SOUTHERN CROSS

In mid 1975 singer Alan Milano (ex-Buffalo) got together with bass player Bob Brooks to form a heavy rock band. Casting around for guitarists they recruited 17-year-old Bruce Cumming. This was followed by a brief search for drummers. Possibly on the same night that drummer Jeff Beacham came along for an audition in a tiny room behind shops in Sydney's eastern suburb of Bronte, John Baxter (still friends with Milano from their days in Buffalo together) rolled in for a jam as well. He had recently quit Buffalo. The chemistry of the Milano/Baxter/Cumming/Beacham thing was instant but Brooks, a seasoned pro cover version player, was not impressed with the notion to play original stuff and flew the coop. Auditions for bass players took place in a house in inner city Woolloomooloo, that part being won by the French Australian Michel Brouet (ex-Band of Light). 

The line up of Milano/Baxter/Cumming/Brouet/Beacham was successfully dubbed SUBMARINE X-1 by Baxter, after a movie title he had seen on late night TV. The band played a number of gigs outside of Sydney in preparation for their initial assault on the capital, but before this ever-happened Baxter quit the band over musical differences and went on to rehearse and record his Boy Racer project, while the others never really sought to replace him and remained a 4-piece renaming themselves as Southern Cross, gigging extensively around Sydney from late 1975 to early '77. The band released one album and a single, but musical differences and industry indifference saw the band simply fall apart.

Members

Alan Milano (vocals), Michel Brouet (bass, vocals), Jeff Beacham (drums), Bruce Cumming (guitar)

SINGLES
''Queen Of Rock And Roll / Stormy Lady'' 1976 Living Sound *also released on the Laser label

ALBUMS

'Southern Cross' 1976 Laser

References

Bruce Cumming