Tactics (band)

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Tactics was a band formed in the late 1970s in Canberra by David Studdert (vocals & rhythm guitar), Angus Douglas (lead guitar) and Robert Whittle (drums), with bass players Steve K (1977), Steve Ball (1978) and Geoff Marsh (1979-81). With Marsh as bass player, they moved to Sydney and quickly became known for running against the grain musically, lyrically, and stylistically. Always fronted by songwriter Studdert, the lineup changed marginally for each album until they finally called it a day in 1990. After moving to the UK during the 90s, Studdert formed Mumbo Jumbo - touring and releasing an album - before a brief stint back in Australia where he fronted an 8-piece band called The Inside Up in 2000/2001.

[edit] History

Tactics' first album, My Houdini was released in 1980 to critical acclaim, and captured the energy of their live sound with clarity & passion. Its overall colours were deepened by some slower, more reflective songs such as 'The Usual', 'Frozen Park' and 'A Settler's Complaint', which weren't present in their live set. Finding style through natural arrangement, everything was considered, even saxes and flutes make an appearance despite those days of the DIY (post)punk police. The album stood out from anything else at the time not least because of its songs and playing, but for the studio experiments with a natural flow of ideas. Though a cohesive identifiable whole, no song repeats itself.


After changing bassists (Garry Manley was enlisted), Glebe their second album followed 9 months later in '81. Studdert and band had evolved: heralding a different approach, they fused a wide range of forms, invented styles and rhythmic intensities. By merging the songs - most of which have many parts - a song-cycle effect gives the album an eccentric pop chamber-music feel.

With Glebe, Studdert's writing had moved away from the first album's songs of certain bigger bubbling issues, on or under discussion tables in Australia (in particular, but not all). The fast and numinous sounds on My Houdini, glistening, stark - shimmer & glide from the band like a single acoustic guitar. The songs here were Studdert's initial and mature outpourings, written and recorded over a longer period of time than the more immediate but complex Glebe.

" Glebe ...strikes as being about unease, about the things that might keep you awake at 3am, about the little dead ends and false starts beneath the surface of any real life, of the tremors and shifts, about the shimmering complexities of depth, of the shallowness of those depths for a lot of people... "(1). This is blue-sky-yellow-sand-shoe-lunches above the bridge, conversations in buildings, voices floating in blue mountains, celebrations of toil, of voice-bass-drum talk, and sofas in front lawns. Two views of Centrepoint - from Angus, and from Ingrid. Other new rhythms to describe the day's moods.


These two were followed by The Bones Of Barry Harrison (1982), a compilation of live recordings from 1979 to 1982. Recorded on a wide range of devices including hand-held walkmans, it didn't garner any new fans; but the idea of polishing it for release was an anathema to them.


Dave Studdert ended the band in 1983 but re-emerged a year later with a new Tactics, which retained Angus Douglas and added Nicky Baruch, Snajik, and Tony Donohue.


The resulting album, Blue and White Future Whale failed yet again to reach a mass audience. The songs were combinations of the earthy, the celebratory, and lunar reflections on love, lust, politics, ...and sport. The new assemble Tactics provided another unique platform for Studdert's songs. The hard hat nine iron guys with football cards instead of cash are using binoculars from a tenth floor Taylor Square building. 'Spirit of the millions moves the world - breathe it in / breathe it in - America must fall!' he sings in one of his more direct moments in 'Long Shadow'. The elliptic and poetic, the moonfrogs and future whales of this new Tactics sound is reflected in Nicky Baruch's stunning cover painting. This album completes the trilogy of a new and natural music informed by many world voices, whilst clearly (but necessarily intangibly) maintaining a unique Australian vision.

After this lineup dissolved in 1987, Tactics released their final studio album, The Great Gusto, in 1989, with Studdert, Manley, Snajik, drummer Malcolm MacCallum,and trumpeter Robbie Weaver, as well as some violin cameos from Amanda Brown, ex Go-Betweens. By this time Tactics were closer to the mainstream, but not close enough. Studdert moved onto other projects, to reconcile the art in his blood with the dance in his brain.


