Farm Days
Genesis
Rob, Jim and I decided to change the band's name from Sparta to Farm and had cards printed with the motto 'Collective Ego'. Rob was Keith Moon, I was Jack Bruce and Jim was anyone as long as it was loud.
We also bought our first PA - a Cord four input 150w PA, covered in Purple vinyl. In hindsight this was probably not a sensible purchase, as we were already too loud for it. We only used it for a few gigs.
Farm - the Summer tours
I don't know where the idea originated, but it seemed like a good idea at the time to organise a tour at the end of high school. Chris Hodgkinson and electronics 'expert' Craig Alexander (who did our lighting) took to the road, scouting out suitable halls from Tathra in the south to Port Macquarie in the north, making bookings as they went.
Meanwhile back in Sydney we advertised for a frontman to help carry the show. While all three band members sang, having a lead singer out front would assist our performances in many ways, particularly for Rob, who was finding it difficult to sing for the whole show while still maintaining his energetic drumming. I expect we auditioned several people but I don't remember any other than Peter. He was instantly imposing, and I thought a little unsure of what he was getting himself in for. He sat at the edge of the room while he listened to us rehearsing. He had experience as a frontman, he had a presence particularly with his height, he had a strikingly individual voice, and last and probably not least, he had a PA! His mum lived in Sydney but he was studying at Canberra Uni, and was looking for something to do in Sydney over the Christmas break. Bingo!
The cast for the tour for 73/74 was
- Chris Hodgkinson (Mouth)
- Craig Alexander (Lights)
- Nigel Addison (Roadie)
- Peter Davidson (Roadie)
- Peter Garrett
- Jim Moginie
- Rob Hirst
- Andrew James
So we printed off our posters TOP SYDNEY ROCK BAND - FARM - admission $1, clipped on our P plates, and our little entourage set off shortly before Christmas 1973.
At the start of the tour we were pretty ragged musically, and there were occasions when we played songs we hadn't rehearsed, but we had tightened up considerably by the end of the tour. We all made a bit of money. I bought myself a Shure microphone with my share of the proceeds.
Many of us were still underage when it came to getting into pubs. However, back in those days they weren't fussy. I had no experience with drinking. I never did grow to like beer. I drank lots of orange juice instead. One time when it was my shout, Craig wanted Marsala and coke. When asked what size by the bartender (I had no idea), I said a schooner. Poor Craig was faced with a schooner of Marsala and coke, which was more than he expected to drink.
One of the 'joys' of the tour was getting woken up early in the morning by Black Sabbath, played through Nigel Addison's reel to reel tape recorder.
One of the memorable moments for me was after a gig at Port Macquarie. We had played the previous night and were sleeping in the hall as we sometimes did, with all the gear still set up. An elderly lady came in ready to set up for 'bingo' or some other pensioner-style activity. She got the shock of her life when she saw the mess the hall was in, and bodies still asleep in their sleeping bags, with only an hour or so before her event was to start, and got quite irate. As his opening sentence, Peter camly responded to her tirade with "Listen here Sweetheart, ...", and proceeded to settle her down with reasons why it would all be OK. And it was. We could pack up quite quickly when we had to.
Performing every night for several hours takes its toll. My secret weapon in the first year was cherry ripes. I would later graduate to rum and raisin dark chocolate.
After this summer tour, Peter went back to Canberra studies, and to his Canberra band.
Jim, Rob and I started our university degrees at Sydney Uni. Jim did Science, Rob did Arts with the intention of doing Arts/Law, and I did Economics with the intention of doing an honours year. I was just doing it because I was interested in it. I wasn't thinking of a career.
We were able to arrange our time so that we had Friday afternoons off. Rob's father was in real estate, and had a rental property in Chatswood. Rob moved in, ostensibly as caretaker, and managed the renting of rooms to a variety of mostly young females. A number of pairings and marriages within and around the band resulted from this melting pot of hormones.
Each Friday we would arrive at the house after lunch, and thrash away until dinner time. We tried using the garage with old carpet as insulation, but the door never worked properly, the carpet was not good for our asthma, and it was still too noisy for the neighbours. Playing in the lounge room soon became the regular thing. We left our gear in the house. I have memories of arriving at the house after my morning Uni lectures. I would wake up Rob, who would get out of bed, run his fingers through his hair (which at the time was ringlets halfway down his back), pick up his drumsticks and get behind his drum kit, and he would be ready to go.
We would develop song ideas from jamming, but I suspect that some of the chordal and riff ideas that came out of the jams Jim had already developed by himself. I was not actively writing at that stage, but I was playing bass in an angular style similar to one of my favourite bass players. Rob's strength was in melody. His lyrics at this stage often reflected the preoccupations of most teenage boys. I can recall Jim and myself trying to explain to Rob the difference between male and female microphone connectors, and Rob getting embarassed by his physical reaction.
We could all play multiple instruments. In our live performances we had one song where Jim played bass, Rob played guitar and I played drums. We all sang. Rob usually sang lead, I would sing the higher harmonies and Jim would sing the lower harmonies.
We also traded up from our current instruments to the instruments played by the musicians we admired. Jim bought his first Gibson Les Paul, Rob bought a Ludwig drum kit and I bought a Rickenbacker bass.
In this year between Christmas '73 and Christmas '74, we actively sought out lead singers through contacts and through ads in the papers.
