| MILESAGO:Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 | Groups& Solo Artists |
THE DENVERMEN
Sydney, 1961-65
| Originallineup (1961-65) Les Green (guitar) Tex Ihasz (guitar) Alan Crowe (bass) Phil Bower (drums) Peter Burbridge (sax) 1961-63 Ron Patton (sax) ? Digger Revell (vocals) Second lineup:(1965) Mick Liber (guitar) Kenny Kramer (bass) Phil Bower (drums) Frank Kennington (vocals) Roy Cooper (vocals) |  |
History
Sydney band The Denvermen was one of the premier Australiansurf-instrumental groups of the early 1960s and although they have beensomewhat overshadowed by their better-known contemporaries TheAtlantics, they certainly deserve more recognition. The original lineupwas formed in late 1961, by members of two earlier Sydney groups,Digger Revell and the Lonely Ones and Paul Dever and the Denvermen.Denvermen guitarist Les Green brought the Denvermen name with him whenthat group split and he joined Digger Revell. The group beganby organising its own dances but gained national prominence thanks toappearances on the ABC's pioneering rock'n'roll TV showSixO'Clock Rockhosted by Johnny O'Keefe.
The Denvermen soon gained renowned as one of the best liveinstrumental groups in the country, and they reportedly invested insome of the best sound equipment available at the time. Les Green wasone of the first guitarists in Australia to use effects boxes on hisguitar, notably the Klempf Echolette. This was one of the firstportable tape-delay echo machines and the same device used by HankMarvin to achieve the distinctive rippling echo and reverb effects onThe Shadows' classic recordings. According to Ian McFarlane, Les wasalso greatly influenced by American singer-guitarist Duane Eddy.
Rock encyclopedist Noel McGrath recounts that theband's name was constituted from the first lettersof the birthplaces of the six original members -- Dubbo (Digger);England (Allan), Norway (Tex), Villawood (Phil), Epping (Ron), Randwick(Les) -- however,Who's Who records Tex Ihasz'sbirthplace as Hungary, so Noel's account might not be 100% accurate.
The group was 'discovered' at the Teenage Night-club in Sydneyin mid-1962 by New Zealand-born rockerJohnnyDevlin, who offered to take over their management.He arranged for an audition tape to be made of two of thegroup's instrumentals,"Outback" and "The Mexican". The tape was sent to EMI Records, who weresoimpressed that they issued them as a single, released onHMV, but unfortunatelytheir debut was not a success.
In late 1962, The Denvermen began working on alyrical, "Sleepwalk"-styled instrumental, conceived by their leadguitarist Les Green and producer/manager Johnny Devlin, that waseventually named "Surfside". Devlin added sound effects ofbreaking waves and when it was released in December 1962,"Surfside" hit the Sydney Top 40 during the second week ofJanuary 1963, and soon reached #1. It also did very well in Melbourne,where it peaked at #6 inMelbourne, and by April it had made the charts in every state, thusbecoming the first Australian "surf" hit. This was a significantachievement, since capital city radio was still very parochial at thattime and it was common for records by Sydney bands to be ignored byMelbourne radio (and vice versa). "Surfside" was also released in theUSA on Capitol; over the years it has been included on many anthologiesof surf music and is rightly considered one of the perennial classicsof the genre.
Saxophonist Phil Burbridge left the group in early 1963. Theirnext single, "Avalon Stomp" (written by Les)came out mid-year and became another major hit in Sydney,reaching #5 in August. In June they made a tour of New Zealand withRevell, for which they were reportedly paid £8000 -- astaggering sum, considering that promoter Kenn Brodziachad been able to secure The Beatles for their Australasiantour-- which was taking place at the same time -- for just £2500.
Johnny Devlin who was appointed as the A&R manager /house producer for the new Australian division of the AmericanRCA label and itsprobably no coincidence that in September 1963 The Denvermen were oneof the first local acts RCA signed. Digger and theDenvermen's first single for RCA was a pop version of "OverThe Rainbow", which appears to have been the very firstAustralian pop single issued on the new label. Although their versionwas not successful,a very similar rendition became a #1 for Billy Thorpe & TheAztecs in 1964. The Denvermenalso backed Johnny Devlin on "Stomp The Tumbarumba", which was a minorhitin Melbourne (#30, Nov. 1963)
The band released a string of 'surf' instrumentals on RCA from1963 to 1965 and usually these were closely followedor preceded by vocal singles with Digger. Many of their RCAreleases were produced and written by Devlin,including the novelty song "My Little Rocker's Turned Surfie" (a #9 hitin Sydneyin Jan. 1964) and instrumentals like "Stomp Fever" and "The SunSeeker". Digger and theDenvermen became one of the first Australian acts to cover a Beatlessong with their version of Lennon & McCartney's "Tip ofmy tongue", which was released as the B-side of"My Little Rocker'sTurned Surfie".
