Innocent Bystanders were a

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

based band formed in 1983 featuring

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

ist/

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

Brett Keyser and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

(Mark Lizotte).

Biography

At a time when cover bands dominated the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n music landscape, "Bystanders" were one of the few original acts to make a dent and after a few years of hard work eventually pull very respectable crowds. Their Monday night residences at the Herdsman Hotel drew crowds of over 250 people, many of them music industry types there to listen to this powerful Australian band heavily influenced by

Cold Chisel Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards. They were soon joined by Jimmy Barnes (at the ...

and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

. The standout features were the depth of Keyser's songwriting and his powerful vocals and the amazing young teenage

ist Mark Lizotte aka

Spencer et al, (2007
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS
entry. Retrieved 4 December 2009. The band's songs drew heavily from their local environment of beaches, hot summers, weekends down South and even the demolition of the Scarborough Beach Hotel. In addition Keyser soaked up many influences and ventured into the realm of story-telling with his songs. In 1983 the band released a cassette entitled ''Live at the Subi'', recorded at the

Subiaco Hotel The Subiaco Hotel is a historic hotel in Subiaco, Western Australia. It is located at 455–465 Hay Street, at the corner of Rokeby Road, and dates back to the state's gold rushes era of the 1890s. History In 1896, the land where the hotel n ...

with a mobile recording truck. In 1984 the band flew to Sydney and recorded their debut single, "Lebanon", with Peter Walker (

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...

and

producer) with the lineup of Mark Lizotte (guitar), Brett Keyser (vocals), John 'Yak' Sherrit (drums), John 'Tatt' Dalzell (bass) and Cliff Kinneen (keyboards). The single reaching #98 on the Australian singles chart. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

in mid-1988. Innocent Bystanders travelled to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to record their second single, "Dangerous", released in July 1986, which reached #97 on the Australian singles chart. They attracted the attention of

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

ers, The Angels, however Lizotte had already left the band in June 1986 taking Bremond, Dalzell and Sherritt, and they formed Johnny Diesel & the Injectors with George Dalstrom as a second guitarist.Spencer et al, (2007
JOHNNY DIESEL AND THE INJECTORS
entry. Retrieved 4 December 2009. Keyser then recruited new players John Heussenstamm (guitar) and Al Kash (drums; ex-Blackfeather) and went on to record the band's first album, '' Don't Go Looking Back'', which was released later in 1986 on the Chase label. reaching #59 on the Australian album charts.

Members

Listed alphabetically: * Bernie Bremond –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(1983–86) * John Dalzell –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(1983–86) * John Heussenstamm –

(1986–89) * Al Kash –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(1986–89) * Brett Keyser –

s (1983–89) * Russel Riley –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(1984–89) *

Mark Lizotte Mark Denis Lizotte (born 31 May 1966) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and musician, who has released material under the name Diesel, Johnny Diesel, as leader of band Johnny Diesel & the Injectors, and as a solo performer, as we ...

– lead guitar, vocals (1983–86) * Paul Luckas – Piano (1985) * Jamie Manifis – guitar * Yak Sherritt – drums (1983–86) * Dave Skewes – keyboards (1983–84) * Brett Townshend – saxophone

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Australia Music Online

{{Authority control Australian rock music groups Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Musical groups established in 1983 Western Australian musical groups