Flake formed in late 1968 in Sydney with the line-up of Lindsay Askew on guitar, Denise Gaines on lead vocals, Mick Gaul (ex- Plastic Tears) on bass guitar, Geoff Gray on lead vocals (ex-Eli), Sharon Sims on lead vocals, Wayne Thomas on drums (ex-Plastic Tears) and Rob Toth on keyboards. They were named for the Small Faces' album, 'Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake' (May 1968) and performed their first gig at Shrublands Hall, Marrickville on 14 November of that year. Subsequently the group underwent regular changes to its line-up. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described their musical style "From swinging 1960s pop'n'soul to early 1970s progressive rock, Sydney band Flake tried its hand at just about every musical genre of the day. Flake was one of the first Sydney club bands to play note-for-note renditions of early Traffic, Spooky Tooth, Deep Purple and Vanilla Fudge material. Certainly, possessed of a wealth of talent, the band mostly found success with a string of glossy pop singles."
During 1970 Flake signed with the Du Monde label's imprint, Violet's Holiday, which was distributed by Festival Records. Their first charting single, "Wheels on Fire" (July 1970), was a cover version of Bob Dylan's original. It peaked at #20 on the Go-Set National Top 60 and remained on the charts for 22 weeks. According to McFarlane "Flake's rise on the pop charts coincided with the 1970 radio ban on British and major-label Australian records which lasted for six months". "Wheels on Fire" also appeared on Go-Set's end of year singles chart at #44.Their second charting single was a cover version of Marmalade's "Reflections of My Life" (January 1971), which reached #31. It was followed by their version of Vanda & Young's "Life Is Getting Better" (June), which peaked at #48, and then by a cover of Honeybus' "Under the Silent Tree" (November).
Flake's debut album, 'How's Your Mother!', was released in December 1971 using the line-up of Gray, Sims and Thomas with Greg Higgs on bass guitar and vocals, John Russell on guitar and Billy Taylor on guitar (ex-Purple Vision). McFarlane described it as "schizophrenic" with "one side of the band's lightweight pop hits and one side of hard rock tracks spiced with touches of fuzz-drenched psychedelia." In November 2006 Du Monde Records re-issued the album on CD. At the end of 1972 Thomas left to form a new group, Mr Madness, with three former Flake members, Askew on guitar, Gaul on bass guitar and Toth on keyboards. Flake, however, continued with a changeable line-up and by July 1973 comprised Russell and Taylor with Neale Johns on lead vocals (ex-Blackfeather), Jim Penson on drums (ex-Blackfeather) and Warren Ward on bass guitar (ex-the Flying Circus, Blackfeather). They released a single, "Scotch on the Rocks / Breadalbane", in February 1974 via Festival Records' label, Infinity Records and disbanded late that year. Flake supported overseas acts The Kinks (1971), Status Quo (1973) and Gary Glitter (1973).
Flake reformed in 1989 with Thomas and Lindsay Askew joined by the latter's brother Rob Askew on bass guitar, Gordon Sheard on guitar and Anna Medley on lead vocals. Festival had issued a compilation album, 'Reflections: The Festival File Volume Thirteen', in that year. The group continued on the Sydney pub and club circuit until 1991. Geoff Gray died in 2016.
Members
Sharon Sims (vocals), Geoff Gray (vocals), Lindsay Askew (guitar), Rob Toth (keyboards),
Laurie Sinclair (bass), Mick Gaul (bass), Wayne Thomas (drums), Denise Caines (vocals),
Dave Allen (flute, saxophone), John Russell (guitar), Dennis Moore (bass), Shauna Jensen (vocals), Greg Higgs (bass), Billy Taylor (guitar), Ted Atkinson (bass), Rob Bailey (bass),
Mick Meehan (guitar), Jim Penson (drums), Neale Johns (vocals), Rob Askew (bass),
Gordon Sheard (guitar), Anna Medley (vocals)
SINGLES
This Wheel's on Fire
| 15 JUN '70 | #21 |
Reflections of My Life
| 4 JAN '71 | #25 |
Life is Getting Better
| 3 MAY '71 | #40 |
Under the Silent Tree
| 29 NOV '71 | #60 |
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flake_(band)
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
Hi, do you know how Geoff Gray died?
ReplyDeleteI believe Mick Gaul passed away as well,I knew him.
ReplyDeleteI started working when I was 17 (I will be 65 next birthday!) and my very first job in very early 1977 was at Hodder & Stoughton the UK book publishing company at Lane Cove in Sydney. And Wayne Thomas the original drummer from Flake was working there during the day as the dispatch manager, and then performing gigs in bands and playing drums most nights even during the week. He was a real character and funny as buggery as he always had a great sense of humour, but he was always tired as you might expect. As our job during the day was very physical, working in a book warehouse and loading and unloading trucks all day long and then he was working at night doing gigs as well, so he was getting hardly any sleep! More than once I remember Wayne trying to get some much needed sleep at lunchtimes at work, and he would even resort to sleeping on the floor in the lunchroom sometimes when there nowhere else to go to try to sleep. I also remember Wayne for his very trendy 1970's flares and platform shoes, along with body shirts and some very blingy and fashionable jewellery. I saw Wayne playing several times during those years in 1977 and 1978, at various venues such as The Rockdale Hotel, etc., From memory I think that Wayne's car at the time was a two door Valiant or Chrysler Charger, but I could be mistaken about that after more than 45 years!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that
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