Shock 2000
photo: Pierre Baroni
Radio Loves This
[audio:https://www.deborahconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/RadioLovesThis.mp3]Never Far Away
[audio:https://www.deborahconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/NeverFarAway.mp3]Author Archives: wzdc
Radio Loves This single (2000)
Shock 7028.
photo: Pierre Baroni ©
- Radio Loves This
- Turn
- A Small Journey
all songs Conway/Zygier (EMI/Polygram). all music performed by City of Women
City of Women are Edmond Ammendola, Cameron Reynolds, Dave Williams, Willy Zygier
engineered by Mark Ingram; except 3, engineered straight to 2 track by Dave Anderson
1 mixed by Daniel Denholm, 2 mixed by Paul McKercher
another Intercorps Production 2000
photography and design: Pierre Baroni
Lamby’s, Geelong, 13 April 2000
where to start?
For those of you who don’t know Geelong is a city about an hour out of Melbourne. So after work last night Nicky, Julie and I dutifully trundled out there to see DC play at Lamby’s, armed only with a vague geography of Geelong and the name of the street the venue was on. After getting a bit muddled (and ringing Kate) we arrived at the venue which was a bar in a basement of an old wool store.
It was pretty quiet in there, just us and about 40 punters for most of the lead up. We saw Willy, Cameron and Dave wandering around so we figured we were in the right spot. Shortly before the show started Willy was on the stage and bumped his head pretty damn hard on one of the rafters (they were pretty low). We speculated later that this may have been the factor that explained the whole evening.
Once tweety had stopped flying around Willy’s head the band emerged, looking fabulous, Deborah in pink suit mentioned in previous gig reviews. The loose crowd (about 150 people or so) stood back a bit and watched and they launched into Interzone. They were in fine form. I think the might have played Alive and Brilliant next, I know they did at some stage.
Deborah then did a little intro for Radio Loves This, asking if they got radio down there. I think she meant the basement but I few punters thought she meant Geelong (maybe she did) and reacted badly, Geelong people can be like that 🙂
Then they played All of the Above (been a while since I’ve seen that live) with Willy playing an extended solo of the signature riff. It was just ace.
After only a few songs Deborah and Willy started to unplug various things while reassuring Rupert not panic. Deborah then climbed down and pronounced that the sound was awful on the stage. She wandered into the generous space left in front of the stage and invited the crowd to, well, crowd in. She then sang Feathers in My Mouth with just her voice (no amplification) and Willy on the unplugged acoustic guitar. This was just fucking fabulous. I have seen one or two DC shows and heard of a great number more but as far as I know this was a first. I have never heard Deborah sing except through a mic before and it just isn’t something I am going to forget in a hurry.
She then asked what we would like next (not us personally, the crowd, no celebrity status for us). I think Kate and Pez wanted Do You Miss Me When You’re Sober but Deborah choose to play White Roses (which produced an audible moan from all Bitch Listers present). This too was just ace. In the instrumental bit DC grabbed (in a nice way) some punter and waltzed around the dance floor with him. He was quite the gentleman, he didn’t even spill his beer on DC for the whole minute or so of dancing.
During these two songs there were still people talking but Deborah just wandered over in their direction and sang at them and that slowed them down a bit.
Having well and truly captured the crowd they got back up on stage and the whole thing took on a bit of a dance feel. Having had a sleep I can’t remember the songs played but I know that Only the Bones was in there as was I Lay My Head Down on My Pillow and I Cried I Night and Never Far Away with a bit of an island feel to it.
When Deborah reached the end of her set a few songs and much dancing later (although not by me, I am too skippy to dance) she asked if we wanted more. She said the option was to go off and then come back but it was all a bit of a farce and this way a lot of walking was saved.
Then they launched into the much heralded version of It’s Only the Beginning. This was well worth the wait. As someone to who all dance tunes sound like that Blue song (you mean they have more than one dance song???) even I appreciated this wild version of this song. I feel a B side coming on, I wish.
They closed with a spirited version of Man Overboard which is always welcome.
Some bad news for the evening. The Radio Loves This film clip was reshoot at record company request and both Willy and Pez got cut from it. There are plans to nab of copy of the original. More news then it’s available.
And my only question for the night is “but Willy, why can’t I play support???”(in a whingy voice)
cheers
Mark
Cat & Fiddle. 8 April 2000
A simple miming action of taking a cigarette out of her mouth throwing it down and stubbing it on the floor from DC grabbed the crowd’s attention and a lot of cheers from the audience on Saturday night and wound that pedastal we hold Deborah on up to full height! The offending smoker had no choice but to follow suit.
INTERZONE led the set once more with RADIO LOVES THIS, ALIVE AND BRILLIANT – I think it was here that a string broke so DC broke into a solo version of “Lord, won’t you buy me a mercedes benz” while WZ fixed it… at the conclusion WZ struck up with “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a guitar roadie…” – see, I knew he was dying to add comedy to his on stage role! Then ALL OF THE ABOVE and NEVER FAR AWAY. This show was a love-in to rival the Newcastle show, with everyone in the front row coupled up and not shy to express their love. Su, you mentioned the “swinging” woman at the Friday night show… well there was a real swinger on Sat night who ended up kissing about three different fellas which was DC’s excuse as to why she forgot a few lines during the night! DC was just trying to work out who the woman had arrived with and who she would leave with!
The lads departed the stage for the acoustic section, leaving DC and WZ to play a great version of FEATHERS. Standing collaborating on their next tune, a few calls were coming from the audience – “White Roses”, “String of Pearls”, “Under My Skin”. Deborah all of a sudden turns, faces me, and into the microphone says “Sarah. What do you want to hear.” *SG grins from ear to ear* “Under My Skin please Deborah.”… “Fine choice” And off they went … now you’re under my skin…. whoah…. now you’re under my skin… whoah…… She turned to me for prompting on the first line of the second verse which of course I couldn’t remember but Willy came to the rescue as usual. Lisa J was stoked as she then knew I was actually there at the show and she had a good giggle cos the folk around her apparently started calling out “Good on ya Sarah… good choice Sarah…” etc. And of course I was stoked and didn’t do too well at playing it cool…. “that was for me, that was for me!” Sad… of course afterwards I thought maybe a call for “Dolly!”, or “something by Hormonal Motives…” might have been a laugh but I’m well pleased I didn’t!
The lads hopped back on stage and continued with HERE IN MY ARMS, DAISY, RELEASE ME, LAY MY HEAD, SHE’S COMING FOR IT and GIRL THING. DC beckoned for me to come up on stage and she even had the hand outstretched to help me up when the band struck up for NOVOCAINE so my dream to go on stage with DC (in fact it’s a dream even just to go on stage at the Cat and Fiddle) fizzled before me… thanks lads! That’s what I get for making Billy Oddie references…
A minute or so off stage and the first encore was called for. AND my dream fulfilled – DC dragged me up alongside her introducing me with “This is Sarah – the tasteful person who requested Under My Skin earlier tonight. And she’s wearing this fantastic teeshirt which you can buy after the show” I couldn’t help but ask her to plug the mailing list which was at the bar and I told her to say there was a competition between Sydney and Melbourne* so she said “Please sign up to the mailing list. Apparently there is a competition where you can win a million dollars and I hear the odds are good!”… good enough for me!
Not sure if I imagined it, but I think the volume might have been pumped up for IOTB and it went off, much better than Friday night’s version! Crowd went wild again with everyone singing out with the chorus. A quick report on Willy’s antics during the song – a bit of dancing with arms involved in a disco motion, one or two shirt pulls and some hand clasping in a prayer like fashion… he’s getting there with looking cool without the guitar… please keep us updated (nothing like making him feel totally self conscious… we may not be psycho fans but we’re cruel all the same…) Man Overboard – jeez – you’d think these guys wrote the darn song, they’ve really taken it over – I never heard the DoReMi version live but this is a full band sound now and I’d say it’s going to stick. The lads left DC and WZ on stage to play White Roses and that jazzy improvisation in the solo is just gorgeous… I know I should have led the applause but I don’t think Sydney people really know what to do with jazz… maybe you’ll make up for it in Melbourne.
