With the release of ‘Boogie! Australian Blues, R&B and Heavy rock from the ‘70s’ pending (August 17 to be exact) we’ll look at a some of the featured tracks over next few weeks..
It says something about the freewheeling nature of Australian music in the early 70’s that a song called ‘12lb Toothbrush’ could be a smash hit here, and that a band whose singer had the moves and demeanor of a psychotic chimpanzee could be one of the biggest bands in the land. Madder Lake were an early Mushroom signing and one of the main acts to play Sunbury in 1973. ‘12lb Toothbrush’ is a killer track that mixes serious progressive rock chops with a great boneheaded chorus hook. The song was infact named as such to make the dj’s sound like idiots when they announced it on air; the title has nothing to do with anything but definitely sounds appropriate. The song shows off just one facet of this multifaceted band; their other track on ‘Boogie!’ is a fantastic straight ahead blues rocker called ‘Booze Blues’.
These guys still perform – a recent live recording I’ve heard has them sounding just the same and just as good as they do on this old GTK clip below – and they’re playing at a Melanoma Benefit at the Hi-fi Bar in Melbourne on September 5 alongside fellow ‘Boogie!’ stars Spectrum and Jim Keays from the Masters Apprentices.
