The mid 70s had a great pub rock scene and I was lucky enough to meet it in two places … London and Melbourne, both hubs for this sort of thing. Here, there were all sorts of bands from Graham Parker, Dr. Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe to relative unknowners … and downunder, not only Melbourne bands but Sydney, Perth and so on.

True there was pop but I was never much into it, unless indie, like this band below. Glam was anathema to me, though Slade were well regarded … not my thang. I met this band’s keyboardist … my mate and I walked down to a pub from his place in North Melb and there they were.

During a break, the keyboardist, a truly zany guy, known as “Greedy” Smith, had a plate piled high, we were facing each other, talking, and as he became animated on some topic, the plate angled, the food started sliding off the edge, over him. They were a band who really were fun, not just putting it on, such as Split Enz.

Anyway, this was a … er … fun tune by them but the reactors are as straight as a die, almost no humour, plus American … so how were they going to handle a Sydney pub rock band in their milieu?

They were a much loved band … can you imagine nipping down for a pint, paying the cover and the Mentals entertain you for a couple of hours? Those were good days. We’ve played this one before on the site: