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FATT 2002-2004
J.K - Guitars, Vocals
Wayne Palmer - Guitars, Vocals
Jeff Smith - Drums, Vocals
Grover - Vocals
Tony Lingard - Bass, Vocals
Mark - Bass, Vocals
Formed in 2000, FATT fast became one of Toowoomba and
district’s leading bands playing 1970’s and 1980’s authentic pub rock,
building a solid following of their own along the way. Packed with vitality and experience, FATT engaged their audience to
become immersed in the sounds of the 70’s and 80’s proving that classic pub
rock was alive and kickin’. Their high quality, full-bodied music
coupled with the band members’ sense of fun entertained crowds of all ages.
The band motto was..’if
you don’t get off to this stuff….you have stopped breathing’!!
Grover - Lead Vocals Grover started out in 1972 in Perth-based
band Fatty Lumpkin. He then moved back to Queensland to perform with The Choice Ones, Horizon, The Shots, In Spirit
and The Mirrors before joining The Stone Lords. The
Stone Lords performed successfully in and around Sydney for 10 years. Grover’s unique approach as front man of
the band ensured the audience was not only entertained by the music but the
band themselves.
Tony - Bass Guitar and
Back Up Vocals A Pom. He had been playing bass since the early 60’s.
Tony was very experienced and had gigged in 4 continents including recently
with John Coghlan’s
Quo (ex Status Quo) in Europe. Although newly exposed to what Aussie 70’s
pub rock was all about, Tony loved the drive and energy providing a solid
bass groove and together with Jeff formed the ‘engine room’ of the band.
Wayne - Rhythm Guitar and
Back Up Vocals 1983
saw Wayne’s musical career begin with Melbourne band The Avenue Players. In and around Toowoomba,
Wayne
displayed his vocal prowess as lead singer for Empty Vessels before joining Cold Storage. His love
and dedication to music led to the formation of the new rock band, which we
now know as FATT.
Jeff - Drummer and Back
Up Vocals Jeff had
been pounding it out in bands since 1987.
Starting out with Overload
(renamed Stoney Broke), he then moved to The Eddy Decay Band, Grapevine, Export and Gypsy. Jeff’s ability to interpret the feel of
the music of the era provides dynamic enhancement to the band’s overall
performances. He recognized a
fundamental deficiency in rock bands performing authentic music of the 70’s
and 80’s and so teamed with Wayne
to form FATT.
Jason was asked by Tony to come and jam
with FATT after Barry left for Melbourne.
Jamming in Jeff’s garage, Jason
immediately gelled with the guys who were all over 10 years older than him.
Sets were quickly run through of Aussie
bands AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and Angels.
The classic Rocky Mountain Way was brought to
life with Jason’s Heil talk box and his
suggestions for songs from the seventies by such artists as Queen, Whitesnake and Bozz Scaggs lit up a whole new road for the band. FATT
occasionally jammed and played parties down the mountain range at Tony’s
house.
The band gigged regularly across the
street from Jeff’s at the Bellvue Hotel and at
regional centres out of town.
These “bush” trips included a show
where the band blacked out the shed they were in because they sucked so
much power. High voltage rock n’ roll indeed.
Indeed most of the places FATT played
were overwhelmed with the amount of equipment the band performed with.
Grover had to perform in with the crowd
on the floor a lot of the time.
Fatt
trekked out to a friend’s farmhouse one weekend to record some songs in the
small studio set up they had in a shed. Grover was very entertained by
finding a large boulder similar to Bon Scott’s perch in the Jail Break
music video. The band used the drum kit there and the old analogue desk and
tape system. However, the equipment did not work as planned and the band
went away with a basic desk tape of the day’s rehearsal. This tape was to
be known as Fatt Farm.
The band later set up shop at Wayne’s new house
inside his garage/pool room/bar and recorded some tunes with Jason’s 4 track.
Soon it eventuated that Tony left for a
job position in Melbourne
and the band had Al Espey play for a while.
This proved to become an unproductive
and damaging union and Mark eventually replaced him.
