The Dogs

"The Dogs" was the name of a band formed at Hamilton's Monivae College in 1965, enduring a couple of incarnations through to the end of 1967. The founding members were Michael Schack, Marty Atchison, Kevin Rooney, Malcolm Thomas, Paul Van Kalken and Leo Tellefson. The band entered the 1965 Battle of the Sounds competition in Warrnambool, sponsored by Hoadleys, and promoted by 3YB at the Capitol Theatre. Although not acclaimed at this outing, they were one of the few bands to present an original song  - "Hey woman" by Marty Atchison. In Dec. 1965 Paul Van Kalken (from Balmoral), Malcolm Thomas (from Tennant Creek, N.T.)  and Kevin Rooney (from Warrnambool) left the college, and subsequently the band. Van Kalken continued to perform in Hamilton in a band called the Commancheros, which also included Coleraine guitarist Peter Bird - later to play bass with Warrnambool band's  "Nevada" and "Lost in Suburbia".

Schack, Atchison and Tellefson pursued  the band at school throughout 1966, along with Frank Borbiro. Leo Tellefson departed for his home town Donald at the end of 1966. He performed throughout the Wimmera region in various bands (including "Blend") through to the next century. In 1967 the band comprised Marty Atchison (vocals), Michael Schack (guitar), Frank Borbiro (bass) and Tim Carracher (drums). At the end of 1967 the band dissolved. Michael Schack played temporarily with Hamilton band "The Nuartz" (featuring Gary Andrews and Allan Primrose), before rejoining Atchison in 1969 for the "3M Company", and eventually the "Dead Livers" in 1978.

 

1965 lineup: L to R: Leo Tellefson (piano), Michael Schack (guitar), Paul Van Kalken (vocals), Malcolm Thomas (drums), Marty Atchison (vocals), Kevin Rooney (guitar)

The article below was reproduced from "The Dolphin" - the magazine for the Monivae Old Collegians Association - Issue 25 May 2014
It’s a Dog’s Life
On January 11th 2014 there was are reunion of the band “The Dead Livers” at the Victoria Hotel Warrnambool. The band of course included two Old Collegians - Marty Atchison (‘67) and Michael Schack (‘67). As an adjunct to this event the idea of having a reunion of their old school band “The Dogs” was floated. The original 1965 formative members were Marty Atchison, Michael Schack, Kevin Rooney (‘66), Leo Tellefson (‘67), Paul Van Kalken (‘65) and Malcolm Thomas (‘67). The
band continued for two more years and later inclusions were Frank Borbiro (‘68) and Tim Carracher (‘67). Contact was made with as many as possible and Marty, Leo, Kevin, Paul, Michael and Tim agreed to give it a go.
The disparate geographic spread of members (Adelaide, Melbourne, Donald, Portland and Warrnambool) made rehearsal impossible until the day of the suggested performance. The six reunited for the first time in about 49 years at an emotional gathering at Kevin Rooney’s former family home in Warrnambool and tried to remember some songs.

Below: L to R: Kevin Rooney, Tim Carracher, Paul Van Kalken, Marty Atchison, MichaelSchack and Leo Tellefson reunited on 11th Jan 2014.

Eventually they settled on “Around and around” (A Chuck Berry song covered by the Rolling Stones), “It’s All Over Now’ (another Rolling Stones cover) and “Money - That’s What I Want” (covered by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones). The performance at night took place during an interval in the Dead Livers’ show and included a supplementary guitarist and drummer to round out things. The three songs went without a hitch (well, almost) and The Dogs seemed to momentarily regain the enthusiasm and energy they displayed in the sixties. The crowd danced ardently and applauded generously at the end of each song.


Above - Leo Tellefson (piano), Mark Meallin (guitar). Marty Atchison (vocal), Richard O'Keefe (drums), Kevin Rooney (guitar), Michael Schack (bass), Paul Van Kalken, Tim Carracher - Jan. 11th, Victoria Hotel Warrnambool.



From 1965 Monivae annual
It’s a Dog’s Life - Quite early in the school year, a small group of boys was banded together and, armed with some of the necessary talent and equipment, called themselves “The Dogs”. After many  short, hectic practice sessions, they made their debut into the world of entertainment at the Y.C.S. Concert and, much to the delight of the audience, proved a highlight of the evening. The next public appearance was slightly less formal, held one Sunday afternoon, and was almost a school outing. At the small fee of sixpence, a riotous hour of R & B echoed through the school, amidst the stamping and cheering of the enthusiastic fans. Then as a finale to the year’s activities as a group, The Dogs of Hamilton were contestants for 3YB’s ‘Battle of the Sounds”, this time playing toan audience of one thousand. Although not acclaimed in this outing, the Dogs will be more remembered by the boys at Monivae as more popular relief from Symphony Concerts.

