|
|
Cold Chisel
Cold
Chisel is the classic Australian "pub rock band", playing a tough
breed of rock and blues inspired by seventies bands like Free, Deep Purple
and Led Zeppelin, but characterised by the story-telling skills of their
main songwriter Don Walker, whose personal influences came from Bob Dylan.
Between 1978 and 1983 Cold Chisel ruled
as Australia's most popular band on record and stage. Cold Chisel have sold
over three million records in Australia alone, two thirds of that number
after their bitter break-up.
They
came together in Adelaide on the initiative of guitarist/singer Ian Moss
during October 1973, initially calling
themselves Orange, and playing their debut performance at an Italian
workingman's club. For a while, they took to using a different name for
each performance, but after the day they used the name of the Don Walker
song 'Cold Chisel', that name stuck.
It was a
long and awkward gestation period. At one point Don Walker stepped out of
the band while he completed his post-graduate degree in Quantum Mechanics.
Gravel voiced Glasgow-born singer Jim Barnes left the band, returned, was
sacked, and forgiven. Several times. At one point Jim's brother John Swan
joined as second vocalist but he was sacked too for beating up a roadie,
and then came back, temporarily as drummer while it was Steve Prestwich's
turn to leave and come back again. The only original member who didn't
survive was bass player Les Kaczmarek, replaced by Phil Small. All the
while Don Walker was building up a strong catalogue of original songs.
Whenever
Jim left, the band carried on regardless, since Ian Moss was more than
capable as a singer, and that was the case in November 1975 when Cold
Chisel recorded their first demos. Jim had joined Fraternity. Again he
returned and in August 1976 the band moved from Adelaide to Melbourne to
live. Two months later, frustrated by their lack of progress, Cold Chisel
moved on to Sydney. Three months later things hadn't improved and the band
was considering changing its name to The Dogs.
In May
1977, Cold Chisel found a manager, just as Jim decided to leave again, this
time to join brother John Swan in Feather. The farewell show went so well
he chose to stay after all. Within weeks WEA Records decided to take a punt
by signing the band to a record contract. They were already nearly four
years old.
Cold
Chisel, their manager, and producer Peter Walker (ex Bakery) had high hopes
for the first album. They were going to have it mixed in America and
everything. But when WEA landed them a support on a national tour by
Foreigner they were ordered to wrap up the sessions so the album could be
rush-released. The self-titled album was released in April 1978 without
setting the world on fire. The first single 'Khe
Sahn' (YouTube) was banned from airplay for a sexual implication in the
lyric. The Countdown show asked the band to change the lyric in order to
appear, and they refused.
Backed
up by the band's ever-growing reputation as a live band the album did
enough to earn them a gold record. Cold Chisel then captured their essence
with a live EP, provocatively called 'You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful and
You're Mine', the stuff legends are made of. Who needed Countdown? Everybody
was talking about them anyway, drawn by the songs, and Jim Barnes' presence
on stage, crouched, sweating, as he roared his vocals into the microphone
at the top of his lungs.
Cold
Chisel spent six months recording the second album, ducking in and out of
the studio between performances. This time they were put in the hands of a
'real' producer. Richard Batchens was the hot name at the time. Their
producer was not all that keen on the band's individual performances in the
studio and made them do things over and over. In the end he smoothed out
the rough edges, but also lost some of the life, while at the same time,
the more sophisticated approach tended to highlight the quality of the
songs. Don Walker was really starting to find his feet now. The band had
their reservations , but they were reasonably happy with the results, and
'Breakfast At Sweethearts' turned Cold Chisel into platinum selling
superstars.
After
attempting to record a single with Richard Batchens, Cold Chisel decided to
record the next album with Mark Opitz. This time everything fell into
place, the sound, the songs, the playing. With Don Walker's blessing, every
member took a hand in the songwriting. With Jim's blessing Ian Moss took
lead vocals on two songs. The album cover was based on the Marat-Sade 'bath
suicide' painting. 'East' was a triumph. Cold Chisel were now the
undisputed No.1 rock band in Australia. And they still hadn't appeared on
Countdown.
The band
and their management now started to set their sights on the rest of the
world, while here in Australia they rammed what they were all about with a
double live album, 'Swingshift', their first No.1, and Australia's first
live No.1 album. And now they appeared on Countdown, not Countdown proper,
but the April 1981 Countdown Awards, smashing the set as a climax to their
performance. Who needed Countdown? In the meantime 'East' had been released
overseas.
'East'
didn't sell internationally, and performances aside, their experiences were
not happy ones. The next album had an aggressive edge to it, and they
called it after the way they felt in America, 'Circus Animals'. The outback
cover shot leaves no doubt about where it was recorded. More international
sojourns followed, and more frustrating disappointments. In Australia they'd
scored another number one album and a major hit with the single 'Forever
Now'. (YouTube)
Disillusionment
set in, as well as internal tensions. Steve Prestwich left, and was replaced
by Ray Arnott, before the band decided to break up in August 1983, inviting
Prestwich to return for a farewell album and tour. It seemed a good idea at
the time, but it would prove the most difficult four months of the group's
existence, recording a final album in between the farewell tour. Different
writers were using different producers. Some of the band were barely on
speaking terms. None of the members could wait for it to be over, and it
finally was, with a farewell performance at Sydney Entertainment Centre on
December 12 1983, the group's tenth anniversary. The album, 'Twentieth
Century', as you'd expect, was a mixed bag.
Jimmy
Barnes jumped straight into an incredibly successful solo career. Ian Moss
took five years off before releasing a Number One album of his own
('Matchbook'), reuniting him with the songs of Don Walker. Walker started
his own low key recording and performing career, forging relationships with
a varied assortment of Australian music makers, both rock and country,
without dispute one of the finest songwriters in the country. Drummer Steve
Prestwich joined Little River Band for two years. All the while, fans
waited in vain for a whiff of a reunion.
Then,
after almost two years of secret discussions and jam sessions, a reunion
album and tour was assembled for October 1998. After the 'The Last Wave Of
Summer' project, which added another No.1 to Cold Chisel's credits but
without the songs therein making a serious dint against the old catalogue,
the band went its separate ways again. The band reassembled in May 2003 for
a series of warm-up concerts before four "in the round" concerts
at Sydney's Hordern Pavillion filmed for release on DVD and then came
together yet again in December 2009 for a one-of at the Sydney 500 V8
Supercars, performing to the largest crowd of the band’s career, with more
than 45,000 fans in attendance.
The
retirement of long-term manager Rod Willis a month earlier, and the hiring
of a replacement, contemporary management team indicated that the Cold
Chisel story was not yet finished. –
Ed.Nimmervoll
|
|
