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We started going to gigs at the Governor Broome etc to see
The Victims and later The Scientists. Joy and oldest sister Lynn went to Europe and Lynn
has emailed through a funny memory here.
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"Joy and I were following The Vibrators around in England in about 1978, back when spitting at the band and pogoing in the mosh pit were fashionable, because James had told us he knew them well and that we should say hello. We eventually plucked up the courage to go backstage and they were all in their
underpants! We said “Jim said to say hello”. They didn’t know who we were talking about but eventually we worked out that they knew him as James. Then we had nothing else to say and left after an awkward
silence..." |
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Billy
Orphan's Tears played our first gig at The Beaufort Hotel in North Perth.
It was packed - all friends and family, of course...we even had our mum,
Wendy, there, complete with earplugs. (Funnily enough, she was Ray Purvis's legal secretary for about 20
years...every article he wrote on the Perth punk/rock/music scene was written on her old IBM typewriter).
[Ed note: Ray Purvis was the music journalist for
Perth Sunday newspaper, The
Sunday Independent, now defunct; he championed The Victims and
provided the only mainstream media coverage of the Perth punk scene]
Apparently Mum was slightly intrigued by Billy's tight silver pants that didn't seem to do up very well at the front! I remember the gig going down quite well although it was all a bit of a
blur. I do remember Andy Macpherson (drummer for Enemy Sounds) calling me over to the front of the stage at a break and then spitting a mouthful of water at me...very punk!! Andy and I were actually really good friends and much later when I came back from Sydney in about 1985 we played a few horrible
acoustic gigs with an amazing singer called Leon Bozanich from Mukinbudin at the Boomerang Hotel in Vic
Park. We were paid in drinks, although the management soon realised after about 3 gigs that we were able to consume an unheard of amount of scotch and coke while playing and decided it was going to send the hotel broke. We had heaps of fun
though. We did a rendition of the old Porgy and Bess soul song Summertime but changed the lyrics to
"cotton's jumpin' and the fish is high"! The audience didn't blink an eye but we were in stitches and unable to carry on for a few minutes!!
Back to Billy Orphan's Tears. Billy's girlfriend at the time, Lisa, didn't take to Joy and I being in the band at
all. She even threw my shoes away, which she found after a rehearsal. It didn't take long, though, for Lisa to become great friends
with Joy and I, and she became our biggest fans. Even back in those days I can remember her turning up to gigs in blue vinyl outfits she'd designed and made
herself - she's now one of Australia's best and most successful fashion
designers: Lisa Barron (see www.lisabarron.com.au).
After the Billy Orphan's Tears days, Lisa was a frequent visitor to our house in Liverpool St,
Darlinghurst...but that's another story. Billy
Orphan's Tears played a total of nine gigs, mainly at Adrian's and Blazes.
We supported and played a lot with The Teeny Weeny's, whom I loved. Jill Yates, the lead singer, was unique with a very low voice and great
presence. Our last gig was a bit of a disaster. From what I can gather, there was an altercation between Rudolf and Brad (Brad being the winner because he possessed some kind of black
belt!). This was the demise of our band. There is an old cassette tape somewhere of our
songs. I can only remember a few of them nearly 30 years later: Nightclub,
Cretinous You and One More Time. 
Lynn and Sue hit the road...
Brad went on to play with The Manikins, Joy and I went to Sydney with sister Lynn,
travelling across the Nullabor in Lynn's Datsun 120Y. We rented a two story terrace house at 471 Liverpool St,
Darlinghurst. This house became the house where anyone from Perth came and hung out or stayed at.
There was a mass migration from Perth to Sydney at this time - about 1980.
Residents of this house were, amongst many others, Lynn, Joy & Boris Sudjovic (The Rockets,
Scientists, Dubrovniks, Beasts Of Bourbon), Roddy & Erica (Roddy Radalj), Alan Stewart & Liz Acres (Rockets), Dave Flick
(Dave Faulkner - Victims, Gurus etc).
