Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs

 

Personnel

Biography

Reflections

Discography

[References

Links

Billy Thorpe [vocals, guitar, harmonica] backed by the following line-ups:
 

Aztecs Mk I   1963-1965	Aztecs Mk II  1965-1966
Colin Baigent - dr   Tony Barber - rhythm gtr, vcls   Vince Maloney - lead gtr, vcls   John "Bluey" Watson - bs	Johnny Dick [dr]   Mike Downes [rhythm gtr, vcls]  Colin Risby [lead gtr, vcls]  Jimmy Taylor [piano]   Teddy Toi [bs]  Tony Buchanan & Rocky Thomas [brass]

1967-68
Billy withdrew from live performance and released only one solo single (see Biography)
 

Aztecs Mk III   1968-70	Aztecs Mk IV   1970-72	Aztecs Mk V   1972-73	Aztecs Mk VI  1973-75
Lobby Loyde (Barry Lyde) - lead gtr   Dave McTaggart - bs (1968)   Jimmy Thompson - dr   Paul Wheeler - bs	Gil "Rathead" Matthews [dr, vcls] (1971-72)   Warren "Pig" Morgan [pno, vcls]  Kevin Murphy [dr] (1970)   Steve Ninnis [dr] (1970)   Paul Wheeler [bs]	Bruce Howard [pno]   Gil Matthews [dr]  Paul Wheeler [bs]	Gil Matthews [dr, vcls]  Warren Morgan [pno, vcls]  Teddy Toi [bs]

Introduction

It is these two major chapters of Billy Thorpe's career that are examined here...

Biography

1963
William Richard Thorpe was born in Manchester, England and emigrated with his family to Brisbane in the fifties. The precocious Billy participated in amateur talent quests as a yodeller and sang at local dances. He performed as a youth under the pseudonym 'Little Rock Allen', to avoid potential hassles from the child protection agencies, and played on bills supporting the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and our own rock 'n' roll phenomenon, Johnny O'Keefe. The yodelling quality to Billy's voice can be heard in the vocal style of some of his early recordings.

Billy moved to Sydney in early 1963 and soon auditioned for singing work at the premier beat-music venue of the day, Surf City in Kings Cross. His backing band for these auditions was called The Aztecs. They had formed from the remnants of two popular Sydney surf-instrumental outfits, The Vibratones and The Sierras. The coupling of the musically-accomplished group with Billy's obvious charismatic appeal and stage presence impressed the musicians themselves, and quickly gained the attention of entrepreneurs keen to spot "the next big thing". Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs rapidly became a popular drawcard on the burgeoning Sydney beat-dance circuit, and set about honing their sound.

The group was offered a recording arrangement with the small independent label Linda Lee, and in the closing stages of the year recorded what was to become the first single.
 

1964
The first recorded output from the band appeared in April of 1964. Blue Day was written by rhythm guitarist Tony Barber (not to be confused with the well-known game-show host), and displayed his nascent songwriting skills. While hardly an earth-shattering debut (a pedestrian beat-influenced song with tinny recording, dominated by Thorpe's reedy whine), the record garnered moderate notice on Sydney radio, and actually became a proper hit when it was re-released in the wake of The Aztecs' subsequent breakthrough.

It was the follow-up that set the benchmark. Their cover of Lieber & Stoller's Poison Ivy is rightfully honoured as Australia's first ever 'beat boom' hit, reaching number one on the national charts, and remaining an oft-compiled classic of the era. As happened with so many other Aussie cover versions of songs made known by significant British groups of the time, The Aztecs' version of this Coasters original made a mockery of the record upon which it was based - a half-hearted Rolling Stones EP rendition.

They signed with Albert Productions, an emerging music company led by young publisher/producer Ted Albert. The Aztecs became the frontrunners in a stable that would go on to include such quality acts as The Easybeats, The Missing Links and The Throb. They followed up the huge success of Poison Ivy with a series of strongly-charting releases, among them Mashed Potato; (notable mainly for its gormless, repetitive three-word lyric), and the confidently slinky Searchers cover, Sick & Tired.

By the time The Beatles hit our shores in June, absolute pandemonium had become the order of the day at Aztecs shows around the country. The group actually kept the Fabs themselves from chart poll position while the moptops' tour was in full swing! Indeed, John Lennon summoned "this Billy Thorpe character" for a meeting which took place at the Fabs' hotel, The Sheraton in Kings Cross, the teenage Billy apparently impressing his hosts with his precocity and charm.

Concert footage from the time shows the band barely able to complete a number without wild stage invasions from hysterical fans. And while The Aztecs epitomised the polish and professionalism developing within the biggest acts of the day, with their natty matching suits and menacing-looking Burns Bison guitars - not to mention the whole band's deft mastery of the legendary Stomp dance moves! - they suffered from the same sound reinforcement inadequacies endured by all performers then. The band's amplification just could not compete with the sheer volume of the audiences' screaming abandon. If the Aztecs' musical chops suffered as a result of not being able to be heard, few seemed to mind - the concert performances remained exciting events which drew ever-increasing crowd numbers and national popularity.

Consolidating their position with appearances on such TV pop shows as Bandstand and with a strong mix of Barber-penned originals and well-chosen covers for their eponymous debut album on Parlophone the group went from strength to strength. At this stage, it could be argued that only Ray Brown & the Whispers (who had inherited the Aztecs residency at Surf City) could rival the Aztecs to any significant degree.

Towards the end of 1964, Thorpe signalled a not-so-subtle change in musical direction, with a decidedly 'MOR', string-drenched version of Judy Garland's Somewhere Over The Rainbow. With this single, the group entered 1965 with its biggest hit to date, albeit the swansong of the original Aztecs line-up.
 

1965
The early part of 1965 saw 'BT & the As' continue touring to sold-out houses throughout the land, and earning a clutch of gold record awards. They supported such overseas acts as Tony Sheridan and (the late) Screaming Lord Sutch, and, notably, attracted a record 63,000 punters to a headlining performance at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl.

