This
is an edited version of Rod's journal which detailed all the early days
of Voigt/465.
27/06/76 Famous first
rendition of 'Double Poet'
25/07/76 Third and Fourth
performances of 'Triple Poet'; First performance of 'Voigt'
28/08/76 First Public
Performance
Early 77 The moving of
Lindsay to 227 Commonwealth St Surry Hills meant a change in environment
for the whole band. Rehearsals, playing with drummers. Many different people
were met during the period including Ian McIntosh, an English synethist,
and various non musicians from Bondi.
10/04/77 A name had not
become definite at this stage, provisionally The Radiator Placebo
23/04/77 Rod obtains
a Stratocaster.
01/05/77 Very low-fi
demo tape made, consisting of "Liftalk", "The Marker" and "The Three Four
Song"
05/06/77 Audition(?)
with drummer. Great House. Depression follows at Henry's (king of junk food)
12/06/77 A few new songs
figured out : "D-135", "Fightback", "Cartage and Storage", "The Old Endicot
Building", "Testimony", "The 1984 BrainPolice" (by P Nelson arranged R
Dicker), "Coming Down" (USA), "The True Wheel" (Eno)
15/06/77 Lindsay buys
a Jazz Bass. New title and symbol unveiled "465 Radiators".
19/06/77 Surprise request
by Bruce Stalder to drum at practice : turns out well ,says he'll come
back.
10/07/77 Various people
invited to a 465 Radiators practice - sort of a performance. "F6" was done
for the 2nd time (1st time with whole band)
09/08/77 Gig arranged
by Rod at Bigge Park Liverpool - free concert
12/08/77 Rae joins band
21/08/77 The first ever
Voigt gig - Bigge Park Liverpool.
Set list : "Wax and Ash", "Why
are we Sleeping", "Connection", "Liftalk", "Sombre Reptiles", "Interstellar
Overdrive", "If I could do it again Id do it all over you", "The Old Endikott
Building".
The PA was shithouse - the sound
on stage was completely copulated : feedback, bass crap and shit running
through and spoiling everything. Bruce broke his hihat and lost his drums
on the cement floor. "Interstellar Overdrive" was action packed, "Connection"
got very manic, "If I could do it again Id do it all over you" was great,
"The Old Endikott Building" was very strong. Linz got really into it, talking
about Andy Warhols cats. Phil was sitting, and solid "In this song we destroy
4/4 time". Linz wore makeup - white face powder. Rod smudged eyes - "Interstellar
Overdrive" was dedicated to Syd. Linz "Electricity comes from other planets".
Rod "Pieces of metal on your flesh" (some of the words). Rod had his radiator
and his chair. Rae was great. During 'Wax and Ash' she did not move all
song.
Highlights : The end of "The
Old Endikot Building" - a gigantic buildup of voice and emotion; Conversation
on stage and random phrase after "Interstellar
Overdrive"; The end of "If
I could do it again Id do it all over you".
Comments : Peter Nelson 'The
most visual band I've ever seen.'; Jenny 'It was really good'; Frank 'Lindsay
looked great, he was the most visual, moving around a lot.'
Get a PA, or at least a mixer.
Get the sound better, dont play in the sun (synth tuning), or on smooth concrete
floors (drums). Continue not to compromise. Rod - need new amp. Linz - ditto.
Have it so Rod can hear Phil. Do it Again!
01/11/77 Second concert
for the band at Alexander Mackie College Ground Floor. Was great - played
a lot better. Got $50 lost $5 total
Set List : "Wax & Ash",
"If I could...", "Sombre Reptiles", "Connection", "Masts for You", "Liftalk",
"So long as one knows", "I wanna be your dog" ,"1984 Brain Police", "Interstellar
Overdrive"
01/03/78 Another gig
at Macquarie Uni. Hardly any people. No PA - had to use amps.
Set List : "Liftalk" (new version);
"Coming Down", "Why are We Sleeping" ,"So long as one knows", "Wax &
Ash", "Connection", "I wanna be your dog", "Old Endikot"
Playing was not all that good
: Old Endikot was awful, Coming Down to Slow. Set was abridged.
Also, concert at French's in
offing though he said we were laidback, and had never heard anything like
it before, was very interested in visuals (to be done with Peter).
07/04/78 (we think) Played
at Streatfield Press (run down factory in heart of Sydney's CDB) to a small
audience. Premier of slide show. Private audience also recorded, captured
with some stills. "F1" 'hard to swallow so much feedback'; "State" and
"Following Page" debuted.
