The Dugites were an Australian rock band who formed in the late 1970s and went on to record three albums in the early 1980s. The Dugites combined elements of power pop, new wave and electronic, producing songs with strong melodies, hooks and a smattering of politics. With hit singles "In Your Car", "Waiting" and "Juno and Me", they received extensive airplay, appearances on

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

and toured nationally around Australia. The band's name refers to the brown venomous snake, the

dugite The dugite (; ''Pseudonaja affinis'') is a species of venomous, potentially lethal, snake native to Western Australia, a member of the Family (biology), family Elapidae. The word dugite is an anglicisation of names for the snake in some dialects ...

, common to Western Australia.

History

The Dugites formed in Perth in 1978 with a line-up of Lynda Nutter on vocals, Peter Crosbie on keyboards, Gunther Berghoffer on guitar, Phillip Bailey on bass and Clarence Bailey on drums. In 1979 The Dugites released a single "Hit Single"/"Bruce", and toured as the backing band for Dave Warner. The single had been self-financed, but that year they were signed by the Deluxe label distributed by RCA Records. In 1980 Paul Noonan (ex-Dave Warner's from the Suburbs) replaced Phillip Bailey. Their first album ''The Dugites'' was released in June 1980 and reached No. 22 on the Australian Album charts. It went on to attain gold status (35 000 copies sold). Three singles were issued from the album, "In Your Car"/"13 Again" in May 1980, which reached No. 34 on the Australian Singles charts in July, "Goodbye"/"No God, No Master" in July and "South Pacific"/"Gay Guys" in October, which reached No. 90. At the 1980 Countdown Music Awards both The Dugites and Nutter received nominations for 'Best New Talent' and 'Most Popular Female' respectively. In December the band were the opening act for

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

's concert at the

Perth Entertainment Centre The Perth Entertainment Centre was an indoor arena and cinema complex in Perth, Western Australia, located on Wellington Street at the northern edge of the Perth central business district. It was demolished as part of the Perth City Link projec ...

. The band's second album, ''West Of The World'' which, like the first, was produced by Bob Andrews (

Graham Parker and the Rumour The Rumour was an English rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records (from 1976 to 1980) were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour. However, The Rumour also ...

), was released in July 1981. The album peaked at No. 33 on the Australian album charts and saw the release of two singles, "Waiting"/"Who Loves You More?", in May 1981, which reached No. 40 and "Part of Me"/"Never Touch" in September. In mid 1982 Berghoffer left the band and was replaced by guitarist Andrew Pendlebury (ex-

The Sports The Sports were an Australian Rock music, rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on dru ...

),McFarlane
'Andrew Pendlebury'
entry. Archived fro
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on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 15 November 2012. following which the band issued a single, "No Money"/"Decide" in July on the Rough Diamond label, and the related mini-album, ''No Money'' in August.McFarlane
'The Dugites'
entry. Archived fro
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on 14 June 2004. Retrieved 16 November 2012. Pendlebury was then replaced by Bob Fallovic (aka Boris Garter; ex-Stockings) and Paul Williamson also joined on saxophone. By mid-1983 however the line-up was reduced to Nutter, Crosbie, Bailey and Noonan. In 1985 after several appearances on TV's Hey Hey It's Saturday, Bailey and Nutter stayed to live in Melbourne a while, where Bailey played drums in an Afro Reaggae Band called 'Randy and JahRoots' featuring Ghanaian star Randy Borquaye and drummer-congero Dezzy 'Animal' McKenna from the tv show ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

''. The Dugites signed to Mercury/PolyGram and released their third album, ''Cut The Talking'', in April 1984. Three singles were released from the album, "Cut the Talking"/"Michael and Rodney", in November 1983, "Juno and Me"/"Everything Must Change" in April 1984, which reached No. 60 on the Australian Singles charts, and "It Ain't Like That"/"All That I Want" in August. Following the release of the album the band added Peter Kaldor on saxophone and John Crosbie on trombone and trumpet to the line-up for touring purposes, but at the end of 1984 the group disbanded. When the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's Sydney 'youth' radio station Double Jay was launched in 1975,

Skyhooks Skyhook, sky hook or skyhooks may refer to: Fiction * 'Skyhooks' or 'Skyhooks II', parts 1 and 8 respectively of the Adventure Time Elements (miniseries), Elements miniseries. * ''Sky Hook'', a Hugo-award nominated science fiction fanzine * Sk ...

' "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed" was chosen as the opening song played on air, specifically because it had been banned by Australian commercial radio. When Double Jay switched bands to FM in 1980, The Dugites' "Gay Guys", which had also been banned by commercial radio, became the first song to be played by Double Jay's successor, 2JJJ-FM

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Members

* Lynda Nutter – vocals, percussion (1978–84) * Gunther Berghofer – guitar, vocals (1978–83) * Peter Crosbie – keyboards, vocals (1978–84) * Clarence Bailey – drums, vocals (1978–84) * Philip Bailey - bass vocals (1978–80) * Paul Noonan – bass, vocals (1980–84) *

Andrew Pendlebury Andrew Scott Pendlebury (born 1952) is an Australian guitarist-songwriter. From 1977 to 1981 was a member of The Sports and from 1986 to 1988 he joined Slaughtermen. He has undertaken other projects and issued four solo albums. At the ARIA Mus ...

– guitar (1982–83) * Robert Fallovic - guitar (1983) * Paul Williamson - saxophone (1983)

Snakefish

The Dugites were asked to be one of a number of

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 ...

bands of the 1970s and 1980s to be part of 2004's ''Old Day Out'' in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. Nutter recruited Perth keyboard player Kathy Travers and guitarist Richard Leach to join with Dugites members Clarence Bailey and Phil Bailey. The ''Old Day Out'' gig was a success and led to a new band, Snakefish, with Nutter on vocals, Clarence Bailey on drums, Phil Bailey on bass with Cathie Travers, piano accordion, and Richard Leach on guitar.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

EPs

Singles

Awards and nominations

TV Week / Countdown Awards

'' was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine ''

TV Week ''TV Week'' is a weekly Australian magazine that provides television program listings information and highlights, as well as television-related news. Content ranges from previews for upcoming storylines of popular television programs, particu ...

''. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards. , - , rowspan="2" , 1980 , Themselves , Best New Talent , , - , Lynda Nutter (The Dugites) , Most Popular Female , , -

References

External links

Site with more information on The Dugites
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dugites, The Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1984