In this episode of Vinyl Vibes Jack is joined by Al Kooper, a songwriter, producer, and well known session musician. Al has been in the music business since he was 14 when he joined The Royal Teens, a well known rock and roll group, in 1958. He co-wrote his first number one hit when he was 21 years of age in 1965, it was called "This Dimond Ring" and was made famous by Gerry Lewis and The Playboys. In the same year, Al played the famous organ riff on Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, making him in high demand for session work forever after that. Some of the albums Al has been a session musician on include Blonde on Blonde, The Who Sell Out, Electric Ladyland, and Let it Bleed.

Al was a founding member of The Blues Project (1966) and Blood Sweat and Tears (1967), and is featured on studio albums of both groups. Al was a performer at the famous 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, a festival where many other artist have also performed including the Grateful Dead, The Who, and The Byrds. In 1972 he discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd and would go on to produce their first three albums which included the songs Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird. He would go to make 11 solo studio albums and perform on many other albums as a session musician in the coming decades.

In this episode Jack talks with Al about his early musical influences, the impact rock and roll had on him as a kid, his time in the Royal Teens, his upcoming 4-CD boxset chronicling his entire music career, his 1972 album A Possible Projection of the Future, playing on Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, his 1973 cover of John Prine's Sam Stone, his work with BB King, the recording of Super Session, and his discovering and producing of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"(Mike Bloomfield) just sat down to noodle and out played me out of the room. So, I packed up my guitar and I put it in the corner and I went in the booth where I belonged and then they move the organ player to piano and they took a break to do that and I sat down at the organ and luckily it was turned on because I didn't know how to turn it on....(the producer) says 'what are you doing out there' and everyone in the band laughs and then he laughs and he says 'Ok, here we go, this is Like a Rolling Stone take four'." - Al Kooper on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about playing organ on Like a Rolling Stone

The original unremastered version of Jack's interview with Al Kooper can be found here

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Sandy Deanne of Jay and the Americans. Sandy is a founding member and backing vocalist with Jay and the Americans which he helped form in 1960. Music has been a part of Sandy's life since the beginning with artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith being regular sounds on the family's record player. But It was seeing Elvis on TV and hearing Dion & The Belmonts singing “I Wonder Why” that made him want to make music his career. He formed his first group and wrote his first local hit record in high school. This group was called The Harborlites and would evolve into Jay and The Americans. Originally with Jay Traynor on lead vocals, the group was soon signed by the famous Lieber & Stoller team. Their first big hit would by “She Cried” in 1962 reaching #3 in the charts. Jay Black would replace Traynor and well into the end of the '60s, the group would go on to have more hits such as "Come a Little Bit Closer", "Cara Mia" and "This Magic Moment". They disbanded in 1973. After a three-decade hiatus, in 2006 the band reformed with Jay Reincke on lead vocals and as of 2023 they are still performing. More recently their 1964 song "Come a Little Bit Closer" was featured on the sound track to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, bringing their music to a whole new audience.

In Jack's interview with Sandy Deanne he talks with Sandy about his early music influences, the impact of seeing Elvis on TV, the forming of his first band 'The Harborlites', the signing of the group by Lieber & Stoller, the recording and success of "She Cried", opening for the Beatles on their first US concert, the story of how "Cara Mia" came to be, his thoughts on music today, how he felt about having the band's music featured in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and what the band's future plans are.

"And by now the kids are screaming 'We want the Beatles! We want the Beatles!' and Jay Black had quick wit and we walked out on stage and he went "Hey! wow I'm glad you guys all came to see us tonight!" and they all started laughing and then they shut up and listened and we sang our two songs, got a standing ovation and went back downstairs to the dressing room. While we are getting changed out of our stage clothes we heard them saying 'And now here they are, The Beatles!' and a scream went up. I've never heard anything like this ever again" - Sandy Deanne on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the Beatles first US concert.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Mike Rudd, founder of Spectrum. Mike grew up in Christchurch New Zealand, finding a talent for singing early on. He would join his first major group in 1964, The Chants R&B. After becoming popular around New Zealand, the group moved to Australia in 1966. Soon after their arrival, the band would split leaving Mike without a group. Luckily he came to join Ross Wilson's Party Machine as bass player, despite never having played bass before. It was while in this group Mike was inspired greatly by the songwriting craftsmanship of Ross Wilson. After leaving Party Machine in 1969, Mike had the idea to create his own group around his own songs. This band would become Spectrum, and the first song he would write would be called "I'll Be Gone". This would become Spectrum's first single and would reach number one in Australia in 1971. It would be the group's biggest hit, and today remains an icon in Oz rock.

