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Andy Przygonski |
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Andy Przygonski is a Musician living and working in Adelaide, South Australia.
Andy has been playing drums since he was 5 years old, when he first started banging the pots and pans in the backyard of his parents home, and plays regularly in Adelaide's favourite music venues around town.
Currently playing with The Don Morrison's Raging Thirst. Check out the Gig Dates page for information on his next gigs.
Andy has been playing drums since he was 5 years old, when he first started banging the pots and pans in the backyard of his parents home, and plays regularly in Adelaide's favourite music venues around town.
Currently playing with The Don Morrison's Raging Thirst. Check out the Gig Dates page for information on his next gigs.
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Dossier
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My mum Maria loved listening to music, mainly old Polish 78’s. Echa Ojczyzny (Echoes of the Homeland) is an album I remember dancing to as a 2 year old, somehow mastering the art of replacing the needle back to the start of a track Hej tam pod lasem (Over near the forest). When I was 5, a rock band started jamming two doors down and I would sit on the other side of their garage hoping to get a glimpse of the drummer’s kit. He invited me over one day and it was great to hit real drums after banging on a kit made from pots, a birdcage and a laundry wringer with plum prunings for sticks. Gee I wish I had a photo!
I got my first kit when I was 7. You know you have good parents when they buy you a drum kit instead of a piano or an accordion.
I first played in the St Bernadette's local church band. The Devil’s instrument in church. How embarrassed and shy I was, having to cover my skins with towels so that they wouldn’t be too loud and having them knocked and bumped by the congregation walking back after Holy Communion.
The next big performance was in 1979 at the Christian Brothers’ College Year 7 Presentation Night where I played along to songs like Georgy Girl with Mrs Mary Fountain on the piano. That same night, I also won the General Excellence Award and the Best and Fairest Footy Award. My God was I good! Brother James Murray, the Headmaster, was also an influence in music here, especially with Gilbert and Sullivan appreciation and general encouragement. He was also a valued family friend, spending many evenings enjoying my mother Maria's Polish cooking and father Frank's company. This is where he made sure that the Polish Christmas Carols for the end of year concert were perfected to their satisfaction. As a teacher he instilled discipline and enquiry. The arts were his forte. Each week there would be an amazing blackboard drawing. Thanks for your encouragement and influence James, it has served me well. Read more about Brother James Murray here and here. (RIP)
Around this time, I joined the Polish Youth Orchestra. At one point we had 15 accordions, 4 trumpets, 2 guitarists, 3 drummers (and a partridge in a pear tree). This was led by the devoted trumpeter Zygmunt Matuszewicz-Matuszewski (5.1.1918 – 23.6.2003). I guess it was like the Benny Goodman Big Band except with accordions and I was Gene Krupa (15.1.1909 - 16.10.73. Gene of course was not only one of the most famous drummers of all time, but a pioneer in the development of the modern kit and a charismatic showman, highlighting the drummer to the foreground. Eugene Bertram was the youngest of nine children born to his Polish parents Ann and Bartley, and graced the cover of every Slingerland catalog from 1936-1967. Click the link above to find out more about Gene.) We did gigs at special occasions for the Polish community and the dancing group Tatry. I happily continue to play on occasions for the community to this day.
When I was 8 I started lessons on Currie Street down in the bowels of the basement of an old music school at the end of a never-ending and descending corridor. My first teacher Mr Bishop, died shortly after my first term. I didn’t think I was that bad a student. I’m sure it wasn’t my fault. I think he was in his seventies. I guess the metronome eventually stops ticking.
I had something in common with my next teacher, Mr Firbec. On arriving at my first lesson with him we both had stained hands from peeling walnuts. My Dad Frank (25.4.1926 - 9.7.2001) and I spent the whole weekend harvesting and cracking walnuts. The same tree is still producing 37 years later in 2011. I don’t know if that meant anything, maybe we were nuts for drumming boom boom. I do remember looking forward to playing the red sparkle kit each week for the year. I don’t think my Mum liked him.
I resumed lessons again at thirteen with a great teacher, Phil Langford, who taught at Westminster College. For the next three years I learnt a lot from him, first at his home and then at John Reynolds in Waymouth Street after school. My Mum would meet me out the front with my drum kit and tea and off we would drive to the Dom Polski Centre for our rehearsal with the Polish Youth Orchestra. This is the same space on the first floor that was leased by Fresh FM, 92.7 on your FM dial, up until recently (2010) for about 10 years. I know because I have delivered the dB Magazine there and have been doing so for 17 years.
It’s funny how a good old-fashioned Polish polka of 132 bpm coming out of the PYO 30 years ago is roughly the same speed as a classic techno beat coming from the Fresh FM studios. The tempos are the common element to the song. What changes is the context. I love that about drumming. Maybe it’s the same with people. Everyone has a heartbeat it’s just that the tune and styles are different. The lessons, along with the Youth Orchestra, were an excellent grounding in applying the theory into a meaningful application.
It was at a first year Adelaide University tutorial when we were introducing ourselves and our interests that Dave McConnon came up to me after the tutorial and said “G’day I manage a band we need a drummer, do ya wanna come around for a jam? We’re going into Studio 202 in Hindley Street in two weeks to record some originals”. This was around the time that Exploding White Mice were recording Nest of Vipers with one of my favourite drummers, Craig Rodda, from one of my favourite bands, The Screaming Believers. Many years later it was a privilege to record with Ken Sykes the songwriter from the Believers. We did a great version of Witchita Lineman by Jimmy Webb, with Vic Flierl (The Garden Path, Big Star and Mr V Music) as well as some killer originals. What a great introduction to the local scene. I guess that was the start of all the recording I have been involved in. Another talented songwriter and old school footy teammate Chuck Skatt aka Stephen Charles Jenkins was also around the scene at the time forming the Mad Turks from Istanbul. Their song "Not here (that's where i wanna be") was included on the SAFM Brewing album in 1985, a compilation of fresh new Adelaide bands. He has currently produced and played on Snooks La Vie's new album "Another place in time." Charles formed the Ice cream hands, still writes and tours with the Zhivagos from Melbourne and appears on shows like RockWiz.
More about Charles here.
So, anyway, I got the gig, did the recordings and have had the bug ever since. Graham Stocks, the singer, thought I was a Russian Spy with a surname like Przygonski, hence “Andy Spy.” I had to explain to him that it was Polish. John Biggins was the guitarist and a cameraman at the ABC. We jammed at John’s place in Richman Avenue Prospect. He has gone on to have quite a career in filmmaking and has recently been the Director of Photography in the ABC series on cars in Australia, Wide Open Road. This series has some great footage and music in it, and uses The Wide Open Road by The Triffids as it's theme song. Our first pub gig as Tailor Made was at the Union Hotel playing with July 14th on 25 May 1985 as a very fresh 18 year old. July 14th had Terry Bradford (one of the founders of 3D Radio, formerly 5MMM, in 1979), Robyn Habel on bass, Rod Ling on guitar and Tom Cowsill on drums.
It was at a later gig in October of that year that Tu Tu Z were playing at the Union Hotel. This was another band that had some great players including Steve Matters who later worked with Tubby Justice, Steve Fleming on bass who has worked with everybody, and Tony Smith with his Rogers kit. Tony had many other studio projects. He also played with an aptly described band "The Filth" and later with "Tomlin" and was an early inspiration. He currently lives in Saigon and plays in the Jazz/Rock/Fusion scene there and abroad. Anyway, Idle Frets, as we were now called, were supporting them. Rod Tyler and Kolin Finlay from the Primitive Painters came along to see Tu Tu Z, and they approached me after the gig and said “We need a drummer do you wanna come around for a jam?” Funny, I had heard that somewhere before I thought.
As a drummer you have to be able to do more than one thing at a time and I thought “I can handle more than one band at a time”. To this day I am still lucky enough to hear the words “Andy, do you wanna come round for a jam?” or “can you play on my recording?” I really should start charging more.
The Primitive Painters had two great songwriters in Rod Tyler and Dave Norris. Early in 1985, I had heard a 3-track demo on 5MMM of Dreamtime, Undertow and I’ll Be Happy. It was engineered and mixed by Kim Horne, the same guy that was recording Nest of Vipers at Studio 202 in Hindley Street, whom I met in April recording with Tailor Made. This studio is now room C52 - 11, a "computer barn" in the Catherine Helen Spence building which is part of the University Of South Australia.