COUNTERFEIT QUO 2000
J.K. -
Guitars, Keyboards
Barry Mason - Drums, Backing Vocals
Tony Lingard - Bass
Jim Nairn - Lead Vocals
Jason and Barry were asked by Tony Lingard
to help him record some tracks for an upcoming Status Quo Tribute album
being produced in Europe. Tony came from Manchester England and was in many acts
including a Quo tribute featuring their original drummer John Coghlan. The most Jason new of Quo really was The
Wanderer and such. The new tunes presented to he and Barry looked like a
fun challenge. Shady Lady was a well-known Quo tune amongst its fans and
had an anthemic hyper boogie. Lonely was a rare
b-side with a slower stomp boogie that outros to
a huge parade like feel.
Barry and Jason learnt the songs and
debated the best way to get them recorded. First try was Jason recording
all the basic guitar tracks to a click track at home at the Den Of Iniquity
as a guide and to have Barry record his drums at Royce Music House while
listening to the track. The guitars would then be properly recorded with
the drums. The feel that they wanted was not there so the guys opted on
recording the main tracks live inside Royce's.
Jason used his Les Paul for tracks on
beefier Shady Lady and borrowed a Strat and a
Tele for most of the jangle feel of Lonely. After a couple of rehearsals,
singer Jim Nairn, also a prominent part of the UK
music scene in his day, came in and sang scratch vocals with the band as
they recorded the foundation tracks. Later, Jim came back in again with
Barry to record his lead vocal.
THR3E 2000-
J.K. - Guitars,Vocals, Programming, Keyboards
Barry Mason - Drums, Vocals
John Turnbull - Bass, Vocals
Jason Holland - Bass, Vocals
Kerrol - Bass, Vocals
Greg Parker - Bass, Vocals
Flynn McPherson - Bass, Vocals
Thr3e brought a completely new vision
to the way bands presented themselves in town. Barry, Jason and their
string of bass playing friends sought to give the audience a lesson in
music appreciation.
They performed over 200 of their favourite songs to pub crowds who didn’t know what to
do when they were presented with some original choices over the usual crap.
While performing with Greg Parker on
bass, Thr3e rocked out with electric drills on the songs Daddy,Brother,Lover,Little Boy
by Mr. Big and Poundcake by Van Halen.
80's classic Eye Of The Tiger was a
huge crowd favourite that always packed a lazy
dance floor and during one bass player-less set, due to John Turnbull
having to leave early to travel back to Uni,
Jason and Barry delivered a blitzing version of Van Halen's
Hot For Teacher with nothing to keep the bottom end but the pulverizing
double kick.
Alongside old hits, new classics such
as Tool's massive Aenima and Schism and a Perfect Circle's Judith were well
received.
Thr3e’s live sound was skillfully
engineered by one of the best in Queensland,
Ken Walker.
Many fun times were had trekking too
and from the gigs in Ken’s big red bus. This huge contraption lugged a room
full of gear and had a drawbridge-like back ramp that weighed a tonne and threatened many people’s extremities and
backs.
Flynn McPherson was recruited on bass
after being discovered by Barry whilst working at Royce Music House.
Along with the usual gigging, the band
rehearsed some songs that Jason and Barry wrote to get recorded because
Barry was to move away soon.
Barry and Jason each wrote their
different share of the lyrics and music that came together from both works
alone and jamming together.
The band recorded the 5 songs the same
way as with the Counterfeit Quo project, quickly over a weekend, and then
Barry moved to Melbourne.
Jason and Barry spent the next few
years mixing and producing the swiftly recorded tracks.
SOUTH PARKE 1997-2000
J.K. - Guitars,Vocals, Programming, Keyboards
Barry Mason - Drums, Vocals
John Turnbull - Bass, Vocals
Jason met up with drummer/vocalist
Barry Mason once again, working at Royce Music House.
The time had come for the two of them
to actually properly collaborate after all of this time.
Barry was now playing in a trio known
as The Brett Matthews Band but wanted to play some of the styles that he
and Jason had in common. This would also include recording some original
songs together at a home studio he had created with friend Simon Hall.
New cover tunes such as Van Halen's 'Jump' were brought to life with the ability to
sequence keyboard tracks with Jason's new Roland XP-50.
Musicality now had a big foot in the
door and the two wanted to challenge themselves with epics such as Tool's Aenima and the Queen Medley as performed by Extreme at
the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert.
