(Australian 1983 - 1986)
The Spaniards also utilised other musicians as required like Dave Springfield, Kevin Purcell and John Annas. The band released three singles: "God Is A Shield", "Angel" and "What Can I Do" and a mini LP, called “Locked In A Dance” (EMM.430038) for EMI in 1986. Additional players on the single “God Is A Shield” were Hendrick de Fries, James Freud and Wayne Young. This single was produced by Molly Meldrum on IC Records and charted at #54 on the Australian Charts.
The Spaniards disbanded in 1986 but then reformed in the same year with Mick Pealing (vocals), Russell Brown (bass), Chris Ziros (guitar), Antony Ziros (drums) and Mark Mannock (keyboards).
They finally called it quits in 1989 although in 2016, Billy Miller, Mick Pealing, Rusty Brown, John Annas & Mark Mannock played a one off reunion gig on the 25th November at the Satellite Lounge in Melbourne, from which the video clip below was taken (see advert).
Band Member Profiles
In 1975, Pealing helped to form the Australian country rock band 'Stars', in Adelaide, South Australia.
Founding members were Glyn Dowding on drums; Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals; Mick Pealing on vocals; and Graham Thompson on bass guitar. They were joined by guitarist, songwriter, Andrew Durant in 1976 and relocated to Melbourne. Thompson then left and was replaced by a succession of bass guitarists including Roger McLachlan (ex-Little River Band) and Ian McDonald.
Today, Mick continues his love for British hard Rock from the 60’s and 70’s with the band Raw Brit featuring members of Boom Crash Opera, Angels, Rose Tattoo, Skyhooks & Baby Animals, and also plays the occasional gig with a reformed members from The Stars (see Mick's Website for details)
Billy is an Australian musician who started singing and playing guitar back in the 1960s. After a 3 year stint in the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, he formed 'The Ferrets', who in 1977 had a no.1 hit "Don't Fall In Love" and gold album 'Dreams of a Love'.
His other groups also include 'Billy Miller’s Great Blokes', known for the popular song "I Want To Live In A House" which was featured in the Australian movie ‘Starstruck’ in 1982. He then joined The Spaniards in 1984, playing with them until they disbanded in 1986.
Fast forward to 2014 and Billy teamed up with ARIA award winner and good mate Paul Kelly to co-write ‘Don’t Let a Good Thing Go’ which featured on Kelly’s ‘The Merri Soul Sessions’ album. He also co-wrote four of the songs on Kelly’s 2017 ‘Life is Fine’ — ‘Rising Moon’, ‘Firewood and Candles’, ‘Rock Out on the Sea’ and ‘Leah: The Sequel.
After The Spaniards split for the second time, Russell went on to form his own band called 'Hellyer Brown', along with Spaniard brothers Anthony (drums) and Chris Ziros (Guitar) and Shawn Gardener (Bass). Russell changed his name to Rusty Brown and took on lead vocals. However, this band did not last long and Rusty decided to take a short hiatus from the music industry.
Nevertheless, Rusty Brown eventually joined the Australian hard rock band Electric Mary in 2004. Featuring Rusty Brown on vocals, Irwin Thomas (aka Jack Jones) on guitar / vocals, Venom on drums, Pete Robinson on guitar / vocals, and Alex Raunjak on Bass they cite inspirations from a number of bands and musicians from Deep Purple to David Bowie with their sound encompassing a combination of rich guitar riffs, bass, and drums.
Anthony joined the Kevin Borich Express in 1989 and toured Australia on the Matt Taylor and Kevin Borich Blues tours in 1991 and 1992.
Anthony also toured with the following artists: Ian Moss, Ross Wilson, Dale Ryder, Brian Mannix, Stuart Fraser, Wilbur Wilde and Matt Moffitt.
John Annas (Drums)
John Annas is known to have been a member of 3 bands - Broderick Smiths Big Combo, Kevin Borich Express and the Spaniards, and has been a session drummer for many Australian artists, including Renee Geyer.
David Springfield (Guitar)
Dave Springfield (guitar, backing vocals) was a member of hard rockers Buster Brown (which also featured vocalist Angry Anderson later of Rose Tattoo). He then played along side Billy Miller in 'The Ferrets' from 1975-1979, before playing with Mick Pealing's Spaniards until they disbanded.
Sadly, I have not been able to find any information for Mark Mannock (Keyboards). If anyone has any Intel on him, I'd love to hear from you.
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| The Spaniards on Countdown (8th April, 1986) |
This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl mini LP and includes full album artwork. Note: This release has never been released on CD. Now, I've always thought it strange that this mini LP 'Locked In A Dance', didn't actually have the track with the same name on it, so I have decided to rectify this by adding it here as a bonus track. In addition, I am also including the Instrumental Version of "Angel" (which was the B-Side of the single) and the Mick Pealing track "I Want To Live In A House" which was also recorded by The Spaniards.
Track List
01 - What Can I Do
02 - God Is A shield
03 - Angel
04 - Is It Love
05 - Memory
06 - Dreamers
07 - I Want To Live In A House [Bonus Track]
08 - Angel [Bonus B-Side Instrumental]
09 - Locked in a Dance [Bonus Live Prospect Hill Hotel 1984]
The Spaniards were:
Mick Pealing - Vocals
Mark Mannock - Keyboards
Billy Miller - Guitar and Vocals
Extras:
John Annas - Drums
David Springfield - Guitar
The Spaniards Link (233Mb)
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