So, I went around for a jam with the Primitive Painters and we did our first gig at The Irish Club on the 30th of November coincidently with Tu Tu Z. Over the next six years and until the end, in June 1991, I played with the Painters, honing my skills, and further developing my knowledge of arrangements and song constructions.
In the early days, Di Joy (thanks for the secret agent badge) and Peter Curnow managed the band before Maddy James took over. Di and Pete would later be in charge of the Adelaide leg of The Big Day Out with their Catalyst Promotions Company. We did many gigs and some great and diverse supports including Boom Crash Opera, The Warrumpi Band, Icehouse at the Adelaide Uni O Ball in 1989, James Griffin and Subterraneans with their single Angel Run to name a few. We recorded an album Sea of Art in October 1988 released to rave reviews in 1990 and toured twice to Melbourne and once to Sydney. Driving over Sydney Harbour at 2am in the back of a ute after a gig and playing with The Dubrovniks, who had James Baker from the Hoodoo Gurus on drums, were memorable experiences. Walking on a Wire and Bismark Girls received airplay on SAFM thanks to Bill Page who was one of the few trying to be supportive of local talent in commercial radio. Peter Long, the band’s guitarist was and still works as a graphic designer. He designed some clever logos and handbills for the band. These can be seen in the Primitive Painters scrapbook. It’s handy if you’ve got a jack of all trades like Pete in the band. As The Little Assassins, an offshoot band, we recorded Ant at Your Feet in August 1988 for the Greasy Pop Oasis in a Desert of Noise 2 compilation. This was produced with Doug Thomas, the founder of Greasy Pop who was also in another notable band, The Spikes.
They had a great singer in Ian List, who passed away in June 2011. Doug played guitar and James Tizard was on bass. James sometimes played bass in Big Smoke. Just as I was writing this preamble, I heard the sad news that James has also passed away this August 2011. Very sad. This was a great scene at the time with brilliant diverse bands like the Screaming Believers, Mad Turks (here) and (here) Garden Path, The Spikes, Lizard Train with David Creese on drums and their Thirteenth hour daydream album, all playing regularly, mainly at the Tivoli, Producers or the Union. Click here Oasis 1 had the aforementioned Undertow with its catchy chorus and melodious bass line. This song was also played on commercial stations. There are many demo recordings that we did in Peter Long’s bedroom and with Andy Bayfield that have never seen the light of day, including a great version of Search and Destroy by the Stooges. I must get around to resurrecting them as they are great quirky pop songs. David Norris and Rod Tyler wrote some clever songs for The Primitive Painters. Click here
The Fortune Tellers was another offshoot band that had Dave Bosanko on drums, (I used to fill in sometimes), Greg Vincent on bass, Dave Norris on vocals, Deryck Charles on keyboards and Steve Fieldhouse on guitar. Steve is now head recording engineer at the ABC in Adelaide, and has been involved with some of my projects with Peter Long. Greg also has a side project with Peter called the Ashram Poets.
The other singer with The Fortune Tellers was Patrick Loughry, who had previously played with The Milky Bar Kids and did a great version of Flaming Star. After the Painters folded, The Oily Penguins were formed with Peter Long on guitar and Mick Pittendreigh on bass. Sometimes we used Richard from Chris Branwood’s Be Brave, another talented local original act.
This band had a lot of fun, playing some slippery originals and cool covers by Lou Reed, David Bowie, The Cure, Straightjacket Fits, The Church, REM, The Stems,The Smithereens,The Stranglers, U2, The Sunnyboys, The Kinks and played with bands like the The Sharp, a popular band from Melbourne at the time. Piet Collins, The Sharp’s drummer, played with Frank Lang in Greg Baker's Blooz Muthas. As Frank says "for all those numerologists out there, Piet was 17 and I was 34, twice his age." How old are you now Frank? After this, Hoy Hoy was formed with Trapper on drums. I occasionally fill in when he can't make it.
Thursday nights at The Austral in the early 90's were messy affairs, with the late night crowd shouting for MOOOOORE!!! We also recorded some originals with Kim Horne. It lasted until 1995 when Pat moved to Sydney. He later formed an Oasis cover band and we played a huge gig at The Bondi Junction Hotel. This gig happened to coincide with the death of Lady Diana Spencer in September 1997. The gig was like a wake with the majority of the crowd consisting of English Backpackers ready for their fill of Brit Pop. In contrast to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, which were covered with memorial flowers, the floor of the pub was commemorated with broken glass at the end of the gig - not very good planning by the management. It was fun to play the introduction to Supersonic at 103bpm for 30 seconds - just the simple beat and a packed crowd of 600 in a small pub. Ahh Rock’n’ Roll heaven. There is something fantastic about a crowd’s reaction to a rock beat, a primal push and pull, a real uniting and connecting force when everybody’s attention is directed in unison to the same thing. A symbiosis where one feeds off the other. This energy forms an addiction that keeps you wanting to ride the wave. This can happen when playing a waltz to a crowded dance floor at The Dom Polski Centre, or a blues shuffle at the Semaphore Workers’ Club. Rhythm really is the universal language.
I went back to Sydney in November and played a gig at the Coogee Beach hotel, this time Michael Hutchence died. Can you see a pattern here? The other thing I learnt from this second visit was to never leave your wallet on stage. Derr! I came back for the second set to find $180 dollars missing and all my cards strewn under the stage. Nice place Sydney. That would never happen at The Wheatsheaf or Semaphore Workers’ in Adelaide would it?
Working at the Big Day Out during the 1990’s was a lot of fun. My job involved setting up the backstage riders for the various bands. I met many heroes. Observing The Cult from 10 metres away was a lesson in Rock’n’Roll energy. Talking to Dexter from The Offspring, experiencing a young Silverchair, buying just the right flowers for Perry Farrell from Porno for Pyros and watching as Kim Salmon tried to spell my surname. Thanks to Peter Curnow and Di Joy for the opportunity. Unfortunately, Pete is no longer with us but I did enjoy catching up with him at The Semaphore Workers’ Club, usually when I was playing with Chris Finnen, whom he liked to watch. I’ll never forget a gig on the back of a truck at the Macclesfield Oval (where Pete played cricket) with Chris Finnen and Frank Lang where we were playing Purple Haze surrounded by flying bugs. I still play the occasional gig with Chris, a brilliant guitarist.
Andrea, my lovely partner for the past 32 years, has a great ear for music and I met her at a Primitive Painters gig at the Old Queens Arms in January 1991, when we were supporting The Well, which was a side project of The Church’s guitarist Peter Koppes. I remember a very pleasant chat with him. This band also included Richard Ploog from The Church on drums and Anthony Smith the guy that played keyboards on the first Flowers album Icehouse. She had come to check out the band after the newly released Sea of Art floated into the local community station, 5PBA 89.7 on your FM dial, where she hosted a show playing exclusively Australian music called Oz Because every Saturday.
Anyway, down the track 7 ½ years in August 1998, she says we should see this great band playing Surf Music. They were launching their third album Up Periscope at The Wheatsheaf. They were called GT Stringer and had this crazy guy called Tristan playing a Hammond organ, which had a revolving bonsai tree on it. Barry Morgan eat your heart out!
From the start of 1999 to mid 2002 I was to play 102 gigs with GT Stringer, record their fourth album Space Out and tour to Sydney. We played with the Wetsuits, a band that featured Clyde Bramley, former bass player with the Hoodoo Gurus, exchanging the four-string Stingray for the six-string Stratocaster, Marcus Schintler on drums from Weddings Parties Anything and Jon Schofield of Paul Kelly and the Messengers fame on bass. They were a good band playing songs like Bombora, Pipeline and TV themes like The Munsters, Hawaii 5-0, Callan and Dangerman.
The front bar at the Excelsior that night had The Bourbon Powered Mattress Pounders featuring the late Ian Rilen of X. I also met Peter Hood the drummer from The Atlantics and co-writer of The Australian Classic Bombora at Bosco Bosonac’s guitar shop on Parramatta Road. He had to leave or suffer an incredibly ridiculous parking fine. Jim Elliot, the drummer from the Cruel Sea was also present at our gig at the Beach Palace at Bondi after hearing us on TripleJ, thanks to Andrea sending the CD in. My old mate Keith Armiger, brother of the famous guitarist and producer Martin, picked me up after this gig and we went back for dinner at his place.
