Tex Riverina and the Easy Beats were formed in Shepparton, Victoria in the late 1950s. Hillbilly artist Riverina was encouraged to take up rock'n'roll after hearing Rock Around The Clock, the pioneering Australian rock record by Red Perskey and his Orchestra, played on Radio 3SR in Shepparton some time in the winter of 1958.
As soon as I heard the vocalist crooning that immortal line 'We are going to rock around the clock tonight' I knew this was something significant, and I actually predicted, then and there, that rock'n'roll would be a hit with the youngsters. (Interview with Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Go-set, 1968)
Riverina, real name Norman Rowe (b.1927), worked as a clerical assistant at the Shepparton cannery, but after hours he was an established hillbilly artist who melded the roots music of Roy Rogers with such contemporary Australian influences as Jim Davidson's ABC Dance Band.
The Easy Beats made their debut at the South Shepparton Swimming Pool in March 1959, the final 3SR Poolside Party broadcast for the season. Tex later recalled, Just as we were setting up, a wet gusty change blew in and it was 'everybody out of the pool'. Luckily none of the electrical shorting was life threatening. Huey Blewett did receive a nasty burn to his strumming hand, but only minor injuries when he dropped his instrument onto his right foot.
After this shaky start, the band - known to their fans as the EBs - soon picked up engagements around Shepparton and the Goulbourn Valley. In the early 60s the EBs became house band at the Presbyterian Youth Group's Dew Drop Inn Club on alternating Friday evenings.
Later in the 1960s, the Easy Beats would sometimes be confused with the Easybeats, and were occasionally booked mistakenly in place of the popular Sydney band. As Riverina said in 1967, These kids turn up for an Easybeats concert, and when we come on stage some of the more alert youngsters twig that we're a different group. If there are any complaints, I just tell them, 'You can lump it or like it' and get on with the show. Anyway, they soon wake up that the 'other' Easybeats could never come close to our jazzed up version of My Boomerang Won't Come Back. (Interview, The Weekly Times, Victoria, 1967.)
Tex Riverina And The Easy Beats' version of That's What I Want was a final attempt at keeping up with the beat boom of the second half of the 1960s. Roger Reardon, who ran Shepparton's Bongo Exotica Coffee Shop and Record Bar, while doubling as the Beats' manager, suggested the song. Roger reckoned if it was good enough for a Tassy band called - would you believe? - the Kravats it was good enough for us. It was either that or change our names to something trendier, maybe the Skarves, Tex later joked in his memoirs, Yodelling and Rocking in the Goulburn Valley: On and Off the Road With Tex Riverina, 1947-1969.
The single was recorded at the 3SR studios on a Saturday afternoon. The tapes were sent to Melbourne for a custom pressing on the Roger label, number ROGER 000001. Because Roger Reardon could afford only six copies, this has become one of the rarest and most collectible records in Australian pop history, not least because time and economic restraints meant that the record had no B-side.
Rodge said he wasn't made of money, but he'd put them in the shop to see if there was any interest. Naturally, we all wanted a copy for ourselves, so that left two. You could say we had a bit of a struggle getting onto the 3SR Top 40, Tex Riverina recalled.
Critics have been divided over the record's merit, some pointing out that its style is reminiscent of a polka, a view that Tex Riverina still dismisses. I know, some people didn't like Tony Merino's piano accordian on that track, but that's just Tall Poppy Syndrome. Nobody whinged when AC/DC put the bagpipes into one of their tracks, did they?
After failing to break into the charts, the Easy Beats went their separate ways in 1969. There was no Yoko Ono, says Tex, although Huey's wife could be a bit irritating at times. But no, we saw the writing on the wall, and quit just before we got ahead.
Tex went solo, returning to his hillbilly roots and even recording some moderately successful covers of US country songs at Roger Reardon's new Goulburn Valley Recording and Video Services facility in Shepparton. He did finally crack the charts at "Gold 'n' Country 3SR" in the 1970s with his version of C W McCall's Convoy, complete with Tony Merino on accordian. This time, the single had a B-side, the boys' instrumental version of Helen Reddy's I Am Woman that they say even raised eyebrows at the Reddy mansion.
No comments:
Post a Comment