THE SUNSETS

In 1965 Newcastle band The Four Strangers were right into surfing so therefore a name change was beckoning. Radio station 2HD held a competition to rename them and The Sunsets was the winner. The lineup was Lindsay Bjerre (vocals/guitar), Alex Zytnik (guitar), Eric Connell (bass) and Dannie Davidson (drums). The band then left Newcastle for the dizzy heights of Sydney. The band arrived at Fiztroy St Surry Hills with gigs in hand at the Star Club, Surf City, Hawaiian Eye, suburban town hall dances plus surf clubs. They started doing Sunday nights at Clovelly surf club and the odd night at Bronte surf club. The Sunsets were adopted by the eastern suburbs surfing community from Bondi to Maroubra. Later they went on a John Harrigan Surf City tour with Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs taking in Lismore and Murwillumbah followed by a gig in Coolangatta and the Gold Coast joining up with Max Merritt and The Meteors, John Rowles and surfing.

Their first single release ''Bye Bye Goodbye'' was released in 1965 on the Leedon label. It was written by Lindsay Bjerre followed by ''When I Found You''. Number one Sydney DJ 2UW’s Ward “Pally” Austin dug The Sunsets and he used the band to open his nightspot Ward Austin Jungle in York St City playing most Thursdays and Saturdays.

Sunset's manager Reg Mason was a business friend of film maker Paul Witzig. Mason screened his surf movies in Newcastle. He introduced the band to Paul and from there they started to create theme music and background music for his surf movies. In 1966 ''Theme From A Life In The Sun'' was released and reached #44 on the national charts. The Sunsets started to do TV shows such as Saturday Date, Billy Thorpe’s It’s All Happening and a special on Normie Rowe for NBN3 featuring Ray Brown and The Whispers, April Byron and Sandy Edmonds. They also appeared on the ABC TV show Be My Guest featuring Jackie Weaver. In May of 67 the band accepted a three-month residency on the Gold Coast at Digby’s nightspot owned by Digby Wolfe a local TV personality who went on to produce TV show Laugh In in America.

A new era was about to begin, opposition to the Vietnam War, Haight Asbury, shorter surfboards. Witzig's movie Hot Generation came out around this time featuring Midge Farrelly, Nat Young (the band wrote a song about him, ''Animal''), Peter Drouyn, Bob McTavish (famous surf innovator and board shaper) Robert Conneeley, Rodney Sumpter, Ted Spencer, Keith Paul, Russell Hughes, Bobby Brown and Kevin “The Head” Brennan. Both Bobby and Kevin who were innovative surfers died in tragic circumstances, a great loss to Australian surfing. A great film but their single ''Hot Generation'' didn’t do so well because of lack of air play. Connell decided to leave the band and ended up as a College Principle. Eric has since died. Peter Barron replaced Connell on bass guitar and the group changed their name to Tamam Shud. The Sunsets' recordings are highly prized by '60's beat fans, and their songs have been anthologised on various compilations. Alex Zyntic died in 2024.

Members

Lindsay Bjerre (vocals/guitar), Alex Zytnik (guitar), Eric Connell (bass), Dannie Davidson (drums)

SINGLES

''Bye Bye, Goodbye / It's The End'' 1965 Leedon
''When I Found You / Don't Get Around Much Anymore'' 1966 Leedon
''Windansea / Theme From A Life In The Sun'' (#44) 1967 Festival
''Love's Face / I Want Love'' 1967 Festival
''The Hot Generation / This Is What It's All About'' 1967 Festival *unreleased from 1967

''Animal / Uptight, Out Of Sight'' 1967 Festival

EPs

'A Life In The Sun' 1967 Festival

References

http://www.theoriginaltamamshud.com/?fbclid=IwAR27vMI60hKzauFtKYodB7NpaIBRIPn1GgKN1LDCiNsl-Qm-eKAJoSSo-gg

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