Johnny Dole & The Scabs

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Johnny Dole & The Scabs was;

Terry Walsh (Johnny Dole - Lead Vocals)

Peter Mullany (Guitar)

Dave Berry (Bass - Vocals)

Greg Morris (Drums - Vocals)

This line-up was the original line-up and survived from January 1977 - February 1978, short but sweet!

THE BEGINNING

The Strays were a typical covers band and were looking for a new drummer to complete the line-up and after finding the right one the band was, Terry Walsh (Lead Vocals) Peter Mullany (Guitar) Mark Wongsee (Guitar) Dave Berry (Bass - Vocals) and Greg Morris (Drums - Vocals).

After a few rehearsals the band played its first gig to fulfil a previous booking commitment on Thursday 24th February 1977 at the Stagecoach Tavern - Sydney. After more rehearsals the band realised that the style of music was different to what they expected it to be, faster and dirtier. With Punk Rock bursting onto the scene this is exactly what The Strays had become, a Punk Rock band. This didn't sit well with guitarist Mark Wongsee and he decided to leave the band and the four remaining members chose a new name and Johnny Dole & The Scabs was born.

It was obvious that this new style of music was not going to suit the 'normal' venues of the time so venues that supported Punk Rock were approached. George Kringus was the manager of Radio Birdman and booked the bands at the legendary Oxford Funhouse at Taylor Square and he gave the band their first 'real' gig on Friday 15th April 1977.

BUTCHER BROWN

Ray Walsh, an ex wrestler and Johnny Dole's bother, was approached to manage the band and he agreed and did this with great enthusiasm. He had gathered many contacts during his time as a professional wrestler and was able to secure many interviews with all the major newspapers of the time, Daily Mirror, The Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald to name just a few. A recording session with Sydney radio station 2JJ's premier producer Keith Walker which led to a number of interviews and songs regularly played on 2JJ. An interview on Channel 9's A Current Affair program with Mike Carlton which aired January 1978 and supporting The Saints (band) at the Refectory at Sydney University was just some of the highlights of Ray's achievements.

FILM CLIP

Peita Letchford, a uni student had approached the band with the proposal of doing a film clip of one of the band’s songs as part of her studies. Aggro (Dole/Mullany) was chosen and the shoot was at Woolloomooloo in some old factories that were being demolished. This film clip was never shown but has turned up 30 years later in the A.F.T.R.S archives, unfortunately Peita Letchford died of cancer in the late 90's.

THE GRAND HOTEL

With the closure of the Oxford Funhouse this left a hole for any Punk band to get gigs as there weren’t that many venues at the time. Johnny Dole & The Scabs approached the publicans at many hotel around Sydney hoping to find one that would be prepared to put on this new style of music. The Grand Hotel at Broadway was the only one that would listen and publican Fred agreed for the band to use the back room, which wasn't being used, to put bands on. And on Friday 16th September 1977 Johnny Dole & The Scabs opened the doors to the Grand Hotel which would go on to be known as ‘the’ place to play in Sydney.

Many bands played at the Grand Hotel and some of these included Rocks 1977-1978, Tommy & The Dipsticks, Blackrunner (with Danny Rumour who would go on to Sekret Sekret and then The Cruel Sea (band)), Shock Treatment, Society Blitz, Subversion, Psycho Surgeons, The Press, Mental As Anything, The Mangrove Boogie Kings, World War IV and many more.

THE END

Johnny Dole & The Scabs' last gig with this line-up was at the Bondi Lifesaver - Bondi Junction on Thursday 9th February 1978 supporting Cold Chisel and not long after this Greg Morris was asked to leave and Dave Berry followed not long after that. The band didn't last much longer but did do a few gigs with new personnel. Johnny Dole and Peter Mullany later joined forces with Tommy & The Dipsticks to form The Crooked Hearts. Dave Berry disappeared back to the mountains from where he came and is now playing in blues band Blue Roots. Greg Morris joins Rocks and soon after recorded the EP 'You'r So Boring' which has gone onto to be a much sort after collector’s item he is now playing in cover band Mad Cow.

UPDATE:

Des Devlin, who was the Bass player for Sekret Sekret is preparing a documentary on the Grand Hotel and the bands that played there and is hoping to have it released later in the year.

ORIGINAL SONGS

Aggro# (Dole/Mullany)

All That's Going On# (Dole/Mullany)

Blow My Nose# (Berry)

Halfwit Rock 'N' Roll (Dole/Mullany)

Hurts My Brain (Dole/Mullany)

I Don't Wanna Work (Dole/Mullany/Berry/Morris)

Little Lord Punk# (Dole/Mullany)

Living Like An Animal# (Dole/Mullany)

Lucky Country# (Dole/Mullany)

Psycho Analyst# (Dole/Mullany)

Stuff Your Rules# (Dole/Mullany)

#Recorded at ABC Studio 201 produced / engineered by Keith Walker

VENUES PLAYED

Bondi Lifesaver - Bondi Junction - 1 gig supporting Cold Chisel

Chequers Night Club – Town Hall – 1 gig as Johnny Dole & The Strays, asked to leave after the 1st set!!

Journey's End Wine Bar – Woolloomooloo – 1 gig

Manly Vale Hotel - Manly Vale – 1 gig

Refectory - Sydney University – 1 gig supporting The Saints

Stage Door Tavern – Central – 1 gig

Stagecoach Tavern – Sydney – 3 gigs as The Strays

The Grand Hotel – Broadway – 18 gigs

The Oxford Funhouse – Taylor Square – 4 gigs

The Paris Theatre – Museum – 5 gigs

Categories: Punk rock in Australia

This article is uncategorized. Please categorize this article to list it with similar articles. (June 2008)