1972 would see the beginnings of pub rock with events like The Sunbury Pop Festival taking place. Much of Spectrum’s music was multidimensional and arguably intellectual, a very different sound to the straight forward rock and roll that groups such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were finding popularity with at the time. This lead to Mike forming Spectrum's alter ego, The Indelible Murtceps. This band was devised by Mike to connect with the mainstream pub rock audiences. The band's fourth album would be credited to The Indelible Murtceps and Spectrum. It was called Testimonial and would come out in July 1973 just after the band broke up. It would be the band's last album for over 20 years until the band went back into the studio in 1999 to record their album Spill. The band recorded their latest album, No Thinking, in 2004. Today Spectrum is still available for gigs and Mike is also gigging with his band The Indelibles.

Jack zoomed Mike to talk about his early music beginnings, his first professional band The Chant's R&B, his time in Ross Wilson's Party Machine, how Ross Wilson inspired Mike, the writing and recording of Spectrums hit "I'll be Gone", the "I'll be Gone" music video, the innovativeness of the group's first album Spectrum Part One, the first rock double album in Australia Milesago, his memories of playing the Sunbury Pop Festival, the formation of the band's alter ego The Indelible Murtceps, the differences in recording as the Indelible Murtceps, the band's fourth album Testimonial, the band's two recent albums, and his work today with The Indelibles.

"After we had demoed it for the first time unsuccessfully, it had been rejected by EMI. Then we somehow found ourselves in the studio with Howard Gable...and recording...I wrote two songs "Launching Place" part one and part two - first part was an instrumental and the second part was the angry sounding song...so we recorded those...well, I look back on it now and think Howard was clearly unimpressed so he said 'have you got any other songs?', so I said 'we've got this one'...and when we played "I'll be Gone" he said "that's the one". - Mike Rudd on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about recording Spectrum's number one hit "I'll Be Gone"

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Jay Aston, founding member of Bucks Fizz. Jay was born into a theatrical and talented family, solidifying her skills in music and dance at an early age. In 1981, Jay auditioned to be part of a group called Buck Fizz, a group put together to perform at the year's upcoming Eurovision. She got the gig and the band would win the 1981 Eurovision contest with their song "Making Your Mind Up". As a single, it would be a worldwide smash hit, reaching number one in the UK and number six in Australia. Determined to not allow the group to be one-hit wonders, producer Andy Hill would go on to write "The Land of Make Believe" and "My Camera Never Lies" bringing the group two succeeding number one hits in a row. The group would come to an end 1984 after a near fatal bus crash involving the band.

Jay remained in music, and since 2009 has been performing with The Fizz, a spin-off of the original group Bucks Fizz. The Fizz have released five albums with the most recent being Everything Under the Sun in 2022.

Jack discuses with Jay Aston her early beginnings, growing up in a talented family, her early music work, how she came to auditioned for Bucks Fizz, her memory of winning the 1981 Eurovision, the recording of "Making Your Mind Up", the continued success the group had during '82 and '83, the production work of Andy Hill, the album tracks of the band, her memories of playing on Top of The Pops, the band's the near fatal bus crash, Jay's work post Bucks Fizz, and her work today with The Fizz.

"Cheryl and I could not agree on the skirt length and she went, "oh alright then, we'll come on with the long skirts and you can have the mini-skirts" - I thought that would get us more points - "and we'll rip them off in the middle" and I went yeah! That's a great idea!" - Jay Aston on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the iconic skirt rip in Buck Fizz's 1981 Eurovision performance

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Gary Talley, lead guitarist of The Box Tops. Gary joined a group called The Devilles in 1966. Soon after joining the group the band's manager organised a recording session. For the session the band were given a song called The Letter. Despite being the band first single It would become a number one hit in the US and a number four hit in Australia. More recently the song was voted number 372 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The band would follow up with Cry Like A Baby which would reach number 2 in the US. The bands song "Choo Choo Train", their fourth single, would be featured in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The band's last bonafide hit would be "Soul Deep" which would be a top ten hit in Australia. After disbanding in 1970, Gary remained in music and in 1996 the group reformed and today are still on the road. The band's latest album Tear Off! came out in 1998.

Today Gary is still playing with the Box Tops and recently has made three gospel albums with his 97 year old mother Nita.

Jack Zoomed Gary to talk about his early music beginnings, the impact the likes of Elvis and the Beatles had on him, his time in the band In Crowd, how he came to join The Devilles, his early memories of frontman Alex Chilton, how the band came to record The Letter, the success of The Letter, his memories of playing alongside the Beach Boys and The Doors, having Choo Choo Train in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his thoughts on the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the groups work into the later '60s, the band's reformation in the '90s, the bands album Tear Off!, and the Box Tops' music work today.

