The Seven Ballerines haled fro the Gold Coast, about 1 hour drive
south from Brisbane. The song "Sometimes I feel like" had high
rotation on 4 ZzZ at the time, a song I am fond of.
I thought I had a single of theirs but it turns
out to be a contemporary band of theirs also from the Gold Coast,
The Sigh Of Relief.
Both bands played their debut gig together at the Miami Hotel
on the Gold Coast on the 26th of June 1981.
Now for some more trivia I hand over to Chuck who ripped and
scanned this single, thanks Chuck.
this single has had a hard life - heat and maybe water damaged
cover and well played vinyl, but it doesn't jump so worth a listen.
They had another single, American Dream
Seven Ballerinas 79 -82
Jeff Harris - drums
John Hipprocates - drums
Micheal Palmer - Guitar
John Smethurst - Vocals Guitar
Mario Spina - Bass
John Smethurst and Mario Spina were previously in a band call ratpak
Mario Spina went on to play in the Ballistics, Bossanova Kids and the Tellers
John Hipprocates also played in the Bossa Nova kids and the tellers
Jeff Harris also played in Cross the road and Jump and Jive
Download Here
Friday, October 23, 2009
Seven Ballerinas - Sometimes I Feel/Circles, single
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Hi Bob, Just leave you my blog link, updated this history recently.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=42860328&blogId=512157681
Thats fantastic stuff Cal, you should write a book.
thanks
great stuff cal.. rushing orf to rocking horse for a copy now,,, ooops prolly wont be open for another ten hours... fuk itunes// if i want to dload crappy mp3 ill find a blog :) i wonder if u have any audio from the time u rocked up at boggo rd jail during the prisoner strike and did an impromtu jam on the side of the rd. pig city vol2 : the inside story needs to be written by you and rod from the pineapples methinks
ALL HAIL THE BLOG !!!
Greetings From California.
We have been looking everything for an out of print Australian compilation album called "Where Joy Kills Sorrow" which was released in 1997 and it seems is now out of print.
The US Amazon listing for it is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Where-Joy-Kills-Sorrow/dp/B00000G5K2
Do you happen to have it in your collection?
Best Very Curious Regards,
Sam
You can get "where joy Kills Sorrow' from Graham Lee's W.Minc Records. I'm sure Graham has some copies left.
http://www.wminc.com.au/catalogue1.shtml
Sure do I'll post it soon
Just found your post for The Seven Ballerina's and Sigh of Relief who i played in.Sadly Glenn Beard passed away jan 21 ,2008.He also played keys for a while with the SB and I played guitar with the first version of Bossa Nova Kids.Johnny and Mario were great guys.Thanks Grant
In 1979 Glen Beard played in 'The Worms' and often supported Ratpak at the Miami Hotel. His drummer was Enzo Covino who was just sensational to listen to and watch (think Keith Moon/John Bonham) but sadly he was killed in a car accident in 79 or 80. I had plans to form a band with him further down the track but alas fate intervened. I remember that Glen's bass player was named Bill and was a cool guy. Glen also played fantastic guitar on an album by Sydney's Gerard Teleman sometime around 86 or 87. Sad about the attrition rate for Gold Coast muso's and roadies. RIP also the late great Mario Spina-bass player extraordinaire for Ratpak and The Ballerinas. Dave 'happy'Harper FOH sound cowboy for the SB's, Brian Pryor- a stagey killed in a van crash in 85, Frank (the heavy) Andre-FOH sound cowboy the SB's. Fast times-fast lives. Sadly missed and well remembered.
Had no idea Glenn Beard was gone. Really sorry to hear, we only ever saw each other over the years accidentally. Last time I saw him was some years ago doing sound in the What is Music tent at the BDO. I do, though, have an enduring memory of Michael Oberg, the tour manager for Womack & Womack's Australian tour, calling me & asking if I could recommend a guitarist, as theirs had not got on the plane. I gave him Glenn's number and saw them the next night at Seagulls in Tweed Heads, Glenn trying to curb his natural enthusiasm, but still jumping around the stage and occasionally forgetting that it wasn't his band, anyway. Vale Glenn.