They all came back on stage to finish off with “It’s Only a Dream” – fantastic way to finish the set – it lulls everyone to sleep then ends with a big dance opportunity. “Sweet dreams” announced DC at the end before sitting down to autograph hoards of cds. Not sure if I appreciated the reference to my eyebrows (! … you’ll know what I mean when you get your cd signed…), but I will keep my signed poster forever… something about being a legend 😉
One more observation – if you don’t want to lose hearing for 24 hours, stand on the right of stage in front of Cameron and Edmond – Lisa J told me that it’s better to stand away from the lead guitar in terms of keeping your ears in one piece. Still, you won’t be able to see past the black box on Cameron’s keyboard, or pull faces at Willy so it’s a hard decision.
So once again, DC has swept through NSW and turned our lives up the right way! I say thank you thank you thank you for the opportunity to help out and for the amazing energy and passion you share with all your fans. Congratulations on the massive crowds too, and not one disappointed. :-))))))
Cheers,
Sarah G.
Cat & Fiddle, 7 April 2000
Even before DC had sung a word a couple of drunks had started up “Get your gear off!” to which that bloke in the BORED teeshirt stood up to the microphone and asked who had said that. The fella that looks like Bill Oddie was in fine form but didn’t get to perform Exquisite Stereo which I was disappointed about. The guy with no hair and a five string bass was hidden in the shadows in the back corner of the stage but still managed to pull a few tricks, explaining after the show that his bass percussion in “Here in my Arms” is supposed to wash over you… I hope I didn’t insult him by saying it really stands out and hits you… well I like it anyway….. And the tall dude on keyboards – he rocks – if groovy was a fashionable word I would use it for him. But it’s not. So I won’t. During the few acoustic songs it was cute to see the lads at side of stage punching a few Zs although Bill Oddie was all consumed by every note.
Just trying to think if they did put in another song… did they do “Only the Bones” last night… the shows are already merging together… “Last to Know” was interesting – just the acoustic version and it was sweet – “under my skin” or “holes in the road” or “she prefers fire” or “bag of sweets” would be my choices though but we’ve already had this conversation haven’t we?
Man Overboard had the whole band involved from the first note last night. DC confirmed after the show that the lads hadn’t even heard the song before the Newcastle show so I complimented Bill Oddie on his tribal drumming and the bald guy on his slap bass – you guys in Melbourne have to make sure you get a dose.
No shirt pulling from Willy last night during IOTB… instead he had some admirers at side of stage who sang every word to him and he responded, clutching both hands to his chest which was cute (as he looked over his shoulder to see if DC was looking – lol). With the guitars so so loud in all the other songs it would be great to hear the programmed stuff just as loud during this – it pumped through us in Newcastle but not so much last night. I’m a big fan of the drum kit being included too. Yeah!!!
Oh, Eva Trout up first were fab – I’d never seen them live before and would certainly go back for more… didn’t someone get their album this year as a Kris Kringle? I didn’t really see Simone Hardy but she did a solo acoustic set and certainly sounded sweet and so on the mark.
Great night, many, many, many, many satisfied punters. The crowd was not as uninhibited (drunk…) as those in Newcastle but we had a small mosh pit up the front anyway…. how can you stand still? Even Meeks was dancing by the end 😉 (got ya…!)
Sarah G.
Cambridge Tavern, Newcastle. April 6, 2000
What did that girl on the dcbitchlist say last week about Deborah’s voice?? DC proved me a clown tonight by bursting free and LOUD first up with “Interzone” which I’d never heard. No accusations of half heartedness from this side of the room…
“Radio Loves This” kept the throng of Newcasteelians (DC’s term not mine) bouncing to a grinding rhythm having introduced it as the leading single from Exquisite Stereo to be released in May.
A call of “Alive and Brilliant” was answered with “OK” and City of Women launched into the regular version. Well, as regular as it gets these days with the full band and 300 Bitch Epic owners singing along.
“All of the Above” followed and didn’t draw the same level of recognition from the crowd but the groove continued. It seems that alcohol + smoky bar + DC = schmooze. DC announced “What a sexy crowd!” It was only then that I cast my eyes around, not noticing anyone terribly sexy at all but recognising her comment related to the action on the dance floor.
Both “Never Far Away” and “Exquisite Stereo” (was that really Dave singing or a sample of Neil Finn thrown in? Lovely!) had two, then three, then four scantily clad women girating with intent around each other. While Edmond and Cameron were caught up in their parts, DC and WZ seemed amused and intrigued by it all, while it just sent Dave into a fit of giggles every time DC or WZ made eye contact with him.
“Only the Bones” had everyone jumping about and DC encouraged the intimacy to continue by playing “Here in My Arms” – I spotted a few gals leaving their men at the bar and joing the “love in” on the dance floor. One woman announced in the direction of the stage “I’m a heterosexual!” to which Deborah responded “Shame on you woman!! Get back in the closet!!” – it was a funny, funny atmosphere.
Crowd favourite “Today I’m a Daisy” was next, then a birthday dedication to “Susan” who was too shy to wave when asked – she was one of the older crowd seated with her bearded friends who all thoroughly enjoyed “Release Me” which followed.
I didn’t recognise List favourite “Lay My Head” until the final line – guess it wasn’t the tune I expected the Melbourne crew to really get behind. To be honest I don’t really remember the song though, I was too caught up in hysterics at the craziest thing I’ve seen at any concert. One of the very drunk minimally clad dancing girls strode up to her mate who was in a shorter than short tight black dress and proceded to reef the dress above her waist…! Now I’ve heard of women who wear no underwear under dresses… now I’ve seen one! The poor girl died of embarrassment and left, although I’m not sure if too many others saw her naked backside… only those on stage may have seen the front view but Dave didn’t fall off his stool so she may have been saved. Funniest thing I’ve seen in ages… aaaaah Newcastle. I was complaining that we were 24 hours late for the Jelly Wrestling but I needn’t have complained at all.
“Here she comes…” … love it… my favourite, especially Willy’s little fill riff. “Girl Thing” was on the set list but not played, and they finished rather abruptly with “Novocaine”.
OH – the encore… “It’s Only the Beginning” – amazing – can I just say you have to hear it to believe it! If I tried to describe it you would hate the sound of it… let’s just say if this was a double A side with “Exquisite Stereo” or “She’s Coming for it”, it would go through the roof at the clubs – hell, this mix would even make going to Hen’s Nights in the city more than tolerable! Oh, and it was worth it just to see Willy squirm for the first half of the song when he’s not playing his guitar – you thought Mark O’Meara looked awkward without a guitar in hand at the microphone – wait until you see Willy’s shirt pulling antics!
An impromptu version of “Man Overboard” came next thanks to a chorus of requests, with Willy and DC being joined by the other guys as they picked up on the rhythm… awesome. A second encore was called for and DC re-emerged a little overwhelmed by the screaming response! “It’s Only a Dream” to put everyone off to sleep – “This song helps with insanity” she mentioned to a small band at the front who had been heckling all night and who kept calling out “… you look like Geena Davis… you’re soooo sexy!” etc.
OK – the clothes… DC in pink suit with black sleeveless top, no shoes and pink toe nails. She ditched the jacket after a few songs and Willy threw it on in the encore over his lime and turquoise shirt with matching turquoise pants… despite the tight fit it actually was quite a look for the rockstar himself! For the first encore the black top was replaced with the pink merch teeshirt – that shirt is going to look a treat on Pez!!! Personally, I went for the orange but there’s also pink writing on grey and black writing on white for the lads – something for everyone. Yes I have the album now!
A memorable night – all thanks to Marinella, Donna and the security fella at the Cambridge, Lisa J for the company/laughs, and DC/City of Women for being incredible.
As for tonight… let’s do it again!
Sarah G.
Rebecca Barnard, Willy and Deborah (2000)
This photo was taken in Frankston by David Gilliver of the Gstring site. It is used with permission and may not be copied without David’s say so.
Willy and Deborah (2000)
This photo was taken in Frankston by David Gilliver of the Gstring site. It is used with permission and may not be copied without David’s say so.
Deborah, Julie McCrossin, Cindy Ryan and Gen Maynard (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah At Celebration Show (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah In Pink Light (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
More Willy In Pink (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Willy In Pink (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah With Guitar (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah and The Big Mouth (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah As A Purple Blur (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah Grooving Away (2000)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young at the Celebration of the Female Voice show in Sydney, February 2000.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Tilley’s – 30 Sept 1999
Now we’re talking. Nicky, Julie and I arrived at the venue at about 8pm and it was pretty much full, the stage was setup and things were going well.
At about half past nine Deborah and Willy strolled onto stage, welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd.