Then, at the height of the group's dominance, Thorpe unceremoniously jettisoned his original backing group in favour of an all-new line-up. The precise reasons for this drastic change remain unclear, although speculation over remuneration disputes continues. With the new group establishing its credentials with another MOR ballad, I Told The Brook (although its flip, the rollicking, bass-dominated Funny Face hinted that Thorpe hadn't completely abandoned his rocking roots) departing members Barber and Maloney formed the short-lived Vince & Tony Two, before Vince was summoned to England to join the emerging new Bee Gees line-up.

The Aztecs MkII continued to ply the national concert circuit and released another album, supported by strong chart entries for a batch of singles which mainly mined the soppy ballad vein introduced with Rainbow. The advent of such fresh and vital new bands as The Easybeats, The Twilights and The Masters Apprentices (among many others) could not dampen the ardour of Aztecs fans, and the group continued to enjoy a fervent following throughout the year.
 

1966
1966 is notable for Billy as the year he expanded his horizons to become an all-round entertainer. Backed by the "Mark II" Aztecs, he notched up further hits with Twilight Time, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Love Letters and Word For Today.

On March 27, the Seven Network broadcast the first episode of It's All Happening!, a one-hour live-to-air showcase for Billy and band (augmented by Rocky Thomas and Tony Buchanan on brass), as well as weekly guest stars (local luminaries like The Easys, Ray Brown and Normie Rowe, alongside visiting acts such as Helen Shapiro, Neil Sedaka and Bobby Rydell). The show was a non-stop musical feast, with Thorpie the MC aided and fetchingly abetted by a phalanx of go-go dancers, and the band precariously mounted on a scaffolding set. The rowdy 400-strong audience enthusiastically propelled the show through the sound barrier, and it proved one of the better examples of the infant pop-TV genre. It's All Happening! lasted until the end of the year, its demise also marking the end of the second Aztecs grouping.

Of that second Aztecs configuration, at least two members, Johnny Dick and Teddy Toi, would go on to forge lasting individual careers in Aussie rock (notably becoming members of the Alberts' All-Stars house band), while each returned to the Aztecs fold occasionally over subsequent years.

But what began with a bang in 1964, ended with a whimper for Billy in 1966, as the vicissitudes of the evolving pop world seemed to render his style redundant. With the break-up of the Aztecs, he was left to ponder and re-assess his future...
 

1967 - 1968
These two years marked a holding pattern for Thorpie. By various accounts, he had become disenchanted with his career direction, and wanted to explore the more radical forms of music emerging from the UK and US. It was as though he had already acknowledged that his cutesy, middle-of-the-road image and musical approach had no place among the new psychedelic, blues and 'head-music' styles now finding favour with fans in the latter half of the sixties.

It's quite likely that Billy's widely-publicised bankruptcy and other personal upheavals didn't help his mood during this period, and in late '68 he retreated to Melbourne to lick his wounds and start preparations for phase two of his remarkable career.

With one largely ignored '67 single, Dream Baby, Billy began the process of breaking the shackles of his 60s ('phase one') pop persona, to re-emerge shortly thereafter with the template of his sensational 70s ('phase two') resurgence as the macho, bearded, long-haired, blueswailing rocker we have come to revere.
 

1969
1969 began with Billy being offered a recording deal in England by expatriate Australian entrepreneur, Robert Stigwood (The Bee Gees, Cream). While rehearsing a backing band in Melbourne that would form the basis for the new Aztecs, the guitarist withdrew, leaving Thorpe to assume lead guitar role at short notice. Thus began the blueprint for the astonishing new sound that was shortly to be introduced to an unsuspecting but enthusiastic public. Billy observes:

"...as luck or fate would have it, the guitar player quit. I'd never played guitar on stage and had to learn the whole set in a night. To make up for the songs I didn't know, I threw in tunes like Be Bop A Lula that I'd done years before and, to my amazement, a lot of people went: 'whoa - what's this?!' And that's how the whole thing got started".

"Melbourne in 1969 was unbelievable. I'd never seen anything like it. I got there and realised I was a pop star with a lot to learn. I thought - fuck me! Why am I going to England when it's all happening here? I went to Melbourne for two weeks and stayed eight years".

With plaited ponytail, tight jeans and a new blues-based outlook, Thorpie and his new Aztecs blitzed Melbourne's 'heads' with an explosive presentation that forever laid to rest his clean-cut 60s pop image. His and the band's '69 resurgence was to gel shortly into the legendary entity that was to dominate Oz Rock for the better part of the 70s...
 

1970
To paraphrase Murray Engleheart's liner notes for the Lock Up Your Mothers anthology, the next recorded instalment of OzRock brutality was an ambitious jam-filled album called The Hoax Is Over, which was recorded in September 1970 with new drummer Kevin Murphy. The album was an unequivocal signal of the Aztecs'new direction, containing only four tracks, three of which were Thorpe originals. The LP is dominated by two extended tracks: on Side 1 it's the Aztec's version of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's Gangster Of Love, which clocks in at a whopping 24:35!. On Side 2 it's Billy own Mississippi, (19:35). According to Thorpe, the band (at this time comprising he, Murphy, Warren Morgan, Lobby Loyde and bassist Paul Wheeler), was flying on LSD while hapless engineer Ernie Rose just let the tapes roll. The result heralded the fully-fledged arrival of the Aztecs mark III, par excellence.Live shows at Melbourne's premier venues like Thumpin' Tum and Catcher, consolidated the band's reputation and drew solid enthusiastic response.

Not all the Aztecs' gigs in those early months were so well recieved, however. Away from their home base in Melbourne (where they were the undisputed kings of the booming local pub-rock scene) the Aztecs encountered stiff - and sometimes brutal - resistance to their new style. Punters who turned up expecting to see well-groomed young men in neat suits, performing Poison Ivy and Mashed Potato, sometimes reacted violently when confronted by the raw, aggressive blues and crushing volume of the new Aztecs. One particularly nasty episode, which Billy recounts in the liner notes to Lock Up Your Mothers, occurred when the Aztecs played in the country town of Queanbeyan, just north of Canberra, in early 1970. A llarge fight erupted after the gig, and the band were forced to escape by car, but were chased down the highway towards Canberra by a group of hooligans, who pursued them at speeds in excess of 100mph, firing shots after them! The Aztecs sought refuge in their hotel, but the local hoons carried the fight into the hotel foyer. The resulting melee deomlished the hotel foyer and spilled out into the street, resulting in several members of the band being badly injured, as well as members of support group Fraternity, including lead singer Bon Scott, who had waded in to help. Next morning, the band was escorted out of town by police, and were warned - for their own safety - not to return.
 

