With Piper's departure, Paul McDermott, who performed at one of DAAS's regular clubs, was invited to join. He accepted, although he did not like their material, which he considered too sweet. Fidler says McDermott changed the group's dynamic; he wrote the majority of their songs and prompted a darker tone. After winning the Pick of the Fringe award at the 1986 Adelaide Fringe Festival, the group relocated from Canberra to Melbourne, where they based themselves with a regular gig at the Prince Patrick Hotel in Collingwood, in an effort to save enough money to travel to the Edinburgh Fringe. Initially, DAAS found that Melbourne audiences did not respond to their act and to provoke a reaction they became more aggressive, with McDermott and Ferguson adopting more abusive personas and often picking on Fidler's naturally happy but stupid character. They made their first overseas performance at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1987, to sold out crowds.
Following their Edinburgh Fringe shows, the group enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom, making appearances on numerous BBC comedy shows. In 1988, the group was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award for their performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Fidler says that the British people were more receptive to their act at the time than Australians had been. "The whole thing exploded for us when we got there, it was quite incredible. Within a very short time we were doing national television appearances in front of millions of people and playing these enormous shows," he says. They played extensively in Canada, Germany, America and Britain, and finished their time in Britain by appearing on the final episode of the successful Friday Night Live. However, despite the acclaim they were receiving overseas, when they returned to Australia at the end of 1988, they remained unknown. Upon arriving in Melbourne, they struggled to gain a following and went back to busking on the streets.
This changed in 1989 when ABC comedy producer Ted Robinson invited them to appear on a new comedy show, The Big Gig. They became a popular feature on the series and appeared in every episode until 1991. In 1989, the group also released a book titled Book, which was a collection of dark short stories. Many of the stories had been written several years prior, even before the three had started performing together, and adopted a markedly different tone to their comedic, largely ad libbed live shows. Ferguson said that they had wanted to write something that people could read and enjoy without having seen DAAS perform. Book sold 30,000 copies in England within the first two weeks of publication before being banned when DAAS refused to release an edited version of the book or permit a warning sticker on the cover. The issue was taken to court in the same year, where the ban was overturned.
DAAS released their first official album, 'DAAS Icon' (1990). Two of the featured songs, "I Want to Spill the Blood of a Hippy" and "Bottle", were also released as singles. 'DAAS Icon' went on to become the highest selling independent album in Australia but was banned in the United Kingdom due to a reference to the IRA in the song "KRSNA". This was later overturned by a British court. The group continued to appear weekly on The Big Gig until 1991 when their own series, DAAS Kapital, premiered on the ABC. A futuristic half-hour-long sitcom about the band's adventures in an underwater history museum, DAAS Kapital ran for two seven-episode seasons between 1991 and 1992 despite a poor critical reaction. From 1992, they became UK-based, returning to Australia for a short time in 1993 to promote 'Dead & Alive', a live recording of one of their London shows which was released on CD and VHS. They played at the opening of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and appeared regularly on Britain's Channel 4 variety show Viva Cabaret.
The group held a final farewell tour of Australia in 1994, which was recorded and released on CD by ABC Records as 'DAAS: The Last Concert'. The break-up sparked rumours of a falling out among the trio, although all three denied this, stating that it was simply time to move on. Richard Fidler described it as a matter of practicality: Ferguson wanted to return to Australia to be closer to his young family, while McDermott and Fidler wished to continue working in Britain as they felt they had done everything they had wanted to do in Australia.
In July 2003, DAAS reunited for the first time since their break-up to perform at a special gala comedy event called "For Holly". Dedicated to the memory of Holly Robinson—a casting director for Home and Away and the daughter of The Big Gig's Ted Robinson—who had died of cancer the month before, the concert was a fundraising benefit for research into the disease. At Holly's request, the three also performed the Hunters & Collectors' "Throw Your Arms Around Me", a song they had frequently covered in the group's later years, at her funeral.
A DAAS DVD titled The Unlimited Uncollectible Sterling Deluxe Edition, a 2-disc collection of their performances from the first two seasons of The Big Gig, was released on 6 November 2008. Ferguson, Fidler and McDermott recorded a commentary track for the DVD and made several media appearances together to promote its release, but the three ruled out the prospect of a reunion tour. "We certainly catch up for barbecues, but not as a comedy group," McDermott said.
DAAS reunited for a one-off show to launch the DVD of the television series DAAS Kapital on 13 April 2013 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. After a hiatus, McDermott, Ferguson and Paul Livingston (performing the role of Fidler) performed "as DAAS" for their 30th anniversary at the Canberra Comedy Festival, held in March 2014. They eventually embarked on several tours of Australia and the United Kingdom. Although Fidler had been advocating for the group to reform for years, his work commitments with ABC Radio prevented him from participating and Livingston again filled his place as the group's guitarist. In 2016, Livingston wrote a memoir titled D.A.A.S.: Their Part in My Downfall, which chronicled his association with the group in the 1980s and 1990s as a support act and collaborator, and then as a member of the reformed group. On 2 and 9 October 2018, the ABC screened Tick Fucking Tock, a two-part documentary about the Doug Anthony All Stars covering their formation, history, breakup and reformation.
Tim Ferguson (vocals), Paul McDermott (vocals), Paul Livingston (guitar), Richard Fidler (guitar/vocals), Robert Piper (vocals)
SINGLES
Bottle | 1990 |
ALBUMS
DASS Icon | 1990 | #42 |
Dead And Alive | 1993 | #72 |
DAAS Bootleg - Live In Edinburgh | 1994 |
The Last Concert | 1995 |
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Anthony_All_Stars
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