The Missing Links

Personnel

Biography

"Sydney's Missing Links were the first to play guitars like The Rolling Stones used; they were the first guys to sport very long unruly hair; they were the first group to implement destruction into a stage act; they were the first with a lot of things, bless their pioneering souls."

But "band" (singular) is something of a misnomer. Like several other major Aussie bands of the '60s (The Wild Cherries, The Masters Apprentices, The Groop) there were in fact two distinct lineups of The Missing Links. The first lasted from early 1964 until March 1965 and after a flurry of lineup changes and a brief dissolution, the second lineup settled into place around July 1965, lasting until April 1966.

The Links Mk I was founded by guitarist Peter Anson. Peter had been playing in an unnamed trio with drummer Danny Cox (ex-Zodiacs) and an unknown guitarist during 1963. In early 1964 the guitarist quit, so Anson's flatmates John and Norm Stannard urged Peter to form his own band. It was also about this time that Peter and Danny discovered the music of The Rolling Stones, who were to exert a crucial influence on the band. They advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald, and immediately recruited bassist Ronnie Peel and lead guitarist Dave Boyne, both from Port Macquarie and ex-members of surf band The Mystics.

The new group was able to rehearse at John and Norm's flat in the Sydney suburb of Ryde - thanks to the fact that their parents were away in England on an extended business trip!. John Stannard contributed to arrangements and lyrics, and Norm took on the role of de facto manager/promoter. It was during these weeks that they picked up second vocalist Bob Brady, a workmate of Dave Boyne's who tagged along to the Ryde rehearsals. Another ex-Mystics member, John Jones, was a regular hanger-on; he often acted as roadie for the group over the next year, and later became part of the second lineup.

Once they were ready to perform, the process of finding a venue was facilitated by the convenient fact that Peter Anson's older brother Cliff was road manager for Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, fast becoming the most popular 'beat' group in Australia. Cliff's connections gave the Links an entree to the Harrigan Agency who managed top 'beat' groups The Aztecs, The Torquays and Ray Brown & The Whispers, and they were soon gigging regularly at John Harrigan's famous venues Surf City, Stomp City, The Beachhouse and The Pacific, as well as shows organised for them by Norm Stannard. Members of the band sometimes also stood in for absent Aztecs and Whispers at these gigs, and the bands sometimes played on the same bills, but more often it was the Links blazing through the night alone with their hardcore R&B.

The band stood out from other 'beat' groups like The Aztecs and The Whispers, both musically and visually. They played guitars like the Rolling Stones used - a Gretsch, a Harmony, a Fender bass - rather than the still de rigeur Fender Stratocasters. Their musical influences, helpfully topped up by supplies of the latest records from the UK, (sent home by the Stannards' parents), kept them ahead of the game, and the Stannards 'care packages' also included prized Carnaby St clothes - no neat matching suits for these guys!  Then of course there was the hair ...

The Missing Links had longer hair than anyone - in fact, Peter Anson's near-shoulder-length mane was reputed to have been  the longest of any male in Sydney at the time. It's difficult in these more easy-going days to realise just how radical and confrontational it was to be a man with long hair in Australia in 1964. Long hair was the unmistakable, unavoidable badge of difference and rebellion - and there was nothing tacit about it. Simply having long hair in those days exposed the Links to constant scorn, ridicule, abuse and, on many occasions, to physical violence, both threatened and actual.

In September 1964 they secured a Saturday afternoon residency at the exclusive Twenties Club in Edgecliff; decorated like a 1920's speakeasy, it was a favoured haunt of Sydney's underworld. They also took on a gruelling three-week residency, five nights a week, at the Allawah Hotel, where the 'patrons' regularly threw coins and other objects at the band and the group had to be escorted out of the pub each night for their own safety. They retreated to the relative calm of Beatle Village in Taylor Square, which became their headquarters, and it was here that they first crossed paths with another Stones-influenced band, The Showmen, who were to play an important role in the band's future.

