Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Rhythm guitarist Ian “Bobsie” Millar joined the Coloured Balls in late 1972 after a stint in the Army and playing in bands around Melbourne. View all posts by Colin Gray.
And as an American who has toured Australia, I can state with complete confidence that Melbourne is one of the most rock and roll cities in the world! Bullet only released one single on the Atlantics label, Chicago Records. He says the reputation of Coloured Balls shows for fights and even knifings effectively put an end to the band. You can find mention of ‘sharps’ in newspaper reports all the way back to the 1950s, the magical sepia age of juvenile delinquency, but the tribe really came of age as ‘sharpies’ in the early 1970s. I digress. I still think that ‘Hey Spunky’ sounds like ‘Bad Boy For Love’, at least on the verses. Growing up in Ringwood and preferring a different look, we were constantly targetted by first Rockers and then Sharps. “We continued with the boogie thing but it became very high-energy rock’n’roll and we were all pretty passionate about it. 23 tracks in total – and no filler in sight. If you thought the Sharpie influence on music/fashion/culture had died out by the late 70s, you were mistaken.

Available where all good CD’s are sold, including, Whats The Rockbrat Listening to today? The inclusion of the glam-edged ‘Rock My Lady’ from long forgotten mid 70’s Sydney hard rockers Bullet is further reason to pick up the album. She tried to convince us it was a good idea she was groomed and tasked with hooking in other girls l remember sitting outside at lunch time as she promoted the rocker lifestyle and one of the blokes turned up. I saw a lot of bouncers who were worse than a lot of the patrons.” Finch are remembered most for having hot shot young guitar player Bob Spencer in their ranks, yet one listen to ‘Out Of Control’ or the glam punk hit ‘Hey Spunky’ reminds the listener that charismatic front man Owen Orford had a great set of pipes and were a great band who wrote great hard rock hits with melody aplenty. Whilst sharps weren’t purely a Melbourne based sub-culture, this is where they were most prominent. ...The Creatures (Bethlehem, PA 1986), Trio Nordestino - Carta Ao Rio from Os Grandes Sucessos Do - Magazine (orig 1965), LOST VINYL WORLD OF THE 60'S (NORTHERN SOUL, SKA AND BEYOND...), MARY LOVE - LAY THIS BURDEN DOWN - STATESIDE SS 2009 (1967, New Heavensbee Album "We Mean Business" Released, MONKEY'S WANDERING WIRELESS SHOW - SEPTEMBER 2020 - WE'RE ALL NEEDED. I cant recall that many sharpies around Frankston/Peninsula way but they were just thugs who looked tough and scary. Millar says a lot of the violence at shows was initiated not so much by their sharpie fans as by some of the heavy-handed techniques used by security staff. It was shot at a Melbourne Cricket Ground concert by Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Lobby Loyde & The Coloured Balls, the latter their band-of-choice. Lobby Loyde & The Coloured Balls: Sharpie Music Melbourne, Australia sharpies circa 1971 He is the co-publisher of sport and pop culture website Shoot Farken.[/box]. A song that almost 40 odd years later would still blow most others away for sheer power and intensity. Make no mistake, the sharpies could be a tough bunch. Two of the most popular bands on the sharpie scene were AC/DC and Rose Tattoo, who were both Alberts produced bands. As a teenager growing up in Box Hill in the late 60s to mid 70s l can only say that while it is great to catch up with old friends and talk about old times the truth is that the behaviour of some of those gang members was exactly the same as the current one punch mentality that struck terror in the hearts of any non gang member braving the Box Hill tunnel , the bus depot and surrounding streets. The song belongs to Mick Cocks, the man with the fastest right hand. Vor allem aber waren in der Sharpie-Szene Musiker wie Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Skyhooks, AC/DC und Rose Tattoo beliebt. The dress code etc was merely a badge that allowed young thugs to clump together and cowardly attack people in groups of two or three. They were a great mob of guys but they were karate guys; they were out there protecting themselves as well. Scorpions – Animal Magnetism, Alan Lancaster Interview - 2019 - Status Quo/Bombers/Party Boys. “It got to the point at gigs where people were turning up and standing ten feet from the stage because they thought we were going to do the belting up — it was crazy.” Thoroughly recommended. Rare 1974 insight to Sharpies in Melbourne.By Greg Macainsh. Past…Forward: Mick Hale, and the Mod Fun Legacy, The Wild Tchoupitoulas / Robert Palmer / Aaron Neville.

The Coloured Balls had the ‘sharp’ look, right down to the haircuts, and were the most identifiable of all sharp bands – and arguably the sub-cultures musical embodiment. Terry couldn’t include an AC/DC track on the compilation because of licensing issues, but the scorching Rose Tattoo track “Remedy” is on there. Glenn Terry, owner of Melbourne record store Vicious Sloth Collectables, has put together a compilation called When Sharpies Ruled! Nice slip case and two booklets laden with information, reminiscences, facts, musings and a stack more. No comments on the absolute awesome-ness of Coloured Balls? I note that many of the Box Hill Gang ended up junkies, prisoners or dead before their time and probably required a social worker or two. Timeline is important.

He is the co-publisher of sport and pop culture website Shoot Farken. They looked like a weird cross between skinheads/suedeheads/glam rockers and tacky 70's styles. All in all – a no risk ten out of ten from Cowboy Col. Change ). Sharpie gangs came from all over. The Damned, Wire, The Go-Go's, The Limiñanas, The Speedways, Draculina, The Fleshtones, Billy Childish, BMX Bandits and More...! Lobby Lloyd and Billy Thorpe concert at the Melbourne Showgrounds It’s wrong to glorify their preference for violence as a (anti)-social outlet even after all this time. Worst Album Art The Rockbrat’s Seen ? Dig deep into his musical history – the Coloured Balls is a good place to start, and on this comp you get 3 top notch Balls tunes. Without whom... A passage to indie garage psych-punk rock’n’roll – introducing Ginnel. Their hard rocking boogie sound was due to the distinctive guitar of Lobby Loyde, a player who still hasn’t got his dues for pioneering influence on Oz guitar rock. ‘Chelsea Kids’ is a classic. It was a demographic youthquake of suburban discontent funnelled from far-flung locales like Frankston, Ringwood and Thomastown and poured onto the streets of the city to run riot — at least that’s the tabloid version of events. ( Log Out /  His defence was he knew they would be attacking people that night so he deliberately wore soft shoes so his kicking wouldn’t do too much damage. Such was the thinking of these mob-mentality morons. This is from a 1974 student film by Skyhooks bassist Greg Macainsh called "Melbourne Sharpies". “You really needed to be a good band to play at those venues. Meyer later turned up in Perth HM band Saracen and then Rose Tattoo. All in all – a no risk ten out of ten from Cowboy Col. Terry was a sharpie back in the day, a teenager just getting his ears wet to the sounds of glam, boogie and pop pumping out of transistor radios on Melbourne radio stations like 3XY. Man this rocker has groove with a capital G and sounds revitalized given the digital treatment. Todays version of a bogan but a lot uglier. Some groups of Rockers targeted us at Hampton High School l remember a classmate about 15 a vulnerable girl lured in and told she could be in the gang but all the male members had to be able to have sex with her . If that's not PUNK, then what tha fuck is it?!