Australian Crawl
Encyclopedia
Australian Crawl were an Australia
n rock
band founded by James Reyne
(lead vocals/piano
), Brad Robinson
(rhythm guitar
), Paul Williams (bass guitar
), Simon Binks
(lead guitar
) and David Reyne
(drum
s) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough
(vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl
swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.
Australian Crawl were associated with surf music
and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance.
After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up
reached #4, Australian Crawl had two #1 albums; 1981's Sirocco
and 1982's Sons of Beaches
. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten; their best performing single was #1 hit "Reckless
" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics
EP
.
Upheaval within the band occurred from 1983 onwards. First Bill McDonough left, then his brother Guy McDonough died in 1984, then various other members left. Their 1985 release Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive but sales were disappointing; and they disbanded early in 1986. The band's status as an icon on the Australian music scene was acknowledged by induction into the 1996 Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
. Founding guitarist Brad Robinson was unable to attend the Hall of Fame induction in person, as he was hospitalised with lymphoma
and died two weeks later.
suburb of Mount Eliza
on the outskirts of Melbourne. The group lineup featured James Reyne
, brothers Bill and Guy McDonough, Paul Williams, Robert Walker and Simon Binks. Reyne had previously played drums for Archie Slammit and the Doors.
By early 1978 Spiff Rouch had separated into two groups: The Flatheads (including the McDonough brothers and Walker, along with Sean Higgins and Nigel Spencer) and Australian Crawl. The original lineup for the latter was Reyne as vocalist, Binks on lead guitar, Williams on bass guitar, along with Reyne's younger brother David Reyne
on drums and schoolmate Brad Robinson on rhythm guitar. Australian Crawl performed their first live gig in October 1978 and toured the pub circuit.
David Reyne left the group in 1979 to finish his acting course, later becoming an actor and TV presenter as well as drumming for Cats Under Pressure and the Chantoozies
(1986–1990). He was replaced in Australian Crawl by Bill McDonough. The group's popularity in the Mornington Peninsula area increased with further pub gigs, then they gained audiences with university students and inner city residents.
Once the band’s escalating popularity brought them into Melbourne they caught the attention of Little River Band
’s guitarist David Briggs
, who helped them gain a recording contract with EMI
and he produced their first single. "Beautiful People" (1979) reached #22 on the National charts. Reyne had co-written the song with guitarist Mark Hudson in 1975. The track included references to the shallow materialism of residents of Toorak
and to the Bombay Rock night club in Brunswick
.
Just days before recording "Beautiful People" Reyne had been hit by a car in Swanston Street, Melbourne
, breaking bones in both wrists, an episode later chronicled in the track "Indisposed". Australian Crawl made one of the most memorable debuts on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC) TV series Countdown performing "Beautiful People" as Reyne still had both arms encased in plaster. "Beautiful People" remains one of their most popular songs according to listeners of Triple M
in 2007.
(1980), also produced by Briggs for EMI, had a number of hit single
s with songwriting shared around the group and beyond. Tracks from this album included the previously released single "Beautiful People", the title track (written by Reyne); "Indisposed" (Brad Robinson, James Robinson, Reyne, Bill McDonough) and "Downhearted
" (Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough) (from The Flatheads). Brad Robinson's father James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice.
"The Boys Light Up
", their second single, was almost banned from radio play due to its explicit lyrics. Many listeners believed the chorus lyrics were about smoking marijuana but Reyne has stated that it was about smoking tobacco cigarettes at school. It also reached #22 on the National charts and remains almost as popular as "Beautiful People". Their third single "Downhearted" charted higher at #12 and was a cautionary tale of romance gone wrong.
The Boys Light Up reached #4 on the Australian album charts and remained in the charts for an unbroken 101 weeks. It sold five times platinum: over 280,000 copies, and became one of the biggest Australian albums of the 1980s. Singer/guitarist/songwriter Guy McDonough
(ex-The Flatheads and Bill's younger brother) joined the group in October 1980.
Rock journalist and commentator, Glenn A. Baker
compared Australian Crawl with various fellow Australian bands:
with producer Peter Dawkins
in Sydney. Named for Errol Flynn
's yacht, the album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian album chart on 3 August and remained there for six weeks. At about this time Robinson was married to actress Kerry Armstrong
, later an Australian Film Institute
Award
winner, who co-wrote a track "Easy On Your Own" for the album.
Sirocco spawned the hit singles "Things Don't Seem" (May, #11 National charts) and "Errol
" (August, #18). It also included "Oh No Not You Again
" (November). Of these, "Errol" about womanising Tasmanian-born actor Flynn is the band's third most popular song of all. Another track from the album, "Lakeside", became a popular radio inclusion. 1981 Australian End of Year Album Charts has Sirocco at #2 behind Double Fantasy
by John Lennon
and ahead of AC/DC's
Back in Black
making it the best charting album by an Australian act. On the wave of this popularity the band toured extensively playing to huge crowds at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl (100,000), Sydney's Domain
(90,000), the Narara Rock festival
(70,000), smashing attendance records at indoor venues in Brisbane and Perth. They were voted Countdown 1981 Most Popular Group, and James Reyne was voted 1980 and 1981 Most Popular Male Performer.