1971
While continuing to bludgeon Melbourne's rock cognoscenti with their power-blues repertoire, a landmark event for the band took place on 13 June 1971. A then four-piece Aztecs (Thorpe, Morgan and Wheeler, together with former 'Mickey Mouse Club' drumming prodigy, Gil "Rathead" Matthews), played at the Melbourne Town Hall. The evening's performance, including Morgan's commandeering of the huge town hall organ, was captured on the album Live At Melbourne Town Hall. Thorpie remembers:

By contrast though the milder, pastoral-sounding The Dawn Song was released in '71. A moderate hit, it displayed the musical diversity of Thorpe and his cohorts at this time. There was the view that the band's live power could not be adequately captured on tape, hence studio recordings like TDS which leant in other directions.
 

1972
"And I know at times, I act a little haa-aayy-zz-eee-ee"...

Who of us, listening to mainstream radio in early 1972, could have escaped the refrains of this singularly captivating paean to high-living hedonism? Most People I Know(Think That I'm Crazy) had as much impact as She's So Fine, The Real Thing, I'll Be Gone and Eagle Rock, to the point where this song has become a definitive icon of Aussie Rock. It was a huge hit for Thorpie and the new Aztecs, indubitably propelled to the top of charts by the band's triumphant appearance at the legendary 1972 Sunbury Music Festival. Thorpe himself sees this as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian music, thanks to the promoters' decision to feature an all-Australian lineup, rather than relying on imported stars..

While by no means the first of Australia's outdoor rock festivals, Sunbury was to assume the mantle of  "our own Woodstock". It was held at the end of January, 1972, over the Australia Day long weekend. The venue was a natural amphitheatre site on farmland near Sunbury, a rural town north of Melbourne, Victoria. The Aztecs shared billing with such other prominent acts as Spectrum/Murtceps, The La De Das, Max Merritt & the Meteors, SCRA, Pirana, Greg Quill's Country Radio and many others. But the main event of the festival was undoubtedly Thorpie's triumphant appearance! The exhortation from the stage to "suck more piss!" has passed into folklore, as stoned and drunk punters, enjoying the ambience of a weekend of hard music, topless frolicking, easy drugs and free love, adopted THORPIE! as the king of Oz Rock (whatever that is/was), and elevated him and his powerhouse band to the status of legend - a status Billy has never quite lived down.

Evidence of The Aztecs' incendiary set, and those of the other performers, could be enjoyed on the double-album recording, Sunbury [EMI-HMV SOXLP 7561/2], and also on the film made of the event, Sunbury [Video release: Siren SIRVID 100]. But a double-album collecting the Aztecs' full set, Live at Sunbury [Havoc HST 4003/4], captures our lads alone in their full glory. Complete with a splendid cartoon 3D pop-up cover, depicting the group and friends in a festival tent, smoking hookas and looking out of it (as you do). This release, with full inserts and in mint condition, is much sought after by collectors today. A quick listen to any part of the contents will confirm why...

After the release of Most People (which had become a virtual anthem among young Aussies by this time), the group set about recording a follow-up. Believe It Just Like Me railed against radio's preponderant preference for overseas playlist fodder at the time, and while it was a worthy successor (and in a similar hard rocking style) to the mega-hit, it failed to emulate the success of Most People.

Nevertheless, the plaudits earned by the band after its monumental Sunbury appearance stood it in good stead for its subsequent triumphs. Chatting with Ian 'Molly' Meldrum soon after the event, Billy observed:

Thorpe's message in 1973 was without doubt loud and clear! He and the 'floating' personnel of The Aztecs commanded a pre-eminent position in Aussie rock. While artists such as Ross Wilson, Mike Rudd, Lindsay Bjerre and Gulliver Smith (to name but four of many) strove to push out and pull down boundaries in their music, it seemed somehow comforting that we continued to have Thorpie and pals providing no-nonsense, balls-out rock sustenance to the masses.

That is not to say that Billy's and the band's music lacked innovation or creativity musically. One of his tour-de-force concert staples at the time; exhilarating and provocative with its changes; was a fiercely-rocking piece called "Fuck On Stage" ("whaddaya mean I can't say fuck on stage?!') - borne out of our hero's increasingly frequent arrests and detainments for  the liberal use of that very word onstage! Another original concert chestnut from the time was Mamma. Here, each member of the band excelled with a solo turn, Billy's being a scat vocal unison guitar thing, with Gil's inventive and fulsome drum underpinnings consistently exciting. The old Ike and Tina Turner standard, Ooh Poo Pah Doo, proved perhaps the most memorable of the classic 'Sunbury Aztecs' live song list, involving as it did a prolonged audience-band call and response interlude, a gleeful threat by the perpetrator (Thorpe) to "create a disturbance in your mind", culminating in some of the rawest, lewdest heavy blues jamming that even the most jaded of audiences had witnessed.

The band repeated their festival success at Sunbury '73 and enjoyed another triumph by again selling out the Myer Bowl in Melbourne. This particular coup supplied added poignancy after a couple of abortive excursions the band made to the UK earlier in the year. One reason the Marquee gigs in London are said to have failed is...that volume! It was too much for the Brits, apparently!

On the recording front, Billy was certainly not idle in 1973. Not for one moment setting aside the Aztecs' busy performing schedule, he still found time to collaborate on quite a fine little album, it has to be said, with his long-time friend and at that time housemate, Warren "Pig" Morgan. The resultant album, "Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy", is well worth seeking out, as is its pumping lead-off single, Captain Straightman.