"We were on a Beach Boys tour...I was back in my hotel room alone on my birthday after the gig and I was thinking "well you know turned 21"...and somebody knocks on the door and I open the door and its our bass player Bill with Dennis, Carl and Al Jardine. The Beach Boys, they had a birthday cake with candles lit...and they sang happy birthday to me". - Gary Talley talking about a Beach Boys tour he did with the Box Tops on this episode of Vinyl Vibes

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes.

If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Les Gock, guitarist of Hush. Les grew up in Sydney amongst the music of the late ’60s such of that of Jimi Hendrix. In 1972, after performing with his high school band at a talent show, he was asked to join Hush. Originally from the UK, the band's lead singer, Keith Lamb, was aware of the music scene in England at the time and so Hush would become the first glam rock band in Australia. Les would become chief songwriter for the band, and would soon write the band's first single "Get The Feeling". It would be a top 40 hit. The band would follow up with their first album Aloud 'n' Live in December 1973. Over the next year, 1974, the band would release two successful albums Get Rocked! in June and C'mon We're Taking Over in December. 1975 would bring the band to their hight of fame with the top ten hits "Bony Moronie" (A Number 4 hit in Australia) and "Glad All Over” (A Number 8 hit in Australia). Despite this success, it would not be till 1977 the band would follow up with another album. This album would be called Touché and would be the band's last. The album also marked a shift a way from their glam rock sound. Soon after this album, the band would come to an end and Les would go to have a successful career in writing commercial jingles.

Today Les is playing in a charity group called The Interceptors and has recently gotten back into his love for painting.

Jack discuss with Les Gock in the interview his early musical beginnings, the impact that late '60s music such as Jimi Hendrix had on him, his first band in high school, how he came to join Hush, the writing of Hush's first single "Get The Feeling", the recording of the bands first album Aloud and Live, how Get Rocked! came to be, the band's performance on the 2nd episode of Countdown, the covering of "Glad All Over” and "Bony Moronie", the success the band had in 1975, the band's last album Touché, and Les' work post Hush.

"Everything that we did on stage, everything that we were about, was about having a great time, it was about having fun. We didn't go out to change the world, we weren't protesting against Vietnam...we were just writing songs about coming together and having a great time" - Les Gock talking about what Hush was about on this episode of Vinyl Vibes

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes.

If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you.

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In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by George T. Babbitt, the original drummer of The Ventures. George grew up amongst '50s rock and roll like that of the Everly Brothers. In 1958 Don Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the Versatones. They needed a drummer and Don's sister recommended her neighbour, the then 17 year old George Babbitt. It was 1959 by this stage, and George would join as the band's first ever drummer. The group would soon call themselves The Ventures. George would play live with the group throughout the year playing songs such as "Apache" and "Perfidia". It was while George was in the group, The Ventures would perform their version of "Walk Don't Run". One Sunday evening in 1959, the group would record their first single "The Real McCoy" on the A-side and "Cookies and Coke" on the B-side. Due to George being too young to play clubs, soon after recording the single, George left The Ventures early 1960.

A few months later in June 1960, The Ventures would release "Walk Don't Run" and it would go number 2 in the US. Along with The Shadows in the UK, they would begin the instrumental music craze of the early '60s, inspiring a generation of musicians. George was still in high school when all this happened, and gave up music after leaving The Ventures. He went on to join the United States Airforce in 1965, and would have a successful career, eventually becoming a general. He would reunite with The Ventures live on stage in 1998 for a performance of "Walk Don't Run" with the United States Air Force Band. Today George is retired, but still plays on his electric drum kit for fun.

Jack phoned George to discuss his early musical beginnings, the impact rock and roll had on him, being a teenager during the rock and roll era, how he came to play the drums, how he came to join The Ventures, the songs he played with The Ventures, the live gigs he played with them during 1959, the development of "Walk Don't Run", how The Ventures came to find their name, the recording of the group's first single, why he left the group, his work with the air force, and his 1998 reunion with The Ventures.

"I was introduced to them by Don's sister, Jackie. She lived next door to my parents which, of course, at the time is where I lived too. Bob and Don had gotten the idea that they wanted to be professional musicians and they wanted to be doing that soon, no more waiting around...They asked me - Jackie recommend the kid next door - so I took my drums over to Jackie's, and Don and Bob got their six-string guitars out - there was no bass at that point - and we played for a while, and they asked me to play." - George Babbitt on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about joining The Ventures.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes.

If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.