Cyril B. Bunter Band + The Inventures

Tucked away in the back of the upstairs bar at French’s, Dick Hughes would be playing stride and barrelhouse, a row of cider mugs clinking on top of his upright piano. The punters’ shoes would make a constant quacking noise as they stuck to the cider-sodden carpet on the narrow groaning staircase that led down to the cellar level, where on Fridays it was traditionally the place to hear The Foreday Riders’ sweet harmonica blues, and had been for as long as anyone could remember. On Wednesdays, Midnight Oil would Run By Night. Always free entry, on other nights you could walk in and catch Mental As Anything, Renee Geyer with Mother Earth, The Magnetics, or Jackie Orszaczky, fresh from Hungary, playing jazz-fusion with Syrius. Judy Bailey, Gillian Eastoe, Wendy Saddington and Venetta Fields would all play regular gigs there.Thursday evenings, however, was the night to squeeze your way down through the thick fug of smoke to see The Cyril B. Bunter Band blasting out blistering boogies and shuffles as sweat ran down the matt-black painted walls, the froth pit at the front throbbing with manic dancers.

 

It was a classic Sydney scene, but the true believers knew that to experience The Bunters in their own natural habitat, the only place to be was The Welcome Inn, the first bar up from the docks at the dirty end of Sussex Street. Known to the diehards as The Buncha. A fine stand-alone toilet-tile pub where the band could turn up and play LOUD, with no neighbours to complain. For almost five years from 1972, every Friday and Saturday, The Bunters, lit only by a couple of lights, would crank out set after set of visceral, filthy, blues-drenched boogie, always with the little front bar packed fit-to-bust: Usually three or four hundred sweaty people squeezed into a room that comfortably held maybe a hundred heads. There was no stage, the band played on the floor hard up against the wall, eyeball-to-eyeball with the front row of fans just three feet away.

 

Pretty it wasn’t. Raggy LaPells’ raw slide guitar wailed while Maybelline Broadbent walloped the bejeezus out of her stacked Hohner and Wurlitzer electric pianos. Jake Grinder pounded his bass guitar, corkscrewing on the spot as he delivered his indecipherable gravelly vocals. Drummer Chester laid down slinky backbeat shuffles and greasy jump-swing grooves behind it all. Many nights they played well past licensed hours, thanks to the giant pitbull-headed ex-cop turned publican who, according to the tale, had a sweet deal with the Licensing Squad – he supplied the kegs for their smoko nights while they turned a blind eye and a deaf ear around closing time.

 

The regulars congregated from all points to be at The Buncha on the weekends – from Bondi, Botany and Blacktown, from Clovelly, Cronulla and Collaroy, Manly and Maroubra, and everyone just had a ball. No RBT, no sniffer dogs, not a poker machine to be seen. The only turntable was behind the bar, to provide break music between sets. No bouncers either – violence was rare, most folks were already mellow when they arrived. It was just about the music, loose and live, and the fans simply partied in that dank, glorious, stinking public bar until they’d got enough and staggered out happy. Then they’d climb into their seatbelt-free shitbox rustbucket Holdens and drive home.

 

Spreading their wings beyond their Surry Hills/Bondi roots, The Bunters went on to become friends and touring partners with many greats. Between ‘77 and ‘85, they performed on endless roadshow tours – including three national tours opening for John Mayall’s BluesBreakers and four tours with Canned Heat. After becoming fast friends with the band during three tours together, George Thorogood and the Destroyers recorded The Bunters’ song “Boogie People” as the title track of their 1985 album. Melbourne’s king of the blues, Dutch Tilders, travelled the deadly Hume and Pacific Highways with The Bunters as his backing band on many tours during the same period, and in between all this the band continuously traversed Australia fronting their own tours, making friends everywhere through their straight-up, full-tilt boogie and blues.

 

And no matter where they went, playing in uptown nightclubs or hell-hole rock-dives from Darwin to Hobart, Brisbane to Broome, punters would emerge from the crowd with a knowing smile and say “I used to see you guys playing down at The Buncha”. The Bunters were a rite of passage for countless Sydney fans, and signified Good Times.

 

In the years since The Bunters, Raggy (Gary Lothian) and Jake (Jimmy Bee) have spent a decade as The King Bees and another decade as members of James T and The Last Volunteers, together with ex-Canned Heat member, Cincinnati native and now Australian resident James Thornbury. Chester (Rosscoe Clark) has stoked the engine room for The Foreday Riders for over 20 years, and toured and recorded with U.S. blues artists as well as the cream of the Oz Blues scene.

 

And now The Cyril B. Bunter Band are coming back. They’ve finally decided to do it, after procrastinating and putting it off for the last 27 years. They couldn’t agree in time for their 40th Anniversary, so here they are on their 41st. Together again for the first time since 1985, when they played their legendary Farewell gig at the Family Inn, Rydalmere, in front of a sold-out crowd of 1500 rapturous fans. This Reunion Tour will be a strictly one-off run of shows in 2013, for the people who loved them best and for those who missed out and only heard the stories.

 

Recorded output from the Bunters was scarce – their focus was always purely on the live connection, The Event taking priority over The Process. So for this Reunion run, they’re re-releasing, as a special Tour Souvenir, their sole studio album, the notorious and seldom-seen 1982 release “Mad Money In High Places”, available only at these shows. Originally on vinyl only, there was only ever one pressing – 1000 copies, and it sold out quickly. The Bunters have now re-mastered it for CD and added bonus rare live tracks from a 2JJ Studio 221 concert, recorded in Glorious Mono around 1978. Pre-dating Triple-J, from the days when languid Sydney Sundays were spent relaxing with just a couple of Jays.

 

Original ivory-tickler Maybelline Broadbent was nowhere to be found for this go-around, so The Bunters have entrusted keyboard chores to long-time friend, acclaimed piano-thumper and vocalist Ali Penney, who occupies the piano-bench with her customary verve. Award-winning Ali has played for and supported some of the best: Johnnie Johnson, Chris Cain, Lucinda Williams, Cephas and Wiggins and The Tailgaitors, and sat in with Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Palm Court Orchestra in New Orleans. Along with her band The Moneymakers, she has also represented Sydney at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Her 2011 album, “Wait A Minute” reached fourth spot on the Australian Blues charts.