Sports were my favourite Australian band. Saw them live many times and they were invariably brilliant. Steve Cummings has released some terrific albums as a solo artist as well

However, I saw Steve at a Day on the Green gig - just over a year ago. He was terrible. Looked and sounded like he was having a stroke. I was quite saddened by it.

Yes, if that was the Elvis Costello concert (I went to that Day on the Green show at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley), he was very off the mark with his performance. I have however seen him a couple of times since up here in Sydney at a place called Deus Cafe and on both occasions he was excellent, so I wouldn't write him off on the strength of that Day on the Green show. I also have his most recent solo album which is also well worth a listen (gifted by him - we were friends in the early 70's at Swinburne where I was studying Graphic Art).

I was also a regular at their pub shows mostly at the Kingston Hotel in West(?) Richmond and the London Tavern in South Caulfield. For the reunion shows the only originals are Steve, Martin Armiger and Andrew Pendlebury... sadly Jim Niven (the keyboard player passed away a couple of years ago here in Sydney) and I'm not sure what has happened to the bass player and drummer (names escape me) and Ed Bates the other original guitarist pre Armiger who came over from the band The Bleeding Hearts. I am pretty sure Mark Ferry (formerly of the Models and regularly in the Rockwiz band) is playing bass. I think the line-up can be found at that link I posted.

Edited February 9, 201510 yr by hardtack

Yes, if that was the Elvis Costello concert (I went to that Day on the Green show at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley), he was very off the mark with his performance. I have however seen him a couple of times since up here in Sydney at a place called Deus Cafe and on both occasions he was excellent, so I wouldn't write him off on the strength of that Day on the Green show. I also have his most recent solo album which is also well worth a listen (gifted by him - we were friends in the early 70's at Swinburne where I was studying Graphic Art).

I was also a regular at their pub shows mostly at the Kingston Hotel in West(?) Richmond and the London Tavern in South Caulfield. For the reunion shows the only originals are Steve, Martin Armiger and Andrew Pendlebury... sadly Jim Niven (the keyboard player passed away a couple of years ago here in Sydney) and I'm not sure what has happened to the bass player and drummer (names escape me) and Ed Bates the other original guitarist pre Armiger who came over from the band The Bleeding Hearts. I am pretty sure Mark Ferry (formerly of the Models and regularly in the Rockwiz band) is playing bass. I think the line-up can be found at that link I posted.

I think Peter Luscombe is drumming also of the Rockwiz band.

I was also at the DOTG Elvis Costello gig in Melbourne - He had this beat box thingee that wouldn't work and we had to clap our hands to keep him in time. Then he got into an endless loop on the chorus of a slowed down "down throw stones" and couldn't get out. It was sad and it was obvious that he had hit the bottle before he had hit the stage.

I have seen several times since and it really depends which Stephen Cummings turns up. Saw him late last year and he shared the stage with Shane O'Mara who is an exceptional guitarist and Cummings was in scintillating form.

You never know what you are going to get but when he is on he is fantastic.

Yes, if that was the Elvis Costello concert (I went to that Day on the Green show at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley), he was very off the mark with his performance. I have however seen him a couple of times since up here in Sydney at a place called Deus Cafe and on both occasions he was excellent, so I wouldn't write him off on the strength of that Day on the Green show. I also have his most recent solo album which is also well worth a listen (gifted by him - we were friends in the early 70's at Swinburne where I was studying Graphic Art).

I was also a regular at their pub shows mostly at the Kingston Hotel in West(?) Richmond and the London Tavern in South Caulfield. For the reunion shows the only originals are Steve, Martin Armiger and Andrew Pendlebury... sadly Jim Niven (the keyboard player passed away a couple of years ago here in Sydney) and I'm not sure what has happened to the bass player and drummer (names escape me) and Ed Bates the other original guitarist pre Armiger who came over from the band The Bleeding Hearts. I am pretty sure Mark Ferry (formerly of the Models and regularly in the Rockwiz band) is playing bass. I think the line-up can be found at that link I posted.

