MILESAGO – Groups & Solo Artists |
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Melbourne/UK/USA 1969-1971 |
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Personnel |
Brian Cadd [keyboards, vocals]
Doug Lavery [drums] 1969
Don Lebler [drums] 1969-71
Don Mudie [bass]
Glenn Shorrock [vocals]
Chris Stockley [guitar]
Biography
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Formed in Melbourne in 1969, Axiom were arguably Australia's first "supergroup". Yet, in spite of a wealth of talent and promise, some notable chart successes and two superb albums of original material, they failed to achieve lasting popularity, due in part to waning public support in Australia as they vainly tried to crack the fickle English market, and the band fizzled out after less than two years. Nevertheless, Axiom deserve to be reappraised as an important musical bridge between Sixties pop and Seventies rock in Australia, and as one of the first serious attempts to make Australian rock with international appeal.
Axiom was formed by Brian Cadd and Don Mudie, both former members of leading Melbourne popsters The Groop. Cadd, who began his career with Melbourne’s The Jackson Kings, was already a prominent singer, songwriter and keyboard player. Besides his success with The Groop, he wrote hits for other acts, including Elevator Driver for the Master's Apprentices and When I Was Only Six Years Old for Ronnie Burns (also a UK hit for Paul Jones) and both he and Mudie worked as session players on a number of important recordings including the Russell Morris' classics The Real Thing and Part III into Paper Walls. After linking up in The Groop, Mudie and Cadd formed a successful songwriting partnership that carried on through Axiom and beyond. Shorrock was the former lead singer of The Twilights; Lavery was from Perth's (in)famous The Valentines; Stockley was from leading Melbourne group Cam-Pact.
The formation of Axiom was apparently rather controversial, and there have been suggestions (probably based on reports in Go-Set) that Cadd & Mudie had deliberately engineered the break-up of The Groop in order to be able to form Axiom. The offer was evidently an attactive one -- Lavery and Stockley quit their respective bands and Shorrock withdrew from managing Melbourne band The Avengers to join. The Groop split after Mudie and Cadd had conducted lengthy (and apparently secret) negotiations to recruit Terry Britten who, like Shorrock had been a member of the recently defunct Twilights. They were unsuccessful in snaring Britten, but this evidently enabled them to make the link that resulted in the recruitment of Shorrock.
Axiom signed to Ron Tudor’s Fable Records. Their first single Arkansas Grass (co-written by Cadd and Mudie) reached #7 in Dec. 1969. Cadd, like many other Aussie musicians, had been deeply influenced by the trend towards a fusion of country and folk elements with rock, spearheaded by acts like Dylan, The Byrds, Crosby Stills & Nash and especially The Band, Songs like Arkansas Grass show how well and how quickly Axiom mastered the idiom, and proved that they were able to create material that could stand up against (or indeed pass for) that of any major American group.
Axiom, and Brian Cadd in particular, are sometimes criticised for the overt Americanism of some of their songs. There is no denying it, but there are several important factors that need to be understood when considering why Cadd and Mudie took to this style so enthusiastically. Clearly, they had overseas markets in mind. Moreover, The Groop had been leading local proponents of soul and R&B, but Australian (and American) radio's growing resistance to black music -- even of the homegrown variety -- made it clear that this route would soon be a musical dead-end, at least in commercial terms. And Aussie writers like Brian and Don were far from being the only ones smitten by the charms of The Band's music. Even stars as prominent as The Beatles’ George Harrison and Cream’s Eric Clapton have openly admitted that lyrical honesty and the rootsy, organic musical style of The Band’s first two LPs completely transformed the direction of their own music (a fact clearly in evidence on Clapton and Harrison’s early solo albums). And as well a providing a rich new musical vocabulary, The Band caught the ears of many songwriters with their conspicuous use of American Civil War imagery (prominent on Arkansas Grass). The currency has faded now, but at the time it opened a rich and compelling new vein of symbolism and allegory that writers like Cadd and Mudie could use to refer to the controversial war then raging in Indochina.
Doug Lavery left the band in early 1970 to join The Mixtures and was replaced by Don Lebler (ex-Avengers). Axiom left for London in April with publishing deal from Leeds Music and (reportedly) with record deals on offer from both Apple and Decca. Their attempts to break into the English scene were understandable in the context of the time, but in retrospect their material clearly suggests that they would have been much more likely to succeed in America (as LRB would ultimately prove). Indeed, the latter part of their career suggest that they were heading in that direction, as so often happened, it seems that they lacked the necessary management and record company support.
