THE SPORTS

The Sports was formed in 1976 by Stephen Cummings who was the lead singer of Melbourne rockabilly group, The Pelaco Brothers, (which also comprised Joe Camilleri, Peter Lillie and Johnny Topper). The original line-up was Cummings and ex-The Pelaco Brothers band mate, Ed Bates, on guitar, Robert Glover (ex-Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven (ex-The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) on piano and Paul Hitchins on drums. Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker material. Original songs, mostly written by Cummings and Bates, completed their sets. The Sports' debut recording was a four-track EP, 'Fair Game', which was released in early 1977 on the independent label, Zac Records. It was produced by Joe Camilleri. A friend in London posted the record to the New Musical Express (aka NME) which declared it 'Record of the Week'.

The Sports were in tune with music trends dominating London rock and had provided song-based rock as an antidote to punk, which was dubbed new wave. Cummings was compared favourably with Mick Jagger and Bates was praised for his slide guitar style: being similar to Little Feat. "We were totally surprised," Cummings said in 1997 of the NME review; he continued, "It was the last thing you'd expect. It was my making and my undoing in some ways. When you have everything go right so quickly you expect that everything after that is going to be good and that easy. It meant that I probably didn't put myself out as much as I should have."

Andrew Pendlebury (ex-Myriad) joined on guitar in August 1977 and assisted Cummings with song writing. Cummings recalled, "I just vaguely met people and dragged them into it. I always wanted Andrew in the group as a guitarist and I had an idea for a rockabilly country sound. But I always wanted to change it because I really liked the MC5 and wanted to make it more like that as well." In May 1978 The Sports issued their debut studio album, 'Reckless', on Mushroom Records with ex-The Pelaco Brothers band mate, Camilieri, as their producer. John Magowan of Woroni enthused about the "passionate, alive, and in its own way, unique" album, which showed "a perfect synthesis of archetypal 50's romance and the cutting neurotic edge of life in the 70's." Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it "displayed plenty of charm, but failed to capture the atmosphere of the band's sweaty live shows."

The lead track, "Boys (What Did the Detective Say?)", had appeared in March, ahead of the album, as its first single. Magowan described it as "adolescent bravado". McFarlane declared it was "modestly successful" – it appeared on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart and peaked at #55. In England it provided some confusion with the similarly titled, "Watching the Detectives", by Elvis Costello, which had been released in the previous October.

In August 1978 Cummings brought in Martin Armiger (ex-Toads, Bleeding Hearts, High Rise Bombers) on guitar, vocals and for song writing, to replace Bates. According to McFarlane, Bates had been "ousted as Armiger had a more commercial outlook". On the strength of their first album 'Reckless', The Sports were chosen to support Graham Parker & the Rumour's Australian tour later that year. Luis Feliu of The Canberra Times described The Sports in September that year, "their roots lie in the fifties or early rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues ... Cummings and Bates pen short and sharp songs ... while Armiger brings with him a more electric sound." Parker arranged for The Sports to support their United Kingdom tour in February of the following year. In October the band supported Thin Lizzy's tour of Australia.

The group signed with Stiff Records for UK releases, which promptly issued a four-track EP, 'So Obvious', in 1979. Back in the previous November, they started work on their second album, 'Don't Throw Stones', with Pete Solley and Dave Robinson producing. It was released in February 1979 ahead of their joining Graham Parker & the Rumour's UK tour. Feliu felt "plenty of admiration for their punchy and melodic rockabilly sound, he found the change to the more diverse, bigger-breath songs of new a wee strange but acceptable." While in the UK they recorded another four-track EP, 'O.K.U.K'., which appeared in August that year.

'Don't Throw Stones' reached #9 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, which provided two top 40 singles, "Who Listens to the Radio?" (November 1978) and the title track (March 1979). "Who Listens to the Radio?", which was co-written by Cummings and Pendelbury, was their only hit on the United States Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at #45 in November 1979. The song was also featured on an episode of the TV sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. Stiff issued material from the first two Australian albums under the name, 'Don't Throw Stones', in October 1979; while Arista Records released it in the US and continental Europe.

