The Groove (band)
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Formed in mid 1967, The Groove are considered to be Australia's first "supergroup" in that all members had considerable experience behind them in a number of successful bands. They were formed in Melbourne Australia and gathered together by well known manager and agent Garry Spry, who teamed up with respected keyboard player Tweed Harris from the Levi Smith Clefs to put the band together. With Harris on keyboards, they recruited Peter Williams from Max Merritt & The Meteors on lead vocals and guitar, Rod Stone from The Librettos and Normie Rowe & The Playboys on lead guitar, Geoff Bridgford from Steve and the Board drums and Jamie Byrne from Running, Jumping, Standing Still on bass.
The band specialised in doing songs in the Stax Soul /60's R'n'B style of artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Arthur Conley and the Isley Brothers, their repertoire was tailored to the vocal style of Peter Williams, who already had gained considerable experience performing in this genre with The Meteors, who were widely considered to be the best local exponents of soul music in that period.
The Groove scored an immediate national chart breakthrough with their debut single "Simon Says", a song previously recorded by both The Isley Brothers and The Platters. It was a Top 10 hit in Sydney and Melbourne and peaked at #17 on the Go-Set national Top 40 in December 1967[1].
Their most successful single and their second national Top 20 hit was a cover of Sam Cooke's "Soothe Me", which peaked at #14 on the Go-Set national chart in April 1968[2].
Their third single, a strong cover of Ben E. King's "What Is Soul?" was a hit in their hometown of Melbourne, and also made the Top 40 in Brisbane, but only charted for one week (at #36) in the Go-Set national Top 40[3].
The group undertook a national tour in February 1968 and in July they won the Grand Final of Australia's most prestigious rock band competition, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. They released a fourth single, "You are the one I love", which made the lower reaches of the Melbourne and Brisbane charts but did not become a national hit. Using their Hoadley's competition prize, the band left for the United Kingdom in March 1969 where they worked and recorded for two years before breaking up in 1971.
They released one more single as The Groove before changing their name to Eureka Stockade and released a single and recorded an album for Decca Records (UK) which was not released. On breaking up Tweed Harris and Rod Stone did tours in the UK and Europe backing Cliff Richard also playing with The Echoes behind John Rowles, and Stone also toured in the backing band for comedians Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, which he considers one of the enjoyable moments of his career. Geoff Bridgford joined the Bee Gees (replacing Colin Petersen) while Peter Williams teamed up with female vocal trio The Cookies (also managed by Garry Spry) to become The Spirit of Progress and toured the UK. Later on he joined The Mixtures and toured Europe, the UK and Australia with them.
Tweed Harris became a sought-after arranger and producer in Australia in the 1970s and beyond. His credits include Sherbet (he orchestrated their single "Cassandra" and its parent album), Daryl Braithwaite, production for Renee Geyer, Bobby Bright, Kush, and folk legend Lionel Long. He also performed as second keyboardist with the reformed version of The Groop for its 1988-89 reformation tour, and undertook many TV soundtrack commissions. In later years he had a successful career writing music for TV and advertising both in Australia and Singapore. Harris was disgnosed with throat cancer for in the late 1990s and underwent surgery which was, for a time, successful in halting the progress of the disease but it returned during 2004 and he died on 13 October that year.
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[edit] Discography and Chart Positions
[edit] 45rpm
[edit] Singles
Sept. 1967 "Simon Says" / "With This Ring" (EMI Columbia DO 5021) - #6 Sydney, #4 Melbourne, #16 Brisbane, Go-Set national #17, (Dec. 1967)
Feb. 1968 "Soothe Me" / "I See A New Day" (EMI Columbia DO 5059) - #8 Sydney, #8 Melbourne, #3 Brisbane
July 1968 "What Is Soul" / "Goin' Back" (EMI Columbia DO 8420) - #13 Melbourne, #30 Brisbane, Go-Set #36, Aug. 1968
Oct. 1968 "You Are The One I Love" / "Merry Go Round" (EMI Columbia DO 8532) - #20 Melbourne, #30 Brisbane
Mar. 1969 "Relax Me"/ "Dance To The Music" (EMI Columbia DO 8658)
June 1969 "The Wind" / "Play The Song" (EMI Columbia DO 8811)
Feb. 1970 (as Eureka Stockade) "Sing No Love Songs" / "Jump Down Turn Around" (UK Decca F22996)
[edit] Extended Play
- Soothe Me (EMI Columbia SEGO 70166, July 1969) - A:"Soothe Me"/"Simon Says" B:"What is Soul"/"Goin' Back"
[edit] 33 rpm
[edit] Albums
[edit] Compilation LP
1968? Things Go Better With Coca-Cola (EMI PRS 2028) -- various artists promotional compilation of ads for Coca Cola performed by various pop groups including The Groove, The Easybeats and The Twilights.
- The Groove (EMI Columbia OSX 7869, Apr. 1968)
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Go-Set Australian Top 40, 27 December 1967
- ^ Go-Set national Top 40, 3 April 1968
- ^ Go-Set National Top 40, 28 August 1968
[edit] Notations
- Ian McFarlane, The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999)
- Noel McGrath, Noel McGrath's Australian Encyclopedia of Rock & Pop (Outback Press, Sydney, 1978)
- Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry, Who's Who of Australian Rock (Moonlight Publishing)
- Gavin Ryan's Chart Books
