Daddy Cool

Daddy Cool took Australia by storm in 1971, totally out of character with everything that was happening in music both in Australia and anywhere else in the world. Maybe they were a product of the strange time in Australian music they found themselves in. Maybe everything that happened to Daddy Cool would have happened anyway.

Ross Wilson had disbanded his promising and innovative Party Machine group on a chance to join Procession in London and maybe make his mark on the world stage. But by the time he arrived in London Procession were in self-destruction mode. After enjoying the sights and sounds of London Ross slowly made his way back to Australia by land via Asia, carrying with him the riff and idea for a song that had come to him in London.

He came back as Australian music was descending into chaos. A dispute between the record companies and radio stations meant that between May and November 1970 the major record companies withdrew their records from the radio stations for airplay. Because of a quirk of the copyright laws records originating in America couldn’t be banned. But it meant that all the established Australian recording acts were suddenly cut off from their fans. Many didn’t survive. The only way to survive was by having something people wanted to come and witness live. In that environment Ross Wilson formed Daddy Cool.

He didn’t mean Daddy Cool to become ‘his future’. When Ross Wilson came back to Melbourne he had this idea of creating an adventurous supergroup, made up of members of other bands. Obviously this group’s performances were going to be rare, depending on whenever everyone was available between duties with their regular bands. What Ross needed was a secondary group, something to keep him in work between performances by this other serious main band. That was the plan.

Coming back to Melbourne Ross found work in a storeroom until he could get his music back in gear. Working alongside him was a drummer also ‘between bands’. Ross Wilson knew a guitarist he’d played with forever, Ross Hannaford. Gary Young knew a bass player he’d played with forever, Wayne Duncan. The first day the four played together they knew they had something. They decided to become Daddy Cool, in between being the nucleus for Ross Wilson’s supergroup, The Sons Of The Vegetal Mother. Daddy Cool played classic Fifties rock and roll with a Seventies attitude. The Vegetal Mothers played original material. Both groups played the song Ross Wilson had carried with him from London, ‘Eagle Rock’.

No-one was ready for the impact Daddy Cool’s performances would have. Dressed up like cartoon characters, and playing rock and roll oldies as if they were brand new, Daddy Cool went from small packed-to-the-rafters clubs to big concerts almost overnight. They were so much in demand any thoughts of that other group had to be shelved. When Daddy Cool released ‘Eagle Rock’ it became a national Number One single for 11 weeks, still the longest run of any Australian-made single. Their album ‘Daddy Who? Daddy Cool’ became the first Australian album to make Number One nationally. Fans danced in huge conga lines every time they played. Even Elton John caught the bug when he came to Australia, inspired to write ‘Crocodile Rock’. On the cover of Elton’s ‘Don’t Shoot Me’ album, Bernie Taupin is wearing a Daddy Cool badge.

Much as he loved performing and writing this happily innocent music, the creative side of Ross Wilson wanted to experiment, and give the band some scope beyond the oldies. He introduced new musicians to the line-up and insisted on calling the second album ‘Sex Dope And Rock And Roll:Teenage Heaven’. The title made the daily newspapers. The innocence was gone.

Daddy Cool’s records were produced by Robbie Porter (formerly Rob EG), based in America. Robbie was keen to see Daddy Cool conquer America and a performance was lined up at the legendary Whisky Au Go Go in Los Angeles. Daddy Cool was uncomfortable about the whole thing. An Australian rock and roll band taking rock and roll back to its birthplace? They didn’t dress up, and gave half the performance they were capable of. They weren’t the overnight sensations they might have been.

Daddy Cool toured America three times, coming back and forth to Australia to satisfy their legion of fans at home. In America they were developing pockets of interest. One of the members of ZZ Top was surprised years later to find that one of his favourite hits growing up was Australian (“Eagle Rock”). Despite the interest at the time Ross Wilson was getting impatient creatively, and split up the band in August 1972 to form Mighty Kong, taking career right hand man Ross Hannaford with him. Gary Young and Wayne Duncan formed rockabilly/country group Hot Dog.

In January 1974 Daddy Cool agreed to reform for that year’s Sunbury Pop Festival. Audience and band enjoyed it so much Daddy Cool stayed together, adding an extra guitarist in April, and was forced to replace bassist Wayne after a car accident. But it only lasted a year and two singles. The ‘new’ Daddy Cool could not get over the memories of the ‘old’ group and the arrival of the new breed of music in the shape of Skyhooks and others. Ross Wilson was also keen to sit out what was left of his Daddy Cool recording contract.

For a while Ross concentrated on working with Skyhooks as their producer and music publisher, and on developing his own record label, Oz Records, which launched the next chapter of Ross Wilson’s music career, Mondo Rock.

In 1994 Daddy Cool reformed again to record two songs for a combined single with Skyhooks, feeling the waters for the possibility of going out on tour together. When the single failed, the tour and Daddy Cool were shelved.

In May 2001 when the Australasian Performing Rights Association celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs of all time, decided by a 100 strong industry panel, 'Eagle Rock' was named second behind the Easybeats' 'Friday On My Mind'.

The group finally performed in public again in late February 2005, for the first time in 30 years, at a Tsunami victims benefit concert.