It became immediately apparent that Deborah is quite pregnant (yes, I know you can’t just be a little bit). Both she and Willy were in fine form. Deborah was talkative throughout the show and even recounted a couple of her dreams about Jeff Kennett. More on that later.
The show was broken into two sets. They opened with She’s Coming for It which was terrific. This further fuelled speculation that this will
appear on the new album (there was apparently some doubt about this).
Next they played Madame Butterfly is in Trouble. The rest of the order is a bit hazy but the songs were as follows.
- Today I am a Daisy
- Alive and Brilliant
- Only Girl (nice to hear this one, it’s been a while)
- Release Me
- Feathers in My Mouth (also nice to hear, one of my enduring favourites of MTH)
- Will You Miss Me When You’re Sober (also known as “that song about being drunk all the time”, see Sydney show review when someone writes one)
- You’ve Come to Earth (which DC says is about having a baby, I’ll take her word for it)
- Novacaine (bloody terrific stuff, I like this one more every time I hear it)
- Something about Decisions (description not the title)
- Happy New Year (they said this one might have an unexpected future, I hope so as it’s a favourite)
- Bag of Sweets
- White Roses (yes, someone yelled out for it, they said they’d promised themselves they wouldn’t play it anymore. They did, personally I am a bit over it)
- String of Pearls (quite close to being over this as well but it’s always
good to hear it live) - It’s Only a Dream
- It’s Only the Beginning
- 2001 Ultrasound (the first time I have heard this acoustic. they usually use a backing tape. it sounded terrific, I look forward to hearing this version again)
Now for the Jeff Kennett stories. For those of you who don’t know JK is a regional politician best known for being a fool and staying out of jail.
Deborah said she had a dream that JK took her to the Casino and then flew off with her superman style and told her that the whole city could be hers (I’m probably getting it a bit wrong). Then she woke up screaming.
In the second dream she was playing in Perth and realised that she had forgotten to drop the children off with her mother. As she was repacking her bag Willy turned into Jeff Kennett (now there’s a transformation!) and she started finding all this sexy underwear that he had packed for her and she was getting really turned on by this. Then Felicity (JK’s wife or ex-wife depending on what you read) burst in all angry. Again, she woke up screaming.
Willy wondered aloud if Felicity dreamed that Jeff turned into Willy.
Don’t we all wish?
She blamed these dreams on being pregnant.
All in all a terrific show.
Mark
1999 Interview for this site
This interview was done with Deborah Conway and her partner Willy Zygier in August 1999. Her fourth “solo” album (their third together) has been recorded but not released yet. After some tea and lunch the following was uttered –
What is different about the new album?
Deborah : It’s a band record so it’s different to My
It’s Only The Beginning single (1999)
Mushroom 1999
| Track 1 –It’s Only the Beginning From the album String of Pearls |
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Track 2 – Deborah Conway’s Nightmare #347 From the album String of Pearls |
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Track 3 – It’s a Girl Thing My Third Husband. |
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The famous film clip
Happy New Year single (1999)
Pulp 0002, 1999.
- Happy New Year (Conway/Zygier)
- Novocaine (Conway/Zygier)
- Glory Ordinary Day (Conway/Simon Austin)
Novocaine is from the album Exquisite Stereo.
Track 1
- Produced by Richard Pleasance
- Mastered by Mick Sirasole
- Guitars and Bass: Richard Pleasance
- Backing Vocals: Willie Zygier (sic) & Richard Pleasance
- Drums: Peter Maslan
Track 2 and 3
- Engineered by Mark Ingram
- Mixed by Paul McKercher
- Mastered by Ross Cockle
- Bass: Edmond Ammendola
- Samples and Keyboards: Cameron Reynolds
- Drum and Backing Vocals: Dave Williams
- Guitar and Backing Vocals: Willie Zygier (sic)
Distributed by Pulp Entertainment.
The misspelling of Willy’s name makes thing one well worth tracking down. It was released predominantly through Sanity music stores.
The Dan O’Connell, 25 Feb 1999
I was one amongst a few dedicated (or fanatical) bitchers to attend the final City of Women show (for the moment) at the Dan last night.
In my opinion it was one of the best shows. The sound was good throughout and the band really seemed to have it together.
The playlist was a good one. Most of the regular songs with Happy New Year and Turn thrown in. Glory Ordinary Day was missing, but you can’t have it all heh?
There was a larger crowd then over the last few weeks – maybe the word is spreading. I believe one joker was even doing the rounds of the crowd try to get a few more bitchers on the list. :-)…..
As Cameron said last night, it was a bit sad that we don’t know when how or where we will hear the new songs again. Our offer of a bribe to the soundman for a copy of last weeks recordings was countered by DC who pays his wages. Oh well, we tried!!!
A whisper from Willy may have included something about the new songs being recorded in April for a possible Aug/Sep release. How am I going to wait that long?????? Some of the lyrics are already on high rotation in my head.
Julie
The Commercial Hotel, 24 Feb 1999
What wonders a front page of a newspaper will achieve. Clearly we were not the only ones paying attention to DC on the front cover of the Western Times last week, the Commercial was packed for the final night of City of Women there.
The play list was pretty much the standard for these shows with the addition of Freeway something which I think was played at the Empress this week also. I can’t really comment on this new one as it always takes me a few listens to get into things, what did others think?
Rach and I were all ready to call for Turn for an encore but the moment sort of escaped us, damn damn damn. I sneaked a look at the playlist and it was there amoung the final songs they didn’t play.
All in all a terrific show. While the most dramatic improvements to songs seemed to be earlier this month each show seems to be that little bit better. There were only very minor sound problems last night but this was more than compensated by the whole band having a top time.
Mark
The Empress of India, 23 Feb 1999
Tuesday night at the Empress seems to have become an overnight institution for the Melbourne Listers.
Last night we had a showing from Meeks, Julie, Cameron, Rach (and her twin in disguise), Matt, Cameron, myself and Nicky.
The playlist was very similar to previous shows with a couple a interesting ups and downs.
The first down was during Come to Earth. When ever Deborah got to the end of the chorus “you come to earth” the whole sound basically did some pretty mental feebback. The first time it happened DC shot a look at their sound guy to fix it, the second time it happened she shot him a look that would have sent me scrambling for the first flight out to South America. Basically this problem fucked up the song which was pretty dissapointing. Come to Earth (possibly you come to earth) has really grown on me in the last month. I know a few other listers are lukewarm about it but I particularly like its hypnotic quality.
On to the next debarcle. As DC treaded away at the effects pedals (held firmly in place by the craftsmanship of Tim) it became clear pretty clearly that the effect was just not working. Worse still Deborah’s voice was not being amplified at all. They messes about with it for a minute or so then just went into the song with Deborah singing the distorted bits herself. this is the second time this had happened and while I am sure it gives DC the screaming heebiejeebies I quite like hearing Deborah sing the weird sounds herself, it sounds a bit raw which I really like.
On to the sucesses of the evening.
Radio Loves this sounded terrific with the riff from Willy back in force.
She’s Coming for it just gets better and better.
So Sweet which is just super catch, I particularly like the vocal backing willy does towards the end of the song.
Interzone I can take or leave but sounded good last night.
I am sure there are others but after a sleep I can’t remember them. I know they didn’t play either Turn of New Years Eve but am at a loss to say the others they did play. damn.
When they finished after about 45 minutes someone called for an encore since it was the last show at the Empress. The band conferred and came back with Pass the Sugar which was just great.
Mark
Part 2
OK I’m in an odd mood…well more than normal…so just bare with me ok.
Now…last nights concert was great…I arrived (for only the second time this month) at the Empress…walked casually past DC on the way in and found about 10 people off the list. As I was waiting for a drink Deb came up and whispered “you old enough” while giggling…after mumbling something about only drinking straight coke I sat down to enjoy the show.
There is no way I can remember the play list…all I know is Interzone was up first…pass the sugar? (I don’t even know the names yet) was last and the sound ironically stuffed up the most on Equisite stereo (did I spell any of that right). I really like that Novocaine song…I pretty much like all the new stuff.
Since Rach isn’t here I guess I’ll have to do the ‘hair report’ *realises she has no iea what she’s talking about* uh….*panics* they were all pretty much…the same…yes…they’re all very hairy…the drummer possibly the most. Willy’s hair is…pretty close to non existant…I like it though.
And now the fashion report…*realises she should have given up after the ‘hairy’ thing* um…all I can remember thinking is that Willy’s sandels were pretty cool but Deb’s were better. You want descriptions huh…yes…well they were very…uh…sandl-ish.