Above L to R: Leo Tellefson (piano), Michaelv Schack (guitar), Paul Van Kalken (tambourine and vocals), Malcom Thomas (drums), Marty Atchison (vocals), Kevin Rooney (guitar)

1966 lineup - Michael Schack, Marty Atchison, Leo Tellefson, Frank Borbiro

1967 lineup - Michael Schack, Marty Atchison, Tim Carracher, Frank Borbiro

Blue Heat

BLUE HEAT is the name of a Warrnambool band. The seven-piece group that played with the likes of B. B. King, Tommy Emmanuel and Marcia Howard was one of the south-west's most celebrated talents in the 1990s. The band broke up at the peak of its powers in 1997 but reformed in 2005 for a charity gig (tsunami appeal benefit concert). at Lake Pertobe. Since then it popped up for a handful of gigs each year and even released a live recording of a performance from 1997 at The Continental. In 2014 the band recorded its first studio album in 20 years at the Big Red Shed in Nirranda,engineered by Brenton Smith.  Renowned Blue Heat guitarist Marco Goldsmith had a successful solo career in the intervening years but slotted back in to the band.

Members: Barry Galbraith (drums) Graeme Galbraith (bass) Marco Goldsmith (guitar,vocals) Brad Harrison (sax, b.vox) Paul Lemke (trombone, b.vox) Former Members: Richard Tankard (keyboards, b.vox) Matt Trenery (trumpet, b.vox)

Warrnambool Standard January 15 2009  - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2009. 
"Heat's back on in home town"
RENOWNED blues band Blue Heat are getting together again for what could be their one and only show in their home town this year. Blue Heat hits The Loft in Warr­nambool tomorrow night with sup­port from up-and-coming Hamilton blues-rock band 3 Martinis. Since reuniting in early 2005 after a seven year hiatus, Blue Heat has played a handful of gigs each year bringing together the seven members \- Marco Goldsmith, Barry Galbraith, Richard Tankard, Graham Galbraith, Paul Lemke, Matt Trenery and Brad Harrison - to reclaim their status as the south-west's premier blues act. If you miss tomorrow night's show, their next appearance will be at the Port Fairy Folk Festival.

BIG LOVE

"Big Love" is the name  a band  formed in the 1980s. The core of the band is essentially a husband and wife musical team, Ian & Janet Siemonek, but other musicians are bought in to supplement the line up when required.Originally hailing from New Zealand, They moved to Warrnambool in 2012.  Janet is a singer/songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, fiddle, mandolin, keyboards, mouth harp, whistles (and anything else she comes across), and Ian plays acoustic guitar and sings. They specialise in close knit vocal harmonies and have done backing vocals for lots of other performing artists in New Zealand (either singing live or on original recordings). Janet & Ian toured New Zealand extensively throughout the 70's in the heyday of the big University folk festivals, Janet with a Celtic four piece band called "Kilderkin" ,and Ian in a contemporary trio called "Hollis" ,who played only original music. Both bands released several well received albums at the time, which are still being sold by independent distributors in N.Z. Ian went on to spend seven years on the "other side of the music business" doing sales, promotion and product management for CBS Records (now Sony), in New Zealand and Australia, before leaving to pursue another career path. It was important to Ian and Janet to keep some of their Kiwi identity when living and performing in Australia, so the band name "Big Love" wass taken from the Maori word "Arohanui" (which in its literal translation, means, "love-big" ). "BigLove" mainly play covers in the local pubs but are trying to play as much of Janet's original music as they can too, and they have released a c.d. called "The Light House": Some of the inspiration for the songs on "The Light House" came from spending 5 years in New Zealand between 1992-97 looking after Janet's sick Mother who suffered from a severely debilitating dementia. It's often said that in times of great adversity the creative side of a person can be revealed and realised, and this was true in Big Loves case as Janet had never written any original songs before she moved back to New Zealand!

Granny's Grave

GRANNY'S GRAVE was a Warrnambool band which reformed in 2014 for a series of local gigs and a performance at the 2015 Wunta festival. The band was formed in 1977 with guitarist Tim Netherway,ex-"West Side Federation" drummer Eric Read, a recent departee from a Melbourne country music band, "Homestead", and bass player Peter "Prof" Walters. The impetus for the band came when the new proprietors of the Lady Bay ("Cork" and "Dackers") offered Granny's Grave ten weeks work for six nights of each week (a workload only dreamt of by most of today's musicians).  A fresh faced John Maroniti joined as guitarist, and "Granny's Grave" embarked on a musical expedition that was to span three decades, countless kilometres, and multiple musical genres and members. The band name came from local history - in 1848 the first white woman to be buried in the area, a Mrs. James Raddleston, was interred in the sand dunes at the Warrnambool beach, and the grave site has always been known to locals as "Granny's Grave".