On Thursday October 1, 1964 The Missing Links hit the industrial city of Newcastle, NSW to do a promotional performance for the electrical goods retailer H.G. Palmer's (in those days, such stores were one of the main outlets for records, especially outside the capital cities). Delightfully billed in the advert as "...the latest musical sensation from Sydney ... the new Rock and Roll Group with the 'Rolling Stones Sound' ", the band set up on the footpath outside the H.G. Palmer's showroom at 297 Hunter St at 12:30 pm and proceeded to disrupt downtown Newcastle until the police arrived and ordered them off the street. After the appearance they did an interview on local station 2HD, followed by a gig that evening at the Tyrell Hall.

Back in Sydney, the Links' reputation was growing fast, so the guys hopefully recorded some demos (under very primitive conditions), but no offers were made, and sadly these first recordings do not seem to have survived. But their break came not long after, when they were invited to play a couple of lunchtime concerts for Sydney radio station 2UW at their George Street radio studio. At one of these shows, Albert Productions' Ted Albert and staff producer Tony Geary offered them a deal with Parlophone. (Albert and Geary were soon to strike gold with another local band whom they signed early in 1965 - The Easybeats). RCA had also approached them, but the Parlophone deal was the more tempting, no doubt sweetened by the recent huge success of their old Surf City pals, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs.

During October the Links cut several demos at the 2UW Radio Theatre. The five complete surviving tracks are now anthologised on the Half A Cow CD. There are three ripsnorting originals: the wild original version of All I Want, (which was re-recorded by the Links Mk II ), Come My Way and Go Back. The two great covers are Shakin' All Over, and a terrific version of Kansas City, with a truly paint-peeling duo vocal by Anson and Brady. The performances and sound quality are of course a little rugged (most being evidently first takes) but these demos are a priceless insight into the raucous brilliance of the original group. Apparently these tracks were cut at the same time that The Easybeats were doing demos for Alberts, and it's known that George Young was a serious fan, catching the group anytime he could. Listening to tracks like Untrue and All I Want, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that The Easybeats owe the Links a considerable debt. (I challenge anyone to compare the verses of Untrue and the chorus of the Easy's I'll Make You Happy and not hear a strong resemblance!)

In November the Links were involved in a remarkable Sydney cultural event. The famous Royal George Hotel in Sussex St was home-base for a loose coterie of artists, poets, philosophers, writers, musicians and sundry bohemian types known as "The Push" (a name adopted from the vicious street gang who ruled The Rocks area of Sydney in the early 1900s.). Via connections in The Push, the Links got to know people associated with the now-legendary satirical magazine OZ. At the time OZ was embroiled in a controversial legal case, which stemmed from a number of humorous articles published in OZ, and from the famous cover of OZ#6. The cover photo (literally, a piss-take!) depicted editor Richard Neville and two friends pretending to urinate into a recessed wall fountain created by sculptor Tom Bass, which was set into the base of the P&O Building near Chifley Square, in the heart of Sydney's central business district.

The OZ editors editors, Richard Neville, Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp, had been charged, tried and found guilty of publishing an obscene magazine. Their sentence - six months in prison - caused an outcry in Sydney. Out on bail pending an appeal, their supporters decided to raise money for the defence fund with a benefit concert, which was organised and held at the Sydney University Theatre on 15 November 1964. The Links' rebellious image suited the OZ crowd to a tee, so they were invited to play.

A few days before the concert, both Richard Neville and the Links appeared on the ABC's People; Neville was interviewed by host Bob Sanders, and the Links did two live numbers - their forthcoming single Untrue, and Route 66. This was to be the only TV appearance by the original lineup, but it earned the ABC a stream of telephone complaints, and resulted in the Links being specifically banned from TV pop show Sing Sing Sing by host Johnny O'Keefe. One newspaper review of the program called the Links "a particularly obnoxious gaggle of guitar thumpers" !

The benefit itself was a truimph, featuring the Links, plus special guests. The cast of satirical TV revue The Mavis Bramston Show brought the house down with a campy send-up of children's staple Puff The Magic Dragon, cheekily retitled "Poof The Tragic Queen". Another highlight was actor Leonard Teale. The golden-voiced Teale, a successful stage, radio and TV performer (he played Superman in a '40s Australian radio serial) was currently starring in the pioneering Aussie police drama Homicide. Teale was also well-known for his fine readings of Australian poetry classics like The Man From Snowy River. On the night, Teale delighted the audience with an hilarious 'surfie' version of Clancy of the Overflow ( ..."and I saw the vision splendid, of her bikini top extended...").