The History of the Sky - 'mixes, remixes, hits n missus', released in 1996 - is an 18 song collection spanning their 'career', and a good starting point for the novice listener. It highlights the breadth and uniqueness of their sound.


In October 2006, twenty-six years after their first album, Memorandum Recordings in conjunction with Reverberation released The Sound of the Sound - a double CD package - compiling Tactics first two albums, My Houdini & Glebe. It also contains unreleased studio songs, alternate live versions from the era, and a few of Barry Harrison's Bones. All tracks have been re-mastered specifically for this release. Glebe has been remixed from the original multi-track masters, after having been initially rushed into existence by lack of funding and various other emotional pressures. This CD release emphasises the contrasts between these first albums, the great strength of Studdert's early songs, and differences in the manner of recording 'the sound of the sound'.


  • The Sound of the Sound, Vol. 2 (Released March 2008) - features a remastered Blue and White Future Whale. Whereas The Great Gusto is represented by live versions and outtakes from the studio album with some remix / remastering. Both CDs include live tracks, the later singles, and unreleased tracks from the inbetween days & the neverending lonely nights. Spun webs broken in the morning sun.

(1. - Jimmy Little - Tightsainthood)

[edit] Members

  • David Studdert - Lead vocals & rhythm guitar (all albums) 1977-2008.
  • Robert Whittle - Drums, vocals 1977-82 (My Houdini, Glebe)
  • Angus Douglas - Lead guitar 1977-84 (My Houdini, Glebe)
  • Geoff Marsh - Bass, vocals, backing mumble on Standing by the Window 1979-81 (My Houdini)
  • Ingrid Spielman - Piano 1980-81 (My Houdini, Glebe) + Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • Garry Manley - Bass, 1981-83 & guitar 1989-90 (Glebe, The Great Gusto + Inside Up : 2000 ) + Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • Nicky Baruch - Vocals*, keyboards, percussion, flute 1984-86 (*Glebe, Blue & White Future Whale)
  • David 'Snajik' Miller - Bass, 1984-86, 1989-90 (Blue & White Future Whale, The Great Gusto)
  • Tony Donohoe - Drums 1984-86 (Blue & White Future Whale)
  • Michael Sherman - Trumpet (1986 live band + Fatman, Committee of Love singles)
  • Malcolm MacCallum - Drums, keyboards 1989-90 (The Great Gusto)
  • Lex Robertson - Keyboard 1989-90 (live band + Inside Up : 2000) + Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • Pete Kelly - Trumpet (1989-90 live band) + Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • Adam 'Sloth' Burrell - Trumpet 1989-90 (live band + Inside Up : 2000 )
  • Robbie Weaver - Trumpet 1988-1989 (The Great Gusto)
  • Nic Cecire - Drums Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • Matt Galvin - Guitar Sept 06 & Mar 08 live band
  • others along the way: Hamish Reid (bass), Duncan MacKenzie (organ), Michael Farmer (drums), Errol Gooding (sax).

[edit] Discography

Albums

  • 1980 My Houdini
  • 1981 Glebe
  • 1982 The Bones of Barry Harrison (Live 79-81)
  • 1986 Blue and White Future Whale
  • 1988 Holden Interview (Singles, extras, post-1986)
  • 1989 The Great Gusto

Compilations

  • 1996 History of the Sky
  • 2006 The Sound of the Sound Vol. 1: My Houdini, Glebe & More.

Singles

  • 1979 Long Weekend EP - Standing By The Window / Buried Country / Watch My Hands
  • 1980 Hole in My Life / Outdoors
  • 1981 Second Language / Buried Country
  • 1981 Gold Watch / Standing By the Window
  • 1985 Fat Man / Shark Bed Rally
  • 1986 Coat Tails / Committee of Love
  • 1989 Coalface / Birthday Girl
  • 1989 Know it All
  • 1990 Turn