Granny's Grave Band was always great entertainment. In 1980, Jake Steele, a reporter with the Melbourne based magazine "Across country", visited the Grand Hotel when Granny's Grave was playing. His report published in that magazine referred to a full dance floor, everybody laughing and having a good time and a tight, gutsy band performing numbers like "Westbound and down" and "Wichita jail" to more mellow country songs like "American dream" and even Willie Nelson's "Georgia". He also enjoyed the one-liners and comedy routines produced by the band.

In time, Eric left the band to pursue careers in "The Nightowls" and "Small Change", and subsequent drummers included Roland Evans, Andrew Gray and Graeme Saunders.  John Maroniti left to form the "Motorvators", and Wendy Goyen joined as vocalist/guitarist/keyboard. Wendy was in the band from 1983-1988 and considers herself fortunate to start a music career in an established band playing at least once a week and with bookings a year in advance. The band's set list during her spell expanded to encompass things like Stop your fussin (Toni Childs) and Ain't no sunshine (a Bill Withers song that Wendy continued to sing in Second Line). Among her favourite memories are playing at country functions in places like Gorea West and support gigs for artists such as Col Elliot, Tony Pantano and Ronnie Burns (later to join the club circuit with Daryl Cotton and Russell Morris)

 In the early 1990s, Tim and the others re-united with another ex-West Side Federation member - keyboard player John "Jack" McKinnon, who had returned to the district after a metropolitan career highlighted by his spell as keyboardist for 70s rock group "Madder Lake".  During this period of its history "Granny's Grave" performed dually as a cabaret band and a pub rock band under the name "Blind Tiger".

The original members reformed for the "Rock back the clock" cabaret at the Civic Hall in 1990, and re-convened for a 3WAY-FM fundraiser in honour of Hank Williams' birthday in September 1999.

In 1999, Prof Walters was the bass player for "Sound Advice" (which also included one of the Granny's Grave drummers - Graeme Saunders), John Maroniti was in the "Motorvators", Tim Netherway played lead guitar with "Old Spice", Wendy Goyen sang with "Second Line" and "Lost in Suburbia" and Eric Read ran a successful telecommunications company (he was observed playing drums at Dick Barns' 50th birthday in 1998).

In the 21st century Prof had a successful solo career before forming Loose Cannons, Tim joined "The Gents", Johhny joined Russell Moody as a duo and then as a trio with Kayla Dwyer and Eric did various fill in drumming roles before becoming ventriloquist.

Quad Squad

Quad Squad's song "Empire" was included on the album Nick's Kids which was Emmanuel College's entry in the 2012 Kool Schools project. Kool Skools promotes, develops and supports a diverse range of talent and all genres of contemporary music writing and performance. Each school or project gets to work within a professional studio in either Melbourne or Sydney, recording an album of original music by their own school bands. Each project receives 450 CDs containing their own music, graphics and photos and videos are published on the web. An additional 50 Cds from each project are used for promotional and archive sets. The band was among the acts billed at the Warrnambool Show in October 2012.

Lynne Moloney & TheTeacher’s Pets

L to R: Geoff Kilminster, Jon Clegg, Lynne Moloney, Keith Prest -- photo taken at Bushfield on 25th June 2016

Fifteen Minutes of Fame -- July 1st 2016

Streamline

Streamline are a Port Fairy based band under the direction of guitarist Arty Hoey. Other members include Garry McKenzie (bass), Olga Lyons (vocals), Rob Lehmann (drums) and Brett Holbrook (fiddle, mandolin and lap steel). Performances have included many hotels, shows and annual events on the village green in Port Fairy during the Moyneyana festival. Some years ago they created a CD of original songs with a view to entering the Independent Country Music Awards in Mildura. Shane Howard contributed to the production of this CD.

This photo was taken in Mt. Gambier on 28th April 2019 - Michael Schack (filling in for Brett), Arty Hoey, Rob Lehmann, Olga Lyons and Garry McKenzie)