The pair exchanged the demo tapes of
their originals and recorded the tracks down on a reel-to-reel tape machine
through a large vintage analogue desk.
Jason used and fell in love with
Simon's Peavey Transfex amp for his guitar tracks
and would soon begin paying off one of his own.
The band started jamming with a few
different people on bass until John Turnbull became 'it' for the time
being.
A 'Battle Of The Bands' was coming up
and the band decided to submit an entry to be included.
The band videotaped a rehearsal day
with the help of Simon on camera.
For a more professional approach, the
video was captured live to a hi-fi vcr that had
stereo audio coming straight to it from the mixing desk.
The camera had a homemade video cable
attached to its output and the set up was complete with a small 34cm tv as a monitor.
Some covers and some originals,
including Barry's tune Comin' Back, were
submitted.
South Park was just emerging as a cult favourite on TV. The band adopted the name SOUTH PARKE to laughingly avoid legal problems.
The 'battle' came about and was a farce
from the beginning.
The set-up was too understated for such
a large auditorium with only the house public address being used.
The gear, which the band had been told
everyone was to use the same back line of, was very underpowered.
It eventuated that, unbeknownst to
South Parke, it was allowable that some people turn up with Marshall speaker
stacks and all their own back line.
There were no sound checks, only in
that the next band sounded slightly better than the band that performed
before them.
When Jason, Barry and John arrived
onstage, it became apparent that if you wanted to put on any type of show
and actually move around you would be hindered by the fact that the
monitors were crap and you could only hear your amp if you were standing
directly in front of it. The boys did however perform this energetic show
despite not being able to hear themselves. They
had less than 15 minutes to strut their stuff. Opening with the beginning
of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs', complete with Jason's Marvin The Martian
figure talking into his pick-ups "prepare to be vaporized", the
band slammed into Jason's original song 'Mind's Eye'. When it came for the
guitar solo it became apparent that the guitar was the only thing with any
bass frequency and no one could hear John's bass much at all. This song
finished with a drum roll into No Doubt's ‘Spiderwebs’,
which featured a reggae intro queuing Jason to adorn his Rasta wig. The
song is hard enough to sing in normal conditions without someone putting on
a smoke machine into your throat, which is what happened to Barry. During
the song, Jason unveiled his 'guitar swinging thing ' to the bedazzlement
of the audience. Spiderwebs was concluded with a segue into the South Park
theme song before the band launched into Barry's pop/rock/country ballad Comin' Back. Jason adorned his Rob Zombie cowboy hat
for this one. The finale was the bullet train of a tune Pain, one of
Barry's originals, featuring a wicked guitar tapping solo and more
high-energy performance. An encore performance of the guitar swinging
'around the world’ was displayed upon leaving the stage as well as the new
'walk the dog'.
REPOMAN 1996
J.K.- Guitars,
Programming, Keyboards
Kris Singleton - Guitars, Roland Drum Programming
John Atley - Vocals, Bass
“Just
thinking about REPOMAN, what a strange animal it was. Could have should
have band if ever I saw one, just ten years before its time lol . What a monster though. Ferocious live soun,d paper thin on tape
though . Still and it makes me wonder, best band I have ever been in bar
none. Shame we never realized its potential at the time, pinning for
drummers and such. I think what made it shine so much is that all of us
wanted it to sound different from each other’s vision, internal combustion
breeding creation! Deadly sounding guitars though, and the sampling drums
etc waves synths, Christ! I truly believe if we
had started the band in New York or London we would be
living in castles now stroking whippets and drinking absinth.” – John Atley, February 2006
Jason first heard John Atley and Kris Singleton were coming up with a new
electronic sound incorporating a drum machine from Ben Stenzel.
A few weeks earlier, Jason had joined
them all for a jam on some songs, predominantly by new craze, White Zombie.
Ben soon finished drumming with them
and went away to work on oilrigs. John and Kris approached Jason about
working with them in this new venture, jamming at Royce Music.
Kris had forsaken the use of his Boss
floor effects unit for it to be used to distort the output of a Yamaha
RY-10 drum machine.
