HOWZAT!
Milestones and memories
Local music by Jeff Jenkins
One year ago Kasey Chambers is inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame.
Jack’s back Sons rise again
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ndrew Stafford has a good line about guilty pleasures in his excellent memoir, Something To Believe In. Writing about his fondness for Savage Garden, he says: “There is no such thing as a guilty pleasure — you like what you like.” I’m not afraid of admitting I like Southern Sons. Sure, Southern Sons were never ‘cool’. But they made perfect pop music. Just check out Always And Ever, the opening track on their self-titled debut album. It’s an eternal earworm. Then there’s Hold Me In Your Arms, as beautiful a ballad as you’ll ever hear. It should have topped the US charts. My first encounter with Southern Sons was on a Friday afternoon in September 1990. The band had just released their debut single, Heart In Danger, and I arrived at their record company, BMG, for an interview. “Hey, man,” the singer greeted me. “Did you go to Lourdes?” Lourdes was the senior school of our school, St Paul’s College, in Traralgon in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. My best mates at school had a band called The Dendrites. Being musically untalented, I was their manager, and Jack Jones was the little kid who would pester us, wanting to play in the band. We were blissfully unaware of Jack’s ability, as well as his ambitions to get out of the Valley. Every Saturday, he would catch the 6.40am train to Melbourne and visit the city’s guitar shops. At the age of 14, Jack saw drummer Virgil Donati at a gig and vowed, “One day I’m going to be in a band with that guy.” Then he heard that Virgil’s band, The Cutters, needed a guitarist. He auditioned and impressed their manager, Peter Hoyland. But how could he let a 14-year-old join the band? The job went to Peter “Reggie” Bowman. Jack was devastated. He went to the US, where he worked with Don Ciccone, a member of Frankie Valli’s Four Seasons. At 16, Jack moved to Melbourne and joined a cover band called Survival. Then he got a call from Virgil: “Would you like to join my Van Halen cover band, Hans Valen?” That gig led to Jack becoming the singer in Southern Sons. Southern Sons’ success saw Jack become a regular in the teen magazines (favourite colour — green, and Smash Hits called him “a Corey Feldman lookalike”). He rode the rollercoaster of celebrity, and musically he was pegged as MOR. Southern Sons split after three albums — 1990’s selftitled set, 1992’s Nothing But The Truth and 1996’s Zone. When the band finished, Jack did an album with INXS’s Garry Gary Beers (2000’s Mudhead), and released a fine solo
Five years ago Molly Meldrum and Countdown are inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame. Ten years ago AC/DC win their first ARIA Awards
album, 2002’s The Evolution Of Irwin Thomas, which remains a lost classic. Jack has also toured and played guitar with John Farnham, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa, Tina Arena, Daniel Bedingfield and Richard Marx, and he’s been a member of the bands Electric Mary and She Said Yes (with Bachelor Girl’s Tania Doko). Jack returned to the Top 10 in 2017 with the covers collection California Dreaming, a collaboration with Rick Price. After more than a decade in the US, Jack came home in 2018. I’ve been lucky enough to write about music for 30 years. I know it’s a big statement, but I can honestly say I’ve never come across anyone more talented than Jack Jones. He sings like an angel and he’s also a hell of a guitarist. He’s capable of doing anything. If only we’d known that at school — The Dendrites might have made it! (The band’s keyboards player, Tim Johnston, did go on to a career in music, becoming a noted producer, working on records by Nick Cave, Beasts Of Bourbon, Even and Manic Suede.) As for Jack, I believe his best music is still ahead of him. For now, he’s putting the band back together. Southern Sons — Jack, Virgil Donati, Geoff Cain and Peter Bowman — have announced a 2019 reunion tour, their first shows in more than two decades.
(Best Rock Album and Highest Selling Album) and top the BRW entertainment rich list for the first time, with reported earnings of $105 million. Empire Of The Sun dominate the 23rd ARIA Awards, winning seven awards from 11 nominations, including Album and Single Of The Year, Best Group and Best Pop Release. After 32 years, Rod Willis stops managing Cold Chisel. He is replaced by John Watson and John O’Donnell. Painters & Dockers reform to play at The Age EG Awards. They are also inducted into the EG Hall of Fame. Stan Walker wins the seventh and final series of Australian Idol, beating Hayley Warner in the final. Powderfinger score their fifth number one album, with their seventh and final studio album, Golden Rule, debuting on top. The Drones win Best Independent Album and Independent Artist of the Year at the fourth annual AIR Awards. Twenty years ago
Top five things you might not know about Jack Jones & Southern Sons
Hey Hey It’s Saturday finishes. The Whitlams release Love This City, their first Top 5 album.
1. Jack was nine when he moved to Australia from New York. 2. Southern Sons evolved from a band called The State, who released an album, Elementary, in 1989 and toured with Eurythmics. The State were nominated for Best New Talent at the 1989 ARIA Awards (the award went to Johnny Diesel & The Injectors). 3. Jack played the role of John Farnham on The D-Generation’s 1989 single Five In A Row. 4. Southern Sons guitarist Peter “Reggie” Bowman wrote Ordinary Man on Collette’s debut album, Raze The Roof. 5. Jack and Southern Sons’ guitarist and main songwriter Phil Buckle both played on John Farnham’s 1990 album, Chain Reaction. Phil also co-wrote six songs on the album.
Forty years ago Mi-Sex’s Computer Games hits number one.
Hot album
Southern Sons play the Chelsea Heights Hotel on 22 Nov.
Ben Mitchell —
Slow Is The New Fast Actor, author, singer-songwriter. Ben Mitchell has had a fascinating career, from playing Margot Robbie’s dad in Neighbours to now releasing his fourth and finest album. Co-produced by Matt Walker, the sound is intimate
Jack Jones
Southern Sons
and warm. In a world gone crazy, Ben Mitch-
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ell is holding on to what’s real and hoping for the best, “Because slow is the new fast and hope is coming back.” This is a gentle record, but it leaves a lasting impression.