I've got two

I've Got Two :  a 5 piece rock band based in Warrnambool  that originally started out as a group of mates doing the cover band thing but broadened its horizons with the release of its first demo which contained three original compositions.Band members were: Davey Hill - Vocals, Wally Lynch - Guitar, Josh McMinn - Guitar, Marks Reeves - Bass, Andrew Porter - Drums
They wrote on the JJJ unearthed site : "The main difference with our music is the way we write it. All our material is written in a group situation which not only gives us great consistency from song to song but it also means our sound is influenced by so many different bands. Between the five of us our list of main influences is massive. Foo Fighters, Incubus, Jimmy Eat World, The Used, Reel Big Fish, Billy Talent, Rage Against The Machine, The Rollins Band, Fugazi, Saosin, Story Or The Year, Refused, Fallout Boy, Metallica and the list goes on and on. So with such a large varience in what we listen to I'm sure there is something in our music to be appreciated by just about everyone. As far as talent goes the members of I've Got Two certainly don't fall short. On lead vocals we have Davey Hill aka Geoff....Long story. Davey has been singing for quite a few years in a variety of backyard bands. This is his biggest venture yet and has taken to I've Got Two like a duck to water. On guitar we have Wally Lynch. A result of over ten years experience in bands such as Toejam, Wally and Jodie and more recently Duffmen, this guy knows how to handle a guitar. Also on guitar we have Josh McMin. Josh too has been playing for many years with bands User and Bus weary under his belt. Give this guy a guitar and watch the harmonics squeal. Bassist Mark (MICK) Reeves has also stepped up to the join the I've Got Two line-up. Mick has his fair share of experience when it comes to music. Starting out many moons ago with User he soon stepped up to play bass with Toejam in the late 90's. After that Kozar Blip was formed in which he played a key role in laying down some beefy foundations. Today he plays with I've Got Two and continues with that "in you face" bass sound. On drums we have Andrew Porter, otherwise know as 'Portsey.' When it comes to rhythm Portsey is the man. Portsey has been playing for many years with bands such as The Gestalt Effect and The Circle K."

Paul Dunbar

Paul Dunbar released his album "Stardust Classic Country" in 2010. In the liner notes he wrote"

"I live in Warrnambool Victoria and look forward to my next CD in 2011. Creating the "Stardust Classic Country" CD has been very rewarding for me.  With  only taking up singing just before the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2010, after that I fell in love with country music. I feel great personal pride and a great sense of achievement and inner confidence, believing in myself, for being able to achieve my goals of creating this CD for your listening pleasure".

Warrnambool College Concert Band

Notes from conductor Gary Hommelhoff - conductor of the band - on the 1999 CD "Live at the Opera House"

"The Warrnambool College Senior Concert Band has been of [a] high standard over the past few years. This is a compilation of various performances from '97 and '98 featuring different students in each year. The band has been finalists at the prestigious Melbourne School Bands Festival, runners up in in the Australian National C Grade Championships in '98 and has many other Eisteddfod and Festival awards. Students range from years 7-12 and have an extensive musical repertoire. These pieces are mostly live performances which I hope you will enjoy."

Bec and the Big River Trio

Published in the Warrnambool Standard Aug. 12, 2013.

They went in as hopefuls and came out winners.
Bec and the Big River Trio — bassman Don Rondeau (left) from Caramut and Warrnambool bandmates drummer Raff Marino, singer/guitarist Rebecca Beard and lead guitarist Phil Jones — were judged the best of six bands which took part in the ABC Exhumed competition held at The Loft in Warrnambool yesterday afternoon. The competition is designed to give those who play music for the sheer love of it a chance for national exposure. Bec and the Big River Trio, which lists their style as “a mix of authentic rockabilly, old and new country with a hint of blues”, will now go into the running to be named one of six finalists to perform live on television in a grand final event in December. ABC television will feature a five-part series on the competition which starts in November and is hosted by James Valentine.

Surge Whitewater and the Filthy Left

Surge Whitewater and the Filthy Left

 

Written by ABC presenter Jeremy Lee -- reproduced from the ABC website. 

From a secret location in Port Campbell, Surge Whitewater and the Filthy Left serve up blistering surf tunes old and new.

When you live in a small coastal town, what better music to play than surf instrumentals?

Surge Whitewater and the Filthy Left are based in Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road. Bassist Jimmy Cowabunga (otherwise known as James Matthews) describes them as "the strangest band in town".
He adds "it's a hard musical life down here because you have to play gigs for all types of different people".
To that end they've played in some pretty diverse places from the back of a truck to the old Port Campbell pier. Jimmy recalls another gig where "we played an Irish pub ... They thought we were an Irish band until we all turned up with surf shirts on. Luckily the Irish love their music!"
The band mix up surf standards such as Bombora and Pipeline with their own originals.
They've also started to include some vocals into the mix, telling local surf stories.
The band use some great stage names such as Rip Current and Surge Whitewater, but the lineup is Drew Deppeler, John Currell, and Peter Younis on guitar, James Matthews on bass, and Jason Neal on drums.
As to the future? James says he'd like to play to people who appreciate them, rather than "some of our dairy farming friends"! He goes on to add he does a lot of part time milking and would like to keep that job alive!
Surge Whitewater and the Filthy Left played as part of the Warrnambool  "Exhumed" gig on Sunday the 11th of August 2013 at The Loft.