Another curiosity of the time is the single Billy and Pig co-wrote and produced, with full Aztec backing, for the eccentric soul-blues singer Wendy Saddington. Looking Through My Window is a sensitively rendered epic ballad, well worth seeking out.

In August , Billy switched record labels from the independent Havoc to the newly-opened local arm of Atlantic Records, releasing the singles Movie Queen and Don't You Know You're Changing? in quick succession. Although '73's latter bunch of singles were ostensibly solo Thorpe releases, they nonetheless featured most of the extant Aztecs line-up (with help from Chain pals Phil Manning and Barry Sullivan) and served as appetisers for his 1974 offerings.

One particularly notable, innovative, and ultimately monumental Aztec event in 1973; mounted in the wake of the band's incredible popularity and dominance at this time; was the band's farewell concert at the brand new Sydney Opera House. The members were by this time going in different musical directions and this gala concert was staged as an extravagant bow-out.

The concert, the first rock performance at the Opera House, was recorded and released in 1973 as a double album. The show consisted of three one-hour sets, the first acoustic, the second, an elaborately-staged concept suite called No More War. The third set was an all-in all-star jam, bringing Lobby Loyde, Kevin Murphy and Johnny Dick back into the fold for the first time in years.

Before disbanding, the Aztecs recorded one more album for Atlantic.
 

1974
Right at the beginning of '74, the More Arse Than Class LP came out, to cries of derision from the Fred Niles of the day about the album's title, not to mention its disgusting cover, folding out to show the naked, hairy posteriors of four young men! The music on the record was where the true arse was though - it kicked it! It remains the Aztecs most successful studio album, and apart from the undiluted power of its music, is a strong testament to the skills of erstwhile Aztec drummer/producer/engineer/archivist Gil Matthews. Also notable is the return on bass duties of Billy's old cohort Teddy Toi.
 

1975 - 76
Billy's recorded output over the next two years consisted of two well-received, ostensibly solo albums, "Million Dollar Bill" and " Pick Me Up & Play Me Loud". The breezy, soulful single, "It's Almost Summer" was also a medium-sized hit. He enlisted the help of former Aztecs Matthews, Morgan and Toi, together with new guitarist and songwriter, Billy Kristian. Billy continued to tour with this basic line-up and remained a popular drawcard
 

1977-present
Over the years since the early 70s, Billy has written and produced tracks and has sat in on sessions for a number of artists, among them, Jeff St John, Ronnie Charles, The Wild Cherries, Angry Anderson and Wendy Saddington. He also appeared in the Australian stage production of Pete Townshend's rock opera, Tommy.

In the late 'Seventies, Billy decided to pursue this collaborative interest further, and moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he established a highly successful toy wholesaling business. Hooking up with such notable US sessioneers as Leland Sklar and Earl Slick, he released a series of ambitious concept albums, like Children Of The Sun, 21st Century Man, Stimulation (a particular favourite of this author's) and East Of Eden's Gate. He also showed up in Mick Fleetwood's hobby band, Zoo, and returned occasionally to Australia for well-received spot appearances, often with a reunion of his old Aztecs pals.

In the early 90s, Thorpe and family came back to Oz for good. A rejuvenated interest in Billy's amazing body of work led to the successful launch of a 3CD retrospective, Lock Up Your Mothers and national concerts again reuniting the classic Sunbury Aztecs line-up. Billy continues to record and has found a lucrative sideline in advertising composition (like the "Friday Night Football" TV promo for the 9 network). He has also authored two highly entertaining (and essential) autobiographical books, and for someone who has done all he has in his life, looks remarkably trim and youthful for his 50-something years.

But the final word on this remarkable performer should perhaps come from one of his major fans - another OzRock icon - Angry Anderson:

"I've dreamt about that voice. I worship at the temple of that voice".

Interview with Billy Thorpe, conducted by Tracey Curro of the Nine Network's "60 Minutes" in 1994.

60 Minutes Presenter (TC): Okay Billy, this is your one chance to dispel once and for all; all of the myths about your life as a rock 'n' roll star

BT: Oh, good! (laughs)
TC: Yes or no: were there drugs?
BT: Yes
TC: Booze?
BT: Yes
TC: Groupies?
BT: Yes
TC: Clashes with the law?
BT: Yes
TC: Trashing hotel rooms?
BT: Yes
TC: You blew it!
BT: A-ha-ha-ha!!!! I used to like it when they threw the knickers on the stage, that was nice (laughs)...Now they throw their wheelchairs and crutches, y'know?
TC: You don't feel like, er, you're a bit past it, or it's a bit past you?
BT: No! Why? What's a bit past me?
TC: This! [Tracey gestures to her surroundings; the preparations for an Aztecs reunion gig]
BT: This?
TC: Being a rock 'n' roller
BT: It's like sex darling, yeah, it really is!
TC: Tell me Billy!
BT: (laughs heartily)... yeah, you can enjoy it as long as you can!
TC: There's one song from that [early] era that I think still stands at the top for the most creative lyrics in musical history
BT: "Mashed Potato"?
TC: You got it!
BT: (hearty laughter)
TC: So just let me get it right - there were three words in the song, weren't there?
BT: "Mashed potato, yeah". And I think mashed potato was repeated something like a hundred times in the song
TC: Right, so the verse was...
BT: (sings) Mashed potato, yeah, yeah, yeah...that was it!
TC: And the chorus?
BT: (sings) Mashed potato, yeah, yeah...(laughs). When I listen to the original, I mean the original by Rufus Thomas was like: (renders song in big solid bluesy style)...but ours was like: (pinches nose and gives weedy, anemic reading). Heh, it was just ridiculous! Like wind-up toys!
BT: There were kids climbing up the front of hotels, there were girls in closets, under beds, in the showers. Everywhere we went it was that whole hysteria thing - kids chasing us down the street, tearing clothes off, you know, hanging onto the top of cars. One girl got really badly hurt 'cos she jumped on top of a car and it went round a corner and she spun off and went through a shop window. [While onstage] they all hit the stage at once and one of them runs at me and slides in her own slime across the stage and took my legs out from underneath me, you know
TC: Did that feel like adoration?
BT: Oh, it felt like pain! (laughs). It was pandemonium!
 

