La Femme

La Femme was a fascinating meld of late Seventies influences including Punk, New Wave, Glam and Hard Rock. Former members of the violent 70's Sharpie Gangs of Melbourne, they formed in 1978, and played the inner-city scene alongside all the other new bands of the day like Models, The Boys Next Door, The Ears, Little Murders and the News. Led by a charismatic frontman in Chane Chane, a flashy guitarist in Brett Walker, and supported by the thuggish rhythm section of Peter Kidd and Graham Schiavello, the band earned themselves a reputation for being confident, showy and popular in certain circles. As Bruce Milne has pointed out, La Femme had a strong rapport with audiences, and for that reason was readily accepted on the suburban pub circuit where many other bands of the day would have been despised.

 La Femme signed to Keith Glass's Missing Link label and issued the single 'Chelsea Kids/'I Wanna Be Your Man'(June 1979), which contains many fine examples of the band’s confident, swaggering Glam-infused Punk-Metal sound. The band also scored an appearance on Countdown, (one of the first Punk/ New Wave bands to do so) but because the show's producers took exception to the lyrical content of 'Chelsea Kids', the band went to air miming to their cover of Lennon/McCartney's 'I Wanna Be Your Man'. However the band was to ultimately make six appearances on Countdown. In 1980 Missing Link also release a second single 'I Don't Want to Go Home'/'All Day and All Night', as well as a debut album  titled 'La Femme'.

 While many believe La Femme could have made it into the big league if they’d wanted to, in many ways they were their own worst enemies. An unwillingness to play the pop star game and serious drug addictions, among other things, perhaps ended up compromising the band’s drive. But despite their setbacks, La Femme toured constantly, built up a huge support base in the city's and suburban pub circuits all over the country, and scored several prestigious support gigs (including Iggy Pop & the Ramones). La Femme eventually broke up at the end of 1983.
Chane Chane has continued to tour and record and has now recorded over 5 albums with Melbourne band City Sharps.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blackfeather - Live Sunbury 73

Image
Blackfeather  are an Australian rock group which formed in April 1970. The band has had numerous line-ups, mostly fronted by founding lead singer, Neale Johns. An early heavy rock version recorded their debut album,  At the Mountains of Madness  (April 1971), which peaked at number seven on the  Go-Set  Top 20 Albums chart. It provided the single, "Seasons of Change" (May 1971), which was co-written by Johns with lead guitarist, John Robinson. In July 1972 a piano-based line-up led by Johns issued an Australian number-one single, " Boppin' the Blues " which went to number 1 on the Australian charts. Blackfeather formed in April 1970 in Sydney by Leith Corbett on bass guitar, Mike McCormack on drums, and John Robinson on lead guitar (all from the Dave Miller Set), plus lead vocalist, Neale Johns. [1] [2] [3]  Robinson recalled meeting Johns, "a small guy with a huge voice, Neale was very taciturn. He was into the blues and had excellent range. ...
Read more

Bakery circa 1971

Image
https://open.spotify.com/artist/04viexAbwHlaYx3dTMJEdE?si=YgY8E_VwQy6cYH9F1rdDJQ Bakery is one of the forgotten psychedelic heavy prog bands coming from Australia from the early '70's. Originally released in 1971, this album was years ahead of it’s time. Graced with flute, organ and all ingredients an album must have in this style of music, quite typical for that period, Bakery manage to deliver a brilliant album, well balanced and full of energy. The opening track Holocaust and Living With a Memory are the stand out tracks, and the album delivers a great heavy prog with psychedelic and jazzy arrangements, where the flute and keyboards has great parts, with excellent   guitar work to boot. Vocal parts are even great in places. The other tracks all clocking around 5-6 min are more rock orientated with that great atmosphere in places. The music is direct and not fancy delivering a rock album full of genius. Think Uriah Heep with a lot more guitar.
Read more