The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They are best known for their 1966 hit single "Friday on My Mind", which is regarded as the first Australian rock song to achieve international success; Rolling Stone described it as "the first international victory for Oz rock". One of the most popular and successful bands in the country, they were one of the few Australian bands of their time to foreground their original material; their first album Easy was one of the earliest Australian rock albums featuring all original songs.
The five founding members, all migrants from Europe, met at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Sydney in 1964. They rose to national prominence in 1965 with the song "She's So Fine", which reached No. 3 in Australia. Their concerts and public appearances were marked by an intense fanaticism frequently compared to Beatlemania; this phenomenon was subsequently dubbed "Easyfever". They relocated to the UK in 1966, where they recorded "Friday on My Mind". Following its success, the band struggled to maintain international recognition. Compounded by financial and contractual issues, drug use and the increasing independence of guitarists and songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young, they returned to Australia in 1969 amid declining popularity back home and subsequently disbanded.
Lead singer Stevie Wright started a solo career and had a No. 1 Australian hit with "Evie" in 1974; he died in 2015 after lengthy battles with drugs and alcohol and years of poor health. Guitarists Vanda and Young continued as a songwriting and producing duo and produced several albums by AC/DC; Young died in 2017. During their six-year run, they scored 15 top 40 hits in Australia, including "She's So Fine" and "Women ", with No. 1 hits including "Friday on My Mind" and "Sorry". They reunited for a tour in 1986. In 2005, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
History
1964–1965: formation, Albert Productions and early success
All five founding members were from families which had migrated to Australia from Europe: lead singer Stevie Wright and drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were English-born; rhythm guitarist George Young was Scottish-born; lead guitarist Harry Vanda and bassist Dick Diamonde were Dutch-born. The band formed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Villawood, New South Wales, near Sydney. The families of the band members spent their first years in Australia housed at the hostel in the early and mid-1960s.The Easybeats' first gigs were in late 1964 at a music venue called Beatle Village, located in the basement of the Courthouse Hotel in Taylor Square in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The band were inspired by the "British Invasion" spearheaded by the Beatles. The Easybeats quickly rose to become one of the most popular groups in the city. Real estate agent turned pop music entrepreneur Mike Vaughan became their manager. Through his efforts, they were signed to a contract with Albert Productions, one of Australia's first independent record production companies. The company was established by Ted Albert, whose family owned J. Albert & Sons, a prominent music publishing company. Albert signed the band to a recording contract with EMI's Parlophone label. The group recorded several songs at the 2UW Theatre, owned by the parent company of Albert Productions, J. Albert and Son. They chose the bluesy "For My Woman" as their first single. It was picked up by Sydney radio and became a minor hit, reaching No. 33 on the chart.
1965–1966: rise to success and Easyfever
"She's So Fine", ''Easy'' and ''It's 2 Easy''
Although "For My Woman" gained them some attention, the band felt they needed a more up-tempo song to break through commercially. Their next single, "She's So Fine", gave them that commercial success, reaching No. 3 on the Australian chart and launching them to national stardom. Their concerts and public appearances were regularly marked by intense fan hysteria similar to "Beatlemania", soon dubbed "Easyfever" by the Australian press.The band's follow-up single, the high-energy "Wedding Ring", released on 26 August 1965, was also a hit, reaching No. 7. On 23 September 1965, the group released its first album, Easy. It was one of the earliest albums of all original material written by an Australian rock group. All the songs were written by group members, with vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young co-writing eight of the fourteen songs on the album.
For the next single, "Sad and Lonely and Blue", the band returned to the blues based feel of "For My Woman". However, like "For My Woman", it failed to make the top 10, only reaching No. 21. Both "Wedding Ring" and "Sad and Lonely and Blue" were included on the group's second album, It's 2 Easy, released 24 March 1966. The lead singles from that album, "Women " and "Come and See Her", put the group back in the top 10, reaching No. 4 and No. 3 respectively on the Australian chart. This time, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all fourteen songs on the album. The Wright-Young songwriting team also wrote songs for other artists at this time, including "Step Back", which became a No. 1 hit for Johnny Young in 1966.
