littlemurders

How did Little Murders begin?

 

1   Little Murders formed in 1979 and played their first proper gig in, I think, September of that year at a pub in Fitzroy called the Champion Hotel. The first Little Murders gig whatsoever was at Bruce Milne (Au Go Go records founder) and Clinton Walker’s birthday party in August 79. But we had to borrow a drummer for that one. 

The first line up was Clint Small, Ken Hamilton and I. Then Rod Flegg joined and a few weeks later we started playing regularly.

 

How did the band come together?

 

2 Little Murders came from the break up of my previous band The Fiction A punk outfit from 1978. However what made us different from the others is we started wearing suits on stage and sticking 60’s covers in the set. One review said we were like The Saints meet the Monkees. By the end of the year it was falling apart but after forming a friendship with Bruce Milne who had just started up the Au go go label I really wanted to make an indie record. So basically we took in the Fiction to record 3 songs. If you ever see the record it says The Little Murders e.p. when they’re only 2 songs on it  “Things will be Different” and ‘Take Me I’m Yours” the third song wasn’t finished in time and ended up on the flipside of our second single. However the band didn’t know that the record was coming out as Little Murders, a name I’d already planned and incidently included in the lyrics to “Take Me , I’m Yours”, so I don’t think they were too happy about that. With the record ready for release I recruited the new guys except for Ken who was in Fiction. When the record came out it got such great reviews and airplay that we started gigging from the week it was released.

2 months later I’m over in England where the Mod thing is everywhere and it just pulls together all the ideas floating around my head for what a band should be about. “Eton Rifles: is in the top 10, scooters everywhere, kids dancing to “Green Onions” in a record shop off Leicester Square. I saw a few mod bands over there “Purple Hearts” stand out and I liked the way they incorporated a soul/ska disco into the nights proceedings, something Little Murders would use when setting up the mod nights at the Market Hotel

Back in Melbourne we ditch the guitarist and bring in our producer and flashy dresser Stuart Beatty on guitar. Ken leaves for personal reasons and Steve Fuzezi auditions in a suit for a bass. We start draping flags over the amps, dressed up sharply for gigs and it felt like a real band.

 

How were the first gigs?

 

3. We established a rapport with the audience straight away so we were playing constantly sometimes twice a night. Because we were a bit of a draw for punters we would support a touring band then go off and do our own thing. Then I’d be off to a mod party somewhere. And on Wednesdays there was a club called Kommotion where I would DJ a bit. Luckily we had some of Mother’s Little Helpers to kick us along. Sundays was saved for the week’s hangover.

 

 

What was the Mod scene like then?

 

1. There wasn’t much in the way of Mod bands about at the time. We gave 5:15 and Bleu Scooters a couple of supports but most the bands were’nt ready for the pub scene where we were prowling. Some of the bands were pretty dodgy too. I got on pretty well with Ronnie Williams (5:15) who was pretty much an instigator of mod happenings. Later we teamed up with Ronnie and Gary Lake from 5:15 for a couple of gigs as Blow UP .

 

Tell us about your weekend?

 

1. The weekend….get home from my 9-5 job on a Friday arvo..after a few drinks..quick recharge nap and off to a gig…usually the Crystal Ballroom in St. Kilda. On to a party. Home sleep wake up eat smoke go shopping for clothes , usually op shops,  look for records in the city, off to an out of town gig, drive back to Melbourne and either go to a party (no party too small) or have a drink at the Jump Club in Collingwood.

 

Your band as been through a few changes…

 

1. we’ve had some constant line ups ..one lasted over 2 years . I don’t think I,m hard to get on with it’s just that the band runs it’s course, the band breaks up and then for some reason it starts all over again. Believe me we’ve had plenty of farewell gigs in our time.  

 

Little Murders disappeared in 1985 then came back 10 years later…

 

1. “…and stuff like that” came about because I write songs and it’s pointless to write songs if no one hears them. Basically in 95 I went into the studio with the same idea I had in 78. Make a record then form a band. The basic premise was to release a record under a new name which was going to be “Pretty Green” .A couple of years later I have a record label and I’m out mixing with bands again (after 9 years djing) live and in the studio. The bug took a big bite this time and in 98 I got some more musicians and finished off what I started. After recording it was obviously a Little Murders record.

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Why did you re-record old tracks?

 

1. The Murder tracks we re-recorded were from our first album “Stop” which was basically the singles plus demos. These demos were taken from cassette tape and were basically in a shitty state made even more obvious by cd technology. And anyway they were the demos and deserved a bit more attention.

 

 

Did you ever feel like giving up?

 

1. God yeah. Back in 81 I gave up after “She Let’s Me know” was out and I went through 3 line ups in a space of 8 months Luckily I secured a great band after that which included Mick Barclay who went on to Paul Kelly and weddings partys anything and Rod Hayward who was in Dave Grayney’s band. That line up was the longest lasting and extremely satisfying to be in. Unluckily that folded in 84 and the next line up spelled the end for me. One line up too far I’d say. 

 

Do you still think of yourself as a Mod?

 

1. Hard question that one. I’ve still got my union jack coat in the wardrobe which was made by Paul Weller’s tailor ,mind you. I’m still fascinated by the whole mod culture but as Don Hosie says I used to be a mod. There’s still aspects interwoven into my life and in my writing. I feel “White Line/ Black Day” on the new cd is very much a mod song. I’m still terribly a sixties nut with a modern soul.

Things will be different is a Mod anthem in Australia .. Tell us about it…

 

1. Things will be different was the first song I ever recorded in a studio when the Fiction went into this little studio in Carlton in 78 and recorded 4 tracks including a cover of the Troggs “With a Girl Like you”. Things was written a few months before when my writing turned around in style from punk to something a little more melodic and 60’s . the song was written about living in the suburbs and playing in the city plus a few references to girlfriends etc. It was originally played to a similar beat as “Be My baby” by the Ronnettes. Later when we went to record it for the Murders debut single we made it faster and put an acoustic bit through the first verse. Later we changed it to a chunka chunka guitar. Since we recorded the first bit last so to speak it took us ages to fit the two bits together.

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