This machine also produced synth notes that could be used to create bass lines and
such.
The two were working on a few tracks
programmed painstakingly by Kris that were then layered by He, John and now Jason with rock guitars.
The first productions were something
akin to White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000 album and
included an industrial press up-tempo song known as Bone Yard.
The band also wanted to add theatrics
to the performances, even while rehearsing, leading Jason to one day turn
up with a huge net made of video tape that wrapped around the rehearsal
room.
The band toyed with different titles
for itself. One idea was that of simply BRIAN.
Another concept was BIG JESUS BOLT GUN.
It was hypothetical theme music for if Jesus was to come back as a sheet
metal worker instead of a carpenter and he was pissed off.
Jason discussed the concept with GARBAGE’s Steve Marker who said it,” sounded like a Schwarzennegger movie”.
Jason was listening to bands such as
Garbage at this time as they used their guitars to produce sound effects
and such to 'color' the music.
Jason now also had some new effects and
equipment, whose lack thereof had lead to leaving Duskorture.
These worked well with the new sound. The Digitech
Whammy pedal was a key to bringing some new ambience to the mechanical
landscape. He also soon bought a drum machine of his own.
The band’s sound morphed to be more
influenced by Prodigy's Jilted Generation album.
Tinkering with the Alesis
SR-16, Jason brought some more input to the songs that were now being
practiced occasionally back at the Pigeon Club.
Jason next purchased a Roland xp-50
keyboard workstation to work on writing some more tunes with the band.
Rehearsals started to take place at Kris and John's house.
Since these were the days when it was
still very expensive to own your own digital home studio on PC, the band
also played around, although mainly unsuccessfully, with the concept of
recording using videotape, as it was a less noisy medium than audiocassette
tapes.
The songs Subsonic Mantra and Drown
were written on the XP-50 using the Alesis as an
outboard sound module for it's live drum
attributes.
The band wanted to become more than
about music and more of an entity within itself, as fashion and technology
exploded in the music scene.
Playstations and Adidas were the thing of the day
and the band now calling themselves REPOMAN, after the Emilio Estevez
movie, created TEAM REPO 'the band with the three stripes' amongst its
inner circle.
One day, Kris decided the band would go
on a mission to purchase an Ibanez Universe 7-string. He wanted one of the
originals and tracked down a seller in Ipswich near Brisbane. We thought we had happened upon
El Dorado,
finding an original “lollipop” finish guitar similar to one on Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare cd.
It was however with imperfections and TEAM REPO trekked to a music store in
the centre of Brisbane
where, after a phone call from the store, a ninja like character appeared
with a shiny white Universe before disappearing into the shadows.
Triple J, the misguided youth radio
station, held an unearthed competition. This entailed bands spending hard
earned money and spare time, delivering a demo cassette to a bunch of 40
year old virgins who still thought plaid was cool, to judge who would be
the next great original thing on the music scene.
The guys entrusted their material to be
recorded in the crispy clean digital studio of Holy Murray's Bible and Cd emporium at a church hall gathering type building.
REPO locked themselves in the studio overnight
laying down the tracks and then Kris and Murray mixed them down. Jason
managed to recently salvage a copy of these recordings from a pile of old
audio cassettes. The main song TRACK ONE was completely intact but
unfortunately only the last part of UNDECIDED could be retrieved.
Jason also put together a quick demo he
had recorded. It was a somewhat dance remix of an old original, with vocals
dropped in from an old 4-track session with Ben Stace'
in The Den.
Neither entry received any credit from
the radio station. Another You Am I clone one the crown for that
competition.
John started dj-ing
on local Uni community radio and tried to balance
out the universe by keeping it real.
The band next organized a gig at the
Country Club hotel. The theatrics were in full force with Jason doing his
Keith Flint playing guitar impersonation, John in a tartan, Kris as the two
toned Lego man and of course friend Des in a rabbit costume. The set up for
the show revealed a large problem however. No one brought any subwoofer
speakers to give the huge bottom end the band required. The audience was a
bit lost when the trio plus bunny ripped up the small hallway of a room
playing in front of a pool table, the drum machines and keyboards resting
atop of it.
It was decently received gig however
that was all documented on videotape.