United Artists Records and ''Volume 3''
In early 1966, while the group was still touring Australia, manager Mike Vaughan flew to New York City to attempt to secure an American recording contract for the band. Despite an initial lack of interest, Vaughan was able to convince United Artists Records to sign the band. Just before relocating to London in 1966, they recorded a farewell TV special for the Seven Network, titled The Easybeats, one of the few surviving appearances from the band's career during this period. The group left for the UK on 10 July 1966.In August 1966, Albert Productions released an EP of material recorded before the group left Australia. Titled Easyfever, it reach No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. Albert Productions then released an entire album of material titled Volume 3 on 3 November 1966. This too was a commercial success and its lead single, "Sorry", topped the Australian chart. Again, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all thirteen songs on the album.
1966–1967: international success
Shel Talmy, Vanda & Young and "Friday on My Mind"
After arriving in London the band recorded songs with Ted Albert at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, but these were deemed unsuitable by United Artists Records and Albert was removed as producer. The band was then teamed with freelance producer Shel Talmy, who had achieved great success with his production for the Who and the Kinks. United Artists also felt that the band's song writing was too "unsophisticated" for the competitive UK market. The label had already released the Wright/Young composition "Come And See Her" as a single in the UK on 15 July and it had not sold well. Dutch-born Vanda, now having a stronger grasp of English, replaced Wright as Young's song writing partner at this point.After auditioning several titles for Talmy, "Friday on My Mind" caught the producer's ear as the next single. The band recorded the song with Talmy at IBC Studios, London in September. "Friday on My Mind" was released in the UK on 14 October 1966. It reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart making it the group's first big international hit. The song charted in multiple countries: No. 1 in Australia, No. 13 in Canada, No. 16 in the US, and the Top 10 in Germany, the Netherlands and France, and sold over one million copies worldwide. It was awarded a gold disc.
1967–1969: decline in popularity and break-up
Following up "Friday on My Mind", ''Easy Come, Easy Go'' and the scrapped album
On 17 March 1967, United Artists released the follow-up single to "Friday on My Mind"; "Who'll Be The One". The single was a commercial failure and did not make the UK chart . The band was against releasing the single to begin with, as they felt it was not a strong enough track to follow "Friday on My Mind". Later that month, they toured Europe in support of The Rolling Stones.During this period, the band was filmed by Australian director Peter Clifton for a proposed documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Filmed under the title Between Heaven and Hell, the documentary was lost for nearly 42 years. It was restored, reedited and shown at film festivals in 2012.
In May, their first album for United Artists was released: Good Friday. That same month, they returned to Australia for a nationwide tour. After the tour, drummer Snowy Fleet decided to quit the band. Fleet was unhappy at the amount of time he had to spend away from his wife and young children. Returning to the UK without a drummer, the group began several recordings with a session drummer, Freddie Smith – a Glaswegian who had played with George Young's older brother Alex in Bobby Patrick & The Big Six.
During this period, the band recorded their next single, "Heaven And Hell", which marked a turning point for the group, with its sophisticated songwriting and arrangements. Vanda and Young were influenced by the current psychedelic pop, popular in the UK and US. The single was produced by Glyn Johns, who had worked as an engineer on the Shel Talmy sessions. The band also began work on a new album with Johns, most of which was recorded and prepared for issue but was never released because of the band's complicated financial and contractual problems.
"Heaven And Hell" was released in June and, like the previous single, it also failed to make a mark on the UK chart. This was due, in part, to the song being banned by the BBC. The single also ran into problems in the US, where a censored version titled "Heaven", replaced the lyric "Discovering someone else in your bed" with "discovering that her love has gone dead". In Australia the single did much better; reaching No. 8.
After extensive auditions in London a replacement drummer was found in Tony Cahill who had formerly played with Brisbane band The Purple Hearts. With Cahill, the band toured the US in August, supporting Gene Pitney. During their US visit, they recorded their next single, "Falling Off the Edge of the World", in New York. The single received moderate airplay in the US, but did not chart.