The group's third album, 'Suddenly', was issued in March 1980 and was also produced by Solley. Feliu opined that it showed "trimmed up reggae-favoured tunes and souped-up straight, melodic rockers... and has its fair share of goodies" while he "had reservations about the overall slickness, and excesses in production for the sake of commercial acceptance" by Solley. McFarlane noticed that it "featured an even slicker, more commercial pop sound." In Australia, the album reached #13 and its lead single, "Strangers on a Train" (March 1980), peaked at #22. Before the album had appeared Hitchins was replaced by Iain McLennan (ex-Ariel, Mondo Rock) on drums and Niven was replaced by Red Symons (ex-Skyhooks) on keyboards. To promote the album, in March and April 1980, The Sports undertook a national tour with Mushroom label mates, Split Enz. Symons left after the tour and McLennan, who had hepatitis in May, was then replaced by Freddie Strauks (Symons' band mate from Skyhooks) on drums.

The Sports had another top 30 hit on the Australian singles chart with "How Come" (1981); and a top 20 album with 'Sondra' (May 1981). The Sports broke up late in 1981 with Cummings going on a solo singing career; Armiger became a composer for film and TV after moving to Sydney; Pendlebury joined The Dugites; Strauks joined Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons; and Glover was in Wilbur Wilde's backing band. In October 2010, their 1979 album, 'Don't Throw Stones', was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. Jim Niven died of cancer on 9 April 2012. Martin Armiger died in 2019.

Members

Stephen Cummings (vocals), Andrew Pendlebury (guitar), Robert Glover (bass), Ed Bates (guitar), Martin Armiger (guitar), Jim Niven (keyboards), Paul Hitchins (drums), Iain McLennan (drums), Freddie Strauks (drums), Red Symons (keyboards)

SINGLES
''Wedding Ring'' 1978 Mushroom 
''Boys! (What Did The Detective Say?) (#55) / Modern Don Juan'' 1978 Mushroom 
''When You Walk In The Room (#42) / True Stories / Taxi Rank'' 1978 Mushroom 
''Who Listens To The Radio (#35) / So Obvious'' 1978 Mushroom 
''Don't Throw Stones (Edited Version) (#26) / Terror Hits'' 1979 Mushroom 
''Reckless / Mailed It To Your Sister'' 1979 Mushroom 
''Suspicious Minds (#74) / Bruises'' 1979 Mushroom 
''Wedding Ring (#40) / Live, Work And Play / Little Girl / Radio Show'' 1979 Mushroom 
''This Is Really Something / Big City Lights'' 1980 Mushroom 
''Strangers On A Train (#22) / Can't Ever Decide (Live)'' 1980 Mushroom 
''Poor Mouth / Heart Of Darkness'' 1980 Mushroom 
''Perhaps / Regular / Daddy's Little Thief'' 1980 Mushroom 
''Stop The Baby Talking! / Big City Lights'' 1980 Mushroom 
''How Come (#21) / Drug Sluts'' 1981 Mushroom 
''When We Go Out Tonight / Some Brass Thing'' 1981 Mushroom 
''Sunshine Superman (#72) / Cargo Cult'' 1981 Mushroom 
''Black Stockings (For Chelsea) / Last House On The Left'' 1982 Mushroom 

EPs
'Fair Game' 1977 Zac Records 
'O.K, U.K!' 1979 Mushroom
'The Sports Play Dylan (and Donovan)' (#70) 1981 Mushroom 

ALBUMS
'Reckless' (#43) 1978 Mushroom 
'Don't Throw Stones' (#9) 1979 Mushroom 
'Suddenly' (#13) 1980 Mushroom 
'Sondra' (#20) 1981 Mushroom 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sports