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Blackfeather are an Australian rock group which formed in April 1970. The band has had numerous line-ups, mostly fronted by founding lead singer, Neale Johns. An early heavy rock version recorded their debut album, ''At the Mountains of Madness'' (April 1971), which peaked at number seven on the ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' Top 20 Albums chart. It provided the single, "Seasons of Change" (May 1971), which was co-written by Johns with lead guitarist, John Robinson. In July 1972 a piano-based line-up led by Johns issued an Australian number-one single, " Boppin' the Blues".


History

Blackfeather formed in April 1970 in Sydney by Leith Corbett on bass guitar, Mike McCormack on drums, and John Robinson on lead guitar (all from the Dave Miller Set), plus lead vocalist, Neale Johns. Robinson recalled meeting Johns, "a small guy with a huge voice, Neale was very taciturn. He was into the blues and had excellent range." Their name was derived from a book given to Robinson by a friend (Wayne Thomas of
Flake Flake or Flakes may refer to: People * Floyd H. Flake (born 1945), A.M.E. minister, university administrator, former U.S. representative * Jeff Flake (born 1962), American politician * Christian "Flake" Lorenz, German musician and member of ...
) that contained about 500 possible band names including "Whitefeather" and "Heavyfeather" that inspired their decision. Corbett and McCormack left soon after, replaced by Robert Fortesque on bass guitar and Alexander Kash on drums. Corbett subsequently reunited with singer Dave Miller to record a duo album, ''Reflections of a Pioneer''. Johns and Robinson wrote or co-wrote the band's original material. Blackfeather became a popular hard rock group in Sydney and Melbourne and signed with
Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...
' newly founded progressive subsidiary,
Infinity Records Infinity Records was a short-lived subsidiary of MCA Records established in New York City in 1978. The label was conceived by MCA president Sidney Sheinberg as a way for the Los Angeles-based entertainment conglomerate to improve its presence o ...
. They recorded their debut album, ''
At the Mountains of Madness ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is a science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by ''Weird Tales'' editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was or ...
'' (April 1971) with co-production by Robinson and Richard Batchens (The Cleves). The album peaked at number seven on the ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' Top 20 Albums chart. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt it "remains a highly regarded progressive rock album, highlighted by Robinson's fluid, inventive guitar technique and a swag of adventurous songs." ''At the Mountains of Madness'' included the track, "Seasons of Change", co-written by Johns and Robinson. During recording, in late 1970, Robinson asked members of the group Fraternity, John Bissett and
Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...
, to contribute to the album. Neale and Robinson gave Fraternity "Seasons of Change" to record as a single, with Scott on lead vocals. That group relocated to Adelaide and released it in March 1971, which peaked at number one on the local charts. Robinson had a verbal agreement with Infinity's David Sinclair that their label would not release the original Blackfeather version to compete with it. As soon as Fraternity's version began charting in Adelaide, Festival rush-released the Blackfeather variety as a single. It reached number 15 on the ''Go-Set'' National Top 40, charted for 16 weeks and was listed at number 40 on ''Go-Set''s top singles for 1971. Despite their success internal frictions escalated and there were further line-up changes. By August 1971 the line-up was Neale, Robinson,
Harry Brus Harry Brus (born April 1949, in Graz, Austria) is an Australian bass player and guitarist, best known for his work with Matt Finish, Kevin Borich, Renée Geyer, Australian Crawl, Leo Sayer, Marcia Hines, Jimmy Barnes, Ross Wilson and Billy T ...
(ex-Dave Miller Set, Jeff St John's Copperwine) on bass guitar and Steve Webb on drums. Johns and Robinson parted ways and each fronted their own version of Blackfeather. Their former manager, Peter Conyngham of Nova Agency, had registered the Blackfeather name and thus owned its rights. He favoured the Johns-led variety with Jim Penson on drums, Warren Ward on bass guitar, Paul Wylde on piano and Alex "Zac" Zytnick (ex
Tamam Shud Tamam Shud is an Australian psychedelic, progressive and surf rock band, which formed in Newcastle in 1964. The initial line-up were known as The Four Strangers with Eric Connell on bass guitar, Dannie Davidson on drums, Gary Johns on rhythm ...