Pleased to hear it. It sounds like you & I may have frequented some of the same gigs back then. They were such a great band live. I have a gig they did at Martini's in Carlton indelibly imprinted on my brain. Steve Cummings announcing "this is my very favourite song" as they launched into "I Fought the Law". Still the best version I've heard of it. They were having so much fun they did it again as an encore.

That Day on the Green concert was a ripper (I went to the Rochford Winery gig). While Steve was sad & the Sunnyboys a bit meh, Tex Perkins was great, JoJo Zep & the Falcons superb (worth the ticket price for them alone) and Elvis Costello & The Imposters - well they could fart a shopping list & still sound amazing. I took my 17 yo daughter who was unfamiliar with all the acts except a few Costello songs. She was blown away.

I think Peter Luscombe is drumming also of the Rockwiz band.

I was also at the DOTG Elvis Costello gig in Melbourne - He had this beat box thingee that wouldn't work and we had to clap our hands to keep him in time. Then he got into an endless loop on the chorus of a slowed down "down throw stones" and couldn't get out. It was sad and it was obvious that he had hit the bottle before he had hit the stage.

I have seen several times since and it really depends which Stephen Cummings turns up. Saw him late last year and he shared the stage with Shane O'Mara who is an exceptional guitarist and Cummings was in scintillating form.

You never know what you are going to get but when he is on he is fantastic.

Yes NB, I think he may have been off on a bit of a bender for those DoTG shows. I saw Steve with Shane O'Mara not so long ago here in Sydney and that was a great show. Prior to that I had seen Shane O'Mara accompanying Tim Rogers at Bluesfest last Easter... a brilliant performance.

You can find a few Steve Cummings pics amongst these in one of my Facebook albums:

https://www.facebook.com/tim.fleming.75/media_set?set=a.583242671711020.1073741830.100000758763064&type=3

Ok, I know somewhere earlier in this thread I mentioned that I would post a clip of a song myself and a friend (who is based in the UK) created via long distance file exchanges. Well, after much [censored] around with bits of footage and trying to do stuff between his busy work schedule in teh British fillum industry, nothing happened... nada, zip, zilch, not a thing, bugger all...

So, being a man of my word, a person with absolutely no pride and a sado-masochist who is prepared to deliver himself the ultimate humiliation while inflicting pain on anyone prepared to click on the below link, I now bite the bullet and give you, Don't Blame Me... a song penned by myself (Tim Fleming) and the guitarist come archery expert and trainer to the stars (Steve Ralphs) in 1979 and re-visited 35 years later to be recorded in two, yes count 'em, two countries literally a world apart (UK v Australia)...

One important piece of advice... only listen with headphones on and the volume cranked right up to maximise the pain... err, I mean, experience. Oh yes, you may want to close your eyes as well.

I really like it. Great sound and plays right into the area of music that I like.

I didn't really hear the Angels. I heard a punchier sounding The Church - you don't have Steve Kilbey's ego do you?

I also liked the guitarist using the beer bottle as a slide - borrowed from Chris Cheney ? (who I am sure borrowed it from someone else.)

I think Peter Luscombe is drumming also of the Rockwiz band.

I was also at the DOTG Elvis Costello gig in Melbourne - He had this beat box thingee that wouldn't work and we had to clap our hands to keep him in time. Then he got into an endless loop on the chorus of a slowed down "down throw stones" and couldn't get out. It was sad and it was obvious that he had hit the bottle before he had hit the stage.

I have seen several times since and it really depends which Stephen Cummings turns up. Saw him late last year and he shared the stage with Shane O'Mara who is an exceptional guitarist and Cummings was in scintillating form.

You never know what you are going to get but when he is on he is fantastic.

Yep. At first we were wondering if he was pizzed, or ripped off his [censored]. Then my mate suggested that he was perhaps having a stroke. I was so looking forward to seeing him.