Meeks
The Dan O’Connell, 18 Feb 1999
Quick review of the Dan
To those from interstate… I’m sorry… I’d hate us too if all these gigs were not somewhere I could get to! To those who were at the commercial Wednesday night … we had sound!
Willie’s hair is a number three? Yeah right… try a number one!! (Mark says that he re-cut it after last night).
Just a note for those who play guitar and may be going to work out the chords for the new songs … (those who don’t just ignore this paragraph). ‘So sweet’ has a capo on 2, and ‘She’s coming for it’ has a capo on 3. Nothing worse than getting the chords to a song and finding out that they’re wrong!
Deb wore the standard dress, Willie wore standard garb. (Deb hasn’t shaved her head… Willie almost has) Deb wore boots with the dress, Willie wore Docs (no dress) (sounding a little like ‘Evil Homer’)
Deb played 2 guitars, the standard DC1 Maton (have you seen the road case for that thing??? Bomb proof!!), and a semi-acoustic reminiscent of the blue beast, but with a burnt wood finish. (Also changing guitars meant that at times Deb had more plectrums than she new what to do with)
We got a NEW new song!! (well after a false start we got a new song anyway) We have dubbed it ‘FREEWAY’ for want of a better title (although I’m sure it must have one!). I’m not sure how to explain it… It has some weird guitar (from Willie of course)… sort of distorted clipped sounds that echo…. a pregnant pause in the middle… you’ll have to hear it! I think that after a few listens it’ll be really cool, but at the moment, it’s just another new song (It’s the sort of thing I’ll end up loving I just know it!). I hope they play it again! Crowd applause was restrained… I wanted to jump up and down and cheer, but I controlled myself and just clapped vigorously.
Willie ‘Let fly’ on a few of songs. If that’s what happens when he cuts his hair, I want to see him shave it all off!! – only I don’t want to be in the front row when he does, I just might get hurt! Deb wasn’t overly restrained herself, and both certainly *seemed* to have a good time!
As Mark, Nicky and Julie walked into the distance, Mark was yelling “Write a review…” so Mark… here it is (for better or worse) and yes… I am jealous of your Maton.
I really enjoyed the show… one of the best yet! (Can there seriously be only 3 shows left? I’m suffering withdrawals already!!!)
Cameron
The Empress of India, 16 Feb 1999
Well, wasn’t last night a gorgeous night.
There were quite a few of us at the Empress – Mark, Nicky, Kristen, Kate & Amanda, Kate, Meeks, Cameron… oh, and me. We were nicely spaced around the room. I was comfortably sprawled on the arm of an armchair… love the atmosphere of the place.
The playlist was –
* Interzone
* So Sweet
* She’s Coming for It
* You Come to Earth
* Exquisite Stereo
* I Lay my Head Down on my Pillow and I Cry all Night
* Novocaine
* Radio Loves This
* Glory Ordinary Day
Those who heard “She’s coming for it” in Canberra or Milton… the words have changed a bit (no more comment about ‘everywhere you look it spells her name’) but it’s still fabulous!!!
“Everybody knows some one like her
It spins you out
She’s coming for it”
Now, in Radio Loves This, as I was watching Deborah’s hands intently to work out exactly what she was playing (I think I worked it out, but wouldn’t want to be quoted on it, ‘cos I’m normally wrong)… anyway, as I was watching intently, I suddenly thought… jewellery… ring… which finger… does that mean?
Yep, there was a flash of gold on Deborah’s left hand ring finger… closer discrete staring revealed that the ring looked vaguely rockish (as much as I could tell from several metres away, on a moving hand, in funny light.)
I checked with Meeks to see if I was imagining things, and was assured that no I wasn’t…
I dashed over to check with Nicky, who had just noticed it, hadn’t noticed it any other show… were we on to the trail of a big secret? Had Valentines day been a big day for our stars?
Okay, it’s possible that, knowing at least two couples who got engaged over the weekend, I was reading more into this than is strictly necessary but…???
Well, afterwards we were debating whether we’d ever find out what the ring meant… no-one was game to ask (you can tell I was on lemonade, otherwise I would have asked straight after the show.) Nicky thought Mark might be able to pry it out of Willy, but he’d probably be sworn to secrecy, so what use was that? Cameron said he’s sure the ring has actually been there for a few weeks…
Well, after all this torturous discussion I decided “what the hell… they probably already think I’m nuts, so no harm in asking.”
Yep, I bit the bullet… walked up to Deborah and, somewhat sheepishly asked about the ring. Something along the lines of “Um, Deborah, I just wanted to ask… um, I couldn’t help but notice the ring, and, um, which finger it was on… and, um, well… I was wondering… um… does it mean?”
You’ve probably noticed that there were a lot of ‘um’s in that sentance… tell you something?
Well, I’ve dragged it out long enough I think… Deborah looked down at her hand, as if not sure what she was wearing… and said “Oh, no… no (laughing) it’s a ring Willy gave me ages ago… I don’t normally wear rings, but a few weeks ago Syd saw the ring and said ‘That’s pretty mummy, put it on’… so…”
So, there’s me sheepishly grinning. “Well, that kind of spoils our speculation… d’oh”
Deborah said something like “You guys don’t miss much, do you?” At which, yes, I grinned sheepishly again.
The ring is gorgeous, even if it’s not the engagement ring we’d been specualting it could be… a ruby, surrounded by about 5 or six pearls in a circular setting on an engraved gold band (I only got a quick look.)
The other notable point in the conversation was Deborah saying that they’d get married when the kids asked them too… but since Syd is obsessed with being a bride at the moment it would be a few years away… at the moment Syd wants to marry Willy! (I replied “Can you blame her?” which earnt me a funny look.)
So, there’s our entertainment from last night… other than the fabulous music (which is, indeed getting better every week.)
Rach
The Dan, 11 Feb 1999
Started off with about 30 people in the audience… Deb praised us all for coming out to listen to “good original music”.
Standard run of songs with the standard few mistakes/mix ups (though maybe more of the ballady songs than other gigs)… gee those songs are good… the more I listen to them the better they get (either that or the band are getting better and the songs really are getting better) – even the one with the distorted vocals… I think Deb loves that one… she really gets into it – slinking and grooving along (no guitar helps as well). I think maybe D and W were having fun too… lots of wry smiles.
Crowd were a little quiet to begin with, but as they got into it and more people arrived (ended up with maybe 50-60 people), they began to liven up. At one point Deb said “…that’s more like it…” at the end of a song and much applause (from me anyway… I always seemed to be the last one clapping). The crowd was funny actually… waiting until the last sound of any sample had completely finished until the applause started. The gig finished with radio loves this… bugger radio loving it – I love it!
FASHION REPORT: Deb was wearing dress as usual (approx 15 cm alternating bands of blue, yellow and red. Dusty colours, a knit of some type… I don’t think it’s cut on the bias, but the stripes are at approx 45 degrees) NOTE: this is all from a male perspective… Willy wore blue jeans and a pull over collared shirt with alternating black and white vertical stripes (approx. 5 mm) with maybe 3 buttons. The rest of the band wore… stuff.
Gigs just keep getting better and better…
Cameron Grant
The Commercial, 10 Feb 1999
I’m not going to review last night’s show, except to say that it was really, really good.
There were 2 highlights for me:
First, the 3 yobbos standing midway along the bar. These guys started off the evening doing their best to talk as loudly as possible over the music.
As the set wore on, though, their conversation ground to a halt as they began to pay more and more attention to DC. However, from the look on at least one of them’s face, I’m not sure the music was initially the main attraction. By the end they were totally won over. Towards the end DC said that she hoped the audience didn’t mind listening to the new stuff, rather than the songs they’re familiar with. One of the yobbos shouted that it was cool, DC replied that actually it was rather warm in the pub. A nice moment.
The other highlight was couple I will call Mr & Mrs Average. I recognised these people from the Dan last week, which pleased me since I thought we listers were the only groupies following City of Women around – aside from a couple of girls who I think might be girlfriends of guys in the band.
These two were having an absolute ball. They sat at a table and bopped along with every song, even getting into a bit of head banging during ‘I laid my head down on my pillow and I cried all night’ (yes, that is the song title)
It was a pleasure to see other people who obviously enjoy DC’s music as much as we do. Which bring me to the few lyrics I can remember: they come from ‘I laid my head down …’
This is one of the verses I think. I may not have it completely right because the song is very fast.