The other gig we did on this tour was at the University of New South Wales for a Marine Biology Symposium arranged by Randall and Carla of Ashtray Boy. This gig came complete with dancing girls. There was also a room called The Gonski Room, named after David Gonski which i found amusing. Find out more about the Gonski report here. The preposition Przy in Polish means beside, or with and a goniec is a runner or messenger. An interesting translation of my name could be to “Run with the Messenger”. It would have been good playing with Paul Kelly and the Messengers! I'm sure bass player and Puppethead producer Nigel Sweeting would agree. One song plus two edits, which were recorded on 4 November 1999 at the ABC by Simon Rose, were resurrected as songs; 5 - Fakin Bacon, 7 - Le Grande Putannesca and 9 - Drive By Fry on BoobyTrap, the band’s fifth release, which topped the 3D radio charts in 2006, for the most played album during 2005. Steve Fieldhouse now does Simon’s job. I sometimes bumped into Simon when he mixed The Lonely Cosmonauts at The Wheatsheaf. GT’s Surfrospective CD released in 2008 included Sputnik, Satin Safari, Meltdown and Captain Clutch Wanger’s Space Suit Wedgie from SpaceOut, which I played on. I also used to enjoy playing Spaceranger by Tristan Andrews with its very cool jazz break in the middle. The song Interstellar Woodie was selected on 3D Radio compilation CD Depth Charge 1. I like the roll that starts the song. The band did many interesting gigs ranging from Art exhibitions to bowling alleys. Saxophone player Trevor Ramsay designed some very entertaining posters that can be viewed on the Poster page. These are from a selection of the many gigs we played.
While in GT Stringer, I also started playing with Chris Finnen and Frank Lang from Hoy Hoy when their regular drummer Trapper went to England, making a cameo appearance with Wait on Time on their Birthday DVD release filmed at The Governor Hindmarsh. We have played some cool gigs ranging from influential lawyers’ parties in Malvern with fine catering, to the Aldinga Surf Club with it’s brilliant coastline view. Come to think of it I must, have played every surf club down the Adelaide coastline from Semaphore to Aldinga. Come to think of it, I have played at the parties of uninfluential lawyers as well. The catering was just as good though – sometimes better! I like how music takes you into different places where you meet different types of people and most importantly experience different types of catering.
Hoy Hoy also includes Dave Small, brother of Phil from Cold Chisel. Phil replaced Leszek (Les) Kaczmarek the Polish bass player on bass guitar in Cold Chisel. Tony from the cabaret band used to play with Les at the Polish Club in between his Cold Chisel gigs so that that he could at least make some money to support his young child. Hoy Hoy also features Dave Blight, the guy that played harmonica on Khe Sahn. It was good to do a gig with him back in June 2006. Cold Chisel are just a small struggling band but have somehow managed to sell out the Entertainment Centre 4 times at the end of this year 2011. Steve Prestwich their drummer died earlier this year and the world and band carry on. Let’s not forget he wrote some great songs like When the War is Over, Forever Now and one of my favourite songs Flame Trees with it’s great little musical passage and lyrical tag by Don Walker, “Do you remember nothing stopped us on the field in our day” about 3 minutes in.(Explanation of the song here by Don Walker). Another great drummer, Joe Morello also passed away in March 2011 without any fanfare. He’s the guy that played on Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album, one of the most successful Jazz albums of all time. Look all of them up on Google or Drummerworld. It’s the least you could do to their memory. Oh, Speaking of Jazz, check out these rare Polish jazz records. Krzysztof Komeda (also here) and Zbigniew Namislowski (also here) were powerful forces. Komeda provided the soundtrack for Roman Polanski's film Rosemary's Baby (click here).
The Peccadillos had our first jam in April 2002 in Tristan’s shed. We played mainly at The Wheatsheaf and the Grace Emily (where else?) and had many nice times. It was especially good to play with Brian Morrison on guitar and Michael Winter on bass, both fine players. Pat was his usual entertaining self. We played New Years Eve at the Wheatsheaf in 2003. The following year, The Lonely Cosmonauts played in the front and The Peccadillos played out the back. Two kits needed to be set up so I could go from one gig to another.
In 1983 I bought 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 by Midnight Oil on cassette tape and played it loud in my backyard while hitting a tennis ball between the water heater and the kitchen window on the back wall of my house. The drummer was Rob Hirst. It was cool to see him live at The Drive (Memorial Drive) in 1985.
So when The Peccadillos played with The Backsliders in June 2003, which featured Rob Hirst on drums, this became a significant highlight for me. It was a thrill not only to meet him, but also to play his kit. A true professional in both attitude and performance. He also plays with a great surf band called The Break.
It was 7 months later in February 2004 that I went to Sydney again, this time to provide the bed tracks for Peter Long’s solo album Midday Sun. This was done at Megaphon Studios where The Cruel Sea had recorded Three Legged Dog and Midnight Oil recorded Earth and Sun and Moon. Midnight Oil had help set this studio up. It was a good feeling to be recording in such a place. Pete went the whole way with this album, doing many of the overdubs at home in the Blue Mountains using Pro Tools and using Steve Fieldhouse to help mix it. He also enlisted the services of none other than Don Bartley to master it at Benchmark Mastering Studio 301 in Sydney. Look at any of the high profile Australian releases and Don Bartley’s name is on it.
The Peccadillos released two albums and appeared on a 3D Radio compilation album Depth Charge 6 with the song Forever. Brian's brother Geoff, who designed the artwork for Midnight Oil's Capricornia also designed Lord Lollipop. He also created some of The Lonley Cosmonauts albums. The Peccadillos played until June 2007.
Thunderbox Carbunkle and the Lonely Cosmonauts did their first gig at a wedding at The Semaphore Palais on 20 April 2003. We are now known simply as The Lonely Cosmonauts. Having a long name can be complicating. Just ask me, with a name like Przygonski. (Anyone like car racing? - click here) Don, Phil, John and Tom have been regulars at The Hillbilly Hoot for over 10 years. The Hoot is a live to air broadcast every Monday from 8-9pm on 3D Radio. It is a supportive place for anybody to get up and present a song. With the addition of myself, and Michael on bass, we play Don Morrison’s originals and a fine selection of covers including the blues-style gospel song Soul of a Man by Blind Willie Johnson, John the Revelator, Nobody's fault but mine, Take this hammer (Working on a Railroad) by Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter) and You gotta move by Mississippi Fred McDowell. I like the version of John the Revelator by Son House. John Mellencamp's version isn't bad either. Click here. I always think of my Grandfather, Frank Arowicz (3.7.1904 - 24.6.1991) when we play Take this hammer (Working on the railroad). He had a good job as a forest ranger in Eastern Poland in 1939 until a knock came on his door in the middle of the night making him and his family refugees thanks to “Father Stalin.” His sister's (Giza) husband, Jan Swientojanski, was a police officer and was shot in the Katyn massacre. They spent 2 years in Siberia and 8 years in Arusha which is in Tanzania, East Africa. They woke up to a view of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru every morning. Location, Location. Not bad for a bunch of refugees. Good real estate deal that. Ring Toop and Toop, no, i won't link them. On a world tour thanks to Stalin. The original backpacking experience with a slight detour through Tashkent, the capital ot Uzbekistan, Krasnovodsk, Pahlavi in Iran, Tehran, Karachi and a death train the price to pay for a free ticket, not to mention the malaria that nearly killed my mother Maria in the early 1940's when they finally got to Africa. Thank God, or god or whatever for quinine. His first son, Antoni, died at 6 months old in June of 1940 but I digress. The book "Slaves in Paradise" by Leokadia T. Majewicz documents this journey. Frank then ended up with his family, consisting of wife Anna (12.3.1912 - 23.10.1980) daughters Maria (my Mum), Basia (19.11.1947 - 3.5.2007) and son Zbyszek (Bill) (17.10.1936 - 18.7.1956) in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. This is also where my parents met. One of his jobs was “working on the railroad” 98.9km west of Kalgoorlie in a place called Woolgangie, for months at a time, in the hot desert sun in the early 1950’s. I don’t think he even earned “a dollar a day”. My dad, also named Frank (Franek) as mentioned earlier, was a grader driver, and built roads in Gibson, 22 km north of Esperance and also in Southern Cross, 371 km east of Perth. Before this, he constructed roads in Bronte Park in the middle of Tasmania, near the Hydroelectric Scheme, in Tarraleah. In his later years, Grandfather Frank lived with us in the family home on Daws Rd in Adelaide, and enjoyed feeding the little sparrows (wróbelki) in our backyard, hence the website name. Still, you have to be thankful, because if it wasn’t for Stalin, I wouldn’t have be born in Australia playing with The Lonely Cosmonauts. You’ve got to be grateful for small mercies. Thanks again Stalin. I wonder if he did any art that was rejected like Hitler's was?
