Warrnambool band featuring Tony Peel, John Sycopoulis, Brian Keillor
Cassette recording cover
New Years Eve ticket
Poster for Prince Of Wales Hotel
'Birthday Party' 'Moodists' and 'Go-Betweens' : If you're one of the minority crowd that follows the music of these bands having a huge following particularly overseas, then you're probably a big fan of Warrnambool's 'Breathing In, Breathing Out' (B.I.B.O.).
"People wouldn't have a clue who they (the bands) are unless they come from the cities and follow the alternative music scene" explains Tony Peel, the creator of B.l.B.O. "One of the great cult heroes the world has ever known is Nick Cave from 'Birthday Party'. He's up there with 'Sting' and others of that calibre, but how many people here have heard of him?"
Tony was speaking with frustration and sometimes anger in the knowledge that B.I.B.O. has received good recognition, and from those that are said to know music best - recording company personnel, but with comments like "I love your music but it won't put bums on seats". They have been viewed as an "interesting band" and no-one seems to be able to pinpoint what it is that makes them so. " Because its not rock and roll, a lot of peop1e don't understand it, because there is no single thing in the music to focus on".
For Tony, its been a long struggle of many years - his motivation in the belief that the band has a lot to offer, even when facing seemingly insurmountable odds, keeps them going. Comments such that the band could do well in England, Europe or America where their music is more understood, continues to spur them on.
The evolution of BIBO is probably similar to most groups. but at the same time interesting in local terms. Tony's previous band, "Feelers", consisted of John Sycopoulis, Brian Keillor, Mick Tait and himself. John had been playing in the Port Fairy based country and western group "Mountain Ask". Brian played in a selection of heavy metal acts around Warrnambool, one of those being "Sultan". As Tony remembers "Sultan" were doing what the " Sex Pistols" were acclaimed me for long before the Sex Pistols came out. Tony began with Fred Reilly after answering an advert in the paper for a bass guitar player. He hadn't played bass guitar before and found himself right out of his depth. He then joined with Rob Rogers and "Hart" and later with the popular "Iris Kane" which included Rob Granter, Barry Galbraith, Wayne Edney and Peter Wong. This became a successful band doing covers and a few originals. Tony started writing at this time. He found he needed a better outlet for his own material and so left "Iris Kane" to form "Feelers". Right from the start, it was spelt out to Brian, John and Mick that it would be a long-term project. That was in January of 1976. From the start, "Feelers" failed to gain popular acceptance. Tony describes their music as being a "combination of stuff but with a metal tinge". People weren't familiar with the music and we had vocal problems. No-one else was available as a vocalist". Later, more pop came into it and their audiences were getting bigger. As Tony explains... ."The sound became more us, whereas earlier,. we were finding our feet". With the introduction of keyboards and effects from Mick, the sounds became more subtle. Everything changed - "The sound-mixer was also getting his lot together". At the height of their success and popularity, Mick Tait had to leave due to other commitments. The others could see this happening earlier and so were prepared for the end of "Feelers".
A 12 month recess followed. "We locked ourselves away for 12 months and worked on it and found that we didn't need a fourth person". B.I.B.O. was about to be born and with a complete change of direction.
It was hard starting again and with the new line-up, many original new songs and a few of the older popular originals B.I.B.O. played to their first audiences, Tony continues "The first night was really successful. People came to see what the band was about but then the crowds dropped.
The "Feelers" had become popular and it had grown from people disliking the band to people liking the band, and this other band came along - minus a member (Mick) and not doing any of the songs they remembered. It was a bit hard for them to handle, so we were left with a base crowd of about 20 people. A major re-think was in order. The band realized they needed to get out of Warrnambool and play their music elsewhere. "Checks" who later became "Deck-chairs Overboard" saw them play at the Institute. They said "You'll have to get out of Warrnambool, otherwise you'll kill yourself" and so gave them a support billing with their own band for a two week tour. That advanced to other jobs and other offers around Melbourne. "B.I.B.O. were going down well at the time" Tony said. They were asked to go to Melbourne and live and so they went. The manager of "Decks" helped put them in the Venue for a residency period.
Later it was the "Prince of Wales" and they continued to do the live band circuit in Melbourne. "We were quite lucky, somehow. Not quite sure how but at least we learnt a lot and got established in a small way, but we went at the wrong time when live band acts were failing."
Tony saw good bands going under due to the booking system and the way agencies worked. "Talent wasn't being picked up. Support gigs were only getting $100 - sometimes only $50".
A number of their songs, already recorded, were being played on F.M. stations such as 3RRR and 3PBS. "Action" charted to number 17 spot. (Their charts were made up from the number of requests by listeners). "People didn't know what the band was about because we weren't in there (Melbourne) long enough. The live scene was failing dismally At that stage Pseudo Echo, Kids in the Kitchen and Real Life were under- bubblers. For Melbourne, they were the only bands drawing crowds.
"Pseudo Echo" were a 'safe' band and not outlandish and with well constructed songs. Tony says some of their own material has common elements to theirs, but was not 'radio fodder' as in pop star material because there were no gimmicks, "no pretty boys", no cash to buy the latest fancy clothes. They were not commercial.
Like other bands, they were losing money in Melbourne and so had to return home. They still had shows in Melbourne but decided not to do these due to their costs and the effort required. Crowds (for live music) were dropping off and still are today. "Our crowds weren't going to improve the future of the band so we gave it a miss".
At that time, even bands such as Models were losing money. They commanded big audiences and successful tours but overall, once the agency's management and the venues took their cuts and on top of that, the high cost of hiring equipment, bands were losing sometimes thousands of dollars. So what of the band now? "A lot of people have said we would be better off in a studio putting songs down rather than playing live" so the lads are looking at putting a studio together. A number of tapes have been sent off to England, France and America (The only way to get the address was to go to the consulates and look them up in the phone books). They have "a bit of an interest in America. College radio in America is where a few Australian acts have been broken. The band's future is best described in Tony's own words...... "We've been through some hard times together and weathered it. In Australia, no-one gets 'discovered' anymore, it's mainly just hard work and persistence".
Still a favourite cassette from the 80s.
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