<Home> <Bands> <Musicians> <Venues & Places> <Reunions> <Contacts List> <Anthems> <Search>
First published in April 2009, last updated June 2009
Dave can be contacted at davidgorrie@xtra.co.nz
Photos
and Memorabilia Drut,
Auckland
60's and 70's Reunions
I first started getting into music at the tender age of five when my mother
pushed me into learning classical piano (as lots of mums did back then !).
My piano teacher had the most unlikely name of Grace Virtue and from what I
remember she didn't have a great deal of the former but probably plenty of the
latter! I did reasonably well though and after a couple of years decided I
wanted to play what I was hearing on the radio. The teacher went out and
bought sheet music but unfortunately she taught me how it was written which was
not what I was hearing. I was hearing power chords with the left hand in
lots of cases but the dots said otherwise and she was unbendable.
Foolishly I gave up. My cousin Jim Langabeer who is six years older than I
am was playing piano and saxophone for Freddy Keil and The Kavaliers and I would
sit and listen to them practice in Jim's mum's living room. That was
it.....it had to be a guitar from then on in. After a bit of hurried self
taught ukulele I finally convinced the parents to buy me a guitar. I
messed around on it for some months before finally getting some lessons.
Fortunately, my guitar tutor was the late great "Mr Guitar Man" Bob Paris who
was probably in his 20's way back then. I remember buying my first
electric guitar, a Jansen J2 that Bob had built for him. It had two
pick-ups and a wammy bar and I thought I was just so cool and obviously very
lucky to own such an instrument. It was great and after owning it for a
couple of years I sold it to Ray Goodwin who was later to play with Dragon.
My first real band was The Jet Blacks.
I wasn't old enough to drive so my dad would drive me to the gigs. I
remember the drummer was Robert Payne, Henry Jackson played guitar as well and
the bass player was Ian Revell who went on to become a policeman of fairly high
ranking and an MP to boot. We had a regular gig on a Friday at St Chads in
Sandringham and when we could, we'd finish early and pop around to St Martins in
Mt Roskill where Larry's Rebels would
be. I thought they were the best band in the land...they were great!
After a short stint in Melbourne playing with the Poles Apart
Trio, (who remembers the Poles Apart Folk Club in Newmarket?) an acoustic
three piece from the great folk scare of the sixties, I returned to Auckland.
Next came a three piece acoustic band with Rex Smith and Geoff Bickerton, The Resurrection,
which later became electric with the addition of Gerry Copas on drums. Rex
then went on to form Green and Yellow
and I joined with Mal Finlayson, Peter Traille, Cliff Andrews and John Walmsley
(ex High Revving
Tongues) to form "Drut" one of the
busiest bands of the early 70's. The name was quite inventive for those
days...it was "Turd" spelt backwards. Peter, "The Troll" left and was replaced
by that fine player Keith Prictor and when I left a couple of years later, Rex
Smith took over the lead vocals.
After a short stint with Bruce Morley
and John Walmsley, I moved to Kaitaia where I met John "Timberjack" Donoghue
in about 1977/78 and we have been playing together on and off since then.
We had, and still have, a duo "Guru and The
Gypsy" and a four piece electric band, "The
Titanics".
I moved back to Auckland in 1983 and joined with Mal
again, together with Robbie Lavan, Tiny Thompson and Derna Bennett to play in a
covers band, aptly named "Off The
Record". Back north again in 1993 to Whangarei to reunite with John Donoghue
then to Kerikeri in '98 where I still reside playing with
The Puha
Bandidos Acoustic Street Band until we decided to disband at the end of 2012
after many years of wonderful camaraderie which included a wonderful tour of
Rarotonga. I have also been involved with playing musicals and pantomimes
for the local theatre companies since 1999 and still enjoy this work supporting
the community that has appreciated my music since I moved north all those years
ago. It's been a great ride so far and I'm not ready to get off just yet.
Long may it continue.
<Home> <Bands> <Musicians> <Venues & Places> <Reunions> <Contacts List> <Anthems> <Search>