Joy, Lynn and I sang backups with The Saints
on their Monkey Puzzle album - on the track Simple Love - and travelled with them around Sydney getting up on stage every now and then to do "our song" and also
Robotman. Joy and I worked at Festival Records in Sydney for many
years, my highlight being barging into the boardroom knowing Iggy was in there and getting his autograph under the disapproving scowls of the PR guys
- he signed as "James Osterberg". Later, I had my whole record collection stolen and this precious keepsake along with it...that's Sydney for you!
Anyway, Lynn and I returned to Perth but Joy stayed on and still has a really successful musical
career. She played guitar in a band called The Whippersnappers who amongst other things played a wonderful version of
Stairway To Heaven on Andrew Denton's "Money Or The Gun". They also did a great version of
Sweet, Sweet Love on the Russell Morris tribute album and played a track on the Kiss tribute album...can't remember which track though.
She also played in a female band called Jill Wran, Jill Wran. One of the members was Dave Faulkner's sister Steph.
Joy is now in a wonderful duet called Joy & Lara (see www.joyandlara.com
and www.myspace.com/joylara)
and they're about to release their 3rd CD in Sydney. Lara plays violin in a band called
Fourplay that is
well known internationally, doing versions of songs like Metallica's Enter
Sandman on strings and a great version of The Strokes' Reptillia. Well, that's about it for
this brief history of Billy Orphan's Tears and the Howard family musical
journey. It was such a great time and has been even more fun remembering!! ____________ |
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Lynn:
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James used to often come around to our place on a Sunday, just in time for lunch (usually
Mum’s spaghetti bolognaise), often bringing with him one of Bob’s old
high school mates, John Lilliwhite. I don’t know how they became friends but John was a JB copycat in terms of clothing style. I remember John usually had a cigarette hanging from his mouth but he never inhaled. The cigarette would just get wetter and wetter and eventually droop. I think James had a job at a sausage factory and the rumour was that he used to spit in the sausage mix. He had a chronic sniff which mum used to
hate....
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Mark
Demetrius always stood right in front of the speakers. He must be completely deaf by now.
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I lived for a while in East Sydney in a house with
Dave Faulkner, Roddy Radalj and Erica. Dave was preoccupied with song writing – I don’t think we ever had a full conversation. Roddy and Erica, on the other hand, were always up for a chat.
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I loved Dave Warner's lewdness. My favourite was “Old Stock Road”
(…with a cock, cock, cock in her mouth...). Very daring stuff for those days and quite exciting.
Bob:
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Must say I'm enjoying this to-and-fro about the good
old days. I wonder if any of you remember Mark Demetrius who was somehow friends with Jim
[James Baker] and wrote for several rock magazines. I recall going back to his
parents' place in Mount Pleasant on a few occasions and being blown away by this amazing band that he
introduced me to - The Velvet Underground.
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Re Dave Warner: My favourite
gigs were the Shopper Rock ones at Albert's Tavern that Dave Warner
did...playing his Tesco keyboard and singing songs that we could all relate to.
[Ed note: Dave Warner and his band The Suburbs
introduced the innovative Shopper Rock concept in 1977 - playing
Saturday morning gigs at a small basement pub in the city called
Albert's Tavern.]
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Re James Baker: I went to Jim's 50th birthday bash at the Hyde Park
Hotel a few years back. He was playing with whoever his latest band was and people from a packed audience
would take it in turns to come on stage and sing all the well known punk classics that they belted out...it
was awesome. When he first moved into Maylands he still had a drum skin that said Le Hoodoo Gurus and I joked with him
that it would probably be worth something one day...I wonder what happened to it.
Joy:
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Re James Baker, I always say that he changed my life because
I was so completely bored with going out to pubs where everyone was wearing hippie clothes, smoking dope and grooving to
Cocaine - then James turned up for Sunday lunch in his red velvet jacket, platform silver boots, long blond hair with
Raw Power and New York Dolls under one arm. I remember thinking I'd never seen anyone so cool and when he put
Raw Power on the turntable I was completely blown away. I had no interest in music other than punk for a long time after that...
Lynn, Sue and Joy Howard and friends - way
back when...
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