THE MIXTURES

Musicians Terry Dean and Rod De Clerk met in Tasmania in 1965 whilst Terry was holidaying there. Rod looked up Terry when he was visiting Melbourne a short time later and Terry took him to a dance in which Dean was appearing. It was there that Rod met Laurie Arthur, who was an ex member of The Strangers who was filling in for the band including drummer John Creech. Between numbers the three decided to form a band together as they shared the same interests. After a jam session they decided there and then to form a group calling themselves The Mixtures. Their first single ''Koko Joe'' came about by accident as the group was providing some backing tracks in the studio and, finding themselves with some spare time, decided to record a couple of songs themselves. Executives at EMI were so impressed that they decided to release the single on the HMV label. Although not charting the band became very popular on the local dance scene. De Clerk left the band in 1966 and was replaced by Alan "Edgell" James. Their third single, ''Music, Music, Music'' a cover of Teresa Brewer's 1950 hit was their first single to make the charts.

In 1967 the band supported Roy Orbison, The Walker Brothers and The Yardbirds on their tour of Australia adding keyboard player Dennis Garcia. In the same year they supported Eric Burdon and The Animals. Over the next couple of years the band went through several line-up changes: Mick Flinn (ex-Wild Colonials) replaced Alan James, Idris Jones (ex-The Gingerbread Men) replaced Dennis Garcia and Fred Wieland on guitar (ex-The Strangers) joined replacing Laurie Arthur who became the bands manager. Buddy England joined the band when Jones left and they signed to CBS Records in 1969 releasing the singles ''Here Comes Love Again'' and ''Ten Thousand Children''.

The Mixtures moved to Fable Records in 1970 with Gary Howard joining on drums and with Idris Jones returning on vocals they recorded a cover of Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" and—as a result of the 1970 radio ban, during which many Australian radio stations refused to play Australian and British music released by major labels—received much more airplay than had initially been expected for a group on a small record label. The single went to #1 in Australia for six weeks. They followed up with "The Pushbike Song" (produced by David Mackay), which went to #1 in Australia for two weeks, hit #2 in the UK Singles Chart, and went to #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. after being released on Sire Records. In the same year they supported the 1910 Fruitgum Company in Sydney.

Buoyed by the success of the singles, The Mixtures made the inevitable trip to England in January 1971.Throughout this period they received a lot of press, radio and TV coverage and appeared on the front cover of New Musical Express. They also appeared on Top Of The Pops promoting their single ''Henry Ford''. Another lineup changed occurred when Greg Cook (ex Cam - Pact) replaced Idris Jones and Mike Holden replaced Gary Howard before he was replaced by Don Lebler (ex Axiom).

The band returned to Australia and further line-up changes followed with Peter Williams (ex The Groove, Max Merritt and The Meteors) joining them before "Captain Zero" was recorded. The single went to #6 in Australia in 1971 and was their last big hit. In 1974 their second album 'The Mixtures' was released. 

The group underwent some more line-up changes including Brenton Fosdike (ex SSARB), drummer John Petkovich  and the last member to join was keyboard player Rob Scott. In 1978 the band travelled to Perth to do some recording and put together a new show. During this time bass player Chris Spooner died in a fishing accident at Trigg Beach. The band only carried on for a further three months as a four piece before breaking up in early 1979. The remaining four members, Brenton, John, Rob and Peter Williams, then formed a new band with two other Australians, (Dennis Broad and Paul Reynolds) and the band was named BRIX. John Petkovich died in 2017. Fred Weiland died in 2018. Laurie Arthur died in 2021.

Members

Laurie Arthur (guitar, vocals), Greg Cook (drums), John Creech (drums), Rod De Clerk (bass), Buddy England (vocals), Mick Flinn (bass), Dennis Garcia (organ), Mick Holden (drums), Gary Howard (drums), Alan "Edgell" James (bass), Idris Jones (vocals), Don Lebler (drums), Chris Spooner (bass), Fred Weiland (guitar), Peter Williams (vocals, guitar), Brenton Fosdike (guitar/vocals), John Petkovich (drums), Rob Scott (keyboards)

SINGLES

Music, Music, Music / (They Call the Wind) Maria

28 OCT '67

#57

Here Comes Love Again

8 NOV '69

#66

In the Summertime

3 AUG '70

#1

The Pushbike Song

7 DEC '70

#1

Henry Ford

14 JUN '71

#43

Captain Zero

29 NOV '71

#6

References

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/