Sons of Beaches
(1982) was recorded in Hawaii
with expatriate Australian Mike Chapman producing. The album had a rougher, rock 'n' roll edge than its glossy pop rock predecessors and featured the #17 hit "Shut Down
" (June). It also included a re-recorded version of "Downhearted" and became their second album to reach No. 1 on the Australian albums chart and remained there for five weeks. EMI issued the album in the USA. Two further singles, "Daughters of the Northern Coast" (August) and "Runaway Girls" (November) failed to reach the Australian Top 40.
Over 1982–1983 Reyne was filmed with Australian actresses Rebecca Gilling
and Wendy Hughes
in the television miniseries Return to Eden
, which was screened in September 1983. For Reyne's role of playboy tennis
professional Greg Marsden, he was given the 1984 "Most Popular New Talent Award" at the TV Week Logie Awards. Reyne later declared he was not very good in the part, declining many acting offers since. During breaks in filming, the singer accepted an offer from Paul Christie (Mondo Rock
) and Kevin Borich
to join their part-time band The Party Boys
with Harvey James from Sherbet
and Graham Bidstrup
from The Angels
. The group played a short run of shows around Sydney venues and played covers exclusively. The resultant album, Live at Several 21sts, peaked at No. 9 on the national chart.
Semantics
(1983) with Bidstrup (from The Party Boys, later a founder of GANGgajang
) on drums. The four track EP contained their best-known song, "Reckless
" (aka "Don't Be So Reckless", "She Don't Like That") which was written by Reyne, and went to No. 1 on the Australian singles chart on 28 November. John Watson (Kevin Borich Express
) then came in as a permanent replacement for McDonough. The live album Phalanx
was something of a stop-gap measure between studio albums, nevertheless it reached #4 during December. The band's biggest overseas break came when Duran Duran
took the band as support on certain legs of their "Sing Blue Silver" tour of the UK.
US label Geffen Records
signed Australian Crawl and issued Semantics
(1984) as an album (with the four songs from the EP and re-recordings of tracks from past Australian records) for the American market. In April 1984 Australian Crawl became the first Australian band to sponsor an ASP
surfing competition. The Rip Curl
/Australian Crawl Bell's Beach Surfing Festival
was won by Australian surfer, Cheyne Horan.
In June 1984 the band was forced off the road when Guy McDonough
was admitted to hospital in Melbourne; he died soon after of viral pneumonia
. Australian Crawl regrouped with Mark Greig on guitar (ex-Runners) for a series of live performances in late 1984. Prior to Guy's death, he had recorded demos with his brother Bill McDonough (drums, percussion), Sean Higgins (synthesisers) and Nigel Spencer (bass, synthesisers), (all former The Flatheads); and Mick Hauser (saxophone
) and Michael Bright (guitar). Bill McDonough assembled the tapes and produced Guy McDonough's posthumous album My Place on Wheatley Records in April 1985. Singles "My Place" / "Things Don't Seem" and "What's in it For Me" / "Hook, Line and Sinker" were also released. "Things Don't Seem" written by Guy McDonough, had been released as an Australian Crawl single in 1981 off Sirocco. Tracks from these sessions were re-mastered and released on Lost & Found
in 1996.
. It was released in Australia on Australian Crawl's own label Freestyle Records. The album, which allegedly cost $400,000 to record, was a mishmash of styles and a commercial disaster (it peaked at #12 in August 1985 but slipped out of the Top 40 two weeks later). None of the singles had any Top 40 chart success. Harry Brus (Kevin Borich Express) replaced long-standing bass player Paul Williams in May 1985. The band performed three songs for the July 1985 Oz for Africa
concert—part of the global Live Aid
program—"Reckless (Don't Be So)", "Two Can Play" and "The Boys Light Up". It was broadcast in Australia (on both Seven Network
and Nine Network
) and on MTV
in the US.
When the album virtually failed to chart, the band was ready to split but had to go out on tour to pay off its debts. On 27 January 1986, their final Melbourne concert was recorded and released as the live album The Final Wave
in October. The band performed its final concert on 1 February at the Perth Entertainment Centre
.
In seven years, Australian Crawl had sold over a million records in Australia, with five of its albums and an EP reaching the Australian Top 5 Album Charts, two of which had been No. 1 hits. A cumulative total of eleven weeks at Number 1 on the Albums Charts places them equal fourth for Australian groups behind Skyhooks, The Seekers
and Midnight Oil
.
had a hit with a cover of The Dingoes
' "Way Out West" (#2, May 1992). Reyne also formed Company of Strangers that year with former Sherbet
lead singer Daryl Braithwaite
, Simon Hussey and Jef Scott. Company of Strangers only released one self-titled album, Company of Strangers in 1992, which produced the hits "Motor City (I Get Lost)" (#26, September 1992), "Sweet Love" (#21, January 1993) and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star" (#35, March 1993).
In 1993 Reyne appeared as Tina Turner
's manager Roger Davies
in What's Love Got to do With It?. He featured in twelve episodes of State Coroner
during 1998 and in 2003's The Postcard Bandit
. Reyne lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his partner, Tina, and a daughter. He has released his eighth solo studio album, Every Man a King (2007) and still performs occasionally.