Reflecting on the event, Richard Neville was fulsome in his praise for the Links:

"They were wild, rebellious, accessible. That's how we felt on the inside, that's how they looked on the outside. Plus, their rock attitude was much more extreme than the mainstreamers. Johnny O'Keefe with his short hair and tight pants wasn't The Wild One anymore - If he ever was. The Missing Links made all Oz 'legends' look so straight. After them, even the Beatles seemed dull; the Links' genre was much more the Stones and the Animals. If Sydney was larger then, and they'd written more of their own material, who knows? If Malcolm McLaren had seen them, they would have died young, rich and famous."
(Markmann, 1999)

At the end of 1964, the Links moved into a share house in Parramatta in Sydney's west, which soon became Party HQ for the band, their friends and local youngsters. Over Xmas/New Year they played gigs at Katoomba and The Entrance, booked by TV personality and sometime promoter Chuck Faulkner. On New Years Eve in Katoomba they were virtually run out of town by police and some angry fathers for their dalliance with some of the local lasses, so they hastily headed north to the coastal resort town of The Entrance, near Gosford, where they played to a holiday crowd of 500 at the Memorial Youth Centre.

Norm Stannard had by this time been replaced by Dave Bond as manager/agent; he booked some New Year gigs for the band at Ashfield, Bankstown and Parramatta, and also established a fan club for the group. According to Peter Markmann, some of the Links' wildest gigs were at Parramatta Town Hall and the nearby Sound Lounge. (The Driving You Insane CD booklet features a photo of the Links in action at The Sound Lounge).

A decisive turn in the Links' fortune came that month, and it should have been their big break - they were chosen as the Sydney support group for the first Australian tour by The Rolling Stones. It would have been a dream come true for the group, but sadly it wasn't to be. The tour (a double bill with the Stones and Roy Orbison) was to be held at the Sydney Showground on January 22 and 23. Unfortunately, while the Links wererehearsing in the Manufacturers' Pavilion the night before the first show (21 January), the promoter, Harry M. Miller, turned up. According to Dave Boyne, Miller took one look at th band, exclaimed "There's no way these long-haired animals are going to play tomorrow!" and sacked them on the spot. Apparently The Easybeats had also audtioned and were knocked back - so one can't help concluding that Miller was keen to ensure that the Stones were in no danger of being upstaged.

Their debut Parlophone single, We 2 Should Live / Untrue was released in March 1965. Although the band were reportedly unhappy with the sound quality, it enjoyed considerable "street popularity" in Sydney and it actually got to number 2 in New Zealand (where the group had never been). In retrospect, it stands out as one of the prime cuts of the period, and while the sound is undoubtedly pretty rugged, there's a rawness and vitality in the performances (especially the wild vocals) which carries it off. We 2 Should Live is a jumping acoustic blues, and Untrue is a prowling punk According to Glenn A Baker, a complete album was apparently recorded but never released and all traces, including the tapes, have vanished. (Peter Markmann doesn't mention this, and it's possible that the tracks Baker refers to might be the 2UW demos, which are featured on the new CD).

Unfortunately, it was at this point that the original lineup began to fall apart. Guitarist Dave Boyne was was the first to leave - he was about to marry, so he decided to return to Port Macquarie and go into his father's business. His last gig with the original Links was at the end of March 1965 at the Hornsby Pacific. The show started well, but towards the end a heckler started picking on singer Bob Brady. Eventually tiring of the harrassment, Brady whacked the trouble-maker in the head with his mike stand, triggering an all-in brawl which was only broken up by the arrival of police. Boyne had his car packed and ready to go, and headed north immediately after the gig. He was replaced by one of the band's close associates, ex-Mystics guitarist John Jones.

