Post 721 - Supernaut - The Singles 1976 - '79

“Supernaut” were formed as Moby Dick, a pub rock group, by British-born brothers Chris Burnham on guitar and Joe Burnham on drums. Fellow British immigrant, Gary Twinn, joined on lead vocals in late 1974. Soon after Randall Murphy took up bass guitar and they changed their name to Supernaut. The name references, "Supernaut" (September 1972), a track by British heavy metal group, Black Sabbath.  The group relocated to Melbourne and were signed to Polydor Records in 1976 upon recommendation from Molly Meldrum, In May 1976 they released their debut single, "I Like It Both Ways", which was produced by Meldrum. The song was initially shunned by some commercial radio stations in Sydney because of its controversial lyrics, however promotion on Meldrum's TV pop music show, Countdown, encouraged radio stations to play the track. "I Like It Both Ways" peaked at No. 16. Randall Murphy left the group in June 1976, "citing mutual disagreement", he was temporarily replaced by Little Russ Silver and more permanently by Philip Foxman in late August. Murphy returned to Perth.  A follow up single, "Too Hot to Touch", was released in September 1976, reaching No. 14 on the charts. Their self-titled debut LP was released in mid-November 1976 and peaked at No. 13, achieving double gold certification. The group were presented with the TV Week King of Pop Award for Best Australian TV Performer (on Countdown) and for Most Popular New Group of 1976. By November they had supported gigs by "Lou Reed, Suzie Quatro and Sweet. In 1977 the band released two original singles, "Young and Innocent” and "The Kids Are out Tonight” and a cover version of the Rolling Stones "Let's Spend the Night Together" . They worked extensively on recording sessions for a proposed second album; working titles included Exile and Test Pressing. "The Kids Are out Tonight" came from those sessions. After more than a year they realised their music style was out of touch and the project was abandoned. In April 1978 they released another single, "Unemployed", before leaving Polydor. The group relocated to Sydney and were signed to Robie Porter's Wizard Records in mid-1978; they returned to their original pub rock influences, "[they] adopted a quasi-punk/new-wave direction". With the addition of Noel Kennedy on keyboard, they released, "Spies” in December 1978. They shortened their name to the Nauts in April 1979 and released, "Black Market World". They followed with a new album produced by Robie Porter, under that name in December 1979. They disbanded by March 1980. Two years later Gary Twinn was back in the United Kingdom where he formed Twenty Flight Rockers with former Generation X drummer Mark Laff, and later played with rock supergroup, the International Swingers. Chris Burnham played in The Saints with Chris Bailey from 1982 and 1989. Philip Foxman formed Illustrated Man in 1984 with Japan member Rob Dean, Gary Numan keyboardist Roger Mason, and Hugo Burnham from Gang of Four. They recorded one self-titled album and toured the UK and US with their single, "Head Over Heels", charting the top 20 on MTV's dance charts. Foxman later had a solo career releasing two albums, West 4th and Charles and Up Antenna, as well as being a musical composer for Off Broadway show, Atomic, which ran for a limited season at the Acorn Theater, New York City. Supernaut reformed for the Countdown Spectacular 2 Tour of Australia from late-August to early-September 2007. In 2016 Supernaut commemorated the 40th anniversary of "I Like It Both Ways" with a three-day tour from 16 to 18 June, followed by another show on 25 June at Charles Hotel in Perth. Here to download are all their singles from 1976 / 1979. A big thanks to Peter for sending me his singles to fix up for this post.Flac