Almost immediately after the split Robinson became manager of Chantoozies
(with early Crawl drummer David Reyne). Their first single, "Witch Queen of New Orleans" (1986), a cover of Redbone
's song, reached #4 on the National charts. Robinson then moved into a career in television (with Network Ten
's Page One
) and as a co-producer of documentaries. In the 1990s he became the manager for the Reyne brothers and worked as an agent for the Advantage Sports Management Group. This included managing Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis
. Three years after being diagnosed with lymphoma
, Robinson died on 13 October 1996. The band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1996, weeks before Robinson's death.
Binks played in the Broderick Smith Band
in 1988. He was injured in a 1995 car crash at a council roadworks that left him slightly brain-damaged. A court in 2006 awarded him $330,253 in damages, down from an estimated $750,000 because he was said to be over the legal limit. Binks later disputed the alcohol reading as belonging to another driver and stated the remuneration mostly went to his lawyers. A 2007 appeal by the council, saw amount awarded further reduced to $304,750.
Australian Crawl compilation Lost & Found
was released in 1996 and contained seven of the tracks from Guy McDonough's solo album My Place which were remastered. Compilers and producers of Lost & Found were Bill McDonough and Peter Blyton. Lost & Found tracks from My Place include "Too Many People" a duet sung by Guy McDonough with Colin Hay
of Men at Work
. Some My Place tracks used on Lost & Found have Reyne singing backing vocals. As of 2007, Bill McDonough was working in the construction industry.
Williams who had left the band in 1985, was working in music-related retail.
In 2001 the Australian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, compiled a list of the Top 30 Australian songs, with "Reckless (Don't Be So)
" coming in at number nineteen.
On 14 October 2002, EMI
released a two-CD Greatest Hits package called Australian Crawl & James Reyne: The Definitive Collection, which contained songs from the band and from James Reyne's solo career.
In October 2007, eleven Australian Crawl tracks were featured in the Triple M
Essential 2007 Countdown of songs (positions are voted by listeners out of the best 2007 songs of all time). They were "Hoochie Gucci Fioruci Mama" #1673; "Lakeside" #1354; "Indisposed" #956; "Downhearted" #728; "Oh No Not You Again" #587; "Shut Down" #415; "Things Don't Seem" #371; "Boys Light Up" #305; "Errol" #227; "Beautiful People" #153; and "Reckless" #39.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band founded by James Reyne
James Reyne
James Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
(lead vocals/piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Brad Robinson
Brad Robinson (Australian musician)
Bradford Leigh "Brad" Robinson ) was a rock musician best known as lead and rhythm guitarist with the 1980s band Australian Crawl. Robinson had a later career as a manager for musicians and sports personalities.-Early years:...
(rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
), Paul Williams (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Simon Binks
Simon Binks
Simon John Binks is an Australian rock musician who was a guitarist and singer-songwriter for Australian Crawl from founding in 1978 to disbanding in 1986.-Early career:...
(lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
) and David Reyne
David Reyne
David Nicholas Reyne is an Australian actor, musician and television presenter. He was educated at The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza.-Music career:...
(drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough
Guy McDonough
Guy Gillis McDonough was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-known songs, "Oh No Not You Again" and "Errol"...
(vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl
Front crawl
The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...
swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.
Australian Crawl were associated with surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance.
After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People"...
reached #4, Australian Crawl had two #1 albums; 1981's Sirocco
Sirocco (album)
Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1...
and 1982's Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches is the third album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl and their second #1 in the Australian albums charts...
. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten; their best performing single was #1 hit "Reckless
Reckless (Australian Crawl song)
"Reckless" was a 1983 song from the EP Semantics by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The song showed a change in the line up of the band as drummer Bill McDonough was temporarily replaced by Graham Bidstrup...
" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics
Semantics (album)
Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
.
Upheaval within the band occurred from 1983 onwards. First Bill McDonough left, then his brother Guy McDonough died in 1984, then various other members left. Their 1985 release Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive but sales were disappointing; and they disbanded early in 1986. The band's status as an icon on the Australian music scene was acknowledged by induction into the 1996 Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
. Founding guitarist Brad Robinson was unable to attend the Hall of Fame induction in person, as he was hospitalised with lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
and died two weeks later.
1975–1979
The band Spiff Rouch formed in 1976 in the Mornington PeninsulaMornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
suburb of Mount Eliza
Mount Eliza, Victoria
Mount Eliza is an outer suburb south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
on the outskirts of Melbourne. The group lineup featured James Reyne
James Reyne
James Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
, brothers Bill and Guy McDonough, Paul Williams, Robert Walker and Simon Binks. Reyne had previously played drums for Archie Slammit and the Doors.
By early 1978 Spiff Rouch had separated into two groups: The Flatheads (including the McDonough brothers and Walker, along with Sean Higgins and Nigel Spencer) and Australian Crawl. The original lineup for the latter was Reyne as vocalist, Binks on lead guitar, Williams on bass guitar, along with Reyne's younger brother David Reyne
David Reyne
David Nicholas Reyne is an Australian actor, musician and television presenter. He was educated at The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza.-Music career:...
on drums and schoolmate Brad Robinson on rhythm guitar. Australian Crawl performed their first live gig in October 1978 and toured the pub circuit.