28/04/78 Balmain Town
Hall with Mental as Anything ('50s rockabilly dance band) and Kamikazi
kids: Fucked around a lot - we weren't on the What's on, either radio or
Daily Mirror; we thought we mightn't be on; No soundcheck; Unorganized
Set List : "If I could", "I
Wanna", "1984", "Coming Down", "So long as one knows", "Connection", "And
the following Page", "Interstellar Overdrive", "Why are we Sleeping", "Liftalk",
"State"
Really bad acoustics - unbelievable
amount of echo, made vocals in 1st song very hard. Too much treble. Dance
band was expected. Was for Secondary Students against Uranium. Couldn't
hear drums. Played poor most of the time although "Interstellar Overdrive"
was very good.
29/04/78 Blondies : Started
off badly. When we got there, Press & Sheiks were on - not us. Anyway,
eventually only Press and so we set up in front of their equipment. Used
their PA. Slide show used
Set List : "And the following
Page", "1984 Brain Police", "Why are we Sleeping", "So long as one knows",
"Connection", "F1", "Interstellar Overdrive", "State", "Liftalk", "Its
a Rainy Day (Faust)", "I wanna Be your dog", "Old Endikott"
First set was great. Drums were
loud! Esp 1984. Did F1 best we've ever played in concert. Good sound (Bit
bassy)
18/06/78 Recording booked
for 1st July at Axent Studio Kogarah songs to be done : "State", "So long
as one knows", "And the following page", "Secret West". Thinking of releasing
EP.
01/07/78 Recording at
Axent : "State" and "Secret West" to be released as single hopefully. Mixdown
not done yet (4th)
23/07/78 Finished recording
& mixdown
13/08/78 Did gig at French's
: extremely strong reaction to us - very polarised. Much abuse was hailed
at us, and one mug (at Phil). Accused of being hippies, pooftas. Not playing
there again. Rob Younger liked us - "you killed it". 1st set was very good.
Bruce also refused to play on F1, Lola Streched and Pulled (a newie). Rae
played great metal percussion
New songs included "Is New Is"
(Rod/Linz); "War" (H. Cow); "Bright" (Phil); "Great Pretender" (Eno); "Secret
West"; "Lady Godivas Op." (VU); "Lola Stretched and Pulled" (Phil); "Red
Lock".
14/09/78 Haven't played
again. New drummer - Mark Boswell - from 26th August. Lindsay going to
England end of next month
08/10/78 Played first
gig with Mark at Garibaldi's - sort of a punk club. Other bands were Sadists,
Banana Republic, Johny Dole & Crooked Hearts, Urban Guerillas(Us),
Friction & Thought Criminals. Only had 2 days notice - was benefit
for TC singer - got gig from their guitarist.
Did very short set : "Rainy
Day", "Following Page", "Wanna be your dog", "Secret West", "State", "Is
New Is"
Rainy Day great. Did go down
very well. Not much heckling - Met some people that liked us : Red
Lock was asked for.
Mark has moved to factory in
Liverpool St - will practice there from now on. Pyrmont is next week. Also
a party week before Lindsay leaves.
17/10/78 Have done Pyrmont.
Statistically was a failure - only about 10-15 people turned up, lost $64.00.
Had trouble with PA, meant didn't start proper till 4.00pm. Red lock first,
was pretty good. Everyone was sick besides Rae and sort of Rod. Eventually
we got stopped (did 'encore'(?) of I wanna be your dog). Went to a lot
effort - physical etc - as our first own concert was a bit abysmal. Most
songs just were listened to - we didn't go down like straw houses in the
face of the wolf. Party soon(?) then Lindsay leaves, got new material to
do.
17/12/78 Single
released. Been played at least 5 times on 2JJ. Being pushed a bit at Phantom
- slogan on place marker-"Dynamic Local Weirdoes". Seems to auger well
for the future - "Sydney garage band" etc. Lindsay comes back next week.
Not had much success it seems with getting recording contract - Virgin
lost our tapes last we heard. Have 6 new songs; 3 more or less finished.
31/01/79 Lindsay
came back - started practicing 3 times a week - after about 3 weeks of
this routine started going around to pubs asking for gigs - mostly knocked
back - they even thought single was too unsuitable. Successful at first
at the "Beresford Hotel", Bourke St - Woman manager gave us a complimentary
chance to play on 20th Jan - get there & discover we've been double
booked but played at 224 Liverpool St instead - it was great - lot
of energy - not much reaction from audience though. Gig set for White Horse
Hotel Crown St for 23rd.
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