The other problem he's got - it was a Sports heavy set - not many Sports songs translate well to single acoustic guitar. I've had a crack & most you have to slow down to ballad style to get a half decent result. I remember seeing him in the early days of his solo career with his own band (a well fit Rebecca Barnard on backing vocals) and he and his band were great.

I'm pleased to hear he's still got it & I just copped him at a bad time

I really like it. Great sound and plays right into the area of music that I like.

I didn't really hear the Angels. I heard a punchier sounding The Church - you don't have Steve Kilbey's ego do you?

I also liked the guitarist using the beer bottle as a slide - borrowed from Chris Cheney ? (who I am sure borrowed it from someone else.)

Thanks NB. It's funny actually, after reading the earlier comment that mentioned teh Angels, I had another listen and could understand that some or the "extra" guitar fills in there did have a similar ring to them. I do like the Church comparison, although the actual song predates the Church by a few years..and no, I certainly don't have Kilbey's ego; if I had, then maybe we could have been successful ;-)

As for the slide, I'm not sure that Steve (the guitarist) would have borrowed that bottle from Chris Cheney, but I am sure that teh old beer bottle slide goes way way back... hence the term "bottleneck guitar".

Steve is an interesting piece of fruit by the way... check out what he does for a (kind of) real living...

http://www.steveralphs.com/

Thanks NB. It's funny actually, after reading the earlier comment that mentioned teh Angels, I had another listen and could understand that some or the "extra" guitar fills in there did have a similar ring to them. I do like the Church comparison, although the actual song predates the Church by a few years..and no, I certainly don't have Kilbey's ego; if I had, then maybe we could have been successful ;-)

As for the slide, I'm not sure that Steve (the guitarist) would have borrowed that bottle from Chris Cheney, but I am sure that teh old beer bottle slide goes way way back... hence the term "bottleneck guitar".

Steve is an interesting piece of fruit by the way... check out what he does for a (kind of) real living...

http://www.steveralphs.com/

Ha !

You mentioned him previously and thought wow when you said what he did for a living.

I love stories who do rather odd things for a living.

My squeeze has a cousin who lives in Portugal - he specialises in cleaning big statues for a living. Very specialised work as some of these statues date back many centuries. He then has developed a piece of equipment that runs a very low voltage charge through the statue that doesn't hurt the structure of the fabric but the pigeons don't like. He has enough work to last him 4 lifetimes - how do you put that profession on a business card ?

Yep. At first we were wondering if he was pizzed, or ripped off his [censored]. Then my mate suggested that he was perhaps having a stroke. I was so looking forward to seeing him.

The other problem he's got - it was a Sports heavy set - not many Sports songs translate well to single acoustic guitar. I've had a crack & most you have to slow down to ballad style to get a half decent result. I remember seeing him in the early days of his solo career with his own band (a well fit Rebecca Barnard on backing vocals) and he and his band were great.

I'm pleased to hear he's still got it & I just copped him at a bad time

I am quite friendly with Rebecca - who is an absolute gem of a person and hysterically funny. Besides her Rebecca's empire stuff which I really like, she has sung behind pretty much everyone. She backed Stephen on an album produced by Steve Kilbey - those two in the same room ! the stories !! oh my lord.

OK - here is my confession - this sounds terribly daggy but is great fun. First Wednesday of every month at the Caravan Club, Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller do a singalong. Billy Miller is like an encyclopedia and name a song and he can play it. Rebecca could be a stand up comedian. It is the most fun you can have with your pants on. So we pretty much sing anything and everything for 2 hours. But it gets better - every year Billy and Rebecca are invited to play at the Palais for a fund raiser for the Sacred Heart Mission and they get great people to give up their time for night - hosted by Brian Nankervis. The singalong crew get to do backing vocals for Billy and Rebecca on stage and last year we also backed Tim Rogers. My only performing claim to fame !

Yes NB, I think he may have been off on a bit of a bender for those DoTG shows. I saw Steve with Shane O'Mara not so long ago here in Sydney and that was a great show. Prior to that I had seen Shane O'Mara accompanying Tim Rogers at Bluesfest last Easter... a brilliant performance.

You can find a few Steve Cummings pics amongst these in one of my Facebook albums:

https://www.facebook.com/tim.fleming.75/media_set?set=a.583242671711020.1073741830.100000758763064&type=3

I'm a bigggg Tim Rogers fan.. His voice is pretty shot but it doesn't really matter...

I am quite friendly with Rebecca - who is an absolute gem of a person and hysterically funny. Besides her Rebecca's empire stuff which I really like, she has sung behind pretty much everyone. She backed Stephen on an album produced by Steve Kilbey - those two in the same room ! the stories !! oh my lord.

OK - here is my confession - this sounds terribly daggy but is great fun. First Wednesday of every month at the Caravan Club, Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller do a singalong. Billy Miller is like an encyclopedia and name a song and he can play it. Rebecca could be a stand up comedian. It is the most fun you can have with your pants on. So we pretty much sing anything and everything for 2 hours. But it gets better - every year Billy and Rebecca are invited to play at the Palais for a fund raiser for the Sacred Heart Mission and they get great people to give up their time for night - hosted by Brian Nankervis. The singalong crew get to do backing vocals for Billy and Rebecca on stage and last year we also backed Tim Rogers. My only performing claim to fame !

I've seen the singalong nights advertised. Haven't yet made it to the Caravan Club but a mate loves the joint.

Used to see Billy a lot when he was in The Spaniards with Mick Pealing, Russell Brown & John Annas on drums. Fantastic band who eventually sunk with barely a trace but they had some great songs. They put out an EP (god - remember them) which was high on song quality but the production stunk up the house. I got a couple of live tapes straight off the mixing desk that sounded better

Here's Billy in pub mode

and I'll be - there's a Spaniards vid as well

Billy has gone through a tough time - his wife passed away late last year.

He is just a really good bloke who just loves music.

He does a version of a Little Help from my Friends ( cocker version) that goes off.

You gotta get down to the singalong -started off with about 20 of us and now sells out 200-300 pretty quickly.

I am quite friendly with Rebecca - who is an absolute gem of a person and hysterically funny. Besides her Rebecca's empire stuff which I really like, she has sung behind pretty much everyone. She backed Stephen on an album produced by Steve Kilbey - those two in the same room ! the stories !! oh my lord.

OK - here is my confession - this sounds terribly daggy but is great fun. First Wednesday of every month at the Caravan Club, Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller do a singalong. Billy Miller is like an encyclopedia and name a song and he can play it. Rebecca could be a stand up comedian. It is the most fun you can have with your pants on. So we pretty much sing anything and everything for 2 hours. But it gets better - every year Billy and Rebecca are invited to play at the Palais for a fund raiser for the Sacred Heart Mission and they get great people to give up their time for night - hosted by Brian Nankervis. The singalong crew get to do backing vocals for Billy and Rebecca on stage and last year we also backed Tim Rogers. My only performing claim to fame !

Was Billy Miller originally with The Ferrets? I only ever got to see them once, at the Tiger Room in Richmond (owned by Francis Bourke if my memory serves me well). They were very good. Rebecca Barnard I remember seeing a few times providing backing vocals for Steve Cummings in his early days as a solo artist (with Shane O'Mara on guitar). The music scene is one of the things I miss most about Melbourne.

That Kilbey produced album was the one with The Blue Hour and When Love Comes Back to Haunt You? Great album. I also loved the Rebecca's Empire track "There's Always Something There to Remind Me" on the "To Hal and Bacharach" covers album.

I'm a bigggg Tim Rogers fan.. His voice is pretty shot but it doesn't really matter...