Here goes:
I’m trying out different food
I’m trying a different bus stop
I’m trying out different food
I’m trying a complete mind-swap
There is also a bit that goes, ‘I’m enjoying exotic ..’ something, has a couple of other lines and ends with ‘I’m enjoying being single’, but Julie paid more attention to that bit than I did.
Nicky Pelletier
The Empress of India, 9 Feb 1999
The Empress is a rather studentish pub in Fitzroy. Shabby and mostly brown with dirty tables, but good food and, tonight, very good music. It was also the sight of a veritable bitchfest. The list was out in force and then some.
Mark & I, the recently departed Matt and a friend, Kate & Amanda, the other Kate and a friend (sorry I didn’t say hello), Kristen with Mark’s sister Rad and Rad’s housemate Perri, Cameron, Julie, Rach, Bryan (our favourite Young Australian, fresh from Bert), Tanya, Fran and a friend were all there. Apologies to anyone I missed, but it was a bit overwhelming. I don’t think I’ve seen that many bitch listers and friends anywhere before.
The music as usual was fantastic. The set opened with Interzone, followed by some songs I loved but don’t know and couldn’t guess the names of. Here she comes and Radio Loves This were played along with Exquisite Stereo and Julie’s favourite, Happy New Year. I am now eagerly awaiting the next album so I can learn the lyrics to all of these great new ones. It was a short set – only 45 minutes – but a well spent three quarters of an hour indeed.
I realise this is a really lame review but, take my word for it, it was a very good gig. DC went off, WZ went off, and it was a joy to watch.
When Rach climbs out from under the mountain of work currently keeping her quiet on the list, I’m sure she’ll tell you about DC’s dress which we both covet. I’m not sure I could do it justice. Very simple, but very nice. Where does she shop?
Nicky Pelletier
The Dan, 4 Feb 1999
The first City of Women gig at the Dan O’Connell was very quiet from the crowd side and nice and noisy from the stage side.
While the Dan has a reputation for overcrowding this hot Thursday saw only sixty or seventy people out to see and hear City of Women. Another feature of the Dan seems to be pretty basic sound. While the last actual Deborah Conway show there was marked by particularly awful sound the City of Women were much easier to hear. Deborah’s vocals sometimes were drowned out by the rest of the band but then City of Women is not just a backing band for DC so I figure this is no catastrophe.
I only recognised a few of the songs. They opened with Interzone which has a much fuller, more aggressive sound, with the band. Actually this is true for everything they played. The difference between just DC and Willy and some backing tapes and City of Women is like day and night. Frankly Interzone doesn’t grab me a heap. It sounds a little like a Bond theme at times but didn’t last night.
Radio Loves This was full on and really good. For the guitar players reading this they were playing different chords further down the fret board and playing really really fast so it was hard to tell what the strumming was. Willy was playing a recurring melody across it that sounded to me a little like a snippet from Day Tripper. All of this came together to make a great sound and DC’s voice came through loud and clear.
She’s Coming For It also came up really well with City of Women. It didn’t sound quite like the pop ballad that it has so far but this is no bad thing either. Most of the other songs were ones I had either not heard before or I didn’t remember especially clearly.
There was one song where DC’s voice was put through some effects and sounded weird but it really grows on you after only a short time. Other songs sounded like they would have been right at home on My Third Husband, one especially (sorry, don’t know what it was called) reminded me of Bag of Sweets.
Other songs sound like nothing else on any DC album. Strong, almost floating, vocals and weird tempo and sounds in the backing. I look forward to hearing more of these.
The evening was plagued by minor sound problems of hissing and static and stuff like that but from where I was sitting it got lost in the general wash of sampling and effects so i wasn’t bothered. Events stopped briefly while they address some major problem in which DC tried to get the audience to chant the name of the bass player (Edmond Ammendola).
All in all a good show. well worth getting along to these, I’ll be at the Empress on Tuesday for sure.
Mark O’Meara
The Commercial Hotel, 3 Feb 1999
I was one of the thirty or so strong crowd to see the first performance of the City of Women and some of the songs which hopeful will grace DC No 4.
There were about ten songs in all played. City Of Women is made up of DC, WZ (dressed by his dad), Cameron Reynolds (keyboards/sampling), David Williams (the drummer), and Edmond Ammendola (bass player) – hope I’ve got them right.
They started off with Interzone- the band version is good. Others that I knew were She’s Coming For It, You’ve Come To Earth and Radio Loves This. RLT has been reworked a bit and really rocks. Willy picks and Deb strums and it sounds great with bass etc. It should be recorded just as it was played last night.
Can’t remember too many titles of new songs, but Happy New Year sounds like a sad and melancholic end to IOTB – a beautiful DC tune that would be a fantastic acoustic number. The last song and definitely my favourite of the night – more of a SOP/BE feel.
Exquisite Stereo started with DC vocals being distorted thru microphone (bit like Neil Finn on TWT – Twisty Bass?) and was very catchy.
Most of the new songs have more of an Ultrasound/M3H feel, with samples leading into a couple of songs and sampling backing tracks used throughout. I cannot wait for the new album.
I wasn’t going to, but I’ll be off to the Dan tonight to have another dose and hopefully hear some other newies…
Julie Anderson
Kids Benefit, Prince of Wales, 8 Dec 1998
Wednesday the 9th of December at the Price of Wales turned out not to be the home of a big crowd for the Kids Benefit gig.
After sitting through 10 minutes of one of the other bands (who were awful) Deborah and Willy appeared and quietly set up their stuff. Bitch Listers present were Amanda, Kate, Rach, Julie, Nicky and myself (or is that I?).
They opened with Interzone. I may just be a heathen but this number is not really growing on me much but there you have it. This was followed by She’s Coming for It. My impresssion, again from a position of almost total ignorance, was that they played this one at a faster tempo (no idea if this is the correct term) than normal. I really like She’s Coming for It so was pretty happy with this.
This was followed by the ever catchy Radio Loves This. Listening and watching I was pleased to see that I have the basic strumming of this one down more or less (thanks to Willy for taking me through this in minute detail and to Tim for coaching me out of all the wrong ways to interpret the notes I made from Willy’s instruction). While they were playing RLT Willy was doing weird guitar distortion type noises which I could not decide if I liked or really annoyed me. Happily I worked out that I did like the sound of it (just full of fucking opinions tonight, aren’t I?)
Second last (not completely sure about the ordering generally now it comes down to it) they played Bag of Sweets.
Deborah then announced that they had time for one more song as they were running early. She asked the crowd (for want of a better word) and some fellow yelled out “two songs, two more songs” which was warmly recieved by the audience.
Apparantly at the request of the sound guy (DC asked him if he had paid to get in, one of those things you had to be there to follow) they finished with String of Pearls which is always welcome.
At the end of that they bid us good night and disappeared into the ether which is fair enough really.
Mark O’Meara
Mushroom Anniversary Discs (1998)
Various, The Mushroom Story – Hits Of The Nineties Vol 1
The fourth in a series released to celebrate Mushroom Records 25th Anniversary (1997-98).
DISC 1
- Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher And Higher – Jimmy Barnes
- Release Me – Deborah Conway
- World’s A Peach – Barker
- Took The Children Away – Archie Roach
- This Is It – Dannii Minogue
- Oil And Water – Horsehead
- Hand Becomes Fist – Chris Wilson
- Accidentally Kelly Street – Frente
- Joy – Deni Hines
- Holy Grail – Hunters And Collectors
- Master Blaster – Nikka Costa
- Local MP – Wicked Beat Sound System
- Get Down On It – Peter Andre (With Past To Present)
- Easy Come Easy Go – Gw Mclennan
- Beauty And Danger – The Killjoys
- When Your Love Is Gone – Jimmy Barnes
- September – Past To Present
- I’m The Woman Who Loves You – Renee Geyer
- Jukebox In Siberia – Skyhooks
- Workin’ On It – Nathan Cavaleri (With Andrew Strong)
DISC 2
- Better The Devil You Know – Kylie Minogue
- The Ghost Of Vainglory – Mark Seymour
- I’ve Got A Plan – My Friend The Chocolate Cake
- That Word (L.O.V.E.) – Rockmelons (Featuring Deni Hines)
- Apple Eyes – Swoop
- I Want You – Toni Pearen
- Hard Love – Vika And Linda Bull
- Minutes Like Hours – The Jaynes
- Metropolis – The Church
- Did It Again – Kylie Minogue
- Gimme Little Sign – Peter Andre
- Effervescence – Pollyanna
- Alive And Brilliant – Deborah Conway
- Lover Lover – Jimmy Barnes
- Miss Freelove ’69 – Hoodoo Gurus
- Djapana – Yothu Yindi
- I Can’t Stand The Rain – Wilson Diesel
- Heavy Weather – The Paradise Motel
- Love And Affection – Kate Ceberano
- Tease Me – Paul Kelly
The Mushroom Story – Hits Of The Nineties Vol 2
From humble beginnings in 1972, Mushroom Records has been the face and the major driving force behind contemporary Australian music. This album contains 40 tracks on 2CDs, all digitally remastered.