David Reyne left the group in 1979 to finish his acting course, later becoming an actor and TV presenter as well as drumming for Cats Under Pressure and the Chantoozies
Chantoozies
Chantoozies were an Australian pop group active from 1986 to 1991. The band featured four female singers: Eve von Bibra, Angie La Bozzetta, Ally Fowler and Tottie Goldsmith; and four male musicians: Brett Goldsmith , Scott Griffiths , Frank McKoy and David Reyne...
(1986–1990). He was replaced in Australian Crawl by Bill McDonough. The group's popularity in the Mornington Peninsula area increased with further pub gigs, then they gained audiences with university students and inner city residents.
Once the band’s escalating popularity brought them into Melbourne they caught the attention of Little River Band
Little River Band
Little River Band is an Australian rock band, formed in Melbourne in early 1975.The group chose the name after passing a road sign leading to the Victorian township of Little River, near Geelong, on the way to a performance. Little River Band enjoyed sustained commercial success in not only...
’s guitarist David Briggs
David Briggs (Australian musician)
David Briggs is an Australian musician and record producer, educated at Wesley College, Melbourne best known for his time as a guitarist in the rock band, Little River Band between 1976 and 1981.In 1976 he joined Little River Band. He wrote their hit single "Lonesome Loser", as well as "Happy...
, who helped them gain a recording contract with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and he produced their first single. "Beautiful People" (1979) reached #22 on the National charts. Reyne had co-written the song with guitarist Mark Hudson in 1975. The track included references to the shallow materialism of residents of Toorak
Toorak, Victoria
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district located on a rise on the south side of a bend in the Yarra River. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...
and to the Bombay Rock night club in Brunswick
Brunswick, Victoria
Brunswick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland...
.
Just days before recording "Beautiful People" Reyne had been hit by a car in Swanston Street, Melbourne
Swanston Street, Melbourne
Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Australia. It is historically one of the main streets of central Melbourne, laid out in 1837 as part of the Hoddle Grid, the layout of major streets that makes up the central business district...
, breaking bones in both wrists, an episode later chronicled in the track "Indisposed". Australian Crawl made one of the most memorable debuts on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
(ABC) TV series Countdown performing "Beautiful People" as Reyne still had both arms encased in plaster. "Beautiful People" remains one of their most popular songs according to listeners of Triple M
Triple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
in 2007.
1980
Australian Crawl's debut album The Boys Light UpThe Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People"...
(1980), also produced by Briggs for EMI, had a number of hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s with songwriting shared around the group and beyond. Tracks from this album included the previously released single "Beautiful People", the title track (written by Reyne); "Indisposed" (Brad Robinson, James Robinson, Reyne, Bill McDonough) and "Downhearted
Downhearted
"Downhearted" is the third single released by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album The Boys Light Up. The song was written by Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough and Bill McDonough...
" (Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, Bill McDonough) (from The Flatheads). Brad Robinson's father James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice.
"The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up (song)
"The Boys Light Up" is the second single and title track released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album The Boys Light Up . The song was written by lead singer James Reyne, but sung by Simon Binks!!...
", their second single, was almost banned from radio play due to its explicit lyrics. Many listeners believed the chorus lyrics were about smoking marijuana but Reyne has stated that it was about smoking tobacco cigarettes at school. It also reached #22 on the National charts and remains almost as popular as "Beautiful People". Their third single "Downhearted" charted higher at #12 and was a cautionary tale of romance gone wrong.
The Boys Light Up reached #4 on the Australian album charts and remained in the charts for an unbroken 101 weeks. It sold five times platinum: over 280,000 copies, and became one of the biggest Australian albums of the 1980s. Singer/guitarist/songwriter Guy McDonough
Guy McDonough
Guy Gillis McDonough was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-known songs, "Oh No Not You Again" and "Errol"...
(ex-The Flatheads and Bill's younger brother) joined the group in October 1980.
Rock journalist and commentator, Glenn A. Baker
Glenn A. Baker
Glenn A. Baker is an Australian journalist, commentator, and broadcaster well known in Australia for his vast knowledge of Rock music. He has written books and magazine articles on rock music and travel, interviewed celebrities, managed bands such as Ol' 55 and promoted tours of international stars...
compared Australian Crawl with various fellow Australian bands:
1981–1982
In 1981, Australian Crawl recorded their second album, SiroccoSirocco (album)
Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1...
with producer Peter Dawkins
Peter Dawkins (musician)
Peter Dawkins is a New Zealand-born record producer and musician, best known for his hit 1970s productions for Australian-based pop artists, including Dragon, Australian Crawl and Air Supply. He has won multiple production awards, including the Countdown Producer of the Year...
in Sydney. Named for Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
's yacht, the album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian album chart on 3 August and remained there for six weeks. At about this time Robinson was married to actress Kerry Armstrong
Kerry Armstrong
Kerry Michelle Armstrong is an Australian actress on film, television, and stage. She is one of only two actresses to win two Australian Film Institute Awards in the same year...
, later an Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
Award
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
winner, who co-wrote a track "Easy On Your Own" for the album.
Sirocco spawned the hit singles "Things Don't Seem" (May, #11 National charts) and "Errol
Errol (song)
"Errol" is the second single by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl taken from their 1981 album Sirocco. The song was written by James Reyne and Guy McDonough, and is a lyrical biography about Australian-born actor Errol Flynn....
