PAUL McKAY SOUND

The Paul McKay Sound was a Melbourne pop/rock band formed in the late 60s. Vocalist Paul Meaney told me ''the Paul McKay sound was formed based on a couple of songs I wrote and recorded at Armstrong studios and we needed a name for the record release, and I discussed it with the players to use the name, Paul McKay Sound all done in a bit of a hurry really, anyway, the players were: Stan Azzopardi on guitar , Don Bailes on bass, Keith McKay on Hammond organ, Ken Semple on sax, and Barry Gough on drums. The single was ''Strain In My Heart / Thin Suit'' and it highlighted Meaney's wonderful vocal. The next single was Sam Cooke's ''Another Saturday Night'' backed by Meaney's ''Don't It Hang You Up'' released on the Festival label. The A side charted.

Meaney continues ''After the record took off there were inquiries as to who the band was and where could they be seen , some thinking we were an English band, so we quickly put together the original band with Keith playing a Farfisa organ and also playing the bass line on it as Don Bailes was in another band (The Dymonds) at the time, Barry, Stan ,Ken, and myself , we were hot and had plenty of gigs, so that was the beginning of a pretty long roll''. 

The third single was ''Baby, Sing A Happy Song (written by Meaney) / Oh, Carol'' was also released soon after. This one saw no chart action. Peter Waddell (ex-The Dymonds) would join as a second guitarist but became the main man when Azzopardi departed. More lineup changes occurred when keyboard player Noel Tresider (ex-The Premiers) would join plus drummer Peter Fearn who replaced Les Szabo. Appearances on New Faces, and Bandstand, popular national television programs of the day, also helped the bands popularity. The held a residency at the Roxy in South Melbourne. However, during all this exposure, the band returned each Sunday to perform at Shindig at the Mordialloc Life Saving Club until it closed in 1980. Don Bailes died in 2022.

Members

Peter Waddell (guitar), Noel Tresider (keyboards), Paul Meaney (vocals), Don Bailes (bass), Peter Fearn (drums), Stan Azzopardi (guitar), Peter Fearn (drums), Keith McKay (keyboards), Geoff Cox (drums), Les Szabo (drums)

SINGLES

''Strain In My Heart / Thin Suit'' 1968 Astor
''Another Saturday Night (#75) / Don't It Hang You Up'' 1969 Festival
''Baby, Sing A Happy Song / Oh, Carol'' 1969 Festival
''Splish Splash / A Strain In My Heart'' 1973 Festival

''Take You Where The Music's Playing / Jigsaw Man'' 1975 Festival
''You Better Believe It / Lonely Weekends'' 1976 Fable

                         

References

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