Rick Springfield played guitar and vocals, as far as I know from
what little information there is on this recording the rest of the band
included Paul Shannon, Ray Wright, and Danny Finley from MPD Ltd. Here to
download from 1969 on Sunshine Records is "Billie's Bikie Boys" b/w
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ (QK 3118). The A side was written by Johnny Young and
produced by Ian Meldrum. The production is great and in some parts is
reminiscent of Russell Morris's "Real Thing" which was released
earlier, in May of 1969. Rick Springfield's guitar is full on and people
couldn’t understand why the single did not make a bigger impact at the time. It
could be because the B side "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" which was not
very inspiring and a total contrast to the style of the A side. In the month
following this recording Rick replaced Roger Hicks as the lead guitarist with
Zoot and the rest as they say is history. The story is about "Billy"
who is apparently a rebel on a motorcycle, riding through town with his
buddies, causing the girls to turn and look, and disturbing the peace! The cops
finally catch up with him and now there are no more roaring engines racing
around town. The song has a very classic late 60's psychedelic sound and
instrumentation. Flac
5 comments:
I researched this band a few years back and can confirm that there is no connection at all between them and the Wickety Wak showband, with Greg Doolan. Both bands originated in Brisbane and the band names are similar, but they have nothing else in common at all. When this single failed to make any chart impact in 1969, and Rick Springfield left to join the Zoot, this band split up. The showband wasn't formed until 1975 and started out as a pub band doing parodies of other artists. While it is possible that they had heard the name of the Springfield band and changed the spelling before taking it as their own, there has never been any confirmation of this and whatever you may read to the contrary is just hearsay. No members of Wickedy Wak were ever in Wickety Wak and the later showband never played this song live.
Thanks for the update philB I suspected that was the deal and thanks for the info
that's realty cool thanks for this !
Beeb Birtles was a backing vocalist. He confirmed it when I asked him. Great track mate
I'm Ray Wight from the original Wickedy Wak band ( not Wright ) anyway doesn't matter. All good. I'm still alive and still playing. Living on the gold coast Qld Australia
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