John tried to organize the next gig
with a festival being run through the radio station. Venues became screwed
around however and the gig ended up in an ‘emergency’ venue at the indoor
bowls club where Jason and Kris had played in Writhe. The band once again
went to great lengths to enhance their show, with John stenciling huge
backdrop screens. Because the venue had been changed so late on that day,
REPOMAN played to a small crowd consisting mainly of other bands but was
received well and once again video taped the whole thing for history.
DUSKORTURE 1995
Ben Stenzel - Drums
J.K.- Guitars
Kris Singleton - Guitars
John Atley - Vocals, Bass
“The Duskorture story is a simple one, evil was the new
black. And Kris and myself wanted
to paint the town in it.
Something
wonderful and primal about a death metal band in full blast beat sync.
It was in
fact the antithesis of about ten other bedroom bands that Sean and myself
had been doing on and off for about four years.
Bands like
Jewish Swastika, Cot Death (gigged once total shambles), and the doom metal
Sabbath on valium dirging Barrabus
(which actually gigged a few times, at bikers parties what a nightmare!!)
It was the
departure of Sean, which brought You into the fray more for your ability as
one if not the most versatile players in town, if not your death metal
credentials.
But as Duskorture was more soulful in its mayhem than other
more generic death metal bands of its era it was a worthwhile partnership,
we pulled off the Roxy, which was our Everest at
the time, and we did it with style.
We were
then courted by DEf records and the venomous
Michael Cain as a manager, which saw us playing in dingy Brisbane venues for pocket change if
anything.
I think you
left around this time from memory, the exact details are not clear to me
but I imagine it would have been somewhat mutual.
Your
departure Saw Kris take on an apprentice guitarist called Rod, Kris as you
know always needed to be the Alpha guitarist in the death metal role (which
I didn’t mind as long as we had songs on the go) and with the younger Rod
he had that, although the band was tight it never had the contrast of
playing style of the earlier era Duskorture.
We
continued to write and gig for some time , but were never confident enough
in the momentum of the genre and when , the majors started buying up the
cream of the Death Metal bands , we knew our own race was over and we
had missed the bus as far as the band being anything bar a hobby.
We were all
or nothing types so we decided to call it quits, think up a new strategy
and get something different happening. Then one day Kris bought a Drum
machine........Jack.”-
John Atley’s
Blog written to Jason, February 2006
WRITHE 1994-1995
Ben Stenzel - Drums
J.K.- Guitars, Vocals
Eddie Grant - Bass
Kris Singleton - Guitars, Vocals
Ben Stace – Vocals
Ben Stace's
telephone number was given by his former guitarist Michael Eelkama to Jason.
Ben remembered Jason from the SADF RSL
gigs and from when Jason came to watch his band practice once with Barry
Mason playing drums.
The day of the phone call, Jason had
just picked up the new Ozzy Osbourne
Live and Loud recording and Ben was adamant to the prospect of performing
some of the material with the guys.
Back in 1993, Jason and the guys went
to a Metallica gig and were blown away by cool
new opening act KYUSS. BEHOLDER was now to become known as WRITHE after a Kyuss song.
Jason, Ben, Eddie, Kris and new recruit
Stace kicked into a new set of rehearsal songs
for the upcoming youth festival gig they were invited to perform at a few
months earlier.
Ozzy tunes Mr.Tinkertrain,
I Don't Wanna Change The World, Mr. Crowley and
Crazy Train were included in these rehearsals.
The guys were also up for another
filming session. Ben Stace borrowed a Super Vhs-C camera that had seen better days from a friend.
The heads on the camera were obviously
shot but the grainy footage captured the grittiness of the band in their
element, in the practice room, at home and on the streets.
The result came to be known as IT
because it was dubbed over a recording of a Stephen King movie by that
name.
The band continued to practice at Royce
Music House until certain band members had them banned due to some
alcoholic mischief that occurred.
The other establishment used regularly
by bands that wanted to get out of the garage was the local Pigeon Club
hall. This was basically a small hall used for pigeon breeders to have
there gatherings on and off during the year. It was up for grabs cheaply
for anyone else who wanted to use it the rest of the time. The band
rehearsed here some weeks and then onto an acquaintances large inner city
house, in an industrial zone, right next to a mechanic.
