The Dugites

The Dugites
Origin Perth, Australia
Genres Indie pop
Years active 1978–1984
Labels Deluxe
Rough Diamond
Mercury
Half Baked/BMG
Past members see members list below

The Dugites were a Western Australian band who formed in the late 1970s and went on to record three albums in the early 1980s. The Dugites combined elements of power pop, new wave and electronic, producing songs with strong melodies, hooks and a smattering of politics. With hit singles "In Your Car", "Waiting" and "Juno and Me", they received extensive airplay, appearances on Countdown[1] and toured nationally around Australia. The band's name refers to the brown venomous snake, the dugite, common to Western Australia.

History

The Dugites formed in Perth in 1978 with a line-up of Lynda Nutter on vocals, Peter Crosbie on keyboards, Gunther Berghoffer on guitar, Phillip Bailey on bass and Clarence Bailey on drums. In 1979 The Dugites released a single "Hit Single"/"Bruce", and toured as the backing band for Dave Warner. The single had been self-financed, but that year they were signed by the now defunct Deluxe label distributed by RCA Records. In 1980 Paul Noonan (ex-Dave Warner's from the Suburbs) replaced Phillip Bailey.[2] Their first album The Dugites was released in August 1980 and reached No. 22 on the Australian Album charts.[3] It went on to attain gold status (35 000 copies sold).[2] Three singles were issued from the album, "In Your Car"/"13 Again" in May 1980, which reached No. 34 on the Australian Singles charts in July,[3] "Goodbye"/"No God, No Master" in July and "South Pacific"/"Gay Guys" in October, which reached No. 90.[3] At the 1980 Countdown Music Awards both The Dugites and Nutter received nominations for 'Best New Talent' (Johnny O'Keefe Memorial Award) and 'Most Popular Female' respectively. In December the band were the opening act for Elton John's concert at the Perth Entertainment Centre.[4]

The band's second album, West Of The World, produced by Bob Andrews (Graham Parker and the Rumour),[5][6] was released in July 1981. The album peaked at No. 33 on the Australian album charts and saw the release of two singles, "Waiting"/"Who Loves You More?", in May 1981, which reached No. 40 and "Part of Me"/"Never Touch" in September. In mid 1982 Berghoffer left the band and was replaced by guitarist Andrew Pendlebury (ex-The Sports),[7][8] following which the band issued a single, "No Money"/"Decide" in July on the Rough Diamond label, and the related mini-album, No Money in August.[2] Pendlebury was then replaced by Bob Fallovic (aka Boris Garter; ex-Stockings) and Paul Williamson also joined on saxophone.[2] By mid-1983 however the line-up was reduced to Nutter, Crosbie, Bailey and Noonan.[2]

The Dugites signed to Mercury/PolyGram and released their third album, Cut The Talking, in April 1984. Three singles were released from the album, "Cut the Talking"/"Michael and Rodney", in November 1983, "Juno and Me"/"Everything Must Change" in April 1984, which reached No. 60 on the Australian Singles charts, and "It Ain't Like That"/"All That I Want" in August. Following the release of the album the band added Peter Kaldor on saxophone and John Crosbie on trombone and trumpet to the line-up for touring purposes, but by the end of 1984 the group disbanded.[2]

When the ABC's Sydney 'youth' radio station Double Jay was launched in 1975, Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed" was chosen as the opening song played on air, specifically because it had been banned by Australian commercial radio. When Double Jay switched bands to FM in 1980, The Dugites' "Gay Guys", the B-side of the Dugites 1980 single "South Pacific", which was also banned by commercial radio, became the first song to be played by Double Jay's successor, 2JJJ-FM Triple J.

Members

Band Reformed - Snakefish

The Dugites were asked to be one of a number of Perth bands of the '70s and '80s to be part of 2004's Old Day Out in Fremantle.

"Some members of the Dugites live overseas now," says Lynda.

She explains how she recruited Perth keyboard whizz Kathy Travers, and guitarist Richard Leach to join with original Dugites members Clarence Bailey and Phil Bailey.

The Old Day Out gig was a large success.

"The idea of not playing again for another 20 years just seemed too stupid," Lynda recalls.

No way were The Dugites re-forming to merely regurgitate old hits though.

"We didn't like the idea of playing all the old Dugites hits ad nauseam," avers our singer, "we've got a lot more songs we've written since then, so it seemed a sensible idea to rename ourselves and start a new thing."

The lineup for the new band, Snakefish, features Nutter on vocals, Clarence Bailey on drums, Phil Bailey on bass with Cathie Travers (piano accordion) and Richard Leach on guitar.

Discography

The Dugites

Albums

EPs

Singles


Snakefish

EPs

References

  1. ↑ "The list of Countdown episodes and clips from 1974 to 1979". 70s Countdown. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 McFarlane, 'The Dugites' entry. Archived from the original on 14 June 2004. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Ryan (bulion), Gary (21 March 2003). "1980 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Bodoh, David. "Elton John Concert Details". 1980 World Tour. Eltonography.com. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  5. ↑ Baker, Glen E. (4 September 1982). "Asia luring Australian Artists". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 44 Vol. 94, No. 34. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ↑ "Moore on Pop.". Australian Women's Weekly (National Library of Australia). 5 August 1981. p. 25 Supplement: TV & Entertainment World. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  7. ↑ McFarlane, 'Andrew Pendlebury' entry. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Holmgren, Magnus. "Andrew Pendlebury". Australian Rock Database. Passagen (Magnus Holmgren). Retrieved 15 November 2012.

External links