The Resonettes — consisting of guitarist Paul Reay, bassist Geoff MacWalters, drummer Peter Figures and a talented lead guitarist from Holland named Marty van Wyk — were a typical Shadows-type group of their era.  They played the Sydney surf/stomp circuit to good acclaim, and in January 1964 released a flop single entitled Shore Break on the newly-formed Linda Lee label.  With the trend heading towards vocal sounds, the Resonettes recruited a singer by the name of Geoff Doyle and became Geoff Doyle and the Resonettes. 

      In April, Geoff Doyle and the Resonettes released a second single entitled Broken Toy; but as with their first effort it failed to sell so the band were dropped by Linda Lee.  Unperturbed, Geoff Doyle and the Resonettes continued to play the Sydney stomp hall circuit and within no time they scored a record deal with Polydor.  However the record company decided that the band’s name was a little passé.

“...we got a record contract through Philips records and they thought that the Resonettes was a silly name, so they ended up making us change...to the No-Names, which we thought was much sillier.”

Peter Figures, Born Loser #3, 1991.

The Throb, 1966

The No-Names’ first single on Polydor — a Marty van Wyk composition entitled She Is Mine — was a frisky little two-chord tune featuring some pleasant harmonies and fine drum fills.  Perhaps a little too lightweight and ineffectual to grab the public-at-large, She Is Mine sold poorly, as did the No-Names’ second single — a rather awful version of Lieber & Stoller’s 1959 Coasters hit — Charlie Brown.  Polydor soon dropped the group from their roster, although the No-Names did back vocalist Janice Slater on a pair of singles for the Philips label in early 1965. 

      The new line-up of the No-Names played at Suzie Wong’s Café, the Beatle Village and at various University shows.  It was during one of these gigs that an anonymous punter made an aside that would change matters considerably...

“One night someone said — and they were really trying to put us down — that our sound was just a big throb.  We thought that sounded great!  We’d been looking for a new name, and there it was… I got a lot of my inspiration from Eric Burdon & the Animals.  They were my favourite band at the time.  I always liked that raunchy sort of stuff.  I was into what the Missing Links were — really raging, jumping around.  Getting the crowd right into it.”

Denny Burgess in conversation with Dean Mittelhauser, Livin’ End #3, 1984.

Pic 3: The Throb

As the No-Names, the group had earlier approached Easybeats kingpin Mike Vaughan in the hope of gaining his management.  All this was to no avail.  But with their edgy new name and a tougher R&B-influenced style, the band’s confidence increased.  A demo session at the 2UW radio theatre was teed-up, and the band laid down some fifteen original tunes.  This time Mike Vaughan was impressed and agreed to manage the group.  The coupling led to a recording deal with Parlophone through producer/ publisher Ted Albert, and suddenly The Throb were away.

“Mike, Ted and Tony Geary (Albert’s A&R man) had a long talk about us.  They couldn’t decide which track to put out.  They spent about two months trying to make up their minds.  We were just on the verge of packing up and going to Melbourne... We thought they would end up not releasing anything.  Then, out of the blue, they rang up one day and said, ‘We’ve got this really good song, that we’ve got the rights to.  The Stones did it but it won’t be released here.’” Denny Burgess, Livin’ End #3, 1984.

The song that Burgess was talking about was Allen Toussaint’s The Fortune Teller (written under the pseudonym, Naomi Neville).  But strangely, a large “A” was printed next to the B-side — John Bell and Peter Figures’ original entitled Believe In Me.  A far more subtle and interesting track than its flip, Believe In Me certainly does the band’s name justice.  Based upon an insistent throbbing bass line, rattlesnake tambourine and a melodic almost Eastern-sounding main guitar figure; Believe In Me contains all sorts of innovative and interesting ideas — particularly the devastating fuzz guitar solo that comes out of nowhere at around about the three-quarter mark of the song.  A “wyld mini-explosion”, as Dean Mittelhauser once put it.