" (August, #18). It also included "Oh No Not You Again
Oh No Not You Again
"Oh No, Not You Again" is the third single by Australian rock band Australian Crawl from their 1981 studio album Sirocco. The song was written and sung by Guy McDonough, the band's rhythm guitarist, and was about "two young lovers who lived on the coast"....
" (November). Of these, "Errol" about womanising Tasmanian-born actor Flynn is the band's third most popular song of all. Another track from the album, "Lakeside", became a popular radio inclusion. 1981 Australian End of Year Album Charts has Sirocco at #2 behind Double Fantasy
Double Fantasy
Double Fantasy is an album released by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, in 1980. Though initially poorly received, the album is notable for its association with Lennon's murder three weeks after its release, whereupon it become a worldwide commercial success, and went on to win the 1981 Album...
by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and ahead of AC/DC's
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
Back in Black
Back in Black
Back in Black is an album by Australian rock band AC/DC. It is the seventh Australian and sixth internationally released studio album by the band....
making it the best charting album by an Australian act. On the wave of this popularity the band toured extensively playing to huge crowds at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl (100,000), Sydney's Domain
The Domain, Sydney
The Domain is 34 hectares of open space in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Sydney central business district, near Woolloomooloo. The Domain adjoins the Royal Botanic Gardens and is managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust, a division of the New South...
(90,000), the Narara Rock festival
Narara Music Festival
The Narara Music Festival was an outdoor music festival held on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia in 1983 and 1984. Despite the name, it was actually held at Somersby, a short distance from Narara.- 1983 :...
(70,000), smashing attendance records at indoor venues in Brisbane and Perth. They were voted Countdown 1981 Most Popular Group, and James Reyne was voted 1980 and 1981 Most Popular Male Performer.
Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches is the third album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl and their second #1 in the Australian albums charts...
(1982) was recorded in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
with expatriate Australian Mike Chapman producing. The album had a rougher, rock 'n' roll edge than its glossy pop rock predecessors and featured the #17 hit "Shut Down
Shut Down (Australian Crawl song)
"Shut Down" is the first single released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl from their third studio album Sons of Beaches. The song was written by drummer Bill McDonough and features lead vocals by James Reyne. The B-side was the non-album track "Creating Monsters"."Shut Down" was released in...
" (June). It also included a re-recorded version of "Downhearted" and became their second album to reach No. 1 on the Australian albums chart and remained there for five weeks. EMI issued the album in the USA. Two further singles, "Daughters of the Northern Coast" (August) and "Runaway Girls" (November) failed to reach the Australian Top 40.
Over 1982–1983 Reyne was filmed with Australian actresses Rebecca Gilling
Rebecca Gilling
Rebecca Gilling is an Australian actress. Her first acting role was in Stone but who came to prominence as the "bad girl" flight attendant Diana Moore in the feature film version of soap opera Number 96 , in which she had several nude scenes...
and Wendy Hughes
Wendy Hughes
-Career:Hughes began her career on television in the early 1970s with appearances in Homicide, Number 96, Matlock Police and in 1976, ABC Mini-Series, Power Without Glory...
in the television miniseries Return to Eden
Return to Eden
Return to Eden is an Australian television drama series starring Rebecca Gilling, James Reyne, Wendy Hughes and James Smillie. It began as a three-part mini-series, shown on Network Ten in 1983. Gilling and Smillie would reprise their roles for a 22-part weekly series screened in 1986.-Mini-series...
, which was screened in September 1983. For Reyne's role of playboy tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
professional Greg Marsden, he was given the 1984 "Most Popular New Talent Award" at the TV Week Logie Awards. Reyne later declared he was not very good in the part, declining many acting offers since. During breaks in filming, the singer accepted an offer from Paul Christie (Mondo Rock
Mondo Rock
Mondo Rock is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia, most prominent in the early 1980s. The band was formed in late 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Ross Wilson.-Early years: 1976–1979:...
) and Kevin Borich
Kevin Borich
Kevin Nicholas Borich is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter...
to join their part-time band The Party Boys
The Party Boys
The Party Boys was an Australian rock band with floating membership that existed from 1982 until 1992. Initially established by Mondo Rock bass player Paul Christie as a part-time venture for professional musicians with downtime from other projects, the group has boasted members from acts such as...
with Harvey James from Sherbet
Sherbet (band)
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
and Graham Bidstrup
Graham Bidstrup
Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup is an Australian musician, songwriter, music producer and artist manager. He has been a member of The Angels, The Party Boys and Gang Gajang. He has managed Jimmy Little, Nathan Cavaleri and Diana Ah Naid. He is part of the management team for the Jimmy Little Foundation.-The...
from The Angels
The Angels (Australian band)
The Angels are a hard rock band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970. The band later relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success until well into the 1990s. For the purposes of international release, their records were released under the names Angel City and later The...
. The group played a short run of shows around Sydney venues and played covers exclusively. The resultant album, Live at Several 21sts, peaked at No. 9 on the national chart.