We look forward to playing The Wheatsheaf and the Semaphore Workers’ Club (where else?). We have also done some interesting gigs ranging from street parades like the Norwood Pageant and gigs for the Workers Union on the back of a truck up King William Street, to Art School parties and festivals where we played on the foreshore at Semaphore or next to Keith Potger from the Seekers at the Willunga Folk Festival. Playing Georgy Girl in 1979 thirty years later finally makes sense, or does it? Watching J.J. Hackett from Mondo Rock play my kit at a party in and old church in Thebarton was weird because i remember jamming along to his drumming through headphones as a kid. The band has produced some fine recordings that we sell at gigs. You will find these on the Recordings page. Look for us in the Gig Guide or listen to Don and Phil on their show on Friday afternoon on 3D Radio between 2 and 4. The theme song for the show is "Back home in Adelaide" by The Lonely Cosmonauts. (Link filmed 19th Sept 2010 at the Wheatsheaf by Andrea.) Buy Don’s book, buy Don’s solo CD’s which we played on, that way, we too can sell out the Entertainment Centre 4 times. It’s going to be just great. I’m sure he’s got a car for sale too if not a telescope or two. You might want to catch a band he has with his sons Eddie and Jake called Prawnhead. Eddie also has a cameo role in the new Australian movie Red Dog.
Councillor Michael Saies, on upright bass, has of late taken an interest in the area of Cosmonautics dressing up like Uri Gagarin especially for the 50th anniversary of his flight into space (12.4.2011). This culminated in a new recording by the Lonely Cosmonauts, Columbus of the Cosmos, which was timely, as it highlighted my destiny and ambition to honour the legacy of Miroslaw Hermaszewski, the first Polish Cosmonaut in Space. My grandfather, Frank Arowicz, would have been proud. He was himself a singer, accordion and harp player. Born in Brody, about 173 km from Miroslaw and 37 years before, he worked on the eastern border of Poland in small villages like Poczajow where my mother was born, and Teremne where he met my grandmother Anna. He also sang Polish, Ukranian and Russian folk songs at parties, held mainly in homes bordering the forests where he worked and lived. (Click here and go to the bottom of the Hermaszewski page for more info.) I do remember as a young boy, Frank singing these songs in their ivy covered shadehouse out the back of their house in Morgan ave, Edwardstown, harmonica in hand. He did once say that Uri was a good looking man and no wonder they picked him. Nothing to do with talent necessarily, just like most of the mainstream music industry. He also had some records of the great tenor vocalist Jan Kiepura (16.5.1902 - 15.8.1966) and famous pianist and diplomat Ignacy Paderewski (6.11.1860 - 29.6.1941). Nice birthdate there Ignacy, 106 years to the day before mine. Click here for the Polish Museum of Chicago, which houses a display for Paderewski. Fabulous Phil Bray and John ‘Dingo’ Van Bowman are true musicians and more importantly, great people to play with. John's partner is Christine Cholewa who did well at the SALA awards in 2011 and 2012 winning top prize both times.
Big Smoke with Rob Scott and Patrick Page on Saxophone still get the occasional gig. It was fun playing and visiting Rob in his Unley Bookshop during the 1990’s playing with other good players like Tom Stehlik and of course the late James Tizard.
Greasy Gravy played for about 3 years and had a great singer in Lara, Smokey played upright bass and Brendan Bell was on guitar. Nathan Dawson played a mean harp like Don from The Lonely Cosmonauts. He was a big Marion Walter Jacobs (Little Walter) fan. More info here. His hit Juke, was a chart topper in 1952 for Chess Records, founded in 1950 by two Polish immigrants, Leonard (Lejzor) and Phil (Fiszel) Chess (Czyz). "If the blues had a baby and they called it rock 'n' roll, the Chess Records label was one of the principal midwives." Don Snowden
Colin Marshall of Loose Change I think wrote some great songs. Mundane Way of Life is a standout. There are other bands and players I have had an association with that you can browse in the Scrapbook pages including Paul Hay; Zkye; The Sensational Deadbeats with Mic Bradshaw and George Will; Chris Lambden from the Screaming Believers; Alex Tomlin's Local and Live Competition; The Blue Flames with Narmon Tulsi from the Hiptones on bass and John Morton from Muskat and Farenheit 451 on guitar. Robb Ernst, who plays keyboards in the Blue Flames has, with Narmon, developed a fantastic new teleprompter software application with their company StageDirector.co. John Bywaters from The Twilights has filled in on bass for the Blue Flames, as has Ralph Frankie on sax. The TJ Collective features some hot players like Trumpeter Graeme Reynolds from The Army Band who played the Last Post on Anzac Day and Charli Holoubek and Eric Stevenson from Gumbo Ya Ya.
I still deliver the dB Magazine, run by Arna Eyers-White and Alex Wheaton, in the City and in the Adelaide Hills, which I started in 1994. It must be one of the last truly independent publications in the country and a real survivor in this everchanging technological age. The other thing I like doing apart from drumming is driving and catching up with people on my run, like Bead and Krzysztof at the Exeter, Con at Derringers and Fraser at Rock Therapy on Goodwood Road.
Running parallel to all of this are my cabaret gigs. As mentioned earlier I like the way music takes you into different places where you meet different people. The cabaret bands have provided this contrast. It is really where I started in these clubs and I still like performing in them. I especially like that during a night I could be playing 10 different beats to 50 different songs. Yes we do work hard. It is satisfying to look at a full dance floor of happy dancing people, including kids who seem to have an uninhibited freedom. I think we as the musicians are the ones being entertained but don’t tell them that. The audience can really affect the playing. Don’t tell them that either.
Over the years I have sporadically given lessons. You can tell the kids who "get it". A young lad in grade 6 at Sacred Heart College was particularly keen. His name is Aidan Moyse and he has continued on with music. I bumped into him at the Prince Albert where he mixed the bands. He is currently in a band called Hawks of Alba. It is a good feeling to have had a small part in his development. His uncle is David Moyse who played guitar with Air Supply on their early eighties hits.
I love old vintage drums. It was a pleasure to record with my 1966 Burgundy Sparkle Ludwig Downbeat kit on the Lonely Cosmonauts Cosmology and TJ Collective’s It’s My Right to be Wrong. This kit has date stamps close to my birthdate, of course, it had to be mine. (Click here for some cool 8mm vintage drum making videos taken by Bill Ludwig 2 from the Ludwig factory circa 1964. Some of these vintage clips have Gene Krupa providing the backing music which is surprising considering his long association with Slingerland.) The 1923 Scroll (wave) engraved Ludwig Black Beauty is a beautiful drum and was used during the Russian Anthem introducing "Columbus of the Cosmos." I will continue to collect historic pieces and memorabillia for my collection which I one day plan to display. Gene Krupa is of particular interest. His main influence was to bring the drummer to the foreground. The "Drum Battles" with Buddy Rich and others, along with his showmanship, were part of this. Click here for the Gene Krupa page.
