Honeydrippers Reunion Show

7 PM - DOORS, BAR, FOOD. DOWNLOAD FOOD & DRINKS MENU  TO VIEW.

PRE-ORDER YOUR FOOD VIA TICKET PAGE.

8PM - SHOW BEGINS, 2 SETS WITH INTERMISSION.

IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO RESERVE A SEAT, PLEASE EMAIL US WITH YOUR TICKET DETAILS: odeorichmond267@gmail.com

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ODEON RICHMOND AND WERNER MARTIN'S 3CR HOT DAMN TAMALE SHOW PRESENT

THE HONEYDRIPPERS REUNION SHOW

Sam Linton -Smith - vocals, guitar, harmonica

Pete Beulke - bass

Andy Baylor - guitar, fiddle vocals

James Black - piano

Bruce Sandell - sax

Phil Collings - drums.

We are thrilled to present the Honeydrippers’ reunion show at Odeon Richmond on Fri 2 Oct. Here’s an old photo of the band in its prime -Sam Linton -Smith, Pete Beulke, Chris Pascoe, Richard Ruhle, Tim Martin and myself, Andy Baylor. Originally we also had Jimi Baeck on sax and Rob Snake Nicholson on drums. 

We worked hard from Premier Artists , 7-8 gigs a week around 1978-81 presenting ‘50’s style rhythm n blues, n 60’s soul n funk plus our own originals in the days before these styles became more well- known. It was back in the bad ol’ days when Oz Rock dinosaurs ruled the world. We were so keen, we actually carried a real piano round which we assembled at every gig. We held down a legendary Wednesday night residency at the Richmond’s Central Club Hotel which was always packed n rockin’.

As a support band we managed to drink John Mayall’s entire rider while he was playin’, which didn’t impress him; We snorted lines of coke in Ferntree Gully with Taj Mahal’s incredible World Rhythm band; Jimi , Pete ‘n I played with the great blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon, we toured wildly with the great Broderick Smith and the then unknown Goanna Band, we got full bottles of beer thrown at us on stage at a rowdy Cold Chisel gig at suburban Ringwood’s Manhattan Hotel. Jimmy Barnes said to me after I’d been hit by a flying bottle “ Don’t worry about those idiots … I liked it” and he must have been impressed cos a few months later he cut...yes...a Soul album …

We supported them all:- “The Oils” at Pier Rock at the peak of their scary, fascistic black n white  pub rock fame ,our beachside pop pals in Aussie Crawl, Ross Wilson’s cool Mondo Rock, the angst-ridden Angels at the Melbourne Town Hall, and of course  our favourite act and mentor Joe Camillieri in Jo Jo Zep. We also played with Doctor John at the Prince of Wales at some stage, he had the flu and complained about the rhythm section they had provided for him-members of LRB ... ”they just don’t know how to groove” he sighed.

We were just a bit too different for those times with our blues and soul roots. The Blues Brothers movies hadn’t been made yet and roots styles were not popular amongst the Aussie beer-barn brigade or the music industry generally. It had to be loud, pop,glam,Brit-style kind of thing it seemed. Some of our heroes were Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, T.Bone Walker, Wilson Pickett, Otis, Ray Charles, Louis Jordan, Irma Thomas, Charley Christian, The Meters, Little Feat, Aretha Franklin, The Band, Lee Dorsey, Billie Holiday and Count Basie  … seemed like in those days no- one in the whole of Australia had heard of any of these great artists ….

We loved our music so much, got ripped off by agents, made a record for Joe Camilleri’s Mighty Records and eventually ran off the rails in a spiral of debt, drugs n general disarray. …Our roadie Timmo and his crew did a great job keeping us together n oh yeah Robert Plant modelled his band partly on us but that’s another story for another time. Wrung out , dejected, broke and disillusioned, we finally went to our booker, the infamous Frank Stivale, and told him we were breaking up, he looked coolly up from his desk at Premier Artists said: ”You can’t  -I own you!”  Well, this mean ol world has finally caught up but we’re are still around ,each of us playing better than ever….. we’ve learned all our lessons and are still rockin’ …

Come to Odeon Richmond on Friday 2 October

and hear the music

-real Melbourne Roots n Blues at the Honeydrippers Reunion Show!