1983–1984
Soon after Reyne finished acting for Return to Eden, Bill McDonough left due to tensions within the band. The remaining members then recorded the EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Semantics
Semantics (album)
Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
(1983) with Bidstrup (from The Party Boys, later a founder of GANGgajang
GANGgajang
Gang Gajang are an Australian rock band who formed in 1984. The three principal figures in the original lineup were former Riptides frontman Mark "Cal" Callaghan and two former members of popular Australian hard rock band The Angels, bassist Chris Bailey and drummer Graham "Buzz"...
) on drums. The four track EP contained their best-known song, "Reckless
Reckless (Australian Crawl song)
"Reckless" was a 1983 song from the EP Semantics by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The song showed a change in the line up of the band as drummer Bill McDonough was temporarily replaced by Graham Bidstrup...
" (aka "Don't Be So Reckless", "She Don't Like That") which was written by Reyne, and went to No. 1 on the Australian singles chart on 28 November. John Watson (Kevin Borich Express
Kevin Borich
Kevin Nicholas Borich is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter...
) then came in as a permanent replacement for McDonough. The live album Phalanx
Phalanx (album)
Phalanx is the first live album released by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. It was recorded live at concerts at Bombay Rock Gold Coast, Queensland and at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in October, 1983, during the 'Semantics' tour. The album was initially released on vinyl in...
was something of a stop-gap measure between studio albums, nevertheless it reached #4 during December. The band's biggest overseas break came when Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
took the band as support on certain legs of their "Sing Blue Silver" tour of the UK.
US label Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
signed Australian Crawl and issued Semantics
Semantics (album)
Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
(1984) as an album (with the four songs from the EP and re-recordings of tracks from past Australian records) for the American market. In April 1984 Australian Crawl became the first Australian band to sponsor an ASP
Association of Surfing Professionals
The Association of Surfing Professionals is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best talent in a variety of progressive formats.- Predecessors to the ASP :...
surfing competition. The Rip Curl
Rip Curl
Rip Curl is a major Australian manufacturer and retailer of surfing sportswear The company was founded in 1969 by Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer in Torquay, Victoria, Australia and initially produced surfboards. In 1970, they decided to begin production of wetsuits, with emphasis on transforming...
/Australian Crawl Bell's Beach Surfing Festival
Bells Beach Surf Classic
The Bells Beach Surf Classic is a surfing competition which has been held annually at Easter time at Bells Beach, Victoria continuously since 1961, becoming a professional competition in 1973....
was won by Australian surfer, Cheyne Horan.
In June 1984 the band was forced off the road when Guy McDonough
Guy McDonough
Guy Gillis McDonough was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-known songs, "Oh No Not You Again" and "Errol"...
was admitted to hospital in Melbourne; he died soon after of viral pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. Australian Crawl regrouped with Mark Greig on guitar (ex-Runners) for a series of live performances in late 1984. Prior to Guy's death, he had recorded demos with his brother Bill McDonough (drums, percussion), Sean Higgins (synthesisers) and Nigel Spencer (bass, synthesisers), (all former The Flatheads); and Mick Hauser (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
) and Michael Bright (guitar). Bill McDonough assembled the tapes and produced Guy McDonough's posthumous album My Place on Wheatley Records in April 1985. Singles "My Place" / "Things Don't Seem" and "What's in it For Me" / "Hook, Line and Sinker" were also released. "Things Don't Seem" written by Guy McDonough, had been released as an Australian Crawl single in 1981 off Sirocco. Tracks from these sessions were re-mastered and released on Lost & Found
Lost & Found (Australian Crawl album)
Lost & Found is a compilation album of recording studio sessions credited to members of Australian Crawl and other artists; it includes tracks originally recorded with Guy McDonough and released on his 1985 posthumous solo album My Place. Guy McDonough had been Australian Crawl's guitarist,...
in 1996.
1985–1986
By 1985 the group recorded their last studio album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, with English producer Adam KidronAdam Kidron
Adam Kidron is a British-born ex-music producer, serial entrepreneur, and the ex-Chief Executive Officer of Urban Box Office , a reggaeton and urban Latino record label based in New York City. He is currently the Managing Partner of 4food, a fast-healthy food concept launching in New York in 2009...
. It was released in Australia on Australian Crawl's own label Freestyle Records. The album, which allegedly cost $400,000 to record, was a mishmash of styles and a commercial disaster (it peaked at #12 in August 1985 but slipped out of the Top 40 two weeks later). None of the singles had any Top 40 chart success. Harry Brus (Kevin Borich Express) replaced long-standing bass player Paul Williams in May 1985. The band performed three songs for the July 1985 Oz for Africa
Oz for Africa
Oz for Africa was an Australian concert held on 13 July 1985 at the Sydney Sports and Entertainment Centre. It was broadcast locally and internationally as part of the worldwide Live Aid performances to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The concert featured 17 bands performing some of their...
concert—part of the global Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
program—"Reckless (Don't Be So)", "Two Can Play" and "The Boys Light Up". It was broadcast in Australia (on both Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
and Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
) and on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in the US.
When the album virtually failed to chart, the band was ready to split but had to go out on tour to pay off its debts. On 27 January 1986, their final Melbourne concert was recorded and released as the live album The Final Wave
The Final Wave
The Final Wave is the second live album released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It is a recording of the band's final Melbourne concert on 27 January 1986. The album reached #16 on the Australian album charts upon its release....
in October. The band performed its final concert on 1 February at the Perth Entertainment Centre
Perth Entertainment Centre
Perth Entertainment Centre is a former indoor arena and cinema complex, located in Wellington Street, in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia.-History:...