I hope you enjoy foraging through the scrapbooks. Pictures paint a thousand words. Some of the highlights include Leon Theremin from the 1920's playing his new invention which is in in the GT Stringer scrapbook, Leadbelly from 1945 performing Take this hammer, and click on Chess which will take you to a great site on the history of Rock 'n' Roll. Little Sparrow has been an absolute joy to create and a lot of hard work, taking at least 250 hours, with over 500 photos and articles and more than 300 hyperlinks from the last 25 years and beyond. I hope it inspires you to tell your own story as it is an important story to tell. This will ultimately lead to a greater appreciation, and add to the general information of our social environment. Please feel free to add Little Sparrow as a link if for no other reason than this. I plan to continually change the footage and sound recordings, so fly back to the Little Sparrow nest often. In the meantime, check out the links provided, come to a gig, and as the magazine says, Get out of the House.
Nobody escapes alive, so enjoy the music!
All the Beat,
Andy ‘Spy’ Przygonski
I got my first kit when I was 7. You know you have good parents when they buy you a drum kit instead of a piano or an accordion.
I first played in the St Bernadette's local church band. The Devil’s instrument in church. How embarrassed and shy I was, having to cover my skins with towels so that they wouldn’t be too loud and having them knocked and bumped by the congregation walking back after Holy Communion.
The next big performance was in 1979 at the Christian Brothers’ College Year 7 Presentation Night where I played along to songs like Georgy Girl with Mrs Mary Fountain on the piano. That same night, I also won the General Excellence Award and the Best and Fairest Footy Award. My God was I good! Brother James Murray, the Headmaster, was also an influence in music here, especially with Gilbert and Sullivan appreciation and general encouragement. He was also a valued family friend, spending many evenings enjoying my mother Maria's Polish cooking and father Frank's company. This is where he made sure that the Polish Christmas Carols for the end of year concert were perfected to their satisfaction. As a teacher he instilled discipline and enquiry. The arts were his forte. Each week there would be an amazing blackboard drawing. Thanks for your encouragement and influence James, it has served me well. Read more about Brother James Murray here and here. (RIP)
Around this time, I joined the Polish Youth Orchestra. At one point we had 15 accordions, 4 trumpets, 2 guitarists, 3 drummers (and a partridge in a pear tree). This was led by the devoted trumpeter Zygmunt Matuszewicz-Matuszewski (5.1.1918 – 23.6.2003). I guess it was like the Benny Goodman Big Band except with accordions and I was Gene Krupa (15.1.1909 - 16.10.73. Gene of course was not only one of the most famous drummers of all time, but a pioneer in the development of the modern kit and a charismatic showman, highlighting the drummer to the foreground. Eugene Bertram was the youngest of nine children born to his Polish parents Ann and Bartley, and graced the cover of every Slingerland catalog from 1936-1967. Click the link above to find out more about Gene.) We did gigs at special occasions for the Polish community and the dancing group Tatry. I happily continue to play on occasions for the community to this day.
When I was 8 I started lessons on Currie Street down in the bowels of the basement of an old music school at the end of a never-ending and descending corridor. My first teacher Mr Bishop, died shortly after my first term. I didn’t think I was that bad a student. I’m sure it wasn’t my fault. I think he was in his seventies. I guess the metronome eventually stops ticking.
I had something in common with my next teacher, Mr Firbec. On arriving at my first lesson with him we both had stained hands from peeling walnuts. My Dad Frank (25.4.1926 - 9.7.2001) and I spent the whole weekend harvesting and cracking walnuts. The same tree is still producing 37 years later in 2011. I don’t know if that meant anything, maybe we were nuts for drumming boom boom. I do remember looking forward to playing the red sparkle kit each week for the year. I don’t think my Mum liked him.
I resumed lessons again at thirteen with a great teacher, Phil Langford, who taught at Westminster College. For the next three years I learnt a lot from him, first at his home and then at John Reynolds in Waymouth Street after school. My Mum would meet me out the front with my drum kit and tea and off we would drive to the Dom Polski Centre for our rehearsal with the Polish Youth Orchestra. This is the same space on the first floor that was leased by Fresh FM, 92.7 on your FM dial, up until recently (2010) for about 10 years. I know because I have delivered the dB Magazine there and have been doing so for 17 years.
It’s funny how a good old-fashioned Polish polka of 132 bpm coming out of the PYO 30 years ago is roughly the same speed as a classic techno beat coming from the Fresh FM studios. The tempos are the common element to the song. What changes is the context. I love that about drumming. Maybe it’s the same with people. Everyone has a heartbeat it’s just that the tune and styles are different. The lessons, along with the Youth Orchestra, were an excellent grounding in applying the theory into a meaningful application.
It was at a first year Adelaide University tutorial when we were introducing ourselves and our interests that Dave McConnon came up to me after the tutorial and said “G’day I manage a band we need a drummer, do ya wanna come around for a jam? We’re going into Studio 202 in Hindley Street in two weeks to record some originals”. This was around the time that Exploding White Mice were recording Nest of Vipers with one of my favourite drummers, Craig Rodda, from one of my favourite bands, The Screaming Believers. Many years later it was a privilege to record with Ken Sykes the songwriter from the Believers. We did a great version of Witchita Lineman by Jimmy Webb, with Vic Flierl (The Garden Path, Big Star and Mr V Music) as well as some killer originals. What a great introduction to the local scene. I guess that was the start of all the recording I have been involved in. Another talented songwriter and old school footy teammate Chuck Skatt aka Stephen Charles Jenkins was also around the scene at the time forming the Mad Turks from Istanbul. Their song "Not here (that's where i wanna be") was included on the SAFM Brewing album in 1985, a compilation of fresh new Adelaide bands. He has currently produced and played on Snooks La Vie's new album "Another place in time." Charles formed the Ice cream hands, still writes and tours with the Zhivagos from Melbourne and appears on shows like RockWiz.
More about Charles here.
So, anyway, I got the gig, did the recordings and have had the bug ever since. Graham Stocks, the singer, thought I was a Russian Spy with a surname like Przygonski, hence “Andy Spy.” I had to explain to him that it was Polish. John Biggins was the guitarist and a cameraman at the ABC. We jammed at John’s place in Richman Avenue Prospect. He has gone on to have quite a career in filmmaking and has recently been the Director of Photography in the ABC series on cars in Australia, Wide Open Road. This series has some great footage and music in it, and uses The Wide Open Road by The Triffids as it's theme song. Our first pub gig as Tailor Made was at the Union Hotel playing with July 14th on 25 May 1985 as a very fresh 18 year old. July 14th had Terry Bradford (one of the founders of 3D Radio, formerly 5MMM, in 1979), Robyn Habel on bass, Rod Ling on guitar and Tom Cowsill on drums.
It was at a later gig in October of that year that Tu Tu Z were playing at the Union Hotel. This was another band that had some great players including Steve Matters who later worked with Tubby Justice, Steve Fleming on bass who has worked with everybody, and Tony Smith with his Rogers kit. Tony had many other studio projects. He also played with an aptly described band "The Filth" and later with "Tomlin" and was an early inspiration. He currently lives in Saigon and plays in the Jazz/Rock/Fusion scene there and abroad. Anyway, Idle Frets, as we were now called, were supporting them. Rod Tyler and Kolin Finlay from the Primitive Painters came along to see Tu Tu Z, and they approached me after the gig and said “We need a drummer do you wanna come around for a jam?” Funny, I had heard that somewhere before I thought.
As a drummer you have to be able to do more than one thing at a time and I thought “I can handle more than one band at a time”. To this day I am still lucky enough to hear the words “Andy, do you wanna come round for a jam?” or “can you play on my recording?” I really should start charging more.
The Primitive Painters had two great songwriters in Rod Tyler and Dave Norris. Early in 1985, I had heard a 3-track demo on 5MMM of Dreamtime, Undertow and I’ll Be Happy. It was engineered and mixed by Kim Horne, the same guy that was recording Nest of Vipers at Studio 202 in Hindley Street, whom I met in April recording with Tailor Made. This studio is now room C52 - 11, a "computer barn" in the Catherine Helen Spence building which is part of the University Of South Australia.
So, I went around for a jam with the Primitive Painters and we did our first gig at The Irish Club on the 30th of November coincidently with Tu Tu Z. Over the next six years and until the end, in June 1991, I played with the Painters, honing my skills, and further developing my knowledge of arrangements and song constructions.
