Formerly known as The Ramblers they changed their name to The Midnighters in 1963 because of the boy's habit of going to midnight horror films at Kensington. Maroubra NSW was Little Pattie’s local beach, and the long-gone ice-skating rink was the venue where the band had a regular gig entertaining the skaters with their surf music. They were also the resident band at the Maroubra Surf Club and at Teenage Cabaret. They backed all the headliners performing there including The Bee Gees. They appeared on TV shows like Johnny O'Keefe's
Sing Sing Sing. Signed to RCA ''Maroubra'' backed with ''Goofy Foot'' was their first single, released in October 1963. This single was also released in Canada. Follow up singles ''Shark Chase / Ridin' High'' and ''Moon Shot / First Love'' released in 1964 and ''Hootchy Kootchy Man / Betty Lou'' in 1965 failed to chart. They didn't last much longer finishing up in the same year. Michael Wade's exceptional technical abilities as a guitarist resulted in his appointment to the Australian production of
Jesus Christ Superstar in the 70s. Joe Galea was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Maltese folk and popular music in Australia, spending over 40 years entertaining the Maltese community.
Members
Joe Galea (bass/vocals), Bob Travis (guitar), Michael Wade (guitar), Brian Freeman (drums)
SINGLES
''Maroubra / Goofy Foot''
(#69) 1963 RCA
''Shark Chase / Ridin' High'' 1964 RCA
''Moon Shot / First Love'' 1964 RCA
''Hootchy Kootchy Man / Betty Lou'' 1965 RCA
References
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
Kimbo, great to find this here (thought I might). Both sides, Maroubra & Goofy Foot, were original compositions. 2SM's Top 100 for 17 Jan 64 had 9 Aussie surf tracks including 6 in Top 40. All were originals, two with local place names in their title. Two months later the Beatles had 10 records in 2SM's Top 40 and the Aussie surf tracks had vanished. Even if the chart only reflects 2SM's playlists (and whatever they reckoned!), it reflects what was happening in the wake of the Brit Invasion.
ReplyDeleteYes mate we had a lot of surf music chart during this period. Cheers
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