Drummer Danny Cox was next to go, and he was replaced by a wild young New Zealander called Andy James. Andy (who was born Neville Anderson) had met the band a few months earlier at a gig at the Manly Hotel, where he asked to sit in on a couple of songs and "proceeded to blow everyone away with his wild technique". Andy had played in a couple of Kiwi R&B bands before arriving in Australia and was (theoretically) on his way to the UK, but his planned stopover in Australia became permament when he joined the Links.

The Links appeared as special guests at the 2SM Sound Spectacular on 22 April 1965. The show was a precursor to the soon-to-be-founded Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds; the first prize included 100 pounds in cash, a support spot on the upcoming Dave Clark Five tour, a record contract and a possible deal with Brian Epstein's NEMS organisation. With such a enticing prize up for grabs, almost 60 local bands competed, and the show, held at the old Sydney Stadium, was attended by 9000 fans. The Links performed during the judging, and the eventual winners were the Links' old Beatle Village comrades, The Showmen.

The Links' lineup over these months changed repeatedly, and according to Peter Markmann, it's possible that the band actually ceased to exist for a few weeks in mid-1965. First they lost Peter Anson, who left to form his own band, The Syndicate; Ronnie Peel was next, around the beginning of June  - he joined Brisbane band The Pleazers, who had shared the bill with the Links at some dances at Liverpool Town Hall in late May. Finally Bob Brady left not long after Ronnie. Dave Longmore was brought in to replace Anson and although he was only a member for a short time, he's generally credited with introducing the use of feedback as a major element of the Links' sound. He quit after only a few weeks and joined the Torquays; later he moved into country music before his premature death in the mid-80s. Other probable members during this phase are vocalist Frank Kennington (The Denvermen) and guiatrist Col Risby (ex-Ray Hoff's Offbeats).

Longmore's place was quickly - and ably - filled by a hot young guitarist called Doug Ford, who was an old friend of Dave Boyne's from Port Macquarie. He audtioned for Jones and James at Nicholson' music store in Sydney, and was hired on the spot. Chris Gray, a longtime Links associate, and one of their part-time roadie/drivers, also played keyboards and harmonica, and he became the next member. (According to Glenn Baker, it was Chris who asked permission to create the new Missing Links, to capitalise on the act's live popularity, but this is not mentioned in Peter Markmann's more recent account.)

Whoever was responsible, within a couple of weeks they had assembled an even wilder outfit than the original. The final members of the new lineup, who joined in late June/early July 1965, were bassist Ian Thomas and drummer Baden Hutchins from The Showmen. Within weeks, the new Links were signed to the Philips label, and in August they piled into the Philips studio in Clarence St and began recording tracks for an album. Conditions were cramped and primitve, and they recorded after-hours, without a producer, using the building's lift well as the echo chamber. Although the songs were apparently cut with little rehearsal, and some were virtually made up on the spot, the sessions produced some of the seminal artefacts of 60s Australian rock.

At the end of the month, the first single by the new lineup was released. You're Driving Me Insane - a wild, piledriving original by Baden Hutchins - was totally unique in Aussie rock in 1965, and still grabs you by the ears today. This song is HEAVY in every sense of the word. The fierce proto-punk vocal by Andy is outstanding, and when his shouted exhortation "Your radio's too low - turn it up!" cues into Doug Ford's blazing guitar solo, you know you're hearing one of the great rock moments. It's firmly rooted in blues and R&B, yet it predicts whole slabs of Sixties rock which were yet to come: the buzzing guitar feedback and echo-laden Farfisa organ anticipates Pink Floyd by a good two years; Doug Ford's slashing guitar work is pure heavy metal, and there's a strong psychedelic feel to the whole affair. The b-side Something Else is a fun, high-energy cover of the famous Eddie Cochrane classic. One can only speculate on the effect for the band if this incredible single had been given the exposure it truly deserved (only about 500 copies were pressed, and it sold to hard core fans only) - but was Australia really ready for it?