In the early days, Di Joy (thanks for the secret agent badge) and Peter Curnow managed the band before Maddy James took over. Di and Pete would later be in charge of the Adelaide leg of The Big Day Out with their Catalyst Promotions Company. We did many gigs and some great and diverse supports including Boom Crash Opera, The Warrumpi Band, Icehouse at the Adelaide Uni O Ball in 1989, James Griffin and Subterraneans with their single Angel Run to name a few. We recorded an album Sea of Art in October 1988 released to rave reviews in 1990 and toured twice to Melbourne and once to Sydney. Driving over Sydney Harbour at 2am in the back of a ute after a gig and playing with The Dubrovniks, who had James Baker from the Hoodoo Gurus on drums, were memorable experiences. Walking on a Wire and Bismark Girls received airplay on SAFM thanks to Bill Page who was one of the few trying to be supportive of local talent in commercial radio. Peter Long, the band’s guitarist was and still works as a graphic designer. He designed some clever logos and handbills for the band. These can be seen in the Primitive Painters scrapbook. It’s handy if you’ve got a jack of all trades like Pete in the band. As The Little Assassins, an offshoot band, we recorded Ant at Your Feet in August 1988 for the Greasy Pop Oasis in a Desert of Noise 2 compilation. This was produced with Doug Thomas, the founder of Greasy Pop who was also in another notable band, The Spikes.
They had a great singer in Ian List, who passed away in June 2011. Doug played guitar and James Tizard was on bass. James sometimes played bass in Big Smoke. Just as I was writing this preamble, I heard the sad news that James has also passed away this August 2011. Very sad. This was a great scene at the time with brilliant diverse bands like the Screaming Believers, Mad Turks (here) and (here) Garden Path, The Spikes, Lizard Train with David Creese on drums and their Thirteenth hour daydream album, all playing regularly, mainly at the Tivoli, Producers or the Union. Click here Oasis 1 had the aforementioned Undertow with its catchy chorus and melodious bass line. This song was also played on commercial stations. There are many demo recordings that we did in Peter Long’s bedroom and with Andy Bayfield that have never seen the light of day, including a great version of Search and Destroy by the Stooges. I must get around to resurrecting them as they are great quirky pop songs. David Norris and Rod Tyler wrote some clever songs for The Primitive Painters. Click here
The Fortune Tellers was another offshoot band that had Dave Bosanko on drums, (I used to fill in sometimes), Greg Vincent on bass, Dave Norris on vocals, Deryck Charles on keyboards and Steve Fieldhouse on guitar. Steve is now head recording engineer at the ABC in Adelaide, and has been involved with some of my projects with Peter Long. Greg also has a side project with Peter called the Ashram Poets.
The other singer with The Fortune Tellers was Patrick Loughry, who had previously played with The Milky Bar Kids and did a great version of Flaming Star. After the Painters folded, The Oily Penguins were formed with Peter Long on guitar and Mick Pittendreigh on bass. Sometimes we used Richard from Chris Branwood’s Be Brave, another talented local original act.
This band had a lot of fun, playing some slippery originals and cool covers by Lou Reed, David Bowie, The Cure, Straightjacket Fits, The Church, REM, The Stems,The Smithereens,The Stranglers, U2, The Sunnyboys, The Kinks and played with bands like the The Sharp, a popular band from Melbourne at the time. Piet Collins, The Sharp’s drummer, played with Frank Lang in Greg Baker's Blooz Muthas. As Frank says "for all those numerologists out there, Piet was 17 and I was 34, twice his age." How old are you now Frank? After this, Hoy Hoy was formed with Trapper on drums. I occasionally fill in when he can't make it.
Thursday nights at The Austral in the early 90's were messy affairs, with the late night crowd shouting for MOOOOORE!!! We also recorded some originals with Kim Horne. It lasted until 1995 when Pat moved to Sydney. He later formed an Oasis cover band and we played a huge gig at The Bondi Junction Hotel. This gig happened to coincide with the death of Lady Diana Spencer in September 1997. The gig was like a wake with the majority of the crowd consisting of English Backpackers ready for their fill of Brit Pop. In contrast to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, which were covered with memorial flowers, the floor of the pub was commemorated with broken glass at the end of the gig - not very good planning by the management. It was fun to play the introduction to Supersonic at 103bpm for 30 seconds - just the simple beat and a packed crowd of 600 in a small pub. Ahh Rock’n’ Roll heaven. There is something fantastic about a crowd’s reaction to a rock beat, a primal push and pull, a real uniting and connecting force when everybody’s attention is directed in unison to the same thing. A symbiosis where one feeds off the other. This energy forms an addiction that keeps you wanting to ride the wave. This can happen when playing a waltz to a crowded dance floor at The Dom Polski Centre, or a blues shuffle at the Semaphore Workers’ Club. Rhythm really is the universal language.
I went back to Sydney in November and played a gig at the Coogee Beach hotel, this time Michael Hutchence died. Can you see a pattern here? The other thing I learnt from this second visit was to never leave your wallet on stage. Derr! I came back for the second set to find $180 dollars missing and all my cards strewn under the stage. Nice place Sydney. That would never happen at The Wheatsheaf or Semaphore Workers’ in Adelaide would it?
Working at the Big Day Out during the 1990’s was a lot of fun. My job involved setting up the backstage riders for the various bands. I met many heroes. Observing The Cult from 10 metres away was a lesson in Rock’n’Roll energy. Talking to Dexter from The Offspring, experiencing a young Silverchair, buying just the right flowers for Perry Farrell from Porno for Pyros and watching as Kim Salmon tried to spell my surname. Thanks to Peter Curnow and Di Joy for the opportunity. Unfortunately, Pete is no longer with us but I did enjoy catching up with him at The Semaphore Workers’ Club, usually when I was playing with Chris Finnen, whom he liked to watch. I’ll never forget a gig on the back of a truck at the Macclesfield Oval (where Pete played cricket) with Chris Finnen and Frank Lang where we were playing Purple Haze surrounded by flying bugs. I still play the occasional gig with Chris, a brilliant guitarist.
Andrea, my lovely partner for the past 32 years, has a great ear for music and I met her at a Primitive Painters gig at the Old Queens Arms in January 1991, when we were supporting The Well, which was a side project of The Church’s guitarist Peter Koppes. I remember a very pleasant chat with him. This band also included Richard Ploog from The Church on drums and Anthony Smith the guy that played keyboards on the first Flowers album Icehouse. She had come to check out the band after the newly released Sea of Art floated into the local community station, 5PBA 89.7 on your FM dial, where she hosted a show playing exclusively Australian music called Oz Because every Saturday.
Anyway, down the track 7 ½ years in August 1998, she says we should see this great band playing Surf Music. They were launching their third album Up Periscope at The Wheatsheaf. They were called GT Stringer and had this crazy guy called Tristan playing a Hammond organ, which had a revolving bonsai tree on it. Barry Morgan eat your heart out!
From the start of 1999 to mid 2002 I was to play 102 gigs with GT Stringer, record their fourth album Space Out and tour to Sydney. We played with the Wetsuits, a band that featured Clyde Bramley, former bass player with the Hoodoo Gurus, exchanging the four-string Stingray for the six-string Stratocaster, Marcus Schintler on drums from Weddings Parties Anything and Jon Schofield of Paul Kelly and the Messengers fame on bass. They were a good band playing songs like Bombora, Pipeline and TV themes like The Munsters, Hawaii 5-0, Callan and Dangerman.
The front bar at the Excelsior that night had The Bourbon Powered Mattress Pounders featuring the late Ian Rilen of X. I also met Peter Hood the drummer from The Atlantics and co-writer of The Australian Classic Bombora at Bosco Bosonac’s guitar shop on Parramatta Road. He had to leave or suffer an incredibly ridiculous parking fine. Jim Elliot, the drummer from the Cruel Sea was also present at our gig at the Beach Palace at Bondi after hearing us on TripleJ, thanks to Andrea sending the CD in. My old mate Keith Armiger, brother of the famous guitarist and producer Martin, picked me up after this gig and we went back for dinner at his place.