DISC ONE
- It’s Only The Beginning – Deborah Conway
- When The River Runs Dry – Hunters And Collectors
- Island Home – Christine Anu
- The Weight – Jimmy Barnes (With The Badloves)
- Alimony Blues – Chris Wilson
- It’S Alright – Deni Hines
- Coppertone – Fini Scad
- Spark – Not Drowning Waving
- Deeper Water – Paul Kelly
- Lost – The Badloves
- All Night All Right – Peter Andre (Featuring Coolio)
- Ordinary Angels – Frente
- When Will You Fall For Me? – Vika And Linda Bull
- Don’t It Get You Down – Dead Star
- Infatuation – Moler
- Indio – Indecent Obsession
- Where Are You Now? – Roxus
- Heavenly Pop Hit – The Chills
- Lay Down Your Guns – Jimmy Barnes
- Restoration – Header
DISC TWO
- Confide In Me – Kylie Minogue
- How To Make Gravy – Paul Kelly
- Mysterious Girl – Peter Andre
- Treaty (Radio Mix) – Yothu Yindi
- 99 Reasons – Jo Beth Taylor
- Pash – Kate Ceberano
- Even When I’m Sleeping – Leonardos Bride
- New Craze – The Black Sorrows
- Last Train – Christine Anu With Paul Kelly
- Relapse – Rail
- It’s Not Over – Rockmelons (Featuring Deni Hines)
- Down In Splendour – Strait Jacket Fits
- Cry – The Mavis’s
- Love Comes Easy – Vika And Linda Bull
- Waking Up Tired – Hoodoo Gurus
- My Heavy Friend – The Truth
- Lukiest Man – Weddings Parties Anything
- Throw Your Arms Around Me (1990 Version) – Hunters And Collectors
- Cruise Control (Eskimos In Egypt Mix) – Headless Chickens
- Snowblind Moon – Broderick Smith
It’s A Girl Thing single (1998)
Mushroom 1999
It’s a Girl Thing was the third single from Deborah’s album, My Third Husband. It was only released to radio stations and is not available in the shops.
The Lyrics
The door to paradise is open making you go twitchy twitch
Naked in the house with her and all her dumb exploding tricksAh they wouldn’t understand
Ah fat boy you’re all gland, all gland, all gland, all gland
Ah it’s a girl thingUgly sees you and he wants to take you home and feed you cream
Somehow this is quite enchanting in the barnyard of his dreamsAh they wouldn’t understand
Ah fat boy you’re all gland, all gland, all gland, all gland
Ah it’s a girl thingHe’s got a problem, she’s a solution
Gorgeous illusion of love
They make it all look like “I want you”
OKBaby she’s so hungry she could eat your BBQ tattoo
The Zoo, Brisbane, 29 May 1998
I saw her last night in Brisbane, at The Zoo in Fortitude Valley, and she was as amazing as ever! I was going to write when i got back from the show, but thanks to our ever so reliable public transport system [*coughcough*], that wasn’t until like 3am… I was impressed [not]. This aside however, the night was without a doubt in my mind worth it! Hell, like it ever isn’t with deb!
I was able to get a good position up near the front, so i had a clear view of both deb and willy, which was great as i am only five feet two! :o) they didn’t come on until around 11pm, but they’re always worth enduring two hours of limited oxygen and everybody else’s cigarette smoke for [though i do hate that smoke… !]. she was great, as ever. and oddly enough, queensland was again the last stop on her tour. last time i saw her, last year, it was her last show too, though that time she played the zoo, and then the doghouse on the gold coast. anyhow, get to the point heidi! as i say, she was wonderful! she came out, and they launched into “alive and brilliant” [which was, ‘scuse the pun, brilliant! *eek*]. after that, she was fiddling with the halter neck on her dress, and she was so amusing in her self consciousness — she was speaking about how last time she’d played here she was about to give birth [“i had a girl. alma, for the suffragette, and then del ray — in case she wants to be a stripper!”], and this time “you’ll have to pardon me. i’m lactating, and tonight i’m being strangled by my unreasonably large breasts!”. just the way she said it was hilarious. her on-stage banter all night was really amusing… just what i needed to cheer me up.
She was wearing the now infamous funky patterned dress, sort of a paisley psychadelic patterned fabric, and willy had his matching pants on. very nice indeed, those. they looked so cute, little matching outfits. the set-list was grand — if she’d done “will you miss me when your sober?” and “she prefers fire” it would have been just my *dream* deborah set-list, i tell you! they did [not in order… i’m too dense to remember that!]: “alive and brilliant”, “today i am a daisy”, “madame butterfly is in trouble” [i *love* this song! and in all the times i’ve seen her, she’s never done it live!], “dcn #348” [someone yelled out for this during the encore, and she hadn’t played it in so long, she kept muddling herself up. it was sweet], “release me” [this was a powerhouse…], “under my skin”, “it’s only the beginning” [this was really cute — the crowd sang practically the entire song, with deb coming in on choruses. she was so touched and amused by the fact that everyone started singing. it was a nice moment], “all of the above” [her prelude to this cracked me up. i’ll never forget it! :o) “i wrote this when i was in london, and i’d just heard john howard had gotten into government, and i was really depressed. i’m not depressed anymore though because somehow i’ve got the feeling that his days are numbered”], “2001 ultrasound” [willy’s electric guitar effects on this were awesome!], “only the bones [will show]” [i love this song, and it is really good live!], “here in my arms” [“this is my version of the 60s song, for the 90s – if you can’t be with the one you love, fuck the one you’re with!”] and ended their initial set with a fabulous “man overboard”.
At this point, she went off, and came back for the encore wearing the my third husband tee, she was explaining it: “can you see what i’m wearing now? apart from my abnormally huge breasts, of course! see, three husbands, but only one bride. you gotta wonder what happened to the first two, hey?”. then for the encore, someone yelled out for “dcn #348” and she got all flustered, saying she hadn’t played it in ages, but would give it a go. it was great — not surprisingly! – but she lost her place a few times because these people kept yelling out: “happy birthday deborah!”. sweet, but it wasn’t even her birthday! so, pretty annoying after the first, ooohhh, five times! :o) she kept getting annoyed at them for talking, and she was like: “people up the back chatting. are you talking for a reason? trying out new chat-up lines? not having any success? trying to get somebody home tonight?! it won’t work… just listen instead”. she was being good natured about it, but the way they kept yelling out happy birthday *was* stupid — especially after she thanked them, but told them it wasn’t her birthday. then everyone was shouting out for “white roses” or “string of pearls”, so she gave us a choice. but everyone yelled equally loudly for both — so she asked willy which he’d prefer and they launched into “string of pearls”. *amazing*. her voice was so strong and it just soared… great.
The only thing that kinda ruined it was this IDIOT standing next to me. the entire night, the guy just had NO idea of personal space. it was like, i’d move over a tiny bit so he wouldn’t be shoving into me. but everytime i moved, he moved! it was like: “hello?!”. and then he felt compelled to sing. it was okay during “it’s only the beginning”. everyone was singing. but during SOP and WR, two incredibly slow, poignant songs, there’s this twit in a business suit yelling out as deb’s singing slowly and soulfully. it was like: “SHUT UP!!!”. unfortunately i’m not one of those people who can actually *say* what she is thinking. ick. anyhow… this aside, SOP was beautiful, as ever. and *then* just as we thought they’d go off, they started in on WR! i was so happy! :o) it was a much different version to the record version — very slow, and smouldering — bluesy jazzy feel to it. it was great!
so… overall? the show was amazing. i had a wonderful time. and afterward, i got to meet her! she came out to sell t-shirts [i wanted a blue one, but just like last time, they didn’t have any small sizes left! *sigh*] and cd’s, and i chatted to her a little, and asked for an autograph. i got it on a bit of paper out of my “wallace and gromit” diary! talk about embarrassing, but it was all i had with me!. i was *so* almost going to bring my booklet from “string of pearls” [my fave deb CD], but then i thought no way, because the zoo’s a big venue, and i figured my chances of meeting her were non existent. d’oh! but she did sign the page for me, she thought the W&G diary was really cute. i made a total geek of myself originally, i was like: “i do have your cds, but not here, i’m really sorry but could you please sign this?”. talk about wanting to sink into the floorboards! :o) but she was really nice, she signed the autograph: “heidi – it’s a girl thing! always, deborah conway” so that was lovely. she looked gorgeous, and the show was amazing… i had a ball! :o)
*faerieblessings*
heidi
1998 Willy Zygier Interview
In October 1998 I was fortunate enough to be able to interview the much admired Willy Zygier. I was shattered to learn that although I consider myself a devoted fan there is much I would not have guessed about Willy Zygier.
