[PERSONNEL] [BIOGRAPHY] [DISCOGRAPHY] [REFERENCES] [LINKS]  [FEEDBACK]

Steve Kipner [gtr, vcls]
Colin Petersen [dr] 1965-66
Geoff Bridgeford [dr] 1966
Carl Keats (Groszman) [gtr]
Alex Hill [gtr]
Denis Neville [bs]

Steve & The Board were a bunch of cats that didn’t quite last their nine lives, but in the short time they were around, they supplied listeners with a menu of sublime and snotty garage-punk songs and a wild stage presence. Formed in late ‘65, the group was unusually one of the very few young Australian beat units to be allowed the indulgence of an album without a string of chart hits behind them. This situation may be attributable to the fact that Steve’s dad just happened to be the boss of Spin Records -- producer, songwriter and spruiker Nat Kipner.

Nat also worked closely with The Bee Gees in 1966 and he co-produced many of their last Australian recordings, cut at Ozzie Byrne's Hurstville studio, and Steve & The Board forged close links with the Gibbs through Nat Kipner. Colin Petersen drummed on many of the Bee Gees Spin recording in 1965-66, and Carl Keats is also probably the only person to have ever written a song specifically for the Bee Gees -- Lonely Winter (1966). Steve & The Board returned the favour by recording Barry's Little Miss Rhythm & Blues on their Giggle Eyed Goo album.

Another interesting piece of Steve & The Board trivia is that drummer Colin Peterson was a former child actor. Colin will be known to generations of Australians for his portrayal of the irrepressible young larrikin Smiley in the classic Australian film of that name, and he also appeared in The Scamp and A Cry in the Streets.

Nat Kipner penned the band’s first single, the rude and raucous Giggle Eyed Goo, which cheekily copped a line in the bridge from a contemporaneous toilet-paper commercial jingle -- "It’s pink and blue and primrose too". This remarkable piece of ratbag punk-rock became a sizable hit in Eastern states in ’66, and was followed up by a great rocking track with possibly one of the corniest garage rock titles ever: I Call My Woman Hinges (‘Cos She’s Something To Adore).

Drummer Colin Petersen left Steve & The Board at the end of 1966. His Board replacement was Geoff Bridgford, a solid journeyman who went on to percussion duties for Melbourne soul stylists The Groove. Geoff played on Steve and The Board's final single, Sally Was a Good Old Girl/Good for Nothing Sue (January 1967), but the group broke up in May 1967.

After Steve & The Board: Colin Petersen travelled to England to pursue his acting career in the UK, but in early 1967 the Bee Gees returned to England, so Colin was drafted in, and he stayed with them until late 1969, when he was unceremoniously dumped from the band. In one of those odd twists that crop up again and again in Aussie rock, The Groove's split in the UK at the end of 1969 coincided with Colin's sacking, and once again Geoff Bridgford found himself replacing Colin, this time as drummer for The Bee Gees, in early 1970.

Colin now lives back in Sydney, working as a house painter, and it currently working on his autobiography, which will tell the full story of his sacking from the Bee Gees. Colin's ex-wife Joanne was the former secretary to Brian Epstein, and she is reported to be working on a book of her own.

Geoff Bridgford worked overseas for some years, and now lives on the Gold Coast.

Steve Kipner formed a vocal harmony act called The Steve and Stevie Duo with Kinetics frontman Steve Groves. Steve and Stevie issued one single on Festival, Remains to Be Seen/Merry Go Round (1968). When ex-Kinetics member John Vallins (guitar, drums, clarinet) joined, the act was renamed Rombo's World. After Kipner, Vallins and Groves relocated to the UK in 1969 they, linked up with Keats and Bridgeford in a new band called Tin Tin. Kipner's Gibb connections came into play again, and during the troubled 1969-70 period when the Bee Gees had split, and Maurice Gibb worked extensively with Tin Tin, playing and singing on and producing their early singles and their first album. Tin Tin enjoyed a Top Ten UK/Australian hit in 1971 with the Maurice Gibb-produced Toast and Marmalade For Tea. Keats, who reverted to his real surname (Groszman) wrote Down The Dustpipe for fledgling UK rockers Status Quo.

