| HE CREATED A DISTURBANCE
IN MY MIND
Like many of my generation Billy Thorpe first
came into my life via the radio in 1964 when Poison Ivy rocked out
of the speaker. The Aztecs’ third & Billy’s second
single, a superior cover version of The Rolling Stones’ cover
of a Coasters track, it featured the best guitar sound on any Australian
record (until The Masters Apprentices’ 1967 hit “Undecided
“ upped the ante) & a voice that didn’t sound like
John Lennon’s but had that same small mouthed piercing vocal
that never wavered & cut across the music with a naturally loud
presence .It was a national hit & for the next couple of years
Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs released hit after hit, were screamed
at by hordes of frenzied teenagers at their concerts & regularly
appeared on Bandstand & other TV shows.
On the screen the besuited band with skinny ties
& trousers were fronted by a singer who didn’t flounce
around or hang onto the mike stand like many of his peers, but stood
still, hands behind his back & did a syncopated kind of cool
sideways foot shuffle, all with a beaming smile on his face. He
looked & sounded great! They were at the top of the Australian
music ladder. For a school boy on a paper round budget, the 4 track
picture covered EP was a Godsend & on these, Billy & the
band performed covers of songs that years later I would learn were
by the likes of Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Little Richard & others,
his astute choice of song & his interpretations were to be a
trademark throughout his career. Through changing line ups with
Billy as a constant, the band’s popularity peaked with the
national weekly TV show “It’s All Happening” in
1966 compered by Billy (reputedly for in today’s money a cool
$6000 a week) performed live with no miming, the Aztecs played &
presented the cream of the Australian music scene each week, a little
like the format of “ Jools Holland’s Later “ TV
show these days, it was ambitious & totally compelling. It lasted
the year & then Billy embarked on a brief but successful MOR
period covering showtunes & ballads & then he sort of disappeared.
Until 1968. One of the pleasures of being at Monash
University was that once a week at lunchtime there would be a free
band in the cavernous cafeteria, much to the delight of the hipsters
& the indifference of the majority of the squares munching on
their sausages & chips. And this week Billy Thorpe & The
Aztecs were scheduled to play, but for some reason not in the café
but in the cavernous Alexander Theatre & we were curious, having
heard rumours that he had a new “heavy” sound. So 100
or so curious students, many with fond memories of the band from
the early 60s filed into the auditorium. It was going to be the
first time that I got to see him live rather than just on the tube
so I was kind of excited, but nothing prepared any of us for what
we were about to experience.The empty stage was set up for a trio,
a drum kit & 2 what seemed quite large amplifiers & a microphone.
And then the band walked out onto the stage! Not a suit or tie in
sight but lots of hair, while Billy was all but unrecognisable in
buckskin jacket, denim, long hair & beard with a guitar slung
over his shoulder & a messaniac look on his smiling face. He
looked like us! Or how we wanted to look at least. Then they plugged
in & it was hard to believe how loud they were! We were thrown
back in our seats by their almost terrifying power & the volume
of the music that none of us had ever experienced before. He sang
with his eyes wide open & played the guitar with his eyes closed,
rocking back & forth lost in cosmic ecstasy. It felt like the
molecules in the air were vibrating with the electricity as they
powered their way through a set of bluesy cover versions & 12-bar
raunch. At the end of the hour we all just sat stunned for a little
while, looking at each other with combination of shock & awe
& sheer exhilaration, it was simply the loudest most exciting
thing that any of us had ever experienced. I was hooked.
Billy had apparently come to Melbourne to put
together a new band in response to interest from entrepreneur Robert
Stigwood, couldn’t find a guitarist so Billy picked it up.
The potential deal fell through, Billy fell in love with the vital
Melbourne music scene & what was to have been 2 weeks stay turned
into 8 years. We also learnt on the grapevine that before he came
to Melbourne Billy had dropped acid, smoked dope & had a personal
& musical epiphany that had led to his radical personal transformation
& devotion to the power of electric music played at maximum
volume. I knew that we had something in common. It was the beginning
of a fan’s life long love affair with the man & his music.
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