them at the Coogee Bay Hotel when I was but a pup 16/17 yrs old at the time, and just wanting to be on the same stuff he was on, there's no way you could pull off what he did, back in those days without being pumped full of something.
Then, wash that down a few weeks later with Chrissy Amphlet doing some amazing stuff with a microphone stand (I will always love that woman)
Then rocks along the Hoodoos, lighting up doobies an tossin them into the crowd. Ahh those were the days.
May the Doc rest forever in purgatory and I hope to catch up with him when I get there.
^^^ oh thank God you're here.
I thought all the news today was about you <sniffle>
phew.
got to see him twice, first time as the back up band to rose tattoo, then next time rose tattoo was the back up. by then they had been kicked out of town to the racecourse, but you could hear them further away..
always a favorite singalong cassette on a trip to perth
also good for landyachting sound track too, if you want to "take a long line"
Yeah, must admit to sneaking in to a couple of shows in Perth too, back in the Jurassic era so the kids tell me
stephen
Thanks Doc, the shows were well worth the risk of getting my arse kicked by the bouncers if I was caught sneaking in with dodgy I.D.
lookit wot I found lurking on the interwebs
Im in Korea working for a coupla months and I read the sad news on Doc's passing.
I hijack the work truck's stereo this morning, I turn off a 15 year old girl band warbling away and put on "devils gate" by the angels to show some typical Aussie music. Much head shaking in the truck and conversation that I have no idea about. We then call in for lunch at a restaurant. Im not too sure whether feeding me dog means they liked the angels or not.
I remember seeing the angels on the banks of the chapman river in Gero maybe 25 years ago. Can't remember who the other band was that night coulda been chisel I think. Pretty wild night that one.
Devils gate I always remember from one of the old surf movies that used to come to the old town hall. There was a great barrel sequence with Wayne Lynch or someone and the angels blaring away on the soundtrack.
Man what an era.
W
