Keith & Co

Over the past few years I have been reunited with old friends.  I have also found many new friends who were connected in some way or another to the days at Taylor Square: Keith Herbert, Bruce Bongers, Rob Askew and Dave 'Flake' Allen ( I  had the pleasure of meeting up with Dave at the 2009 Gosford Blues Festival).

Keith Herbert

"The attachment called "Seabird" is part of a recent recording project that I'm involved with (called Kerf). The song relates to a whale's questions to a seabird. It's still a work in progress. Needs some tightening up in places. People seem to appreciate it. I haven't played it any whales yet. k."

Kerf "Seabird"

 

Keith Herbert ... "Wally's Song" is teriffic! Camaraderie? is the theme for sure. The Sect were my fav. Oz band of the time and we regularly saw them at Rhubarbs and Vibes. I even played at Vibes once.  Heady stuff ... I'd love to meet Danny Groves and show him my "new" drum setups. I pinched some chops from him back then, so it's only fair. Maybe it can happen. I would love the Sect to reform if possible. My other current muso mates who missed them would be astonished, I'd say.

Here's a photo of our band FKA at The Set Disco in Bexley...every Fri, Sat and Sunday afternoon for quite a while. We made $10 each for the 3 sessions each week. We became pretty tight. So many stories ... k."

when Keith was in Fred Karniss Army

Left to Right: Ross Jeffree-lead guitar (playing 335 Gibson, worth a fortune now), me, Keith Herbert on my beautiful Slingerland kit ... I lament it's sale oooooh, Keith Hayward-bass (always played bare footed and had a goose' skull hanging off the end of his bass), Bruce Bongers-singer/harmonica, Al Prince-second guitar, out of shot

"I auditioned for Me ‘N Mine around 1970. They were so polite! (I didn't get the gig). Too bluesy I think.

Rob Askew and I jammed at a musos party prior to Christmas with Bruce Coble of The Beatels'  http://www.beatels.com/ (the nearest thing to John Lennon still alive, according to Rob). We did 4 Lennon songs and it was very fulfilling for us both.

'Me'n'Mine was a little known rock band that performed around Sydney Australia during the heady days of 1966 and 1967. That term "rock band" was uncool at the time, it implied old time rock'n'roll, whereas Me'n'Mine was a "group". For reasons which will be explained below, they were called The Limmericks for the 2nd half of their short career. was never a band of guitar heroes - Clapton and Hendrix had not yet really hit the scene. Our strong point was our vocal harmony - you can still hear it in the recordings I made starting late 2004. Jimmy went on to Blackfeather and Flake, Rob and his brother Lindsay are still going strong. (in separate projects)."

Me'n Mine 1966 Rob Askew’s first band

Patrick McMahon-lead guitar, Paul McCormack-lead vocalist, Jimmy Penson-drums, Rob Askew-bass guitar, John McMahon-rhythm guitar. Their approximate ages in the photo range from 19 (John) to 16 (Jimmy)

Do yourself a favour and visit Rob's site The Next Best Thing .. you will find 1967 covers of Beatles songs and then videos of the same songs done in 2004 .. what an amazing journey.

Robert Askew .. "Hi Lynette, Keith Herbert told me you’ve been listening to some of my recordings and videos of Me ‘n’ Mine. That was me who said “Wonderful!” at the end of "Happy Together". How did you stumble across my website?  The guy with the lovely voice you mentioned is Father Paul McCormack. He teaches at a boarding school in Toowoomba these days.

Me’n’Mine was active in 1966 and 67 just after we all left high school, we had a regular circuit of church youth dances that kept us in gigs. By 1971 we had all gone off in different directions and didn’t keep in contact, but that changed in about 2003. To cut a long story short, we had a reunion and I started working on music tracks so we could record some of our old songs. We only get together once or twice each year. Did you listen to the scratchy 1967 demo of "Dr Robert" ? The only member missing from our reunion was Jimmy Penson who died in 1981 – we recently located his sister and I’ve been to chat with her.

Let me know if you have any questions about the ancient history of Me’n’Mine. Regards Rob Askew"

Your videos are marvellous,  "Happy Together" made me cry .. what a lovely voice .. like an angel .. you all looked thoroughly mesmorized with it all .. and at the end someone says 'that was wonderful'. I was really moved. Loved the flourish in "Nowhere Man".  

 "This Boy"  .. he has that special quality that makes the hair on the back of one's head stand up .. thoroughly enjoyable. It was a pleasure to watch your band reunite, and by gosh, you sure pulled it off!  