Looking over some old photos and memorabilia with Glenn A Baker:
BT: Look at us, isn't that...(laughs)
TC: What an angel!
GAB: Look at you there - where did you get a suit like that?
BT: Now you know where Johnny Farnham got his whole thing from - look at this!
GAB: How can anyone possibly look that cherubic, that wholesome and well-scrubbed?
BT: I was pretty, wasn't I? My God Glenn, where do you get all this stuff?
GAB: Remember The Aztecs in the Sunbury years used to fly around in that great private plane, that Italian troop transport?
BT: One of the planes we had, crashed at Healesville, crashed in the mud and we all ended up in the lake. I remember the roadie saying to me, "come on hurry up, we're on in ten minutes!" (laughing)...We're all in the plane going "oohhhhh!"
BT: In Dubbo it was one of these things that after the show, the hotel threw on a gala feast for the band and one of the guys in the band pulled a girl, and it turned out to be the mayor's daughter, and before we knew it...
TC: Big mistake
BT: Big mistake. And there were guys outside in pickup trucks with shotguns and we were unceremoniously asked to leave the town, and: "piss off and don't come back!" Ah-ha-ha-ha!!!
TC: Was Dubbo the only place that happened?
BT: No. No, no, no, it happened a lot. (Merrily chuckling)

On Billy's relocation to Los Angeles:
BT: I thought, I just gotta get outta here; I'm gonna end up with a bow-tie singing "Over The Rainbow" in leagues clubs for the rest of my life. I've got to go! So I did, I just went shoosh!
TC: And how long did it take you to make your first million in the States?
BT: Not that long actually, ha ha

Trying on clothes in an LA boutique:
BT: See, this is what keeps you young, instead of buying suits and ties, you buy this sort of shit! [modelling natty buckskin jacket]. And you act half your age! [swaggers off]...

[Now joined by daughters Lauren and Rusty, and wife Lynn]:
Rusty: [I remember my] parents showing up in their leather jackets and their jeans and boots to conservative school functions (laughs)
BT: 'Cos they went to private schools, you know, er, very right-wing, republican, very straight Ivy League kinda people, and we'd turn up to the meetings and we were always just...
Rusty: You wore a shiny suit that one time (much laughter). To the father-daughter banquet, he shows up in this, like, shiny teal green suit!
BT: Ha ha! See, there was a period where, when I had really long hair they were embarrassed by me, y'know: "why don'tcha get your hair cut?" And then, as they got older, it became cool.
Lauren: He's cool again now.
BT: I'm cool now, y'see? Ha ha ha. But they've been great - their friends love me!
Lauren: All my guy friends are in love with my mom, and all the girls think my dad's cute.
BT: Well [my daughters] think I'm crazy, y'know.
Lynn: Billy hid his old videos because they laughed so hard.
BT: Every time people came round the house, the kids'd put the damn videos on! They've got heaps of their friends, looking at me when I was...
Lauren: Singing "Poison Ivy".
BT: ...singing "Poison Ivy" to uproarious laughter, so I hid 'em! (family laughing)
BT: I've never liked the sound of my own voice. I can't listen to my own records. I mean I like to talk, as you know, but I only started to enjoy the sound of my own singing in the last couple of years, 'cos I think my voice has matured. 'Cos it was always so thin [pinches nose], like "blliiirrrp!" So I could never work out why I was as popular as I was!
TC: Do you still have enough energy to do The Stomp?
BT: [emphatically] No
TC: Well, I don't really know what The Stomp is...
BT: I'm not gonna show you Trace! (laughs)
[Next scene: Billy and his daughters re-create a very credible Stomp for the cameras]

On Billy and his family's return to live in Australia, and the release of the 3-CD anthology:
BT: So many people come up to me in the street with fond memories attached to the various eras that I was a part of; and particularly records that I made and: "my wife and I got married, we played this records of yours", or "this was playing on a jukebox when we met"...And, I mean, from politicians to truck drivers! It's incredible! I'd forgotten just how big we were and how many people we played to. ["Lock Up Your Mothers"] is the second coming of the anti-Christ, y'know?
TC: [displaying LP cover] I have to ask you about this album, and I haven't got the whole LP, just this picture [which depicts four trouserless Aztecs photographed from the rear]...
BT: Oh, "More Arse Than Class"?
TC: We're wondering which one was yours, and our guess is [points], it's that one
BT: Ah! You think I've got that tight little one do you?
TC: (embarrassed giggling)
BT: It is actually, yeah. Ha ha, it's certainly not that hairy one on the right!
TC: So what would you say you have today, more class than arse?
BT: No, still more arse than class - definitely! Ha ha ha ha!!!
60 Minutes: Tick, tick, tick, tick....

Recollections of a fan's meeting
- Paul Culnane

By crikey it was loud! The evening in early 1972, when I lugged my 2-track stereo tape deck along to the Canberra Theatre to record my friends Snibbo in concert, led to a very exciting encounter. For the headlining band that night was Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, fresh from their Sunbury triumph. Boldly enough, I decided to approach Billy and ask him if I could record his performance. He graciously allowed me to, no questions asked.

The atmosphere was electric as the capacity crowd restlessly awaited the band's appearance. I positioned my two crappy microphones on either side of the stage, facing the two humungous blue towers of Jands W-bin front-of-house speakers. This primitive recording approach proved quite efficacious when recording Snibbo and I captured a clear, balanced recording of their set. It was to be quite a different kettle of decibels for the main act however...

A lack of proper long leads and connections meant that for the whole performance I had to take up a spot directly behind Billy's amplifier stack at centre stage. As the band plugged in and Billy let rip with a deafening blast of feedback to open "Be Bop A Lula", the sound in my headphones (and what was registering on the VU meters) resembled nothing so much as sticking one's head into the engines of a jumbo jet in full flight! It was bloody excruciating! I've a shrewd suspicion that Billy, or at least his sound engineer, had discovered the "eleven" position on the volume controls long before Nigel Tufnel did.

