The Spaniards - Locked In A Dance (1986) plus bonus tracks

 (Australian 1983 - 1986)

The Spaniards were a short-lived Australian musical group, which formed in 1983. Their 1986 debut mini-album, 'Locked in a Dance' peaked at number 55 on the Australian charts. Members included Russell Hellyer-Brown on bass guitar, Mark Mannock on keyboards, Billy Miller on guitars and vocals (ex-The Ferrets), and Mick Pealing on vocals (ex-Stars, Ideals).

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 made numerous appearances on Countdown (see below) and sellout residencies at infamous venues like The Prospect Hill Hotel and The Venue in St Kilda. They also supported Tina Turner on her Private Dancer tour plus Katrina and the Waves on their Walking On Sunshine tour.

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).

Spaniards [Satellite Lounge, 2016] - You & I

Band Member Profiles

Mick Pealing (Vocals)

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.

Stars decided to call it quits in 1979, when Andy Durant was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Pealing later formed his own band Mick Pealing and the Ideals (1980–1981), and were also a backing band for Renée Geyer. He then formed The Spaniards (1983–1986) and worked with other artists including Eastick and McLachlan who were members of Mighty Rock with Pealing in 2004.

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 Miller (Guitar & Vocals)

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.

In 2011, Billy was busy playing gigs with Stephen Cummings and his own band, then recording a new album. 

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.

Russell Hellyer-Brown  (Bass & Vocals)

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 Ziros (Drums & Vocals)

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.

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

Russell Hellyer-Brown - Bass and Vocals

Mark Mannock - Keyboards

Billy Miller - Guitar and Vocals

Extras:

John Annas - Drums

David Springfield - Guitar

The Spaniards Link (233Mb)

REPOST: Ferrets - Dreams of a Love (1977) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1975-79)

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The Ferrets were an Australian pop / rock band from Melbourne and Sydney, formed in 1975 and disbanded in 1979. They are best known for their début #2 hit single "Don’t Fall in Love" in 1977. Philip Eizenberg (guitar), Kenneth Firth (bass guitar, backing vocals), Billy Miller (vocals, guitar) and David Springfield (guitar, backing vocals) formed The Ferrets and were soon joined by drummer Rick Brewer.

Ken Firth, Phil Eizenberg and Billy Miller had been involved with the Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar (1972—1974) which also included Jon English and John Paul Young. Firth (bass guitar, backing vocals), Miller (vocals, guitar) and Dave Springfield (guitar, backing vocals) were all members of hard rockers Buster Brown (which also featured vocalist Angry Anderson later of Rose Tattoo). In 1975, the trio left Buster Brown to join with guitarist Eizenberg and formed The Ferrets. Drummer Rick Brewer (ex-Zoot) joined in 1976 together with Miller’s sisters Jane Miller (backing vocals, keyboard) and Pam Miller (backing vocals). They were now a seven-piece band.

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After favourable reactions from audiences in Melbourne and Sydney, The Ferrets produced a demo tape that caught the attention of Ian "Molly" Meldrum talent coordinator for ABC-TV series Countdown. Meldrum signed them to Mushroom Records and started producing their début album Dreams of a Love on 19 July, 1976. After nearly a year, production was still incomplete, so The Ferrets took over (assisted by recording engineers Tony Cohen and Ian MacKenzie) and Meldrum was attributed as "Willie Everfinish" on the album cover. Album production was finalized on 15 August 1977. Meldrum had carefully crafted their first single’s A side "Lies" taking weeks but the B side "Don’t Fall in Love" (written by Ian Davis and Firth) was rushed in three hours. The Ferrets premiered on Countdown in an episode compèred by Jon English however, they used their B side. "Don’t Fall in Love" quickly sold out its initial pressing and many customers wanted a copy of The Ferrets' début album – there was concern at Mushroom Records as Meldrum had not organised an album cover: a white hand stamped cardboard sleeve was issued with a promise of the album artwork to follow!

On Stage At The Palais 'Nightmoves' Concert

 The Ferrets released a promo as the single rocketed to #1 on Melbourne’s charts and #2 Nationally. They were awarded with "Best Australian TV Performer" at the 1977 King of Pop Awards for their Countdown appearances. Although generally remembered for their biggest hit, their follow-up single "Janie May" reached #19 in Melbourne and was on Countdown episode of 13 November 1977 (featured infamous 'Prince Charles Interview'). Their debut album Dreams of a Love achieved Gold record status and the long awaited album cover depicted a model (Wendy Bannister) holding a snarling ferret on her shoulder. [From Wikipedia]

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I saw The Ferrets play at the Nightmoves Concert, held at the Palais Theatre in St.Kilda in 1977 and was blown away with their huge production numbers and full on theatrical stage productions, influenced by Miller's earlier associations with big stage productions like 'Jesus Christ Superstar' no doubt (they even had a 20 strong boys choir singing in the background of 'Just Like The Stars')

They were a very talented but highly under rated band of the 70's and really deserved more recognition as been the forerunners for big production bands like John Farnham and Little River Band in the 80's.

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Dave Gray writes "Billy Miller is a superb guitar player, arranger and vocalist. He approaches music and life with a real sense of delight and play. I'm not saying he's a blissed out , mystic hippie. I mean that he has his priorities and one of those seems to be that he doesn't expect to be bummed out every time he turns around a corner. He's tough and wiry and cranky and he's a complete joy to play with. He knows his nuts and his bolts".

After the Ferrets, countless bands and gigs followed for Miller, who still plays in his original band and up until 2004 worked in a music production company (Duffield Kenihan Pty Ltd) creating music for TV commercials, and co-producing the music for "Round The Twist" (Children's TV Foundation). Billy also composed music for several short films, including "The Bird" (VCA 1996), which won best music in its category. In 2008, Billy was busy playing gigs with Stephen Cummings and his own band, recording a new album, composing and producing soundtracks for films in his studio, starring in documentaries and barracking for his beloved Saints (St Kilda Football Club). Now, if they had won the 2009 Grand Final this year against the Cats, can you imagine the party he would have had with St.Kilda's other Number #1 supporter - Molly Meldrum!

For more information about Molly's association with the Ferrets, have a look at Rectro Universe's posting 'Don't fall in love with a Ferret'.

The rip included here was taken from my CD in FLAC format and the bonus 1978 singles Side A & B from vinyl (thanks to Ozzie Music Man). Full album artwork is also included.

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Track Listing

01 - Prelude

02 - You Belong With Me

03 - Bye Bye Baby

04 - Lies

05 - Killing Ourselves

06 - Janie May

07 - Dreams Of Love

08 - My Old Dog

09 - El Quicko

10 - Don't Fall In Love

11 - The Children Play

12 - Just Like The Stars

13 - Magic In The Sand

14 - Are You Looking At Me (Bonus Side A single)

15 - Holloway (Bonus Side B single)

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BAND MEMBERS:

BILL MILLER - VOCALS, GUITARS

KEN FIRTH (ex Tully) - BASS, VOCALS

DAVID SPRINGFIELD (ex Buster Brown) - GUITARS, VOCALS

RICK BREWER (ex Zoot, Jim Keyes Band) - DRUMS, PERCUSSION

PHIL EIZENBERG - GUITARS

PAM MILLER & JANE MILLER - VOCALS
FEATURING:

NICKY HOPKINS - PIANO

BOBBY KEYS - SAXAPHONE

IAN LAWSON PIANO

CHRIS HAROLD - SYTHESIZERS

DAVE CLARCK - FLUTE

THE NATIONAL BOYS CHOIR

NEW IMPROVED RIP

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The Ferrets Link (331Mb) 

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