Many thanks to Willy for taking part in this interview, to the Bitch Listers for submitting questions (most of which i used), and Nicky Pelletier for editing this and reassuring me that perhaps I am not as much a monkey as I think I am.
Where were you born?
I was born at the Jessie McPherson hospital in Melbourne.
Tilley’s – 23 May 1998
Does Willy Zygier ever have a bad guitar day? If so I am yet to see it and I have seen one or two of the Deborah and Willy shows.
From start to finish this was an exceptional show. The venue, Tilley’s, is a welcome warm and personal place in the city of roundabouts. Our first impressions of Canberra were washed away but this tremendous cafe/club. We were lucky enough to get seats right at the front and met up with Bitch Listers Sarah and Jonny.
The play list was virtually identical to the Melbourne shows a week earlier but the atmosphere and fact that Deborah and Willy seemed to be having a top time made this show Must-See-DC.
For the encore someone requested a Frank Sinatra tribute so Deborah sung Under My Skin (not her version) with Willy piecing together the guitar as they went along. Some wags even suggested he broke into a sweat with the concentration.
The highlight of the show was when DC played Consider This after Rachael (from the Bitch List) requested it. She said she’d play it but that Rachael would have to prompt her for some of the lyrics. Sure enough DC stopped at least 3 times during the song to get the next lyric from Rach who was screaming them up at the stage. It was a hilarious episode that got the whole place howling with laughter.
All things considered, well worth driving from Melbourne, one of the best DC shows I have ever seen.
Mark
Tilley’s – 23 May 1998
What a relief!!! After all of my boasting about Tilley’s and the success that Deborah and Willy enjoy there – it all came together into a package of perfection for the Bitch Listers who had driven all the way from Melbourne for the gig. And what a night!! Dinner was pricey but delicious and kept us sustained until the 9:30pm start time.
With Rupert back at the helm, things ran smoothly, although the recent extensions had Deborah searching for the sound booth in the crowd, unlike previous concerts when artists could make easy eye contact with their sound engineers. Still, the extensions gave the patrons more elbow room, a better chance of buying tickets, and an enhanced sound which Deborah and Willy took full advantage of.
Deborah admitted that she would have to be more spontaneous than usual – “There are a few people here who have seen a few shows already and are getting sick of my jokes.” But none of us had heard the bagging of Kylie and Danni (“Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve offended any Danni fans out there – from the heart of my bottom I’m so sorry!”), or the story about Deborah’s great aunt who moved to Perth at age 92 and said “It’s not the greatest…” “…but it’s not as if I’m going to be living here all my life!”
A quick revelation from a front row groupie – we’ve been over the topic of Willy’s chair dancing… and we’ve all noticed that he now stands during concerts!! The new revelation is that when he performs his guitar solos, he lets out this strained whine that keeps the chord going and joins one riff to the next. Probably one of those concentration traits that one isn’t conscious of, we even thought at first that it might be feedback from the guitar but it was certainly audible. Have a listen next time you can!
While DC and WZ may not have enjoyed the Bitch List’s front row position for the majority of the concert, it was during the encore that appreciation took on a whole new meaning for me. Rach requested her favourite, “Consider This”…. after the usual umming and aahing, (“just because you guys drove all the way from Melbourne for this!”) they agreed, adding “You will be able to help me if I don’t know the words won’t you???” You won’t believe this unless you were there (you will believe it after reading 5 reviews describing the same incident!) but Deborah did not remember the first line of ANY verse, or the first line of the bridge either. Rach came through with flying colours with Mark and I trying to pitch in when things got tough – (THE LIGHTS ARE ON BUT NO-ONE’S HOME was not heard clearly, so there we were, pointing at the spot lights… THE… LIGHTS… ARE…ON…. “Oh yeah… the light’s are on but no-one’s home that I see”) It was just incredible – the crowd was in hysterics, knowing that they were enjoying a very rare moment. Deborah loved it too, especially when we couldn’t remember the last verse either so she just rhymed along to herself
– “I don’t remember the words… to this verse.”
“So we’ll just sing along until we reach… the chorus.” etc.
We had fun singing along in full voice after being quiet for the rest of the gig…. and what a great gig – I’d have to say that the only time I sit with a grin from ear to ear for two hours straight is a DC gig… and tonight’s smile was bigger than ever.
Sarah Groube
Tilley’s – 23 May 1998
Tilleys is a great venue… in spite of the chairs outside making it look like the coffee shop from Neighbours! We arrived just in time to catch the last few notes of the sound check… and have a quick word to Deb and Willie.
We grabbed a table, and awaited the arrival of the Canberra bitches. Sarah arrived first, with friends in tow, and promptly set off to ask Deborah if she was joining us for dinner. Unfortunately the demands of mum-hood came first, and Syd was determined to get back to the hotel. The food was nice, but pricey, the company great… Jonny arrived last, after an arduous day arresting villains.
Then came the show. Our table was dead centre, up against the stage. Deborah started off by saying she’d have to be a bit more spontaneous in her jokes… since there were some people who’d seen too many shows and knew the jokes too well. Sort of gave the whole thing a bit of a feeling like it was our own private show!
She did a fairly standard play list… there were a few great moments. Like the idiotic guy who made a rude remark about underarm shaving… DC’s come-back, “I think that’s enough audience participation.” Later, when she was talking about the Third Husband thing, there was a woman who kept yelling out “If you’ve been through 3 hubbies, you should try a woman!” Continuously… at every opportunity… do you think it was a pick up line?
But the highlight of the show was the requests. First there was a loud call for a Frank Sinatra tribute… so “I’ve got you under my skin” soared round the venue. Willie did a fabulous job of making up the chords… Deborah made up sections of the words… brilliant.
Then I yelled out my current favourite song… Consider This. Deborah looked a bit startled, then turned to Willie with a questioning look. He shrugged, then had a bit of a fiddle with his guitar. Deborah asked the audience if they wanted Consider This, then when the reply was yes, asked Sarah and I if we knew the words… would we prompt her because she hadn’t sung it for ages! It was hilarious!!! Every second line we’d have to yell out the start, after the first chorus she stopped and leaned down to find out how the second started… second chorus, and she was asking if there was a bridge in the song… by the second line of the third verse, she gave up and sang whatever words came to her head… the song ended to resounding applause and laughter…. and I was so thrilled that I can’t remember what was played next… oh, yes, “Feathers in my Mouth.”
Rachael Brick
Dan O’Connell, 17 June 1998
The phrase that springs to mind after the Deborah Conway performance at the Dan is “what a blast!”
The first surprise in store was a confident and skilled performance on vocals and guitar from Sally Dastey (Tiddas). Despite a confession to being a bit nervous, Sally’s infectious smile and easygoing manner injected a good feeling into the place. I’ll certainly be adding her on my “must see” list of local performers.
After what seemed like an hour, with the room temperature rising to what felt like about 30 degrees, Deborah, Willy and band finally made their way up on stage. The icebreaker for the evening was “Evil Homer” (first time I’dever heard it), after which Deborah suggested that the performance would consist of her lesser known songs. I vaguely remember her saying that it was going to be an “unfriendly gig” (but I could be mistaken). The other band members were Peter Farnan on guitars and keyboards, with Bill McDonald on bass.
As it’s been suggested that I verge on the obsessive about guitars and playing etc, I’ll venture into unchartered waters and say that it was a predominantly brown evening as far as clothing was concerned. Willy provided a bright splash of colour in a pair of bright orange pants and blue-patterned white shirt (now that’s my kind of colour coordination).
Now for the obsessive bit. Considering I spent the whole show hemmed in under one of the PA speakers I don’t feel I can make an objective opinion about the sound, but it seemed a bit muddy in my estimation.