After the show, while I was packing up my gear, Thorpie ambled over and asked to listen to my tape. I was embarrassed because I knew that it consisted basically of white noise, but sheepishly handed over the "cans" to Billy who listened intently, and displayed genuine interest in the recording. He beckoned his drummer and erstwhile recording engineer, Gil Matthews over for a listen. I'm not sure whether their grins were the result of the distorted sound they were hearing, or that they were enjoying hearing back aspects of what was a storming set. Gil and I spent some minutes discussing recording and he was very encouraging to me, suggesting that I should pursue my hobby as a career. In fact, two nicer, more down to earth blokes you couldn't hope to meet. They made me feel special, something that Billy in particular was known to do with most fans with whom he came in contact. The band might have looked forbiddingly like rock stars, but they never allowed themselves to become distant or unattainable to the core of people who provided their support.

I've still got that tape. I'm listening to it as I write this and it sounds atrocious. But the memories have come flooding back, of a truly awesome night in the company of the legendary Thorpie and his Aztecs.

My ears seem to have returned to relative normality too, thankfully!

~ Paul Culnane. Canberra, Australia - August 1999

Discography

Singles

4/64 Blue Day / You Don't Love Me [Linda Lee LL 006]  6/64 Poison Ivy / Broken Things Linda Lee [LL 007]  6/64 Blue Day / You Don't Love Me [Festival FK 650]  8/64 Mashed Potato / Don't Cha Know [Parlophone A 8119]  10/64 Sick & Tired / About Love [Parlophone A 8131]  11/64 Smoke & Stack / Board Boogie [Linda Lee HK 765]  12/64 Over The Rainbow / That I Love [Parlophone A 8136]  5/65 I Told The Brook / Funny Face [Parlophone A 8158]  7/65 Twilight Time / My Girl Josephine [Parlophone A 8165]  9/65 Hallelujah I Love Her So / Baby Hold Me Close [Parlophone A 8170]  10/65 Poison Ivy / Blue Day [Linda Lee HK 1116]  11/65 Love Letters / Dancing In The Street [Parlophone A 8180]  6/66 Word For Today / The New Breed [Parlophone A 8208]  10/66 I've Been Wrong Before / Wee Bit More Of Your Lovin' [Parlophone A 8220]   9/67 Dream Baby / You Don't Live Twice [Festival FK 2015]  3/70 Good Morning Little School Girl / Rock Me Baby [Festival FK 3638]  ?/71 The Dawn Song / Time to Live [Havoc H 1003]  2/72 Most People I Know / Regulation Three Pufff [Havoc H 1012]  10/72 Believe It Just Like Me / Get To Hell Out of Here [Havoc H 1014]  ?/73 Captain Straightman / Bow My Head [Havoc H 1019]  8/73 Movie Queen / Mame [Atlantic 10020]  8/73 Don't You Know You're Changing? / Yes I'm Tired [Atlantic 10029]  4/74 Over The Rainbow / Let's Have A Party [Atlantic 10035]  ?/74 Cigarettes and Whiskey / Back Home in Australia [Atlantic 10043]  11/75 It's Almost Summer / Drive My Car [Infinity K 6202]

 

Extended Plays (EPs):

Poison Ivy   Linda Lee HX 10834  Poison Ivy / Broken Things / Blue Day / You Don't Love Me  Sick & Tired  Parlophone GEPO 70018  Sick & Tired / Mashed Potato / About Love / Don'tcha Know  BillyThorpe On Stage   Parlophone GEPO 70022  Zip A Dee Doo Dah / Jenny Jenny / What I'd Say / I'm A Hog For You  I Told The Brook  Parlophone GEPO 70023  I Told The Brook / Over the Rainbow / That I Love / Funny Face  Stand By Me  Parlophone GEPO 70025  Stand By Me/ My Babe / High Heeled Sneakers / Half As Much  Twilight Time  Parlophone GEPO 70027  Twilight Time / Hallelujah I Love Her So / Baby Hold Me Close / Hello Josephine  Love Letters Parlophone GEPO 70039  Love Letters / Dancing In The Street / The New Breed / Wee Bit More of Your Loving

 

Albums

Note: There have been many other compilations and "best of" roundups of the early recordings, and frequent showings on various artists collections. They are too numerous to individually list here. This discography may, however, have failed to list some crucial releases. Please do advise if you know of any such omissions.