I have to admit that I never used to be... but after seeing him doing his solo show with Shane O'Mara at Bluesfest last year, I'm happy to admit I'm a convert. He's a very witty guy with a great "eye" for detail in his observations. He reminds me of a letter day Dave Warner or Paul Madigan... or even Slim Whittle (the Whittle Family were one of my all time favourite Melbourne acts in the 70's).

Ha !

You mentioned him previously and thought wow when you said what he did for a living.

I love stories who do rather odd things for a living.

My squeeze has a cousin who lives in Portugal - he specialises in cleaning big statues for a living. Very specialised work as some of these statues date back many centuries. He then has developed a piece of equipment that runs a very low voltage charge through the statue that doesn't hurt the structure of the fabric but the pigeons don't like. He has enough work to last him 4 lifetimes - how do you put that profession on a business card ?

Ah yes, our conversation is coming back to me now

Was Billy Miller originally with The Ferrets? I only ever got to see them once, at the Tiger Room in Richmond (owned by Francis Bourke if my memory serves me well). They were very good. Rebecca Barnard I remember seeing a few times providing backing vocals for Steve Cummings in his early days as a solo artist (with Shane O'Mara on guitar). The music scene is one of the things I miss most about Melbourne.

That Kilbey produced album was the one with The Blue Hour and When Love Comes Back to Haunt You? Great album. I also loved the Rebecca's Empire track "There's Always Something There to Remind Me" on the "To Hal and Bacharach" covers album.

Billy was with the Ferrets - and we always sing "don't fall in love" and to make it that extra bit specialthey whack a projection of countdown circa 1970ish and the the Ferrets singing that song.

Rebecca's Empire had some great muso's in it. Shane O'Mara ( who is Rebecca's husband) and Pete Luscombe ( Rockwiz and Paul Kelly's go to drummer) and Bill McDonald who also plays with Paul Kelly.

Went on Saturday night to the Zoo and saw Paul Kelly do the Merri Soul Sessions - PK, Vika and Linda ( if you havent seen them sing live you must - there are fantastic), Clairey Browne, Dan Sultan and Kira Puru - a great night. Ash Naylor was playing guitars - he is also a great musician who i have seen play with everyone.

Billy was with the Ferrets - and we always sing "don't fall in love" and to make it that extra bit specialthey whack a projection of countdown circa 1970ish and the the Ferrets singing that song.

Rebecca's Empire had some great muso's in it. Shane O'Mara ( who is Rebecca's husband) and Pete Luscombe ( Rockwiz and Paul Kelly's go to drummer) and Bill McDonald who also plays with Paul Kelly.

Went on Saturday night to the Zoo and saw Paul Kelly do the Merri Soul Sessions - PK, Vika and Linda ( if you havent seen them sing live you must - there are fantastic), Clairey Browne, Dan Sultan and Kira Puru - a great night. Ash Naylor was playing guitars - he is also a great musician who i have seen play with everyone.

Yes, have seen Vika and Linda a few times with the Black Sorrows and even (again at Bluesfest) on Rockwiz live. Don't know anything about Ash Naylor. My only contact with Paul Kelly was playing cricket with him a couple of decades back here in Sydney... there was a team I played a handful of games with that comprised local musicians in a cobbled together weekend competition. Was a lot of fun and PK was actually a very handy spin bowler.

Paul Kelly looks like a spin bowler...

I

Some good reading there fella's ... I'm positive I saw The Sports a couple of times but it's all a bit hazy at the 'where' now ... might have been at the Prospect Hill hotel in Kew (the Prozzie) ... that was our main local haunt ... 78 Known Gigs for Prospect Hill Hotel (some of the dates ring a bell but I lived a bit of a 'different' lifestyle back then!)

Pub rock ruled back in the day ... and a lot of the bands were way way better live

Anyway ... here's a couple of their hits ...

Edited February 12, 201510 yr by Macca

Some good reading there fella's ... I'm positive I saw The Sports a couple of times but it's all a bit hazy at the 'where' now ... might have been at the Prospect Hill hotel in Kew (the Prossie) ... that was our main local haunt ... 78 Known Gigs for Prospect Hill Hotel (some of the dates ring a bell but I lived a bit of a 'different' lifestyle back then!)