The new Links built up a small but rabid following with their over-the-top shows at venues like Suzy Wongs, The Gas Lash, and what was by then Missing Links HQ, Beatle Village, where, according to Glenn Baker "...mic stands were thrust through the stage floor so often that nobody bothered to patch the hole." The Links Mk II continued the proud tradition of turning everything  up full-bore - Hutchins recalls a gig at The Bowl disco, where the intense feedback shattered a mirror ceiling, showering glass over startled patrons! Andy James (consistently described as being "wild" and "out of control") took it to the limit at all times - common stage exploits included climbing the walls, swinging from the rafters, and even putting his head through the skin of Hutchins' snare drum! They devised their own bizarre stage costumes made from dyed hessian sacks, and frequently appeared in fancy dress outfits, dressed as gorillas, pirates, gangsters or mummies.

In September Philips released a second single, Wild About You/Nervous Breakdown. Wild About You was an Andy James original, and it is, as Peter Markmann succinctly puts it, an "unadulterated slice of 60s punk mayhem ... almost too crazed for words." Iggy Pop may be the Godfather of Punk, but you can make a pretty fair case just from these two singles that Andy and the Links helped to invent punk while Iggy was still in school. (Wild About You was re-discovered in the mid-70s by Brisbane guitarist Ed Kuepper; it was a regular part of the The Saints' live repertoire from '74-'77, and they covered it on their debut LP I'm Stranded). The B-side, Nervous Breakdown, features an hilarious mock-Elvis vocal by Ian Thomas, and resembles the sort of rock-&-roll spoofs that Fleetwood Mac's Jeremy Spencer performed a few years later. It also anticipates the '50s revival' movement by about five years!

On 25 September, the Links appeared on Sydney's newest commercial TV station, Channel Ten. To the certain bemusement of most viewers, they performed You're Driving Me Insane on the program Ten On The Town, hosted by former DJ Mike Walsh.

The third single, released in October, was perhaps the most outrageous of all. H'Tuom Tuhs (which also appeared on the Links LP) is in fact the band's 5'40" version of Bo Diddley's Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut - except that the entire track is played backwards! The idea originated during the Clarence St sessions, when the boys heard the tape of Big Mouth being rewound by the engineer and liked the sound of it! It is surely one of the earliest uses of reverse tape in rock history, beating the Fabs' Tomorrow Never Knows onto vinyl by a good twelve months. Spread across the two sides of the 7", it naturally enough sank like a lead balloon (can you imagine Aussie commercial radio in 1965 playing this one?!) and is now one of the rarest of all Australian 45s, with only a handful of copies known to exist.

In the latter part of 1965 there were trips to country towns including Bathurst, Lithgow and Orange, and several trips to Wollongong, where they played at the famous Zondrae's disco and Wollongong Town Hall. In November, they made their only interstate trip, to Melbourne, where they stunned several thousand punters lured by the pre-publicity. (Doug Ford recalls that at their first Melbourne gig the crowd actually retreated to the back of the hall as the curtains opened!)

In mid-December the classic The Missing Links LP was released. Although the band were unhappy (again!) with the mix, it remains one of the primal Australian albums of the 60s. It comprises a selection of the group's blitzkrieg originals, including the single a-sides, and a re-recorded version of the Links Mk I's All I Want. Vocals were mostly by Andy, but all the other members except Hutchins sang on at least one track. The other tracks, which also showed some of the diversity of their influences, were terrific covers of songs like Bob Dylan's On The Road Again, and Shel Talmy's Bald Headed Woman (compare this track to the Easybeats' Come And See Her, released early the next year). And of course there were both the forwards and backwards versions of Bo Diddley's Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut.

On December 18 the Links performed on the roof of the newly-opened Roselands, Sydney's first shopping mall, and that night they made another memorable appearance on Ten On The Town, performing Wild About You, but  by this time, internal tensions were coming to a head and shortly after the Ten appearance Chris Gray left the band.

In February, '66 they played at Canberra's Albert Hall, supported by local band The Chosen Few, but within another month or so the Links splintered due to the increasing personality conflicts. The problems were most noticeable for Thomas and Hutchins, who were becoming increasingly irritated by the "slackness" of the others. Late arrivals at gigs and lack of rehearsal were a constant problem, and this grew more and more tiresome for Ian and Baden, who were used to a more professional regime from their days in The Showmen. The result was that in short order they both left the Links and returned to their old band.