Here the band started to write some
original material including a song called Here I Come.
Kris presented the main riff with
lyrics by Ben Stace, Jason then came up with the
other parts and the song wrote itself quickly.
The band finally played the youth
festival to a small early crowd in a large indoor bowls club hall but was
well received. This led to a gig on a minute stage in a small hotel.
This gig was run with a dodgy PA system
provided by the organizer and led to many interesting moments and out
bursts from an annoyed lead singer.
The performance was a success in the
end however and showcased the band well.
External influences led shortly to the
departure of Ben Stace and without a singer, Ben Stenzel and Kris Singleton started a new heavier
project with band friend John Atley.
Jason and Eddie, who were now living
close to each other continued writing songs together and rehearsed once or
twice with a new drummer at the Pigeon Club.
Ben Stenzel
jammed a few times with Jason and Eddie and John dropped by to provide some
vocals.
Jason moved away from near Eddie and
the two ceased collaborating.
Jason moved in with Ben Stace for 6 months, during which time he joined
DUSKORTURE, before going back home and working at Central City Music.
He purchased a 4-track tape recorder
while working here. Ben Stace later moved to Brisbane.
Jason continued home 4 track recording
originals and occasional visits from Ben Stace
had them demoing some covers.
During this time, Jason also bought
himself some new effects pedals and Les Paul guitar.
One day, the two Bens, Eddie and Jason
decided to have a reunion jam and video tape it. The jam included Black
Sabbath, Soundgarden and Pantera
tunes.
John and Kris even turned up later to
watch and join in for some back ups and such.
BEHOLDER 1992-1994
Ben Stenzel - Drums
J.K.- Guitars, Vocals
Eddie Grant - Bass
Nathan"Cougar"Dwyer - Bass
Kris Singleton - Guitars, Vocals
Tom Taylor - Vocals
Jason and Ben continued on with a heavy
dose of Metallica in BEHOLDER.
The new band name came from Eye Of The
Beholder from ...And Justice For All.
New addition "Dwyer" on bass
was very eager to try and emulate Cliff Burton and fellow newby Kris Singleton ripped out great lead and rhythm
guitar to old school tunes like Four Horsemen.
Jason and Ben adopted the names of Kirk
(Hammett) and Lars (Ulrich) for most of the early Nineties.
For most part Jason handled the vocals
for Metallica and some other songs.
Barry Mason, who had jammed regularly
with Jason and Ben since their beginnings, replaced Matt Newnham’s vocals for some time.
Ironically Matt was now singing with
Barry in Vagabonds.
An ad for a new lead singer was posted
and was answered by uni student and former Samboy's Potato Chip commercial star Tom Taylor.
He had been the odd one out in an add
full of celebrities such as The Screaming Jets' Dave Gleeson all being
asked to "hit me with a Samboy chip".
His 2 second performance uttering the
words "hit me" with his thin hair teased into a Bon Jovi-esque 'do' earned him a couple of grand.
Tom drove a very "rock and
roll" black Triumph Tr-7 for a short time until he sold it and the
Band Mobile was now a old blue Ford Laser.
Alice In Chains was Tom's biggest draw
card to sing with the band and he tried to emulate Layne Staley with his
own unique style.
The band decided early in 1993 to hire
a video camera and record the bands legendary rehearsal sessions and home
antics.
Dwyer was a no show for the project so
Kris' amp was fed additionally into a bass amp to carry the bottom end for
the day.
Eddie Grant, friend and former drummer
from Different Breed, was now learning bass guitar and although not
performing with the band on video became the new member.
He became cameraman #1 for the day and
added much humour to the finished product known
as Beholder#1 and #2.
Some weeks passed and Tom's unique
untrained vocal style was beginning to take its toll on him.
He had read how Bruce Springsteen had
stopped his shouting singing style of Born In The USA and gone for huskier
ballads now because the intensity was threatening his vocal chords.
The band had
been approached to play at an upcoming youth festival, Tom wanted to leave
and the band needed a new high power vocalist.