They released their second single Little Ray of Sunshine (written about Cadd's newborn daughter) just prior to leaving for England. It immediately shot to #5 in April 1970 and has since become a standard. The single was followed by their excellent debut LP Fools Gold, which reached #18 in June, and it still stands as one of the best albums of the period, although it is sadly long out of print. Their first two singles are considered classics, and the latter, a perennial favourite, has become one of Glenn Shorrock's trademark songs, and was even celebrated with its own stamp in Australia Post's 1998 Australian Rock stamp series. Another notable song is the album’s closer, Who Am I Gonna See. We believe it is the first Australian pop/rock record to use a didgeridoo in the arrangement.
Soon after arriving in England, Axiom signed a 3-year contract with Warner’s Reprise label. Evidently Warners were sufficiently impressed to assign the making of band's third single to legendary American-born producer Shel Talmy (The Kinks, The Who, Creation, Manfred Mann, The Easybeats). The single Father Confessor was released in July, but after the spectacular success of the first two singles, this one curiously failed to chart at all in Australia, probably due to the switch of labels and the group’s absence from home.
In September Warners flew them to Los Angeles where they recorded the remaining tracks for their second LP If Only… again with Talmy. They returned to Australia for a few months in November 1970 and then headed back to England in February 1971. If Only… was released in March 1971, just after the band split.
Talmy was interviewed by music writer Richie Unterberger in 2000. Almost thirty years down the track, he still spoke of both group and album in glowing terms:
“Warner Brothers hired me to record them. Super-duper band.
It was a super album. Two weeks before the album was to be released on
Warner, they decided to break up. And they did, and Warners said,
"Bye!! If you think we're promoting this album, you're out of your
fucking minds!" I was real pleased with that album. It was fun
to do, they were talented, the songs were great.”
Coming from the man who produced such classics as My Generation, You Really Got Me, Friday On My Mind and Waterloo Sunset, this is high praise indeed.
Axiom had their third and last Aussie hit in early 1971 with the superb My Baby's Gone. While back home they had filmed a promotional film for the song, one of the first such clips made in colour in Australia. Given that we weren’t to get colour TV for another four years, this was clearly done with overseas markets in mind. When released in January, the single did extremely well -- it was Top Ten by February, and peaked at #8, a fact that is at odds with conventional wisdom, which says that interest in the band at home had waned while they were in England.
However the difficulties of slogging it out in England and cracking the international market undoubtedly took their toll, and it seems there was growing tension within the band by the start of ‘71. When Lebler and Mudie both quit to join The Mixtures in March 1971, it precipitated the band's immediate break-up. Sadly, as Shel Talmy relates, this was only two weeks before If Only… was released. One can only speculate on the result if they had been able to stay together to promote it. Both album and single were released later that year in America but in the absence of the band, they sank without trace.
After Axiom…
Brian Cadd continued to write with Mudie. They returned to Australia
and released a duo single in late 1971, after which Brian hooked up again with
Ron Tudor to form the Bootleg label. He enjoyed a very successful solo
career in the 70s and 80s here and overseas. He moved to America in 1975 and
became a prominent member of what was dubbed the "Gumleaf Mafia", the
group of Aussie expats based in L.A. that included John Farrar, Billy Thorpe
and Olivia Newton-John. In recent years he has also been a member of the reformed
Flying Burrito Brothers. He returned to Australia in the early 80s and
eventually returned here for good in the early 90s. He has worked regularly on
the club and casino circuit since then. During his 1999 tour Cadd and his wife
had a 'close shave', having to be rescued by a passer-by after their car was
swept off a bridge on the Gold Coast during local floods. Brian continues to
perform as well as running his own record label, among other music interests.
Shorrock returned to the UK for several years, singing and recording with the multi-national group Esperanto, before accepting an invitation to team up with members of Mississippi, which soon became the mega-successful Little River Band. Glenn reunited with Brian Cadd in 1993 for the album Blazing Salads.
Chris Stockley went on to a very distinguished career in the 70s with The Dingoes and Stockley, See & Mason.
Unfortunately we have is little extant information about the later careers
of Don Mudie, Doug Lavery and Don Lebler, so if anyone can fill us in, we’d love
to hear from you!
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Discography |
Singles
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12/69 Arkansas Grass / Samantha [Parlophone A 8909] 4/70 Little Ray Of Sunshine / Fords Bridge [Parlophone A 9070] 7/70 Father Confessor / Time & Time Again [Warner Bros 6134] 1/71 My Baby's Gone / Hold The Phone [Warner Bros 8021] 4/71 Fools Gold / Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Parlophone A 9421 |
EPs
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The Axiom
Hits |
Albums
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References / Links |
Paul Conn - 2000 Weeks: The First Thirty Years of Australian Rock (1996)
Ian McFarlane - Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (1999)
Noel McGrath - Australian Encylopedia of Rock (1978)
Chris Spencer & Zbig Nowara - Who's Who of Australian Rock & Roll (1993)
Richie Unterberger –
The Shel Talmy Interview - http://www.richieunterberger.com/talmy.html