.
In seven years, Australian Crawl had sold over a million records in Australia, with five of its albums and an EP reaching the Australian Top 5 Album Charts, two of which had been No. 1 hits. A cumulative total of eleven weeks at Number 1 on the Albums Charts places them equal fourth for Australian groups behind Skyhooks, The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
and Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
.
Post 1986
In 1985, Lin Buckfield (Electric Pandas) and Reyne released a duet single "R.O.C.K." / "Under My Thumb". After Australian Crawl disbanded, Reyne went on to a solo career. His first few singles failed to chart but 1987's "Fall of Rome" and the self titled album that followed were the beginning of a string of hits that lasted until the early 1990s. In 1992 he and James BlundellJames Blundell (singer)
-Music:He won a Golden Guitar Award for best new talent of 1987.Blundell's eponymous first album, in 1989, followed up by "Hand It Down", which was released in the United States in 1990 following its success in Australia. Successive albums were This Road and Touch of Water. This Road included the...
had a hit with a cover of The Dingoes
The Dingoes
The Dingoes are an Australian country rock band initially active from 1973 to 1979, formed in Melbourne they relocated to the United States from 1976. Most stable line-up was John Bois on bass guitar, John Lee on drums, Broderick Smith on vocals and harmonica, Chris Stockley on guitar and Kerryn...
' "Way Out West" (#2, May 1992). Reyne also formed Company of Strangers that year with former Sherbet
Sherbet (band)
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
lead singer Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite
Daryl Braithwaite is an Australian pop singer. Best known as the lead vocalist of Sherbet, Braithwaite has also sustained a successful solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including the No...
, Simon Hussey and Jef Scott. Company of Strangers only released one self-titled album, Company of Strangers in 1992, which produced the hits "Motor City (I Get Lost)" (#26, September 1992), "Sweet Love" (#21, January 1993) and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star" (#35, March 1993).
In 1993 Reyne appeared as Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
's manager Roger Davies
Roger Davies (manager)
Roger Davies is an Australian born business manager and music producer with a long career in the music industry. His career has taken him from working as a roadie in Australia in the early 1970s to managing some of the most successful female pop/rock performers in the world including Olivia...
in What's Love Got to do With It?. He featured in twelve episodes of State Coroner
State Coroner (TV series)
State Coroner was an Australian television series screened on Network Ten in 1997 and 1998. There were two series produced with a total of 29 episodes. The series was set in the State Coroner's office complex and featured investigations into deaths, murders, suicides, accidents and natural causes...
during 1998 and in 2003's The Postcard Bandit
The Postcard Bandit (film)
The Postcard Bandit is a 2003 Australian film loosely based on the life of convicted bank robber Brenden Abbott.-Cast:*Tom Long as Brenden James Abbott*Brett Stiller*Matthew Le Nevez*Geneviève Lemon*Simon Burke*Helen Dallimore*Tasma Walton...
. Reyne lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his partner, Tina, and a daughter. He has released his eighth solo studio album, Every Man a King (2007) and still performs occasionally.
Almost immediately after the split Robinson became manager of Chantoozies
Chantoozies
Chantoozies were an Australian pop group active from 1986 to 1991. The band featured four female singers: Eve von Bibra, Angie La Bozzetta, Ally Fowler and Tottie Goldsmith; and four male musicians: Brett Goldsmith , Scott Griffiths , Frank McKoy and David Reyne...
(with early Crawl drummer David Reyne). Their first single, "Witch Queen of New Orleans" (1986), a cover of Redbone
Redbone (band)
Redbone is a Native American rock group that was most active in the 1970s. They reached the Top 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with the million-selling gold-certified single, "Come and Get Your Love".-History:...
's song, reached #4 on the National charts. Robinson then moved into a career in television (with Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
's Page One
Page One
Page One is a bookstore chain and publisher founded in Singapore by Mark Tan , with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand...
) and as a co-producer of documentaries. In the 1990s he became the manager for the Reyne brothers and worked as an agent for the Advantage Sports Management Group. This included managing Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis
Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis is an Australian tennis player. He turned professional in 1994. His father is Greek, while his mother is of Italian ancestry....
. Three years after being diagnosed with lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
, Robinson died on 13 October 1996. The band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1996, weeks before Robinson's death.
Binks played in the Broderick Smith Band
Broderick Smith
Broderick Smith aka Brod Smith is an Australian singer-songwriter, harmonica, guitar and banjo player. He was a member of 1970s bands Carson and The Dingoes, 1980s Broderick Smith's Big Combo and performed solo...
in 1988. He was injured in a 1995 car crash at a council roadworks that left him slightly brain-damaged. A court in 2006 awarded him $330,253 in damages, down from an estimated $750,000 because he was said to be over the legal limit. Binks later disputed the alcohol reading as belonging to another driver and stated the remuneration mostly went to his lawyers. A 2007 appeal by the council, saw amount awarded further reduced to $304,750.