You might like to know that John Smethurst performed "Circles" last night for the first time in nearly 30 years. We had a high school music festival and some of our students had discovered some old Seven Ballerinas stuff online. John (who teaches at the school) was asked by the kids if he would join them on stage for a rendition of the tune all these years later. It was a magic moment which I caught in a recording (I was the teacher in charge of sound at the gig) including a heartfelt dedication by John to his good friend Mario Spina. Whilst the quality is not awesome I am sure many of you will enjoy hearing this great tune once more for old times. RIP Mario and big love to you John, you did a great job!
Please send me an email at davemarini@internode.on.net if you enjoyed the recording.
You can listen to (and download) the recording here: http://soundcloud.com/mister-marini/
john-smethurst-and-the-crazy-88s-circles
Adding my comments re. the dearly loved and sadly departed Mario Spina. The last band he had was the Burning Well in the late nineties. Mario was singer/songwriter, Johnny H. drummed, Carl B. played percussion, DB played bass and Nigel B. (ex-Ratpak and early days of Ballerinas) played keys. An album (Eight Likely Planets) was recorded in March 1999. I've put two tracks up with photos spanning twenty years (1979 - 1999). Apologies for them being the same for both songs. 'Days Like These' is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9e8CP9NyVc and 'Boombs' is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IerX-LlS9kc. Love you, Mars.
Thanks for posting this brings back memories. I use to hang out with Michael Palmer in the strand days at the Miami pub all those years ago. Sue
Glenn Beard was a great guy. Really full of himself I thought at the time, but now I think back a lot smarter... He gave me my first chance to be a singer, I was actually the one who came up with the name Sigh of Relief. Does anyone remember my girlfriend or the stupid Spandau Ballet shirt I wore to sing that first gig? We even played the first few bars of Stairway to Heaven that night. I have lived in Taiwan for 20 years and just found out Glenn Beard was dead today. John Smethurst a teacher? Bizarre I have been a teacher for these last 20 years. I have a gig coming up with a band made up of High School students...
Find me on Facebook Zippo Dragon... Does anyone know what became of Bill Buick the worms bass player? Sorry if I am rambling... but this web page and the news about Glenn... Damn a million years ago... Gold Coast ... I am sad.
The music scene on the Gold Coast in the late 70s was a wasteland full of top 40 cover bands. Along came Rat Pack followed by The Strand. Two bands that musically were quite different but shared friendships and a common interest of wanting to play new and exciting music. Upon their demise it was these same friendships and interests that was the foundation for Seven Ballerinas.
I remember Mario as being everyones friend. As the bass player in the Ballerinas he was supreme. He and Johnnys rhythm section drove the band like a runaway freight train.
My first encounter with Glenn was seeing him at the cinema swagger down the aisle in true Sid Vicious style, the word KISS hand painted on the back of his jacket. He was a real character and as guitar players go he was right up there with the best. So it made sense he played keyboards for us.
They are both remembered fondly. As are those times.
For those interested I have put some clips of Ratpack (circa 79) and Seven Ballerinas (81 to 91) on YouTube with hopefully more to come.
It's wonderful to stumble on this -John Smethurst is my uncle, and while I inherited a copy of the 7" from my dad, it was ruined in the Queensland floods earlier this year.
For what it's worth, I now play guitar in a number of Brisbane bands, and sing in one too. Another musical Smethurst, then.
After months of searching for, I was very pleased to be sent a video copy of Seven Ballerinas playing ‘Falling Tear’ on Channel Seven’s Saturday morning music show Studio One. It was to promote the Summer Jam concert at Surfers Paradise raceway in January 1983. The clip features Glenn Beard on keyboards, Mario Spina on bass, Johnny Hippocrates on drums, John Smethurst vocals and guitar, Michael Palmer on guitar.
It is now on Youtube. Go to Youtube and search Seven Ballerinas or my username of meyedream.
Are there any Seven Ballerinas CD's out there? Really enjoyed their stuff on YouTube. Similar to the British Post-Punk bands.Cheers
Only the ones posted on this blog there's the studio recordings 1981 to 1991 and the live at the playroom, a seven ballerinas search of the blog shall bring them up
Post a Comment