?/64  Poison Ivy [Linda Lee DL 31391] (release date not known - circa early '64?); re-released in 1967 as [Calendar R66-537].  Blue Day (Tony Barber)  Board Boogie (Vince Maloney)  Broken Things (Tony Barber)  Poison Ivy (Jerry Lieber - Mike Stoller)  Smoke & Stack (Val Jones)  You Don't Love Me (Tony Barber)  Note: It is not definite whether this track listing conforms to the former or latter issue, or both, nor whether the listing is complete. If anybody can shed further light on the nature and contents of this record, please let us know! (The author recalls an early album cover with a b&w shot of the group sitting lined up along a nature-strip gutter, all squinting at the sun...could this have been it?...It may even have been a 10" release...)    Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs  [Parlophone PMCO 7525]  I'm Talking About You   Half As Much   I'll Never Get Over You    Some Other Guy   High Heeled Sneakers   Pride    Stand By Me   Devoted To You   When You Walk In The Room    Skinny Minnie   The Cruel Sea (Instrumental)   I Call Your Name   Note: The first Aztec line-up's 1965 debut album proper. The bulk of the LP consisted of the Alberts' hits of the time, together with tracks featured on b-sides, EPs and early "hits" collections.   1965  The Best Of Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs  Parlophone PMCO 7528   Note: Re-released in many variations, sleeves, labels and titles over the years, but a typical tracklisting is unavailable at this time.   1966  Don't You Dig This Kind Of Beat?  Parlophone PMCO 7529 The album debut of Aztecs Mk II (reissued as I Got A Woman in 1968 on Paul Hamlyn's Music For Pleasure label)   1968  I Got A Woman  Music for Pleasure MFPA-8060 1.Don't you Dig This Kind Of Beat (Andrews)   2.Dancing In the Street (Stevenson-Gaye)   3.Lindy Lou (Eddie Quinteros)   4.Tennessee Waltz (Stewart-King)   5.A Worried Man (Guard-Glazer)   6.I've Got The Blues (Hank Snow)   7.Jenny, Jenny (Johnson-Penniman)   8.Love Letters (Heyman-Young)   9.For Love (Price-Logan)   10.Take Out some Insurance (Singleton-Hall)   11.I Got A Woman (Ray Charles)  Note: Budget compilation. Largely drawn from the stronger tracks off Kind Of Beat.      1981  It's All Happening!  EMI - Albert Productions APLP 050  (since released on CD; cat # unavailable). Sick 'n' Tired (Kenner - Bartholomew)  Mashed Potato (Rozier)  That I Love (Tony Barber)  Don't You Know? (Tony Barber)  High Heeled Sneakers (Higginbotham)  What'd I Say? (Ray Charles)  I Got A Woman (Ray Charles)  Don't You Dig This Kind Of Beat? (Chris Andrews)  The New Breed (J Easter)  Wee Bit More Of Your Lovin' (J Aken)  The Word For Today (M Seigal)  Funny Face (T Crane)  Talkin' 'Bout You (Chuck Berry)  Dancing In The Street (Stevenson - Gaye)  Baby, Hold Me Close (Tubert - Lewis - Singleton)  I've Been Wrong Before (Randy Newman)  Twilight Time (Ram - Nevins - Dunn)  Love Letters (Heyman - Young)  I Told The Brook (Marty Robbins)  Over The Rainbow (Arlen - Harburg)  Note: This compilation mixing Aztecs mark I & II material is highly recommended as a thorough overview of the early years. Album conceived, compiled, designed and annotated by Glenn A Baker.   1990  The Four Faces Of Australian Rock   J&B Records JB441CD *20-track compilation, shared with Normie Rowe, Ray Brown and Stevie Wright (and a nifty and cheap way to gather five early hits each, from four Aussie rock legends, together on one CD). Includes the following Aztecs tracks:  Poison Ivy  Mashed Potato  Sick & Tired  Over The Rainbow  Twilight Time  Notes  Most of the above material was produced by Pat Aulton, Tony Geary, Ted Albert or Billy Thorpe, sometimes in combination. Mostly recorded at Albert Studios, Sydney.  The album releases listed below represent the second phase of Thorpie's career, and full tracklistings are unavailable at this stage    1971  The Hoax is Over  Infinity SINL 934092 Side 1   Gangster Of Love (Watson) 24:35  Goodbye Baby (Thorpe) 3:34  Side 2  Mississippi (Thorpe) 19:35  Truth (Thorpe) 4:05   1971  Aztecs Live (At Melbourne Town Hall)  Havoc HST 4001 1.Somebody Left Me Crying   2.Time To Live   3.Be Bop A Lula   4.Momma      1972  Live at Sunbury  Havoc HST 4003/4 1.CC. Rider   2.Be Bop A Lula   3.Momma   4.Rock Me Baby   5.Most People I Know   6.Time To Live   7.Jump Back   8.Ooh Poo Pa Doo        1973  Summer Jam (live at Sunbury '73) - various artists incl. Billy Thorpe 1.Help Me / Rock Me Baby - Billy Thorpe w.Leo De Castro/Lobby Lloyde/Coloured Balls (11:40)   2.Going Down - Lobby Lloyde/Colored Balls (6:45)   3.G.O.D. - Lobby Lloyde/Coloured Balls (18:43)   Recorded Live at Sunbury '73 between the hours of 3:30am and 4:45 am on Monday, 29th, January       1974  More Arse Than Class  Atlantic SDF 1097 Side 1  Boogie Woogie  Walking Down the Street  Don't You Know You're Changing  No More War   Side 2  I Wanna Know  Back On The Road Again  Slowly Learning How      1974  Steaming At The Opera House  Atlantic 600010 [2LP] Side 1  All I Can Do Is Sing   Cigarettes and Whisky   Don't You Know You're Changing   One Day You'll Lose It   Side 2   War   Imagine Normal Days  What Year Is It?   No More war   Not Another Bloody War   Last Moments   Side 3   God   Time To Live   Be Bop A Lula   Side 4   Ain't Going Down Again   Ball Biter (listed on the record as "Bull Biter")   Oop Poo Pa Doo     1975  Gold  Atlantic 600015 1.Over the Rainbow   2.Cigarettes & Whiskey   3.Movie Queen   4.Don't You Know You're Changing   5.Yes, I'm Tired   6.Captain Straightman   7.Back Home In Australia   8.Let's Have A Party   9.Mame 10.Ooh Poo Pa Doo  Billy Thorpe & Warren Morgan    1973 Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy - Downunda   Atlantic SD 1014 Bow My Head  Captain Straightman  Early Morning (Thorpe)  I've Cried Over You  Just For You (Morgan)  Mister Man  Mothers & Fathers (Wendy Saddington - Billy Thorpe)  Moving With Rock (Morgan)  Sunny Day (Morgan)  You Look After Me  All songs written and produced by Warren Morgan and Billy Thorpe (except as shown)     1975  Million Dollar Bill   Festival L35767 1.Back on the street again (G. Mekler/T. Lawrence) 4:54   2.Drive my car (Lennon/McCartney) 3:28   3.I really miss you (Thorpe) 4:20   4.It's almost summer (Thorpe) 3:01   5.Do the best you can (Kristian) 4:25   6.Theme from million dollar bill (Thorpe) 4:55   7.Mama told her (C. Williamson/G. Mekler/T. Lawrence) 3:21   8.Standin' too close to the fire (Thorpe) 6:06   9.Don't need no protection (C. Jagger) 3:41  Produced by Billy Thorpe.   Engineered by Gil Matthews at Armstrong's, Melbourne   1976  Pick Me Up & Play Me Loud   Festival L35964 . Mushroom CD 19776 1994. Bassballs (Billy Kristian - BillyThorpe)  Blue Mary (Billy Kristian)  Good Night Out (Warren Morgan)  Let Yourself Go (Billy Thorpe)  Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (Billy Thorpe)  Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy (Billy Thorpe)  Movin' On A Sound (Billy Thorpe)  See What I Mean (Young)  You Keep Me Hangin' Around (D Griffiths)  Produced and engineered by Gil Matthews at Armstrong's, Melbourne   1980  Time Traveller  Blue Goose MLR2335 Bassballs (Billy Kristian - Billy Thorpe)  Be-Bop a-Lula (Vincent - David)  Boogie Woogie (Billy Thorpe)  Captain Straightman (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Cigarettes & Whisky (Traditional)  Dawn Song (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Funny Face (T Crane)  I Am The Sea (Lobby Loyde)  It's Almost Summer (Billy Thorpe)  Love Letters (Young - Hayman)  Mashed Potato (Rozier)  Most People I Know (Billy Thorpe)  Movin' On A Sound (Billy Thorpe)  Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Jesse Hill)  Out in the Street Again (Lawrence Mekler)  Over the Rainbow (Arlen - Harburg)  Poison Ivy (Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller)  Sick & Tired (Kenner - Bartholomew)  Time to Live (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Compiled by Gil "Rathead" Matthews  Note: Double-LP compilation of (mostly) second-phase Thorpe career. Recommended if you can find it.      5/94  Lock Up Your Mothers  Mushroom D 80968 3CD anthology  Rock Me Baby (King - Hosea)  Good Morning Li'l Schoolgirl (Willie Dixon)  (1969 single a & b, produced by Billy Thorpe)  Gangster Of Love (Watson)  Goodbye Baby (Billy Thorpe)  Born In Mississippi (Billy Thorpe)  Truth (Billy Thorpe)  (From The Hoax Is Over, produced by Billy Thorpe; engineered by Ernie Rose at Armstrong's, Melbourne)  Somebody Left Me Crying (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Time To Live (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Be Bop A Lula (Davis - Vincent)  (Live at Melbourne Town Hall, 1971)  The Dawn Song (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy (Billy Thorpe)  Believe It Just Like Me (Billy Thorpe)  (1971-72 single tracks. Produced and engineered by Gil Matthews)  Roll Over Beethoven / Jenny Jenny (Chuck Berry / Johnson - Penniman)  I Ain't Goin' Down Again (Billy Thorpe)  Three Pigs (Billy Thorpe)  (Live at Melbourne Festival Hall 1972 - previously unreleased radio recordings)  CC Rider (Rainey)  Be Bop A Lula (Davis - Vincent)  Mamma (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  Rock Me Baby (King - Hosea)  Jump Back (Thomas)  (Live at Sunbury, 1972. Recorded at TCS; engineered by John French)  It Won't Be Long (Billy Thorpe)  Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Hill)  (Live at Melbourne Myer Music Bowl. Previously unreleased radio recordings)  Rock Me Baby (King - Hosea)  Sick 'n' Tired (Kenner - Bartholomew - Domino)  Poison Ivy (Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller)  ("Goofing off" at Armstrong's Studios, Melbourne, 1973, during sessions for More Arse... Previously unreleased studio recordings produced by Billy Thorpe and Gil Matthews - who features on guitar)  Captain Straightman (Billy Thorpe - Warren Morgan)  (Single produced by Warren Morgan and Billy Thorpe)  Boogie Woogie (Billy Thorpe)  No More War (Billy Thorpe)  Back On The Road Again (Billy Thorpe)  Slowly Learning How (Billy Thorpe)  (From More Arse Than Class, 1973, produced and engineered by Gil Matthews at Armstrong's, Melbourne)  Movie Queen (Billy Thorpe)  Mame (Billy Thorpe)  (Single a & b, produced and engineered by Gil Matthews at Armstrong's, Melbourne)  Let's Have A Party (Jackson)  Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Arlen - Harburg)  New Orleans (Guida - Royster)  (Live at Sunbury, 1973. Production details unknown)  Back Home In Australia (Billy Thorpe)  One Day You'll Lose It (Billy Thorpe)  Ball Biter (Billy Thorpe)  (Live at the Sydney Opera House, 1973. Produced and engineered by Gil Matthews)  Digital editing and assembly by Billy Thorpe at Encino Recorders, California  Digital mastering by Gil Matthews  Note: This is the definitive anthology of the second phase of Thorpie's musical career, handily available in single-CD sampler form, if you prefer.     1994  The Best And The Rest of Lock Up Your Mothers Mushroom D 98009 Single CD 'best of' culled from the 3CD set, plus extra new tracks recorded in 1994