Kipner has enjoyed considerable success in the intervening years. After Tin Tin folded, he left England and moved to the USA in the early 70s, linking up with ex-Zoot frontman Darryl Cotton in Friends. They issued a self-titled album on Warner plus a couple of singles including Gonna Have a Good Time/Would You Laugh? (1973). The A-side was a cover of the famous Vanda and Young song Good Times (later covered by IXS and Jimmy Barnes) which was rather cheekily co-credited on the record  label to Vanda-Young-Cotton-Lloyd-Kipner. Steve left Friends in 1974 and joined Skyband who recorded one unsuccessful, self-titled album for RCA in 1975. In 1979 he cut an unsuccessful solo album, Knock the Walls Down, and a single, Love is Its Own Reward, for Elektra. Now based in L.A. he has become one of the music industry's most prominent writer-producers, with credits including Chicago, Stevie Nicks, Sharon O’Neill (How Do You Talk To Boys?), David Foster, Paul Bliss, Sheena Easton and most recently, rising Latin music star Christina Aguilera. Probably his biggest international success so far has been Olivia Newton-John's massive 1981 hit (Let's Get) Physical.

Another interesting tangent is that John Vallins formed a songwriting partnership with Steve's father Nat in the late 70s, and they enjoyed their own worldwide hit in 1978 when Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams recorded their song Too Much, Too Little, Too Late. John married Australian singer Lori Balmer, and they now live on the Gold Coast -- apparently just around the corner from Geff Bridgford!

But that early burst of manic and wild creativity represented by Steve & The Board won’t be forgotten in a hurry, and we are pleased to note that local reissue label Ascension has recently re-released the sought-after Giggle Eyed Goo album on CD.

Paul Culnane. November 1999 (with special thanks to Mark Crohan for additional information.)

Albums

1966  The Giggle Eyed Goo [Spin EL 31997] Reissued by Ascension Records as  The Giggle Eyed Goo (Nat Kipner – Carl Keats) I'm To Blame (Colin Petersen – Alex Hill) Rosalyn (J Duncan – W Farley) I've Just Realised (Colin Petersen – Alex Hill) Margot (Carl Keats) Rosemarie (Carl Keats) I Want (Carl Keats) I Call My Woman Hinges (Steve Kipner – Carl Keats) Little Miss Rhythm & Blues (Barry Gibb) Farmer John (Harris – Terry) Love's Made A Fool Of You (B Holly – B Montgomery) Lonely Winter (Carl Keats) Now I'm Older (Carl Keats) So Why Pretend (Carl Keats) Good For Nothing Sue (Alex Hill) Sally Was A Good Old Girl (Hank Cochran) 1981  Five By Four [Raven RVLP 03] Compilation shared with The Allusions, Tony Worsley and Mike Furber, featuring the following Steve & the Board tracks: I Want (Carl Keats) Margot (Carl Keats)  Rosalyn (J Duncan – W Farley) I Call My Woman Hinges (Steve Kipner – Carl Keats) Giggle Eyed Goo (Nat Kipner – Carl Keats) Producer: Nat Kipner 1990  The Giggle Eyed Goo [Raven RVLP 42]  It is not known whether this release replicates the earlier similarly titled album, or is a new compilation.

• Glenn A Baker – sleeve notes on Five By Four LP
• Paul Culnane – personal archives and reminisces
• Ian McFarlane - Australian Encyclopedia of Rock & Pop (1999)

• For tech-heads, the A&G Webcasting site includes a downloadable RealVideo clip of Steve Kipner talking about one of Apogee's digital studio tools. Steve is also on the technical advisory board of Apogee Electronics

• Kipner, Groves and Keats featured prominently in the Bee Gees story in Australia, with Steve & The Board, and later in the UK as Tin Tin. Their involvement is fully documented on Joseph Brennan's outstanding The Brothers Gibb website