Pub rock ruled back in the day ... and a lot of the bands were way way better live

Anyway ... here's a couple of their hits ...

Loved the Prospect Hill - especially Sunday night gigs. They started early and you'd be pleasantly half-cut instead of fully plastered and home in bed before midnight. Excellent preparation for the working week !

Some blasts from the past on that list of 78 Known Gigs Macca. Sweet Jayne with the awesome girl guitarist. Exploding Cats ! Sadly I must admit to being at that gig

Jeez we were spoilt for choice with live music venues then

Loved the Prospect Hill - especially Sunday night gigs. They started early and you'd be pleasantly half-cut instead of fully plastered and home in bed before midnight. Excellent preparation for the working week !

Some blasts from the past on that list of 78 Known Gigs Macca. Sweet Jayne with the awesome girl guitarist. Exploding Cats ! Sadly I must admit to being at that gig

Jeez we were spoilt for choice with live music venues then

Yeah, I used to frequent the Londern Tavern in Hawthorn Rd Sth Caulfield, the Kingston Hotel in West Richmond, The Crystal Ballroom in Fitzroy St, Tiger Room in Richmond, the Station Hotel in Prahran, Bananas Night Club in the Esplanade and on the list goes.

Loved the Prospect Hill - especially Sunday night gigs. They started early and you'd be pleasantly half-cut instead of fully plastered and home in bed before midnight. Excellent preparation for the working week !

Some blasts from the past on that list of 78 Known Gigs Macca. Sweet Jayne with the awesome girl guitarist. Exploding Cats ! Sadly I must admit to being at that gig

Jeez we were spoilt for choice with live music venues then

The Sentimental Bloke (now the Manninghan) was the place to get to as well - although the beer was so watered down you'd walk out sober. Went to a number of other places as well but a lot of us lived around Kew so it was often the Prozzie (so you could walk home and save the cab fare)

From memory we saw Russell Morris & the Rubes, Sunnyboys, Models, the Mondo's, Max Merritt and a stack of other bands there ... it was always a good night. Great days.

Here's a couple from RM&TR (they were fantastic live)

Edited February 12, 201510 yr by Macca

While I think of it ... 2 from Paramore

'Ain't it Fun' won best rock song at yesterday's Grammys whilst 'Decode' is from a few years back ...

While I think of it ... 2 from Paramore

'Ain't it Fun' won best rock song at yesterday's Grammys whilst 'Decode' is from a few years back ...

My kids were just young teens when they introduced me to Paramore. I heard "Misery Business" and got hooked. Then they attempted to draw me into the teenage girl debate of who's better - Paramore's Hayley Williams or Juliet Simms from Automatic Loveletter

And being teenage girls they despised anyone who only knew "Decode" from the Twilight movie.

Best played loud

The Sentimental Bloke (now the Manninghan) was the place to get to as well - although the beer was so watered down you'd walk out sober. Went to a number of other places as well but a lot of us lived around Kew so it was often the Prossie (so you could walk home and save the cab fare)

From memory we saw Russell Morris & the Rubes, Sunnyboys, Models, the Mondo's, Max Merritt and a stack of other bands there ... it was always a good night. Great days.

Here's a couple from RM&TR (they were fantastic live)

Sunnyboys !

What a wonderful feel good story that is.

One of the great pub bands.

Jeremy Oxley ( the lead singer ) suffered from mental health issues and after great success they dropped out of sight.

A very loyal fan kept in contact with him and they actually got together ( and to my understanding are still together).

She helped him on his road to recovery to the extent that they played a gig at a DOTG about two years ago. They were great but you could tell that Jeremy was still a bit shaky. I saw them again at the forum last year and the improvement was amazing - he was vibrant and jumping around the stage and the gig was great.

I am seeing the again at the Forum in the coming weeks.