Interesting Jimmy Penson in Blackfeather, so were two of my friends Mike McCormack-drums and Paul Wyld-keyboard .. my blog is a work in progress and I was impressed with your website, very comprehensive and I watched the vids. with great interest. Great video work, music arrangements... I was also interested to see he is in the church .. friends Keltic Ken Adams in Calif. has a Celtic Spiritual radio program, Terry Darmody has a Gospel Spiritual radio program ... lynk

Rob Askew .. "Thanks for taking an interest in Me’n’Mine, it’s nice to know someone other than those directly involved is enjoying our efforts.

 When I was in high school in 1965 at De La Salle Marrickville, for many classes I sat with Tony Asciak (now deceased) who was the rhythm guitarist for The Rogues. At the time they were a working band, playing such places as Beatle Village. Wayne Thomas was their drummer and Wayne “Spooky” Rountree was their excellent lead guitarist – those guys opened our eyes to the Yardbirds and The Zombies, and inspired us to have a go at it - they’re both still playing. So how cool did that make Tony? – a school chum in a working band. I used to pick Tony’s brain about all things relating to guitars and amplifiers, even borrowed his amp a few times. At the same time there was a guy from another class also picking Tony’s brain, his name was Phil Jones. I haven’t seen Phil since 1965, and he probably doesn’t remember us. Small world indeed.

Some links to John Stone and his kids. John was a keyboard player in Barnaby Rudge until about ’78 when I believe John Russell replaced him. He persevered and ended up as you see in these links – his children are amazing.You may enjoy them some time... John Russell (Mr Slide Guitar, as far as I'm concerned) and I jammed at Helen's party...twas a privilege k! Regards, Rob" 

http://www.tallowoodharpandguitar.com.au/ www.angusandjuliastone.com/

Keith Herberts bands

Fred Karniss' Army

 Bruce Bongers, Keith Hayward, Al Prince, Ross Jeffree (Ross was also in Flake for a short time)
Syn

 John "Spider" Scholtons (on to Galadriel), Steve Gard,

Robbie Taylor, Dave Allen.
The Gold Tops

Bruce Bongers, Harvey Fisk,

John Power (on to Jo Jo Zep and The Hippos).
The Jive Bombers

Julie Mostyn,

Robert Brooks (on to The Champions), Lanky.
The Big Town Playboys

Ozzie Parker,

Andrew Silver (on to The Dynamic Hepnotics),

 Bob Dames (ex Purple Hearts, Coloured Balls).
Kerf

 Helen Herbert, Trevor Deighton, David Marshall, Phil Belcher.

Dave Allen's bands:

Fred Karniss' Army

 (just after I'd left to go to Syn.) with Rod Jefferee, Keith Herbert, Bruce Bongers, Denise (on to Flake), Steve Kelly.
Syn

 as above
Galadriel

 Spider Scholtens, Gary Adams...can't remember the others
Flake

 with a lot of people.

Bruce Bongers ... "I have been following your blog. We have a lot of overlap in our experiences - although you started on the scene a little earlier (Surf City and Beatle Village - I was too young). My night life started at the Bowl before graduating to Rhubarbs, Beethoven's, Vibes, Here, etc. We have a number of mutual acquaintances; Terry Darmody, Peter Anson, Daryl McKenzie, Richard Rhule, Dave Allen, the King Bros - people that I've played with and socialised with over the years. I was also close to Mort and Wally in the 70's.

The website of my main current band is downhome.cjb.net .. I have some words somewhere where I attempted to record my impressions of the Sydney music scene in the sixties and the social context, including describing dress, dances and the tunes payed by the bands I saw. I can't find it at the moments but I will attempt to resurrect it (and correct it based on info from your site) some day.

I run into Terry sporadically. I am not a close friend. I did not see him perform until the early 70's in Uncle Bob's Band and sitting in with Blue Spirit/ Foreday Riders at French's. I am a great fan of his harmonica playing. He has connections to people I play with reasonably regularly like Peter Doyle, Don Hopkins and Richard Rhule.

Although I saw Peter Anson in the Id etc. in the day and later with the Unity Hall Band I did not personally know him until I played on and off with a band he was in the last 10 years. I run into him occasionally. Dave Allen used to play in my band, Fred Karniss Army, in the 60's but I haven't met him personally since then. I follow his blog. I played with Daryl in a soul covers band a few years ago. I know he was living in the Blue Mountains at that time. I don't have any contacts. Regards Bruce"