My Bandography

1970: Noggins And Bats

My first band of note had the strangest name: Noggins And Bats!

We played around the Latrobe Valley area in Victoria and made national TV with a single we released on the Moe label, a song I wrote called "Flying" flipped with Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Beatles). We won the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds for our area and got excited about that!

At this stage I had purchased my Hammond and Leslie, and had it souped up to compete with those guitarists! Loved it.

Some info about Noggins and Bats is here: Latrobe Bands

  • Lloyd Poole: keyboards, vocals
  • Mick Cook: vocals, bass
  • Keith Ingelton: drums
  • Doug Cook: guitar (followed by John Mazur and then Tony Calabro)

Noggins And Bats - Flying High

Erebus

I joined up with Warwick Thomas, a great singer and bass player.

We moved to the city to try our luck in Erebus.

The new band played around the hotel scene playing a lot of Chicago material. Ian Kinkead - such a good drummer!

Erebus - Resurrection Shuffle

Canyon

Following Erebus was a short stint with Canyon.

We sang material by Marvin, Welch and Farrar, Crosby, Stills and Nash and the Beach Boys.

Great musicians!

  • Peter Cupples: guitar, vocals
  • Rod Declerck: bass, vocals
  • Peter Lee: drums, vocals
  • Lloyd Poole: keyboard, vocals

Canyon - Father Time

Dove

Another short stint, this time in Dove with Warwick, Steve and Sharon. What great harmonies!

Mostly Carpenters covers.

Sadly, I have no audio tracks of Dove :(

A blog post about Dove at History of Aussie Music

Upp

Then the 10 piece big band Upp ! What a sound they made! Chicago, Frank Zappa, Blood Sweat And Tears, et al.

Everything was written out and rehearsed, but the pay is never so good with the big bands.

We traveled to Sydney and Newcastle - while I was still teaching music in primary schools!

UPP - Make Me Smile!

Statesmen

Statesmen were the resident band at the Hotel International (Airport West).

Laurie Smart was the bass player and manager. What a great operator he was! He is still playing, with Ian Kinkead (drums) and Lindsay Shah (guitar).

Statesmen - Hold Your Head Up

The Strangers

What a great band! The Strangers - these musicians were so experienced!

For the first time I didn't have to arrange the harmonies. I joined to add Moog Synthesizer, Mellotron strings, piano and vocals.

Our Beach Boys covers never sounded so good! Five great singers making a fabulous sound.

  • Peter Robinson: bass, guitar, vocals
  • Garth Thompson: drummer extraordinaire, vocals
  • Bill Pyman: guitar, vocals
  • Rick Berger: bass, keyboards, vocals
  • Lloyd Poole: keyboards, vocals

The Strangers - Home Ain't Home Anymore

Fantasy

I really enjoyed my time with Fantasy . We must have played every TV show on each channel - Don Lane, Ernie Sigley, Young Talent Time, Hey Hey It's Saturday, Channel 7's Saturday night show ('Penthouse Club' - nothing to do with 'Penthouse' Men's magazine), etc... what a great experience it was!

  • Mal Nichols: guitar, vocals (front man and great guy!)
  • Lloyd Poole: keyboards, vocals
  • Colin Ross: drums (sadly passed away)
  • Dave Sholson: bass, vocals

Fantasy - Boppin The Blues.mp3

Fantasy - Needle In A Haystack

The Trutones

The Palais at St. Kilda was our residency for more than 10 years. The Trutones were a great reception band catering for all sorts of groups - even the Umpires on Grand Final Night!

Russell Broadbent was our lead singer, a top front man. Mick Cook was on bass and vocals.

And then I met John Cosgrove - a legend on guitar and rock 'n roll songs. John and I have done a lot of work together since, a clever man.

  • Russell Broadbent: lead vocals
  • Len McGill: drums, vocals
  • Mick Cook: bass, vocals
  • John Cosgrove: guitar, vocals
  • Lloyd Poole: keyboards, vocals

The Trutones - Mack The Knife

The Trutones - Trickle Trickle

Solo

Soon after the Trutones I went solo.

Putting backing tracks and backing vocals together on my laptop, I now play regularly at different venues around Melbourne.