Australian Crawl compilation Lost & Found
Lost & Found (Australian Crawl album)
Lost & Found is a compilation album of recording studio sessions credited to members of Australian Crawl and other artists; it includes tracks originally recorded with Guy McDonough and released on his 1985 posthumous solo album My Place. Guy McDonough had been Australian Crawl's guitarist,...
was released in 1996 and contained seven of the tracks from Guy McDonough's solo album My Place which were remastered. Compilers and producers of Lost & Found were Bill McDonough and Peter Blyton. Lost & Found tracks from My Place include "Too Many People" a duet sung by Guy McDonough with Colin Hay
Colin Hay
Colin James Hay is a Scottish-Australian musician, who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the Australian band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist.- Early life and Men at Work :...
of Men at Work
Men at Work
Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
. Some My Place tracks used on Lost & Found have Reyne singing backing vocals. As of 2007, Bill McDonough was working in the construction industry.
Williams who had left the band in 1985, was working in music-related retail.
In 2001 the Australian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, compiled a list of the Top 30 Australian songs, with "Reckless (Don't Be So)
Reckless (Australian Crawl song)
"Reckless" was a 1983 song from the EP Semantics by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The song showed a change in the line up of the band as drummer Bill McDonough was temporarily replaced by Graham Bidstrup...
" coming in at number nineteen.
On 14 October 2002, EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
released a two-CD Greatest Hits package called Australian Crawl & James Reyne: The Definitive Collection, which contained songs from the band and from James Reyne's solo career.
In October 2007, eleven Australian Crawl tracks were featured in the Triple M
Triple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
Essential 2007 Countdown of songs (positions are voted by listeners out of the best 2007 songs of all time). They were "Hoochie Gucci Fioruci Mama" #1673; "Lakeside" #1354; "Indisposed" #956; "Downhearted" #728; "Oh No Not You Again" #587; "Shut Down" #415; "Things Don't Seem" #371; "Boys Light Up" #305; "Errol" #227; "Beautiful People" #153; and "Reckless" #39.
Members
Chronological list:- Simon BinksSimon BinksSimon John Binks is an Australian rock musician who was a guitarist and singer-songwriter for Australian Crawl from founding in 1978 to disbanding in 1986.-Early career:...
— guitars (1978–1984, 1985–1986) - David ReyneDavid ReyneDavid Nicholas Reyne is an Australian actor, musician and television presenter. He was educated at The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza.-Music career:...
— drums (1978) - James ReyneJames ReyneJames Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
— vocals, guitars, keyboards (1978–1986) - Brad RobinsonBrad Robinson (Australian musician)Bradford Leigh "Brad" Robinson ) was a rock musician best known as lead and rhythm guitarist with the 1980s band Australian Crawl. Robinson had a later career as a manager for musicians and sports personalities.-Early years:...
(d. 1996) — guitars, keyboards (1978–1986) - Paul Williams — bass guitar (1978–1985)
- Bill McDonough — drums (replaced David Reyne) (1978–1983)
- Guy McDonoughGuy McDonoughGuy Gillis McDonough was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-known songs, "Oh No Not You Again" and "Errol"...
(d. 1984) — vocals, guitar (1980–1984) - Graham "Buzz" BidstrupGraham BidstrupGraham "Buzz" Bidstrup is an Australian musician, songwriter, music producer and artist manager. He has been a member of The Angels, The Party Boys and Gang Gajang. He has managed Jimmy Little, Nathan Cavaleri and Diana Ah Naid. He is part of the management team for the Jimmy Little Foundation.-The...
— drums (replaced Bill McDonough) (1983) - John Watson — drums (replaced Bidstrup) (1983–1986)
- Mark Greig — guitars (replaced Guy McDonough) (1984–1986)
- Simon Hussey — guitars, keyboards (replaced Binks on Between a Rock and a Hard Place) (1984)
- Harry Brus — bass guitar (replaced Williams) (1985–1986)
Studio albums and EP
- The Boys Light UpThe Boys Light UpThe Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People"...
(1980) - SiroccoSirocco (album)Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1...
(1981) - Sons of BeachesSons of BeachesSons of Beaches is the third album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl and their second #1 in the Australian albums charts...
(1982) - SemanticsSemantics (album)Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
(EP) (1983) - SemanticsSemantics (album)Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
(US LP) (1984) - Between a Rock and a Hard Place (1985)
Compilations
- Crawl FileCrawl FileCrawl File is the first compilation album of songs released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl. The songs were taken from their first three studio albums The Boys Light Up, Sirocco and Sons of Beaches together with their EP, Semantics...
(1984) - Lost & FoundLost & Found (Australian Crawl album)Lost & Found is a compilation album of recording studio sessions credited to members of Australian Crawl and other artists; it includes tracks originally recorded with Guy McDonough and released on his 1985 posthumous solo album My Place. Guy McDonough had been Australian Crawl's guitarist,...
(1996) - More Wharf: Greatest HitsMore WharfMore Wharf: Greatest Hits is a compilation album of songs by Australian rock band Australian Crawl taken from their four studio albums and their EP, Semantics.The album is dedicated to the band's lead guitarist, Brad Robinson who died of lymphoma in 1996.-Track listing:#...
(1998) - Reckless: 1979-1995Reckless: 1979-1995Reckless: 1979-1995 is a compilation album of songs by Australian rock band Australian Crawl and the band's lead singer, James Reyne, from his solo career...
credited to Australian Crawl and James Reyne (2000) - Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection (2002)