I remember one audition where an Asian girl whose English was not so good sang with us. At the end of the song she said "That was, how you say, shithouse!"
There was also a singer I remember as Ian who showed promise, with a style leaning towards heavy metal. However, after playing with Peter with his special presence and individual style, we couldn't bring ourselves to take on someone who sounded like he was trying to copy someone else and wasn't quite getting there.
Also in 1974 We entered a battle of the bands competition. To qualify, we had to have at least one school age member. We asked Mike Deep to sing, and added a sax player, Jason Morphett, both of whom were one year behind us in schooling. Jason would join us on our 1974/75 tour, and would also go on to be a respected jazz musician. Mike would play bass in the Kevin Borich Express in the early '80's.
Our entry was Take Me Down Easy, by Jo Jo Gunne. At the time they had an album called Jumpin' the Gunne which had a cover which wasn't all that remarkable until you opened the cover to see the full picture. We went into the studio provided for entrants, and it was a case of rush in, plug in, play the song, and rush out. I don't think Mike's vocal style suited the song, and from my perspective, the bass wasn't recorded properly. I was running my Rickenbacker bass in stereo but they only allocated one input for bass guitar. The engineer assured me that it would work OK, but he only recorded the treble pickup and not the bass pickup. The recording contained the rattle and clatter of the Rickenbacker without the bottom end. Unsurprisingly we didn't make the finals.
We went to the finals at the opera house, and I was impressed by the band who came second. That band had a young Dieter Kleeman on guitar, and included Sebastian Hardie's keyboard player, Toiv Pilt, complete with Mellotron, Hammond organ and Moog synthesizer. Finch, who were the previous year's winners were now professional, and they played a few numbers - a very impressive band with Bob Spencer on guitar and Owen Orford on vocals.
So at the end of our first year of Uni (end of '74), we decided to embark on another tour of east coast domination, and Peter was up for it again.
Peter was bringing his PA up from Canberra when the Ford Transit it was in broke down. The PA had two large and heavy horn loaded bass speakers, each of which took up the back of a station wagon. There were also two fairly large treble horns and the mixer/amp. The PA was designed for efficiency at the expense of portability. I had to drive to somewhere south of Camden with roof racks on my Hillman Hunter station wagon, and bring back the PA from the farm where the van had broken down. All the way back I hoped my suspension would take the load - those boxes were very heavy.
Peter wasn't able to join us for some warm up gigs which were organised. For these, Nigel Addison sang. He sang well - better than the people we had auditioned that year. When the tour started in earnest, Peter sang.
I believe that Craig and Rob organised the tour this year. Chris was not involved.
The lineup as I remember it was
- Craig Alexander (Lights)
- Nigel Addison (Roadie and warmup gig vocals)
- Peter Davidson (Roadie)
- Peter Garrett
- Jim Moginie
- Rob Hirst
- Andrew James
- Jason Morphett (sax)
For this tour we were much more proficient musically (and had longer hair). We borrowed a truck for the gear this year, but towards the end of the tour the truck broke down and was transported back to Sydney. Rob got tonsilitis, and needed a proper bedroom in a Port Macquarie hotel to recover. We had to cancel the last few concerts of the tour. With these extra expenses the tour was not a financial success. We had, however, learnt about stagecraft and playing together. Rob would later have his tonsils removed, which would remove one potential risk for future concert committments.
In addition, having played with Peter for another few weeks made it that much less likely that we would ever settle for someone who couldn't fill his shoes.
However, a new year of University began, and Peter went back to Canberra.
A time to commute
1975 was a time of experimentation, some might say a wandering in the desert. We established connections with several musicians. One of these was Graham Jesse (sax). Another was keyboard player Dave Hush, who at various times had a grand piano and a Minimoog Synthesizer. There was no other singer on the horizon other than Peter. For the few gigs we had, Peter would have to drive from Canberra, and perform with no rehearsal.
I can recall a song originally called Section 5 Clause B. Peter had only heard the song a few hours before we first performed it. Luckily Peter had a knack of making a song his own, although his lyrics and melody bore little resemblance to the ones Rob had just taught him.
Later Peter would come to know Rob's lyrics for this song,
which were related to Rob's interests in law and in youthful pursuits. The lyrics, which I remember as
Trouble with a schoolgirl
She's only 12 years old
Gotta get me a lawyer
Who's going to do what he's told
got altered each time it was sung by Peter until the schoolgirl was
barely old enough for kindergarten.
The words to this song were later rewritten by Peter and the song became Bus to Bondi.
I have a recollection of a memorable gig in early 1976.
The first band on were Finch, with Owen Orford and Bob Spencer. They were one of the tightest bands around at the time and sounded great. Bob's guitar sound was massive, and the bass player had an Ibanez Rickenbacker bass copy with a much meatier sound than my genuine Rickenbacker had.
The second band on were Farm. I had high heeled platform boots and wore a fur waistcoat with a black felt hat. I don't know if we were experimenting with 'theatrical' makeup yet, but that would soon follow. We were horribly out of tune and sounded terrible.
The third band on were AC/DC. Wow - they were dynamite (TNT?) The guitars! The vocals (Bon Scott)! This was one of the best concerts I have been to, ever! Angus Young usually gets all the attention with Malcolm Young often overlooked, but Malcolm was the engine room of that band.
After that humiliation, what else could we do but crawl into our cars and die!
For a short while in 1976 we took on a keyboard player called Peter Watson, and changed our name, but that is another chapter.