Good Times
[EMI-Alberts Video, cat # unknown]
Compilation of Alberts Records acts; includes complete clips of Aztecs mark I live - Sick & Tired, Over The Rainbow. It is not known whether the later revamped version of this title still includes Aztecs footage

Sunbury
[Siren Entertainment Video SIRVID 100]
Thorough film document of the 1972 rock festival, with much dynamic Thorpie coverage... Suck more piss!

Sex And Thugs And Rock And Roll
Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy
[MacMillan Press]
Two essential reads, from Thorpie's own hand, that'll fill in a whole lotta blanks in his fantastic saga, yet will surely leave other crucial blanks unfilled. While you're re-living the music, do read these books, they're friggin' hilarious!! Oh, and there's really nothing to be ashamed of, if you're harbouring a yellowing old Sunbury tanktop. Let us know if you are!

Special thanks to Michael Mandy (from whom we nicked all the images!)

• Baker, G.A. - liner notes from "It's All Happening!"(1990)
• Culnane, P.G. - personal archives and reminisces
• Curro, T. and others - interview for the Nine Network's 60 Minutes (1994)
• Engleheart, M. - liner notes from Lock Up Your Mothers CD anthology (1994)
• Meldrum, I. - interview after '72 Sunbury concert - from the film
• Thorpe, B. - liner notes from Lock Up Your Mothers CD anthology (1994)
• Who's Who of Australian Rock  - online edition
• Unofficial Billy Thorpe Page

Links

Billy Thorpe Website - The official Thorpie homepage

Unofficial Billy Thorpe Page - created & maintained by Michael Mandy