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Journalist
Jeff Jenkins' weekly column featuring Australian music news,
interviews, a look at the charts and more. Updated every
Tuesday night around 10pm. Click
here for the archive page.
Jeff
is a semi-regular guest on
The Australian Mood with Neil Rogers, 8-10pm Thursdays
on 3RRR in Melbourne
and Evenings
with Lindy Burns 7-10pm weeknights on ABC 774 Melbourne
Contacting
Jeff: If you need to contact Jeff Jenkins you can email
me (Lee-Roy) at and I'll forward the
email onto Jeff
June 21st 2017
SOUL SURVIVORS
Try listening to Dynamic Hepnotics' Soul Kind Of Feeling
and not smile. Yep, it's impossible. Arriving at the peak
of pub rock, it sounded unlike any other Aussie band. "I
think the Hepnotics did sound a lot different to the other
bands on the rock circuit at that time," singer Robert Susz
agrees. "Most of the music was punk, new wave or hard pub
rock." The Hepnotics were influenced by soul and blues,
but they found a happy home in the pubs, playing an average
of six nights a week from 1980 to 1987. This story actually
starts in high school when Robert had a band with Jonathan
Coleman, who would later find fame on Simon Townsend's Wonder
World! The Hepnotics formed at Arthur's Bar in Potts Point,
where Jono was the resident pianist. "He was never officially
in the Hepnotics," Robert explains. "However, he did play
at our first gigs - because they were actually his gigs.
He called me up because he got booked to play solo piano,
and he asked me to sing and play harmonica. After the first
gig, I asked if he wanted me to bring a guitarist. Then
I got the bass player … and then the drummer. So that was
the original line-up of the Hepnotics, with Jonathan jamming
along with us." Robert's life changed when Soul Kind Of
Feeling rocketed into the Top 10 at the end of 1984. He
was trying to write a song like Solomon Burke, "but it turned
out completely different. I accidentally played a wrong
chord while fooling around on the piano - I'm a crap pianist.
But it sounded great to me so it became the basis of the
tune." It's a love song to music. "Basically, it's about
the uplifting feeling you get when you hear some music you
love." Did Robert instantly know it was special? "When we
played it and recorded it, I thought, yes, it sounds good
to me. But I'd had the same feelings before, and since,
with tunes that sunk without a trace!" Melbourne was always
the Hepnotics' biggest market, where they were championed
by RRR's Johnny Topper, who will MC this week's reunion
shows at the Memo Music Hall, on 23 & 24 June. Dynamic Hepnotics
are launching a live album and DVD, with their classic line-up,
minus drummer Robbie Souter, who sadly died of liver failure
last month.
MORE BEERS, BEERS
Happy Birthday to INXS bass player, Garry Gary Beers, who
is 60 on 22 June.
A WINNER
How good is Ainslie Wills' new single, Running Second?!
HOT LINE
"I've never been a company man" - Tex, Don & Charlie, What
I Am.
CHART WATCH
Just two Aussie hits in the Top 40.
Waves DEAN LEWIS (number 17)
Moments BLISS N ESO (33)
A Top 5 debut for the new Hillsong album.
Wonder HILLSONG UNITED (number four, debut)
Camacho PETE MURRAY (14)
Ripcord KEITH URBAN (22)
Off The Grid BLISS N ESO (23)
The Very Best INXS (28)
Greatest Hits & Interpretations TINA ARENA (32)
Brutal Dawn BERNARD FANNING (39)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
Running Second AINSLIE WILLS
Her Wicked Ways TIM WHEATLEY
Every Little Sting HELEN SHANAHAN
I'll Forget Yr Name DAVEY LANE
Soul Kind Of Feeling DYNAMIC HEPNOTICS
Contacting
Jeff: If you need to contact Jeff Jenkins you can email
me (Lee-Roy) at and I'll forward the
email onto Jeff
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