The other gig we did on this tour was at the University of New South Wales for a Marine Biology Symposium arranged by Randall and Carla of Ashtray Boy. This gig came complete with dancing girls. There was also a room called The Gonski Room, named after David Gonski which i found amusing. Find out more about the Gonski report here. The preposition Przy in Polish means beside, or with and a goniec is a runner or messenger. An interesting translation of my name could be to “Run with the Messenger”. It would have been good playing with Paul Kelly and the Messengers! I'm sure bass player and Puppethead producer Nigel Sweeting would agree. One song plus two edits, which were recorded on 4 November 1999 at the ABC by Simon Rose, were resurrected as songs; 5 - Fakin Bacon, 7 - Le Grande Putannesca and 9 - Drive By Fry on BoobyTrap, the band’s fifth release, which topped the 3D radio charts in 2006, for the most played album during 2005. Steve Fieldhouse now does Simon’s job. I sometimes bumped into Simon when he mixed The Lonely Cosmonauts at The Wheatsheaf. GT’s Surfrospective CD released in 2008 included Sputnik, Satin Safari, Meltdown and Captain Clutch Wanger’s Space Suit Wedgie from SpaceOut, which I played on. I also used to enjoy playing Spaceranger by Tristan Andrews with its very cool jazz break in the middle. The song Interstellar Woodie was selected on 3D Radio compilation CD Depth Charge 1. I like the roll that starts the song. The band did many interesting gigs ranging from Art exhibitions to bowling alleys. Saxophone player Trevor Ramsay designed some very entertaining posters that can be viewed on the Poster page. These are from a selection of the many gigs we played.
While in GT Stringer, I also started playing with Chris Finnen and Frank Lang from Hoy Hoy when their regular drummer Trapper went to England, making a cameo appearance with Wait on Time on their Birthday DVD release filmed at The Governor Hindmarsh. We have played some cool gigs ranging from influential lawyers’ parties in Malvern with fine catering, to the Aldinga Surf Club with it’s brilliant coastline view. Come to think of it I must, have played every surf club down the Adelaide coastline from Semaphore to Aldinga. Come to think of it, I have played at the parties of uninfluential lawyers as well. The catering was just as good though – sometimes better! I like how music takes you into different places where you meet different types of people and most importantly experience different types of catering.
Hoy Hoy also includes Dave Small, brother of Phil from Cold Chisel. Phil replaced Leszek (Les) Kaczmarek the Polish bass player on bass guitar in Cold Chisel. Tony from the cabaret band used to play with Les at the Polish Club in between his Cold Chisel gigs so that that he could at least make some money to support his young child. Hoy Hoy also features Dave Blight, the guy that played harmonica on Khe Sahn. It was good to do a gig with him back in June 2006. Cold Chisel are just a small struggling band but have somehow managed to sell out the Entertainment Centre 4 times at the end of this year 2011. Steve Prestwich their drummer died earlier this year and the world and band carry on. Let’s not forget he wrote some great songs like When the War is Over, Forever Now and one of my favourite songs Flame Trees with it’s great little musical passage and lyrical tag by Don Walker, “Do you remember nothing stopped us on the field in our day” about 3 minutes in.(Explanation of the song here by Don Walker). Another great drummer, Joe Morello also passed away in March 2011 without any fanfare. He’s the guy that played on Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album, one of the most successful Jazz albums of all time. Look all of them up on Google or Drummerworld. It’s the least you could do to their memory. Oh, Speaking of Jazz, check out these rare Polish jazz records. Krzysztof Komeda (also here) and Zbigniew Namislowski (also here) were powerful forces. Komeda provided the soundtrack for Roman Polanski's film Rosemary's Baby (click here).
The Peccadillos had our first jam in April 2002 in Tristan’s shed. We played mainly at The Wheatsheaf and the Grace Emily (where else?) and had many nice times. It was especially good to play with Brian Morrison on guitar and Michael Winter on bass, both fine players. Pat was his usual entertaining self. We played New Years Eve at the Wheatsheaf in 2003. The following year, The Lonely Cosmonauts played in the front and The Peccadillos played out the back. Two kits needed to be set up so I could go from one gig to another.
In 1983 I bought 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 by Midnight Oil on cassette tape and played it loud in my backyard while hitting a tennis ball between the water heater and the kitchen window on the back wall of my house. The drummer was Rob Hirst. It was cool to see him live at The Drive (Memorial Drive) in 1985.
So when The Peccadillos played with The Backsliders in June 2003, which featured Rob Hirst on drums, this became a significant highlight for me. It was a thrill not only to meet him, but also to play his kit. A true professional in both attitude and performance. He also plays with a great surf band called The Break.
It was 7 months later in February 2004 that I went to Sydney again, this time to provide the bed tracks for Peter Long’s solo album Midday Sun. This was done at Megaphon Studios where The Cruel Sea had recorded Three Legged Dog and Midnight Oil recorded Earth and Sun and Moon. Midnight Oil had help set this studio up. It was a good feeling to be recording in such a place. Pete went the whole way with this album, doing many of the overdubs at home in the Blue Mountains using Pro Tools and using Steve Fieldhouse to help mix it. He also enlisted the services of none other than Don Bartley to master it at Benchmark Mastering Studio 301 in Sydney. Look at any of the high profile Australian releases and Don Bartley’s name is on it.
The Peccadillos released two albums and appeared on a 3D Radio compilation album Depth Charge 6 with the song Forever. Brian's brother Geoff, who designed the artwork for Midnight Oil's Capricornia also designed Lord Lollipop. He also created some of The Lonley Cosmonauts albums. The Peccadillos played until June 2007.
Thunderbox Carbunkle and the Lonely Cosmonauts did their first gig at a wedding at The Semaphore Palais on 20 April 2003. We are now known simply as The Lonely Cosmonauts. Having a long name can be complicating. Just ask me, with a name like Przygonski. (Anyone like car racing? - click here) Don, Phil, John and Tom have been regulars at The Hillbilly Hoot for over 10 years. The Hoot is a live to air broadcast every Monday from 8-9pm on 3D Radio. It is a supportive place for anybody to get up and present a song. With the addition of myself, and Michael on bass, we play Don Morrison’s originals and a fine selection of covers including the blues-style gospel song Soul of a Man by Blind Willie Johnson, John the Revelator, Nobody's fault but mine, Take this hammer (Working on a Railroad) by Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter) and You gotta move by Mississippi Fred McDowell. I like the version of John the Revelator by Son House. John Mellencamp's version isn't bad either. Click here. I always think of my Grandfather, Frank Arowicz (3.7.1904 - 24.6.1991) when we play Take this hammer (Working on the railroad). He had a good job as a forest ranger in Eastern Poland in 1939 until a knock came on his door in the middle of the night making him and his family refugees thanks to “Father Stalin.” His sister's (Giza) husband, Jan Swientojanski, was a police officer and was shot in the Katyn massacre. They spent 2 years in Siberia and 8 years in Arusha which is in Tanzania, East Africa. They woke up to a view of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru every morning. Location, Location. Not bad for a bunch of refugees. Good real estate deal that. Ring Toop and Toop, no, i won't link them. On a world tour thanks to Stalin. The original backpacking experience with a slight detour through Tashkent, the capital ot Uzbekistan, Krasnovodsk, Pahlavi in Iran, Tehran, Karachi and a death train the price to pay for a free ticket, not to mention the malaria that nearly killed my mother Maria in the early 1940's when they finally got to Africa. Thank God, or god or whatever for quinine. His first son, Antoni, died at 6 months old in June of 1940 but I digress. The book "Slaves in Paradise" by Leokadia T. Majewicz documents this journey. Frank then ended up with his family, consisting of wife Anna (12.3.1912 - 23.10.1980) daughters Maria (my Mum), Basia (19.11.1947 - 3.5.2007) and son Zbyszek (Bill) (17.10.1936 - 18.7.1956) in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. This is also where my parents met. One of his jobs was “working on the railroad” 98.9km west of Kalgoorlie in a place called Woolgangie, for months at a time, in the hot desert sun in the early 1950’s. I don’t think he even earned “a dollar a day”. My dad, also named Frank (Franek) as mentioned earlier, was a grader driver, and built roads in Gibson, 22 km north of Esperance and also in Southern Cross, 371 km east of Perth. Before this, he constructed roads in Bronte Park in the middle of Tasmania, near the Hydroelectric Scheme, in Tarraleah. In his later years, Grandfather Frank lived with us in the family home on Daws Rd in Adelaide, and enjoyed feeding the little sparrows (wróbelki) in our backyard, hence the website name. Still, you have to be thankful, because if it wasn’t for Stalin, I wouldn’t have be born in Australia playing with The Lonely Cosmonauts. You’ve got to be grateful for small mercies. Thanks again Stalin. I wonder if he did any art that was rejected like Hitler's was?
