Dropbears were an Australian rock band active in the early 1980s. They had a few national chart hits and received national airplay. They had a minor charting hit with "Shall We Go" in 1985.
History
The band started life as The Socket Set in 1980, with
Johnny Batchelor,
Phil Hall (
Sardine v
"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ita ...
,
Lime Spiders
Lime Spiders were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with Mick Blood on lead vocals. He was later joined by Tony Bambach on bass guitar, Gerard Corben on guitar, Richard Lawson on drums, and David Sparks on guitar. Their debut ...
), and a string of drummers. They played shows that included the sell-out opening night of
The Saints' comeback Australian tour in 1980 (the Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow tour).
As Dropbears, the band formed in
Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...
, Sydney, in 1981, with Batchelor, Simon Rudlin, and Chris "Chris Cross" Toms. Prior to this, Batchelor and Rudlin had been jamming with bass player Rod Brunel (from Sydney band The Singles), but it wasn't working well. Chris Cross, from Sydney punk band
The Bedhogs, knew Batchelor, and asked him to join the band.
In 1982, Dropbears released the singles "Fun Loving" and "Lay Him Down", which both peaked at number one on the Sydney Indie charts. The following year, the band signed to
WEA records
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...
and went on to release a series of successful singles.
In 2011, ''The Essential Dropbears'' was released through Warner Music Australia. The compilation album features ten tracks, including the 1985 chart hits "Shall We Go" and "In Your Eyes".
Band members
*
Johnny Batchelor – guitar, vocals (1980–86, 1987)
* Chris Cross (Chris Toms) – bass (1981–82)
* Phil Hall – bass, vocals (1980, 1982–86, 1987)
* Simon Rudlin – drums (1981–82)
* James Elliot – drums (1982)
* Mike Knapp – drums, backing vocals (1982–86, 1987)
* Bob Cooper – saxophones, lyricon (1983)
* Robert Hearn – guitar, guitar synth (1983–84)
Discography
Studio albums
Compilations
Singles
References
External links
Dropbears partial discography
{{Authority control
New South Wales musical groups
1980s in music
1980s in Australia