MASTERS APPRENTICES
The Masters Apprentices were formed in Adelaide and became one of the most
popular figures in Australia’s beat scene in the sixties. In fact, they were hailed as
Australia’s answer to the Rolling Stones (The Easybeats were regarded as the
“Australian Beatles”).
The Masters Apprentices underwent numerous line-up changes, and their
original line-up in 1965 was completely different to their final line-up in 196872, although lead singer Jim Keays joined the band soon after they formed and
remained until the end. Despite this instability, the Masters Apprentices created
thrilling, vital music from the get-go, and continued this amazing run of great
singles until they broke up in ‘72.
The Masters Apprentices were originally called the Mustangs, and comprised
Mick Bower, Brian Vaughton, Rick Morrison and Gavin Webb. Scottish-born Jim
Keays joined the band months later. The band cut their teeth on the thriving
Adelaide live music circuit, but their first regular gig was fart from glamorous – it
was at a coffee shop above Jim & George’s Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop in Glenelg.
It wasn’t until the Mustangs changed their name to The Masters Apprentices that
things really started to happen. The band’s future success was built on their
raucous live gigs in Adelaide. In 1966 they scored a regular Saturday afternoon
gig at the hippest live music joint in Adelaide at the time - the Beat Basement.
Every rock ‘n’ roll band from SA coveted a gig at the Beat Basement, and to be
offered a regular spot – especially on a Saturday – was a big deal.
The Beat Basement shows were incredibly popular, and led to the band playing
at the 1500-person capacity Octagon Theatre in the satellite suburb Elizabeth.
The outer northern suburb had a vibrant music culture due to its high number of
British expats, who introduced Australians to the dirty rhythm and blues that
was taking the Mother Country by storm (Elizabeth was also the birthplace of
The Twilights, another one of the most popular Australian bands of the 1960s).
The Masters Apprentices were playing gig after sold-out gig in Adelaide, and also
did regional tours in towns such as Murray Bridge, Mount Gambier and Whyalla,
and had a successful tour of Melbourne. They released their first single
“Undecided” / War or Hands of Time”, which received extensive airplay. Both
tracks are regarded as classics.
By 1967 The Masters Apprentices were bona fide rock stars and teen idols,
evoking the kind of delirious schoolgirl frenzy that The Beatles regularly
experienced. They relocated to Melbourne andwere touring all around Australia,
with the highlight being a concert in Hyde Park which drew more than 50,000
people.
Despite Mick Bower – the band’s songwriter - leaving the group due to mental
exhaustion, The Masters Apprentices’ popularity continued to soar. All
incarnations of the band produced classic songs, but perhaps the best-known
songs were recorded by the later line up of Jim Keays, Doug Ford, Glen Wheatley
and Colin Burgess. Among their biggest hits were “Because I Love You” and
“Turn Up Your Radio”
Sources
Ian D. Marks and Iain McIntyre, 2010, Wild About You! The Sixties Beat Explosion
in Australia and New Zealand, Versus Chorus Press, Portland, OR.
The Masters Apprentices, MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture
1964-1975, http://www.milesago.com/artists/masters.htm
THE BEATLES
June 12, 1964: The normally conservative city of Adelaide was in a state of
pandemonium when The Beatles touched down at Adelaide airport for their brief
but historic visit to Australia.
About 300,000 people (almost a third of the population at the time) lined the
streets of Adelaide from the airport to the Town Hall so they could catch a
glimpse of the Fab Four. Drummer Ringo Starr, who was sick at the time, was
replaced by Jimmy Nicol, but that did not quell the fans’ excitement and awe at
seeing the biggest band of all time.
The Liverpudlians played four concerts in Adelaide to those lucky enough to
score the highly sought-after tickets. The 12,000 tickets to the shows sold out in
28 minutes. All four concerts at Centennial Hall were broadcast live on radio
station 5DN and featured the same 10 songs: I Saw Her Standing There, I Want
To Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over
Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, This Boy, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally.
Adelaide’s tabloid newspaper The News published an eight-page spread on the
Beatles and reported on the unprecedented scenes on the front pages of the June
12-13 editions.
An excerpt from the June 12 front page story reads: “As the cavalcade
progressed, police mobile patrols, at the intersection of Marion road and Anzac
Highway, had to force a path through the crowd for the Beatles. Thousands of
people could be seen stretching up the highway. Grandmothers mixed with the
1,300 students from Plympton High School who screamed a welcome as the
Beatles drove past.”
The next day about 4000 fans camped outside the South Australia Hotel, where
the Beatles were staying.
John Lennon described the Adelaide experience thus: “Australia was a high
moment … there were more people came to see us there than anywhere. I think
the whole of Australia was there (Adelaide).”
George Harrison, as quoted in The News on June 12, said: “This is the best
welcome we’ve ever had.”
Sources
The Beatles, 2000, The Beatles Anthology, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.
Painter, A, 12 June 1964 The Beatles, Professional Historians Association South
Australia, Adelaide, http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/june/12june-1964-the-beatles.shtml
The Beatles Setlist at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, Australia, setlist.fm,
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-beatles/1964/centennial-hall-adelaideaustralia-6bdae22a.html
The News, 12 June 1964, 2nd ed.
The News, 12 June 1964, 3rd ed.
The News, 13 June 1964, 1st ed
The News, 13 June 1964, 2nd ed
Link to video of The Beatles’ press conference in Adelaide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkpu5OHzu18