S.A.D.F. 1991-1992
Ben Stenzel - Drums
J.K.- Guitars, Vocals
Kevin Bernicke - Bass, Vocals
Matt Newnham - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Jason (15yrs), Ben (13yrs) and Kevin
(15yrs) branched away from Different Breed , although still keeping in
touch with and jamming with members occasionally, and rehearsed every
weekend at Royce Music House and occasionally at a semi-built new recording
studio, Pogo’s.
They started playing more Screaming
Jets and new band Faith No More, as well as a lot of the old stuff.
Barry Mason would join them regularly
to help out with vocals until Kevin discovered up and coming vocalist Matt Newnham (18yrs).
Matt was still learning his craft and
was given great-unschooled challenges in this new rock band much to the
dismay of his vocal teacher at university.
Matt had a naturally deep voice but he
could hit soaring notes ala Freddie Mercury perfectly.
This was good because around this time
in history Freddie had passed away and the band had started getting very
much into Queen's legacy, playing I Want It All and I Want To Break Free.
Jason wrote many original songs during
his study periods and slow time in Year 11 and 12, although very few were
played with the band. One however became the new name of the band.
S.A.D.F. was a song written about the
'football school' personalities. It was a song derived from The Screaming
Jets' F.R.C. and such as in this song basically, well, abbreviated swear
words.
The other song that had some place in
the band was Ego Trip, about a friend who thought he was better than his
peers and now "begs forgiveness from the friends he set aside".
The band rehearsed this song a few
times along with new inspirations from Matt of Noiseworks
and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Other new songs included Decadence
Dance by Extreme and Sleeping My Day Away by D.A.D.
In 1992, Jason and Kevin set about
organizing the bands first gig. Jason even drafted a staging diagram for
gear placement.
The band stuck flyers around with the
caption "Why Dance When You Can Bang Your Head”.
It was in opposition to all the school
discos and such where the youth of the time could be found if they weren't
wandering the streets at night.
With friends and family helping out,
the entire show was run independently at the small local RSL hall and
attracted around 100 people and earned the band a decent bit of money after
expenses.
The crowd were blown away with the show
and their excitement nearly brought down the backstage division screens
either side of the band as they jostled their way to the front for better
'dancing' position.
The P.A. provider and sound guy for the
night was Veetone Music Hire's Michael Kane. He
decided to make the RSL a new venue and to have the band back to play with
him running the show.
His management did not work out and
after a couple of poor turnouts playing with EMPTY VESSELS and THE CREW;
the gigs were over .The band continued rehearsing new songs.
SADF’s final gig was at Jason Gatehouse’s
birthday party out of town. The band set up for the function in the OAKEY
RSL hall with a large, high stage and backstage area down the stairs.
Jason’s recent exploration of DEF LEPPARD’s ‘under stage’ during their recent tour saw
him run his amps from under the stage, with the head down the stairwell and
the speakers up top, to allow for more onstage room. Barry Mason came out
to sing with band because Matt could not make it out for the gig.
Jason and Ben were now wanting to start
playing a bit more challenging and heavier music that was both technical to
play and aggressive to sing.
Some weeks after the birthday gig, Matt
and Kevin were out.
Kevin was always a great person and
passionate about the cause but was never proficient in learning anything
too technical at that time and enjoyed more the rock n' roll lifestyle that
came with the band.
Matt was asked by Barry to come and
sing with him in VAGABONDS with a genre that more suited his style and
didn't waste his talent.
Jason and Ben new of another bass
player known as Gronk, Eden Howard by his mother,
who would later become editor for a Brisbane street press.
Gronk and the guys learnt some material
together but nothing eventuated from it, so another choice was made to that
of Nathan Dwyer.
Dwyer had been known by the band for
some time and had even visited them at Pogo’s.
He knew of another guitarist, Kris
Singleton, who would join the band to give it the twin guitar attack it now
needed.
DIFFERENT BREED 1989-1991
Ben Stenzel - Drums
J.K. - Guitars, Vocals
Kevin Bernicke - Bass, Vocals
Eddie Grant - Drums
Jason Shultz - Guitar
Michael Ahearn - Guitar
Jason Gatehouse - Guitar, Vocals
Barry Mason – Vocals
Jason Kooy,
Jason Schultz, Kevin Bernicke, Michael Ahearn and
Jason Gatehouse all met in junior high school.
