Mondo Rock

That was his song, wasn't it? Exactly.

Songwriting, producing people, discovering people, Mondo Rock, Daddy Cool, The Peaceniks.

It just goes on and on and on.

Writing Touch of Paradise for John Farnham.

It was actually the very first song that I wrote with a guy I knew who Gulliver Smith.

He'd been a rocker around town for quite a while and he was what I would call a word guy.

His forte was lyrics and stuff, right? So I was forming Mondo Rock and I thought, well, I've got a new band and I'd better write some new songs.

It was the first song I wrote for Mondo Rock with him and we played it at the very first Mondo Rock show.

Yep.

Which famous Aussie expat, and only because heart rhymes with heart, had a hit with the Mondo Rock song State of the Heart, which went to number two in the Hottest 100 chart in 1985? Ross Wilson.

Yeah, so it was written by Ross Wilson of Mondo Rock.

Yeah.

State of the Heart.

In the Year 2525, a one-hit wonder for the American duo, Zager and Evans.

Uh, before that, our very own Mondo Rock, and from the band's album Chemistry, we played Cruel World, considered to be one of the best Australian songs to come out of 1981.

Okay, let's slow things down just a tad and have a listen to The Hollies here on 96.5 InnerFM.

Great to have your company.

And we didn't know who the opening bands were.

The first band that came on was Mondo Rock, very early Mondo Rock, because this is 1979.

And the second band came on, and the lead singer had these plaster casts on his arms.

And I remember thinking, well, that's a

And all the other rock bands would be either ahead of you or behind you.

And, you know, you'd have Aussie Crawl a couple of days ahead of you and Mondo Rock and, you know, Chisel and Midnight Oil and all those bands.

And we were just part of that group.

you know, glorious time when you could go and see a fantastic Aussie band.