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'Guitars of Love' are an instrumental band playing instrumental tunes of the '50s & '60s with an emphasis on the British take on surf twang - i.e. the 'Shadows'. This is a peculiar type of music that has it's roots in the British following the perceived trends in that Mecca of all pop & R&B, the USA. Although trying to copy the optimistic American sound, they ended up with something as unique as it was daggy, a kind of weird Jordy "... we take our holidays with Mom and dad in Blackpool by the seaside" kind of lilt on the American middle class teen consciousness. The tunes were often characterised by hugely strong melodies that were as grandiose as they were inspired, almost as a panacea too what must have been a pretty austere lifestyle in England at that period (the late '50s). Most of their greatest recordings such as 'Wonderful Land' and 'Atlantis' were penned by a mandolin player named Jerry Lordan, who toured with Cliff Richard and the Shadows in their Bedford van around the countryside of Britain. They are ageless melodies that never loose their power, and are quite chordally complex to play. It is unusual music for a rock & roll band to play because the musical parts are quite compartmentalised and require a high degree of focus and practice.
This type of musical genre is known mostly by folk in their '50s, who remember the resounding tones of a Stratocaster strung with strings the thickness of fencing wire played through a VOX AC30, gently issuing from Mom & Dad's old valve car radio on the way home from the beach in the early sixties.
It's daggy, but good ...
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Michael Teakle |
Alan Brooker |
Tony Thornton |
Formed in Melbourne around 1985
from the remnants of an Adelaide band called 'Clean Cut', playing slick, succinct
renditions of classic 50's & 60's instrumentals , with heaps of Shadows
tunes.
Personnel for the original band was basically 'Clean Cut' minus the singer
Rick Holmes: Michael Teakle & myself (Kelvin Fleming) on guitars as per
usual; Alan Brooker on the Fender Jazz bass; and Tony Thornton on the Ludwig
drums. (Tony Thornton and Alan Brooker both played with Paul Kelly and the
Dots in the late '70's - early '80's).
Tony Thornton left in 1986, later replaced with Garry Nottingham, and then
Greg Martin. The band used Mick Hogan in our short stint in Adelaide '86.
In the late '80s Alan Brooker departed and bassist Mark Ferry played a few
gigs.
In 1997 the outfit did a gig at the Prince of Wales St Kilda with Tony back
on the skins, and Paul Gadsby playing bass. On the strength of this it went
on to dabble in it's own wayward versions of standards as well as many original
compositions in the late '90s, with a series of impromptu jams, much of which
was recorded in crude fashion using whatever equipment we could throw together.
The most recent gig with this line-up was at the Army Navy Club in Ackland
Street St Kilda in late 2005.
In February 2008, the original line-up got back together with Alan Brooker back on the bass, and played a club wedding. If you click on the radiogram below you can hear some of the band's stuff recorded live.
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The "Guitars" on the job - looking studious. |
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