Gatehouse had a cousin a couple of years
younger, Eddie Grant. His best friend was Ben Stenzel. Jason Schultz was the first to already be
playing electric guitar.
He had a garage band with Gatehouse,
who also played a bit of guitar and Eddie and Ben took turns behind Eddie’s
drumkit.
Kevin also lived nearby and would hang
out with them alot. Jason visited Schultz a few
times and was able to learn a few chords quickly on Schultzy's
guitar.
Jason soon had an inexpensive Falcon
Stratocaster and he, along with friend Michael,
now also with a guitar and Kevin, who bought a bass, joined the garage
band.
Jason at this time was learning what he
could from books transcribing Joe Satriani, Van Halen, Metallica, Guns and
Roses, Bon Jovi and Steve Vai.
Many lunch hours were spent amongst the
4 guitarists photocopying sheet music to share with each other.
Schultzy was heavily influenced by AC/DC and
he, Gatehouse and Ed were already playing a bunch of tunes by bands such as
Ramones and Sex Pistols.
Everybody had there own influences to
add to the song list. Everybody, especially Kevin, was into Guns And Roses.
Metallica, Skid Row and such were all thrown into
the jams.
The time came to find a proper
rehearsal space and Jason organized the band to practice in an upstairs
room at ROYCE MUSIC HOUSE.
This would become a home for many years
to come. No one will ever forget having to lug all the gear up and down the
narrow staircase to the jam room.
Situated in the middle of town, it was
nearby to McDonalds and other necessities and became a hang out place for
friends to come watch the guys play.
It also meant crossing paths with other
musicians such as drummer Barry Mason and guitarist Jason Holland who were a couple of years higher at the same school.
Barry would start jamming with the
guys, regularly putting in some much needed vocals and occasionally hopping
on the drums to rip through Van Halen's Get Up
and Ain't Talkin' 'Bout
Love with Jason.
The technical needs for the songs were
becoming bigger and Jason upgraded his Falcon for a trade-in on a Marina guitar.
It was basically a copy of an Ibanez Jem with a few differences.
This guitar was very rock and
roll...hot pink. It had 2 humbucking pick-ups and
a single coil in the middle.
At this point no one knew too much
about tone, but the Hum buckers meant no more of the buzz that the Strat made when overdriven.
The new double locking floating tremolo
meant staying in tune while executing those cool whammy dive bombs.
He also upgraded his small 25-watt Samick amp to a Samick 60
watt with reverb. His effects pedals were now a Crybaby Wah
and a Boss orange Feedbacker/Distortion.
Schultzy had an Onyx Bc
Rich Warlock copy and a Magnum 25 watt amp. Ahearn had an Onyx guitar with
one humbucker and a small amp. Gatehouse had a
Gibson Sg copy.
Ben Stenzel
bought an Adams drum kit and combined it
with Eddie's for a massive double kick kit. The band was also by now
occasionally practicing on weekend in unused classrooms at the high school.
One weekend, the band now calling themselves Different Breed after the Megadeth
b-side from No More Mr. Nice Guy were allowed to practice in the large
assembly hall and decided to film it.
Jason wrote the bands only original
song that they were playing at the time, Show Me Reality, a mostly
instrumental song, to go on the video.
Jason's equipment acquisition came from
his sometime guitar teacher but more oft jamming buddy Michael Eelkama. For $300 he bought a home made slant quad box,Vadis tube amplifier head
and a Boss Chorus pedal.
By this time, Ben Stenzel
had now moved to the same high school and he, Jason and Kevin performed
Enter Sandman at a lunchtime talent competition. Barry, who had finished
school, came in for the vocals.
In true show-biz style nothing went as
planned. The band sound checked fine in the morning but the tubes had come
loose in the Vadis by the time everything was
moved around back onto stage for the lunchtime performance. It took a bit
of wiggling around dangerously with the electricity in the back of the amp
but Jason managed to pop them back in enough to get them through the song
after about 10 minutes.
His knew idea to fix the problem was to
now have the head sit upside down so the tubes faced up and wouldn't fall
out.
Jason, Ben and Kevin had now become a
new band.
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