The Wombat Switch
The Wombat Switch.
I don’t even know if it is a term that is still used. Back about 20 years ago “Wombatting” was something you did to the support band to sabotage them. You know, turn the amps down a bit or pull down the master volume on the EQ or something. Sometimes it was because they were a threat to the main act, sometimes just because it was fun to watch their crew try to work out why the PA system is suddenly a lot quieter than it should be. A test if you will. A bit like sending the apprentice to the shop for a can of striped paint. I can honestly say that I have never done it and never been asked to do it by a band but I have been the victim once or twice when I was first starting out.
The first time was a beauty. We (Bandanna) had picked up a gig supporting Mad Gorilla at the Greenfield Tavern.
The Gorilla’s in full flight.
This was big for us as the Gorilla’s had been around for a while and were a bit of a name in those days. They had “a show” which involved dressing up in whacky costumes, fancy lights, smoke machines, pyrotechnics, intro tapes etc.
The lads in costume in Sticko’s loungeroom.
It was a band I had been to see as a punter on quite a few occasions and they were always great. This was the first time I’d ever actually met the band and as it turns out, I made a couple of friendships that have lasted since that time. Langs the drummer is a great mate as is Sticko & Zack Flack, not to mention the amazing Jimmy Bourke, their lighting guy who I had the pleasure of working with many times since. Jimmy is a topic that deserves a web site all of its’ own! What a character. He can drink his own weight in bourbon and still work like a trojan. I’ve seen him do it many times. Jimmy’s classic line was “who wants to chuck in for a bottle of boubon for the load in? No-one? Oh well, I’ll get it”.
Anyways… the production itself was quite impressive for those days too. It was a double or triple three way system with lots of foldback & heaps of lights. Myself and the other crew couldn’t wait to get our hands on the system. Does anyone remember the JANDS JM8 mixing console? It was an impressive looking bit of gear and I couldn’t wait to get behind it.
The Gorillas didn’t do a soundcheck so it was up to us. It took me a little while to get my head around this massive system but with a bit of help from the ever helpful Gary, their sound guy, I got things sounding ok.
Well show time came around and off we went. Things did’t go quite according to plan though. The venue had a noise meter installed that would cut the power to the PA system if you went beyond a “reasonable” level of volume and the thing was cutting out on a fairly regular basis. This involved running backstage to turn all the amps down before the power came back on a few seconds later so the thump didn’t blow any speakers then running back through the crowd to the mixing desk. I was not having fun. The band was not having fun. We seemed to be very quiet yet were still tripping the sound meter.
Eventually we reached the end of our set and it was all over. I was in a bit of a lather and was hanging around the desk trying to figure out what had gone wrong since sound check. I felt like a bloody goose. Gary the Gorillas sound man was standing with his back to me when the publican came up and said words to the effect of “I’ve turned that meter back to where it was for your band OK” The bastard had wombatted me!
Mad Gorilla came on and the sound was enormous. They played brilliantly as well which combined nicely to blow us off the stage completely. And guess what? The sound meter never tripped once during their set. I can laugh about it now but on the night I wanted to kill someone.
Big thanks to Sticko for the Mad Gorilla pictures.
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February 19th, 2007 at 1:26 am
[…] Gibbos War Stories […]
June 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
My dad used to play keyboard for mad gorilla in the late 70s early 80s, i was wondering if you knew where i could get hold of any of their music, i know they recorded two albums not sure if he was with them then but still keen for a listen anyways.
October 19th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
My name is Clayton Flack Mark Flacks brother i have some early recordings of mad gorilla rehersing on cassete tape. Mad gorilla played at my friends birthday party 1980 at my friend Jas Seikhon’s party, it was a hsc party. I jammed with them that night. I also played with them at the Sefton hotel, my brother said i could use his equipment, guitar etc. Mark went into the audience to see how the band looked so i used his equipment and played. I was absoloutly scared shitless. Mark Langfield the drumer counted us in for rocky mountain way. I came in off beat, i was on stage for the first time, spotlights blinding you, scared shitless, but in the true fashion of rock and roll we were away. “Start playing and we’ll see you at the other end”. My friend Mark Francis was in the audience he said it looked mad! It was a night i will never forget.
October 21st, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Hi Clayton, great to hear from you. I know your brother well. I have done sound for lots of his bands over the years. I’d love to have a listen to some of those old tapes if we could organise it. Let me know. Thanks for dropping in.
Cheers, Gibbo
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 am
Good to see Dave Owen’s story, and it brings back lots of memories. For those that haven’t seen it they need to check out his website as he is a very talented song writer and performer and was a very prominent part of Mad Gorilla’s musical and theatrical style. I first met Dave in the mushroom sheds at Rivo for our first jam, although Mark and Dave already had a plan on the boil by that stage so I was very fortunate to get in on it and still have some serious regrets about leaving the band a couple of years later due to family work obligations. For me Mad gorilla was the next step after Oracle and became some what of a very steep learning curve for me both musically and personally which I have never got off. Mad Gorilla gave all of us the opportunity to air some creative song writing and performing skills that we had developed, resulting in a lot of original work that has never been published, which makes them still current, so there may well be an avenue for Mad Gorilla to be reformed, recorded and published at some stage. We had a reunion after 13 years at the Rebels bike club in Austral in 1996, and it was like we hadn’t been apart, just all a bit weathered from time and rock and roll, although I know that in the years since then I have progressed both musically and personally. I know I am still writing music in the same vein, and listening to Dave’s music on his web site, he is still writing music in the same vein as well, and I know that Stix and Zac Flack will be doing the same. Who knows maybe we can get back together for a tour of the Sydney pubs, and I know I would be more than happy to contribute both financially and musically to recording some past and current songs that would broaden Australian music’s horizons. What do you think guys??? Stix has my contact details, let me know.
Good to see Clayton’s story, as he played a large part in the band’s history and development as well, plus he was really good at lining up the chicks :-).
July 8th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Hey, I am searching for CLAYTON FLACK, can you forward this message to him? My name is Julie Yip and I went to primary school (Summer Hill and Ashbury) with him. Am organising a reunion of Summer Hill class with teacher Don Miller. Even his brother Mark doesn’t have a current contact on him…Please give him my email address. Many thanks!
September 1st, 2008 at 1:21 am
Hey, Clayton - you did not leave any contact details when you rang my office last week. Please ring me back, Don and Tom would especially love to see you again. The reunion is on 4th October 2008. Cheers, Julie.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
gooday george
hope you are well, im alive an still kick the old yamaha kit every blue moon.
i would enjoy talkin to you very much. been talkin to recless,rodger (dvd mgb ) hope you get this message.
all the best, geoff hillier
da bat
November 11th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Yeah Jimmy Bourke could drink his weight in bourbon… I remember going into a nightclub in Canberra on a New Years Eve with him after a gig at the convention centre. The bouncers thought he looked like trouble, so they said “You blokes can come in…” and pointed at Jim and said, “but don’t you start anything.” Quick as a flash Boukey said, “It’s alright… I didn’t bring my jumper leads.” Needless to say within the hour we’d been ejected and were back at the hotel…
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 am
Jimmy Bourke..hahah….
He was about 15 or so when he started working for Gorilla….he was a good kid.
I used to take him to Bulldogs games and he used to turn up with a Coke bottle 1/2 burbon 1/2 Coke…..by the the end of the games hed be throwing Fantales or Jaffas at the cheer squad!!!!
Then we’d go do the gig!!!