We look forward to playing The Wheatsheaf and the Semaphore Workers’ Club (where else?). We have also done some interesting gigs ranging from street parades like the Norwood Pageant and gigs for the Workers Union on the back of a truck up King William Street, to Art School parties and festivals where we played on the foreshore at Semaphore or next to Keith Potger from the Seekers at the Willunga Folk Festival. Playing Georgy Girl in 1979 thirty years later finally makes sense, or does it? Watching J.J. Hackett from Mondo Rock play my kit at a party in and old church in Thebarton was weird because i remember jamming along to his drumming through headphones as a kid. The band has produced some fine recordings that we sell at gigs. You will find these on the Recordings page. Look for us in the Gig Guide or listen to Don and Phil on their show on Friday afternoon on 3D Radio between 2 and 4. The theme song for the show is "Back home in Adelaide" by The Lonely Cosmonauts. (Link filmed 19th Sept 2010 at the Wheatsheaf by Andrea.) Buy Don’s book, buy Don’s solo CD’s which we played on, that way, we too can sell out the Entertainment Centre 4 times. It’s going to be just great. I’m sure he’s got a car for sale too if not a telescope or two. You might want to catch a band he has with his sons Eddie and Jake called Prawnhead. Eddie also has a cameo role in the new Australian movie Red Dog.
Councillor Michael Saies, on upright bass, has of late taken an interest in the area of Cosmonautics dressing up like Uri Gagarin especially for the 50th anniversary of his flight into space (12.4.2011). This culminated in a new recording by the Lonely Cosmonauts, Columbus of the Cosmos, which was timely, as it highlighted my destiny and ambition to honour the legacy of Miroslaw Hermaszewski, the first Polish Cosmonaut in Space. My grandfather, Frank Arowicz, would have been proud. He was himself a singer, accordion and harp player. Born in Brody, about 173 km from Miroslaw and 37 years before, he worked on the eastern border of Poland in small villages like Poczajow where my mother was born, and Teremne where he met my grandmother Anna. He also sang Polish, Ukranian and Russian folk songs at parties, held mainly in homes bordering the forests where he worked and lived. (Click here and go to the bottom of the Hermaszewski page for more info.) I do remember as a young boy, Frank singing these songs in their ivy covered shadehouse out the back of their house in Morgan ave, Edwardstown, harmonica in hand. He did once say that Uri was a good looking man and no wonder they picked him. Nothing to do with talent necessarily, just like most of the mainstream music industry. He also had some records of the great tenor vocalist Jan Kiepura (16.5.1902 - 15.8.1966) and famous pianist and diplomat Ignacy Paderewski (6.11.1860 - 29.6.1941). Nice birthdate there Ignacy, 106 years to the day before mine. Click here for the Polish Museum of Chicago, which houses a display for Paderewski. Fabulous Phil Bray and John ‘Dingo’ Van Bowman are true musicians and more importantly, great people to play with. John's partner is Christine Cholewa who did well at the SALA awards in 2011 and 2012 winning top prize both times.
Big Smoke with Rob Scott and Patrick Page on Saxophone still get the occasional gig. It was fun playing and visiting Rob in his Unley Bookshop during the 1990’s playing with other good players like Tom Stehlik and of course the late James Tizard.
Greasy Gravy played for about 3 years and had a great singer in Lara, Smokey played upright bass and Brendan Bell was on guitar. Nathan Dawson played a mean harp like Don from The Lonely Cosmonauts. He was a big Marion Walter Jacobs (Little Walter) fan. More info here. His hit Juke, was a chart topper in 1952 for Chess Records, founded in 1950 by two Polish immigrants, Leonard (Lejzor) and Phil (Fiszel) Chess (Czyz). "If the blues had a baby and they called it rock 'n' roll, the Chess Records label was one of the principal midwives." Don Snowden
Colin Marshall of Loose Change I think wrote some great songs. Mundane Way of Life is a standout. There are other bands and players I have had an association with that you can browse in the Scrapbook pages including Paul Hay; Zkye; The Sensational Deadbeats with Mic Bradshaw and George Will; Chris Lambden from the Screaming Believers; Alex Tomlin's Local and Live Competition; The Blue Flames with Narmon Tulsi from the Hiptones on bass and John Morton from Muskat and Farenheit 451 on guitar. Robb Ernst, who plays keyboards in the Blue Flames has, with Narmon, developed a fantastic new teleprompter software application with their company StageDirector.co. John Bywaters from The Twilights has filled in on bass for the Blue Flames, as has Ralph Frankie on sax. The TJ Collective features some hot players like Trumpeter Graeme Reynolds from The Army Band who played the Last Post on Anzac Day and Charli Holoubek and Eric Stevenson from Gumbo Ya Ya.
I still deliver the dB Magazine, run by Arna Eyers-White and Alex Wheaton, in the City and in the Adelaide Hills, which I started in 1994. It must be one of the last truly independent publications in the country and a real survivor in this everchanging technological age. The other thing I like doing apart from drumming is driving and catching up with people on my run, like Bead and Krzysztof at the Exeter, Con at Derringers and Fraser at Rock Therapy on Goodwood Road.
Running parallel to all of this are my cabaret gigs. As mentioned earlier I like the way music takes you into different places where you meet different people. The cabaret bands have provided this contrast. It is really where I started in these clubs and I still like performing in them. I especially like that during a night I could be playing 10 different beats to 50 different songs. Yes we do work hard. It is satisfying to look at a full dance floor of happy dancing people, including kids who seem to have an uninhibited freedom. I think we as the musicians are the ones being entertained but don’t tell them that. The audience can really affect the playing. Don’t tell them that either.
Over the years I have sporadically given lessons. You can tell the kids who "get it". A young lad in grade 6 at Sacred Heart College was particularly keen. His name is Aidan Moyse and he has continued on with music. I bumped into him at the Prince Albert where he mixed the bands. He is currently in a band called Hawks of Alba. It is a good feeling to have had a small part in his development. His uncle is David Moyse who played guitar with Air Supply on their early eighties hits.
I love old vintage drums. It was a pleasure to record with my 1966 Burgundy Sparkle Ludwig Downbeat kit on the Lonely Cosmonauts Cosmology and TJ Collective’s It’s My Right to be Wrong. This kit has date stamps close to my birthdate, of course, it had to be mine. (Click here for some cool 8mm vintage drum making videos taken by Bill Ludwig 2 from the Ludwig factory circa 1964. Some of these vintage clips have Gene Krupa providing the backing music which is surprising considering his long association with Slingerland.) The 1923 Scroll (wave) engraved Ludwig Black Beauty is a beautiful drum and was used during the Russian Anthem introducing "Columbus of the Cosmos." I will continue to collect historic pieces and memorabillia for my collection which I one day plan to display. Gene Krupa is of particular interest. His main influence was to bring the drummer to the foreground. The "Drum Battles" with Buddy Rich and others, along with his showmanship, were part of this. Click here for the Gene Krupa page.
I hope you enjoy foraging through the scrapbooks. Pictures paint a thousand words. Some of the highlights include Leon Theremin from the 1920's playing his new invention which is in in the GT Stringer scrapbook, Leadbelly from 1945 performing Take this hammer, and click on Chess which will take you to a great site on the history of Rock 'n' Roll. Little Sparrow has been an absolute joy to create and a lot of hard work, taking at least 250 hours, with over 500 photos and articles and more than 300 hyperlinks from the last 25 years and beyond. I hope it inspires you to tell your own story as it is an important story to tell. This will ultimately lead to a greater appreciation, and add to the general information of our social environment. Please feel free to add Little Sparrow as a link if for no other reason than this. I plan to continually change the footage and sound recordings, so fly back to the Little Sparrow nest often. In the meantime, check out the links provided, come to a gig, and as the magazine says, Get out of the House.
Nobody escapes alive, so enjoy the music!
All the Beat,
Andy ‘Spy’ Przygonski