Willy’s exceptional playing on a lovely old Epiphone semi-acoustic (Riviera?) through an equally lovely Fender Vibrolux Reverb (the guitar amplifier of champions) was frequently barely audible amongst the rest of the sound. Despite this, what I did manage to hear did not disappoint.
What I didn’t hear from Willy was augmented by some really great guitar playing by Peter Farnan on a Fender Telecaster and an absolutely delectable sounding Rickenbacker electric 12 string. Amongst the “Rickenbacker highlights” for me were “Madame Butterfly” and “Release Me”. Peter’s keyboard playing was minimalist but very effectively added colour to the songs. Mind you, how anyone can play in a suit under such sweltering conditions is beyond me.
Bill McDonald provided some solid and innovative bass playing during the evening and I particularly enjoyed the sounds he got using effects pedals. Personally I think real bass players and drummers sound so much better than backing tapes, plus they smile a lot more.
Due to the fact that they’d only had one reheasal that afternoon (and possibly sore fingers as a result), the playing during the performance was ever so slightly loose. I didn’t think that backing tapes in addition to extra musicians worked all that well (apparently they couldn’t get a real drummer for the gig).
Nevertheless, Deborah and co easily made up this shorfall with infectious on-stage camaraderie, some hitherto unheard of songs, comical banter and an all-round fun performance. My endorphin levels didn’t subside until well into Sunday.
Memorable DC quotes were (to the best of my memory:
“I’m wearing my guitar strap a little lower this evening. It’s always nice to do things a bit differently.”
(in between songs) “Are you tuning up Willy? You’re so old fashioned”
(after finishing “Interzone”) “I guess that marks the beginning of divorce procedings against My Third Husband.”
Tim Hackett
Dan O’Connell, 17 June 1998
Deborah and Willy were joined on stage by Bill McDonald (Ultrasound, Frente) and Pete Farnan (Boom Crash Opera) at the Dan O’Connell. This show also marked the biggest ever Bitch List gathering with roughly one in three Bitch Listers there for this show.
The show started with a bang with the rarely heard Evil Homer, followed by fan favourite Madame Butterfly. From my Third Husband they also played All of the Above, Only the Bones, Here in My Arms, Under My Skin, 2001 Ultrasound, and of course, It’s A Girl Thing.
From Bitch Epic they played I’m not Satisfied and, what I though came across as the best song in the show, One More Time. Another treat for this performance was the new songs Radio Loves This (fantastic title, catchy tune) and Interzone (which as also played in the Australia Day show in the Fitzroy gardens).
The encoure was old time crowd pleasers Release Me and It’s Only the Beginning.
Overall it was a great show provided you stood up the front. People up the back complained that everything they heard was muffled and confused. This probably accounted for substantial crowd indifference through most of the show. Even up the front it had it’s moments of being fairly fuddled. Also a dissapointment is the hostility the Dan’s staff on the door show to patrons, they could not make it clearer that they want people to stay the fuck home.
On the bright side DC and WZ had a great time and if you were in the right spot the show rocked.
Mark O’Meara
Continental Cafe, 16 May 1998
WOW!! Tonight’s show would have to be the best I’ve ever seen. Deborah was dynamic, energetic and gorgeous but Willy went close to stealing the show with his incredible musicianship.
Tonight’s play-list was identical to last night, apart from the encores – tonight we enjoyed “It’s Only a Dream” (unrehearsed but stunning when they found their feet) and “String of Pearls”. Unfortunately “Under My Skin” wasn’t as special as last night, as the backing mix was way to loud – not only could people hear that it was, you could feel the bass reverberating through your own diaphragm!! The sound man was sternly warned by DC and perfection again reigned supreme.
Once again, “Girl Thing” and “Man Overboard” went down a treat, as did “Release Me” and “Only the Bones”. “All of the Above” allowed Willy to show off his magnificent skills and gave Deborah yet another one-liner… “I remember why I was so depressed when I wrote that….. John Howard had just got in!!”
Deborah was unable to get changed before the encore, some lunatic thought the idea of setting the fire extinguisher off in the change-room just prior to the break would be a good idea. Willy and DC were forced back onto the stage by the fumes and no doubt left with massive dry cleaning bills after their clothes were covered with specks of white stuff.
While Deborah waited for Willy to sort out the change room debacle, she told her favourite joke “Why do Jewish women only like circumcised penises? Because they won’t accept anything unless it’s 20% off!”
Despite this bizarre mishap, my memories of the Continental will be of an intimate, well laid out venue with terrific sound, effective lighting show, an excellent atmosphere and a charming audience. I was most impressed. To attend a concert with 6 other bitch listers, and meeting Deborah’s mother, as well as more photos with the fab two were other delights.
Bring on Canberra/Sydney!!
Sarah Groube
Dan O’Connell, 15 May 1998
At the end of a 17 hour day, a 750km plane ride, with a belly full of Qantas stew, feet screaming to be let out of the shoes bought that afternoon, squeezed into a smoky, hot pub with hundreds of drunk bods, what could possibly be the perfect remedy?!?
Of course the answer is obvious!!!!
Clad in astonishing matching outfits – well Deborah’s was a figure hugging dress and Willy’s were tight, tight stovepipes – both patterned with every colour of the rainbow, the duo burst into full voice with “Alive and Brilliant”. DC dedicated this song and the remainder of the show to old Bule Eyes “Yes, he passed away today…. Oh!! I’m sorry if I’m the one having to break this to you!!!”
A reworked version of “Under My Skin” was the highlight for me – being an older tune, it kept the motley crew’s attention, but it also encompassed the style and mood of “My Third Husband”.
“Girl Thing” was definitely the crowd favourite, and had been mixed to sound more crisp and clear that the last tour.
Deborah continued her spiel about Girl Things with “You know – dresses, bras, breasts” as she raised her arms above her head. Mr Motley yelled out – “and armpits!!” With perfect timing and aplomb, to the delight of the crowd, Deborah responded “Well, we ALL have those!!” followed by “Behind every great man is a surprised woman,” which was particularly enjoyed by the six bitch listers present – definitely the largest gathering to date. Mr Motley (complete with a Rambo head band, open shirt, long hair, moustache and stubble) had the last say of the concert as Deborah and Willy exited the stage “GREAT GUITARIN’ MAN!! GREAT GUITARIN’ MAN!!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
“Man Overboard” and “Gold Finger” (an encore) were brilliant and tonight’s “Release Me” was one of the best renditions I’ve ever heard – absolutely perfect. Deborah changed into jeans and an MTH tee-shirt for the encore, persuading me that the shirts DO look good on, and that it’s not daggy to wear undies with little satin bows at the front!!
We mused after the show that we would have liked more songs from MTH to have been played… notable omissions were “It’s Only a Dream”, “Feathers in my Mouth”. …. then again, wouldn’t our dream play-list cover each song of every album?!?
If you missed the Dan, the Continental show is a must see.
Sarah Groube
Fly By Night, Perth, 10 May 1998
Just a quick note to let everyone know that DC is in FINE form!! I went to see her show last night at the Fly By Night Musicians Club in Fremantle and she SIZZLED!
I cant remember the exact play list but she did play the following songs (and probably some others that i don’t recall!)
* Alive and Brilliant
* White Roses
* Buried Treasure
* Only The Bones (Will Show)
* Here In My Arms
* 2001 Ultrasound
* Its a girl thing
* Bag of Sweets
* Today I Am A Daisy
* Madame Butterfly Is In Trouble
* Man Overboard
…and…like i said…a whole heap more that i cant remember!!
DC forgot the words to Buried Treasure about 3/4 of the way through the song, and after abusing the wrong person in the crowd for suggesting she sing it (jovially of course) someone called out the next line of the song and DC took off from where she left. Needless to say this moment of the show was extremely funny for everyone that was there…including Deborah!!!
Saturday night she played a pub gig at the Scarborough beach hotel, she said “doing a show there was like doing a show at the naughty school……in the naughtiest room of the naughtiest school!”
It was the best gig ive been to so far this year…and…possibly the best gig I will go to!
Aimee
Deborah and Willy (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah Letting Fly (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Willy Zygier Solo (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Deborah In My Third Husband T-Shirt (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Willy and Deborah (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
Guitar And Famous Pants (1998)
This photo was taken by Lisa J Young in Katoomba NSW/May 1998.
It is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to reproduce it elsewhere you must get permission from Lisa.