      Not surprisingly, the more obviously commercial Fortune Teller was the one pushed by radio stations.  Replete with Denny Burgess’ menacing vocals, John Bell’s mournful harmonica and Marty van Wyk’s chunky guitar — Fortune Teller was the right record at exactly the right time.  The lyrics are pretty daft — along similar lines to Lieber & Stoller’s Love Potion #9.  Dig.  An unwell punter consults psychic medium... psychic medium informs punter that he is in fact, in love... punter becomes confused (he’s not interested in any particular girl at present)... punter then looks at the psychic medium and realises that he is, in fact, in love with her.  The feeling is obviously reciprocated and pair then live happily-ever-after.  And best of all, the punter now receives his psychic consultancies free of charge!

      Fortune Teller by The Throb became one of the biggest Australian hits of 1966.  The record charted first in Melbourne, followed by Adelaide and then Sydney.  So threatening (theoretically) was the record’s success to the touring Rolling Stones that Decca rush-released the Stones version in direct competition.  To confuse matters even further, for a while, both the Throb’s and the Rolling Stones’ names appeared next to the song on the charts.  It is well-acknowledged however, that the Throb’s version of Fortune Teller outsold the Stones’ many times over. 

      So with an instant top five smash on their hands, the Throb were suddenly flung into the giddy world of pop superstardom whether they liked it or not!  The band gravitated directly to Melbourne, which at the time was the undisputed pop capital of Australia.  A relentless merry-go-round of gigs, radio interviews and TV appearances ensued.

“We’d go down to Melbourne, have a car waiting for us, play a half hour gig in one place, then we’d be off to play another spot somewhere else.  We could be doing that for a week at a time — thirty shows in seven days.  Then there was also the TV stuff and radio interviews during the day.”

Peter Figures, Born Loser #3, 1991.

The Throb’s first foray into television was not a smooth one however.  During their maiden appearance on ‘Saturday Date’, the band got lost on their way to the set (a la ‘Spinal Tap’) only to find that no drum kit had been set up onstage!  The opening bars of Fortune Teller were now blaring out, and by the time the band made it on set they could do little more than just wing it furiously. 

      In May 1966, the Throb managed to crack the front cover of Melbourne’s hippest new music paper Go-Set.  And with their lank fringes, black leather coats, dark brooding expressions and weird name; the Throb appeared as the most unlikely looking pop stars in the country.  But pop stars they were, and soon the guys were even finding themselves featured on the back of Kellogg’s Cornflakes boxes, and beaming out from swap cards in packets of Smith’s Crisps.  But it was not all smooth sailing.

The main trouble the boys have had has been with transport.  They have already written off four vans, one of which blew up in the middle of a main Sydney street and burst into flames.  However, with wet blankets over their heads the boys heroically braved the blinding smoke and searing flames to rescue their equipment...This is one experience the Throb do not wish to repeat. Mike O’Nash, Go-Set, 4/5/67.

To capitalise on the success of Fortune Teller, a recording session was arranged at Bill Armstrong’s studios in South Melbourne with a view to laying down a follow-up single.  Two songs were recorded: one was a cover of a Kinks B-side I Need You, the other, a John Bell original called One Thing To Do. 

      Dominated by Marty van Wyk’s searing, surf-influenced guitar and some nifty ping-pong vocal tricks, One Thing To Do is ultimately a nice throwaway garage punk tune — not great, but certainly not bad either.  Likewise the Throb’s rendering of the Kinks’ B-side I Need You is good in its own way; although it’s obvious that the band had never bothered to tune themselves to John Bell’s harmonica.  Both tracks were shelved and remained unreleased until Raven Records included them on the original Ugly Things LPs, volumes 2 & 3 some twenty years later.

      Many changes were occurring within the world of Australian pop during the middle of 1966.  Established acts such as Normie Rowe, MPD Ltd and the Easybeats were trying their luck overseas, whilst newer bands like the Groop, Twilights, Purple Hearts and Loved Ones were beginning to dominate fan letter columns and popularity polls.  In retrospect, it would appear that Parlophone took far too long to issue the Throb’s second single.  In fact, it was nearly six months after the release of Fortune Teller that Parlophone finally put out the double-A-side single: Black/ Turn My Head.

