MIGHTY KONG

Mighty Kong were an Australian 'supergroup' successor to Daddy Cool, which broke up in August 1972. It was also the fifth (and technically the last) in the line of groups that featured singer-songwriter Ross Wilson and guitarist Ross Hannaford, which began with the Pink Finks in 1965. Despite its all-star line-up, drawing from three of the top groups of the time, the band was short-lived and never really achieved its considerable potential, effectively relegated to being a footnote in the story of Daddy Cool.

The formative stages of the new group occurred in late 1972 – early 1973, and involved several notable players of the day. After Company Caine broke up in October 1972, singer/lyricist Gulliver Smith linked with Wilson and Hannaford. They worked for several months on getting a new band together, but Smith moved on to launch his solo career at the end of 1972. At the start of 1973 Hannaford and Wilson got together with guitarist Tim Gaze (ex-Tamam Shud, Kahvas Jute) and drummer Nigel Macara (ex-Tamam Shud), but after about a month of rehearsals Gaze left and Macara followed. Gaze's place was taken by Company Caine guitarist Russell Smith, who had been off playing in the touring version of G.Wayne Thomas' studio 'supergroup' Duck.

For a new drummer, Hannaford and Wilson turned to Ray Arnott, who announced in March that he was leaving his current gig with Spectrum to join the new band (which also reunited him with Russell Smith, his former bandmate from the last days of Cam-Pact and the early Company Caine). Unfortunately, Arnott's departure triggered the break-up of Spectrum, as founder Mike Rudd felt that it wouldn't be possible recruit a new member and maintain Spectrum's special chemistry. Spectrum played their farewell concert in mid-April 1973 and Arnott was then able to join the new group, Gaze and Macara hitched up with the remaining members of Spectrum (Rudd and Bill Putt) to form Ariel.

With the final addition of bassist Tim Partridge (ex-Company Caine) the new band was complete and was launched in May 1973 under the name Mighty Kong. After the break-up of Daddy Cool, Wilson and Hannaford were keen to get away from that band's stylistic restrictions (i.e. the 50s repertoire, and the 'zany' stage outfits), which tended to obscure the more serious side of their work. The material that they put together was a heavier, contemporary rock style, bringing in some of the progressive elements which had featured in their earlier band Sons of the Vegetal Mother, and which had resurfaced on Daddy Cool's second album, 'Sex Dope, Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven'. Mighty Kong's only album, 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock', was recorded at Melbourne's Armstrong's Studios, engineered and produced by John Fischbach on Robbie Porter's Wizard label.

Regrettably the group never really gelled, and Wilson stated in a 2007 interview that it lacked the chemistry that made Daddy Cool such a successful group. Mighty Kong had already split up by the time the album and its accompanying single, "Callin' All Cats / Hard Drugs (Are Bad For You)" were released in December 1973, but without a band to promote them, the records made no impression on the charts. In early 1973 Wilson and Hannaford bowed to financial pressures; the split of Daddy Cool had left them with large debts, so they reformed Daddy Cool for what was meant to be a one-off performance at the 1974 Sunbury Festival. It was rapturously received, and prompted a full reformation, with more touring and recording; this incarnation of the band lasted until September 1975. Ross Hannaford died in 2016. Tim Partridge died in 2020.

Members

Ross Wilson (vocals, guitar), Ross Hannaford (guitar, vocals), Tim Partridge (bass), Russell Smith (guitar, vocals), Ray Arnott (drums)

SINGLES

All I Wanna Do is Rock

4 FEB '74

#56

 



References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Kong

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