As The Links' split was announced in April, Philips released their swansong, The Links Unchained EP, which ranks alongside H'Tuom Tuhs as one of the rarest of the rare. It contained four previously unreleased tracks, all covers. The highlight is a manic rendition of Don't Give Me No Friction, a track by LA garage outfit The Green Beans, which the Links cut after they found a promo copy of the Beans' track at the Philips offices. Turn this up to 11 and experience the all-out sonic attack at the end of the song - it's as close as you'll ever get to hearing what the Links really sounded like live. The other three tracks were: a fine, hard-rocking cover of James Brown's I'll Go Crazy, Sam The Sham's Wooly Bully and One More Time (check out the nuggetty solo from Doug Ford on this one). Baden Hutchins had quit the band halfway through the recording of the EP and he played on only two tracks, Friction and Wooly Bully; the other two were cut with a session drummer called (believe it or not) Johnny Rimshot.

Over the years, the Missing Links' legend has grown steadily, carried on by the lucky few like Ed Kuepper who found copies of the original records and covered their songs, and assisted in no small measure by national treasure Glenn A. Baker and the folks at Raven, who have done so much to champion Australian music of the 60s and 70s. They reissued both the Unchained EP and the Missing Links LP in the 1980s.

Happily, all our claims about the Links' greatness can be put to the test by a new generation of listeners. Thanks to Nic Dalton's Half A Cow label, the Missing Links' entire recorded output is now available on one CD (which is just as well, since their original records were pressed in quantities of only a few hundred). One hearing of Driving You Insane should be enough to convince even the most cynical listener of just how wild and radical The Missing Links really were.
 
After The Missing Links:

• Peter Anson formed his own band, The Syndicate (1964-65), which evolved into the Wild Oats and then The Id (1966-68), (who for a time backed Jeff St John), and he was an early member of The Foreday Riders (1968-69). He still plays occasionally around Sydney.
• Bob Brady joined Python Lee Jackson (1966)
• Dave Boyne dropped out of performing, but moved into production some years later; in the 80s he produced recordings for King Snake Roost and The Deadly Hume
• Danny Cox joined The Lost Souls (Mark II)
• Doug Ford formed Running Jumping Standing Still with Andy James, and then joined the classic '68-'72 lineup of The Masters Apprentices, where he and singer Jim Keays co-wrote some of the classic songs of the era.
• Andy James relocated to Melbourne and formed Running Jumping Standing Still (1966-67) with Doug Ford, followed by Andy James Asylum (1967-68), Southern Comfort (1970), Mother Superior (1971) and Arkastra (1972-3). His experience in the cast of the musical Hair led him into acting in the 70s. Andy reverted to his original surname and as Andy Anderson he is well-known to Australian TV audiences - he has had featured roles in many Australian TV productions including The Sullivans, The Bob Morrison Show, Fire and the ABC's superlative police drama Phoenix.
• John G. Jones teamed up with Richard Wright (ex-The Groop) in the Richard Wright Group, which continued the Links experiments with outlandish stage outfits; RWG later evolved into Wright of Waye. Jones now lives and works as a screen writer in Hollywood, with credits inlcuding Amityville 3D
• Ronnie Peel became one of the mainstays of the Aussie rock scene - after The Pleazers (65-66), he joined Ray Brown's new Whispers and the Ray Brown Three ('66-67), Impulse (67), The Rhythm Aces (67-68), worked with singers Bernadette O'Neill and Leo De Castro in The Browns (69-70), spent time in the UK as a member of Thunderclap Newman (70-71), reunited with Ray Brown in One Ton Gypsy (71-72),  joined the classic final lineup of The La De Das (1972-74) and is a longtime member of John Paul Young's All Stars (1975- ).
• Ian Thomas left The Showmen in 1967 and teamed up with keyboard wiz Chris Neale in Powerhouse; he released a single under the name Thomas Hood in 1968.

Discography

References

• Glenn A. Baker: liner notes to The Missing Links [Raven RVLP 19]
• Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop, 1999
• Peter Markmann: The Missing Links - The Definitive Article from Driving You Insane [Half A Cow HAC76] 1999