      The van Wyk & Burgess original Turn My Head is an energetically riffy Who-inspired power-pop workout, not dissimilar in feel to the Black Diamonds’ See The Way.  While the lyrics are laughable at times (choice line: “You were so cruel to me, like war is to man.  But I saw through you and spoiled your plan!”)  as a cookin’ li’l beat track, Turn My Head works a treat. For the single’s alternate side, the Throb pulled out every stop and came up with the most intensely passionate version of the traditional folk tune Black (Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair) ever recorded.

Black, is the colour

Of my baby’s hair

Her lips are like, the roses bare

With the prettiest face, and the warmest hand

I love the ground, whereon she stands

Black, as the night

I can’t sleep without her

I can’t explain the way I feel about her

On darkest nights, when she’s not there

I turn in bed, and see black hair.

Black (Trad. Arr & Adapt. The Throb) © J.Albert & Son, 1966.

Black begins with a mournful crying harmonica before launching headfirst into a powerful 3/4 beat.  The vocals are achingly soulful, with every syllable wrung out like a plaintive sob.  So intense is the atmosphere of Black that by the time the searing mosquito-like guitar solo appears it is almost something of a relief!  Then at the end of the third verse — as if Black had not been dark and tumultuous enough — the band explodes into an ear splitting sonic purge.  Feedback-drenched guitars wail like air-raid sirens against reverb-shrouded cries and a demonic rumbling bass.  Wow!  What a festival of melodrama and angst.  And how uncommercial to boot!  Alongside the Purple Hearts’ Early In The Morning — Black was the most adventurous pop recording made in Australia during 1966. 

      Although small beer sales wise compared to the monstrous Fortune Teller — Black still performed well on several state charts.  After receiving an “A” (Outstanding) in Go-Set’s ‘Disc Review’; Black made top-40 in both Adelaide and Brisbane, #28 in Sydney, and climbed right up to #8 in Perth.  More TV appearances followed, the most bizarre being a guest spot on the eccentric ABC-2 soapie/variety show ‘Be Our Guest’, in which Denny Burgess sang Black to actress Lorraine Bayley’s hair!

      Lead guitarist Marty van Wyk had had enough of the grind of constant touring by this stage. Having recently become serious with a girl in Sydney van Wyk was offered a post in a happening club band there called The Soul Agents. Despite the protestations of his fellow Throb-mates he accepted the gig.

The Throb soldiered on however.  They performed in Brisbane with visiting Texas trouser-splitter P. J. Proby as a three-piece, but in October, bass player and vocalist Denny Burgess left in order to sing with a psychedelic band called Honeybunch.  Aside from Denny Honeybunch consisted of his brother Colin Burgess on drums, Joe Travers on lead guitar and ex-Morloch member Bill Verbaan on bass.  The Throb continued on for a little while — but only to honour some outstanding bookings.  Bell and Figures recruited Bob Daisley on bass, and the late Paul ‘Dog’ Wylde (one of Australia’s best keyboardists ever) to fill in the sound on organ.  But by February 1967, the Throb were history.

      Drummer Peter Figures joined Suzie Wong’s Café’s resident combo The Square Circle, along with singer Laurie Crooks (ex-Morloch), guitarist Dave Kain (ex-Bitter Lemons), Arthur Eisenberg and Paul Sine (bass and keyboards respectively).  And just to bring it all back home, Laurie Crooks soon left the band to be replaced by, guess who?  None other than Peter’s ex-Throb cohort Denny Burgess.  Peter Figures eventually turned up drumming in Jeff St. John & Yama, while John Bell renounced the world of Rock & Roll and became a minister of religion — true!

Recommended Listening:

Although Raven records released much of The Throbs output on vinyl during the 1980s very little of their music is currently available on legitimate release. The Raven Sixties Downunder Volume 2 compilation CD features Fortune Teller and Black can be found on Volume 3 of the same series.