Over this period, Digger started being co-billed withthe Denvermen on their records andRCA increasingly promoted him as a solo artist,althoughhe continued to record singles with the band during 1963-64. TheDenvermen bandalso backed many other RCA artists, such as Tony Weston, who releasedthe novelty single "Hootenanny Stomp".
By late 1964, with Beatlemania in full flood, Diggerand the Denvermen had bowed to the inevitable and were now mainlyperformingMod and 'beat' material. Their early 1965 cover of The Everly Brothers'"Bird Dog"was the group's first vocal recording without Digger. Their finalsingle with Digger -- and their last for RCA -- was a cover of ThePlatters' "My Prayer" b/w Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential";it was another major hit, reaching #4 in Sydney and #12 in Melbournein May 1965.
The same month original bassist Alan Crowe left the band andwas replacedby Kenny Kramer (ex Bluedogs). Revell was had by this time becomeestalished as a solo artistand he went on to record several solo singles for RCA, backed on whichhe was backed by orchestra (directed by the great Tommy Tycho). Heincreasingly moved into 'middle of the road' music in the late 1960sbut reinvented himself as a country performer in the 1970s.
Les Green left the Denvermen late in 1965 to join TheSundowners; he was replacedby Mick Liber, while and Digger was replaced by Frank Kennington.This final version of TheDenvermen returned to HMV for their last single "I Can Tell" / "Timewill bring everything" (Nov. 1965) and evidently broke up soon aroundthe time thatthe single came out. Kennington and Liber formed the first version ofPython Lee Jackson in December 1965.
In 2006 original Denvermen guitarist Les Green tookpart in the making ofDelightful Rain, aDVD/CD project celebrating Australian surf musicand beach culture over the last five decades. Filmed andrecorded between May 13th and 27th 2006, in the Freshwater Surf LifeSaving Club, theDelighfulRain album was produced by Kerryn Tolhurst and recorded byMick Wordley, the Freshwater sessions included The Atlantics, Les Green(performing a new version of "Surfisde"), Richard Clapton, Rob Hirstand Martin Rotsey of Midnight Oil, The Backsliders’ DomTurner, Tamam Shud, Pete Howe, Tim Gaze, Celibate Rifles, GANGgajang,Cruel Sea founder Dan Rumour and his band, The Pigram Brothers, BeauYoung and Andrew Kidman.
Discography
Singles 1962 May 1963 1963 1963 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1965 1964 1965 196? EPs 1963
| Albums 1963 1989 Surfside and Other GreatInstrumentals(Canetoad CTLP 008) LP Outback / The Mexican / Surfside /Lisa Maree / Nightrider / Blue Mountains / Avalon Stomp / Harbour Cruise / Stomp Fever / The Sun Seeker / MysteryWave / Spanish Sands / The Rebel / Vaquero / Surfers Blues / The ProudOnes / Route No. 1 / She's Gone 199? Let's Go SurfsideWith The Denvermen (Canetoad CTCD-030) CD  Collection of all the A-sides andB-sides, their RCA album, plus a bonus track. 8 page booklet with linernotes by surf historian Steven McParland. Avalon Stomp / Back Rip / BlueMountains / Harbour Cruise / Ho Dad / Let's Go Surfin' /Mystery Wave / On The Beach / Outback / Surfside / The Mexican / LisaMaree / Nightrider / Quiet Beach / Route #1 / She's Gone / SpanishSands / Spanish Sands / Stomp Fever / Summer Siesta / Surf City Stomp /Surfer's Blues / Surfer's Blues / Surfer's Cha Cha / Surf Patrol /Surfside Romance / The Proud Ones / The Rebel / The Sun Seeker /Vaquero. |
References / Links
Ian McFarlane
Encyclopediaof Australian Rock & Pop (Allen & Unwin,1999)
Noel McGrath
Encylopedia ofAustralian Rock(Outback Press, 1978)
Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry
Who's Who ofAustralian Rock (Five Mile Press, 2002)
poparchives.com.au
http://poparchives.com.au/feature.php?id=795
Instromania
http://www.instromania.net/D2/ART/ART_D/DENVERMEN%20The.php
Delightful Rainwebsite
http://www.delightfulrain.com.au
Please email webmaster@milesago.com ifyou have extra information or corrections, or to report any brokenlinks.