) on lead guitar. The Robinson-led group included Brus and Webb; they struggled on as a trio for a short time before disbanding. Robinson worked with a studio group, Duck, in 1972 and then issued a solo album, ''Pity for the Victim'' (1974). He retired from performing in the 1980s and became a teacher and composer. In early 1972 Blackfeather with Johns, Ward and Wylde were joined by Billy Taylor (ex Flake) on lead guitar. With Gil Matthews (of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs) guesting on drums they recorded a new song called " Boppin' the Blues" (July 1972). It became a number-one hit in Australia in October for four weeks. In September of that year a four-piece line-up of Johns, Ward, Wylde and Greg Sheehan on drums were recorded live at Melbourne Town Hall and the Q Club for the second Blackfeather album, ''Boppin' the Blues''. It was produced by Howard Gable and released in December 1972. McFarlane noticed they "relied on dominant boogie-woogie piano as a substitute for guitar." Wylde quit at the end of 1972; he was replaced by two guitarists, Lindsay Wells (ex-Healing Force) and Tim Piper, which returned Blackfeather to the harder, guitar-based style of the Robinson-era group. They performed at the second
Sunbury Pop Festival Sunbury Pop Festival or Sunbury Rock Festival was an annual Australian rock music festival held on a private farm between Sunbury and Diggers Rest, Victoria, which was staged on the Australia Day (26 January) long weekend from 1972 to 1975. It ...
in January 1973. The set was released in the following year as another live album, ''Live! (Sunbury)''. A track, "I'm Gonna Love You", appeared on Mushroom Records' inaugural release, the triple-album, ''Sunbury 1973 – The Great Australian Rock Festival'' (April 1973). The third Blackfeather single, "Slippin; & Sliddin'", a cover of Little Richard's track, was issued in February 1973; by which time Sheehan had quit and the group split in April. Johns briefly performed solo before joining former band mates Penson and Ward in Flake, which disbanded in late 1974. Johns formed a new version of Blackfeather in 1975, with Taylor, Doug McDonald on drums, Billy Rylands on bass guitar and Ray Vanderby (ex- Band of Light) on keyboards; this line-up only lasted a short time. Early the next year Johns formed a more pop-oriented version, with Vanderby, Lee Brosman on bass guitar, Warwick Fraser on drums and his younger brother, Stuart Fraser on guitar (aged 14). Johns quit in November 1976 and travelled to the United Kingdom, while the remaining members picked up
John Swan John Swan may refer to: * John Swan (engineer) (1787–1869), British marine engineer, pioneer of the screw propeller and inventor of the self-acting chain messenger *John Swan (Bermudian politician) (born 1935), British-Bermudian politician * John ...
on lead vocals and Wayne Smith on guitar: they renamed the group as Feather. In mid-1977 Swan's younger brother,
Jimmy Barnes James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best- ...
, announced that he was quitting
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 ...
to join Feather, but his farewell performance for Cold Chisel went so well that he decided to remain. Johns, returned to Australia in 1977 and, after a brief stint with the band Fingerprint, in June of the following year he formed a new version of Blackfeather. It reunited him with the 1972 line-up of Ward, Wylde and Young. By October all except Johns had left, and were replaced by Ray Oliver on guitar (ex- Friends), Huk Treloar on drums (ex-Pantha, Bleeding Hearts, Living Legends), Rick Rankin on guitar and Jeff Rosenberg on bass guitar (ex-Hot Air Band). Ex-
the Dingoes The Dingoes are an Australian country rock band. They were initially active from 1973 to 1979, and reformed in 2009. Initially based in Melbourne, the band relocated to the United States from 1976. The most stable line-up comprised John Bois on ...
drummer John Strangio briefly replaced Treloar, but this version folded by the end of the year. In 1983 Johns formed another Blackfeather line-up with Andy Cowle on piano, Russell Hinton on guitar, Cleve Judge on bass guitar and Joe Vizzone on drums – but this also was short-lived. Since 2003 Johns has occasionally performed using the Blackfeather name alongside Brendan Mason on guitar and Kerry McKenna on bass guitar (both ex-
Madder Lake Alizarin (also known as 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, Mordant Red 11, C.I. 58000, and Turkey Red) is an organic compound with formula that has been used throughout history as a prominent red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historic ...
). This line up remained together until 2015. In 2010 Aztec Music re-released ''Boppin' the Blues'' in an expanded CD version. As of June 2015 Johns recruited two former Blackfeather members, Harry Brus on bass guitar and Stuart Fraser on guitar, along with Gary Steel on keyboards and Paul Wheeler on drums (ex- Icehouse). In that year Blackfeather toured Australia for the first time since 1983.


Discography


Albums


Singles


Awards and nominations


Go-Set Pop Poll

The Go-Set Pop Poll was coordinated by teen-oriented pop music newspaper, ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' and was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities. , - , rowspan="2", 1972 , themselves , Best Group , style="background:tan;", 3rd , - , "Boppin' the Blues" , Best Australian Single , style="background:gold;", 1st , -


Members

Original line-up: * John Robinson (guitar) Apr 1970 – Aug 71 * Neale Johns (vocals) 1970–73, 1976, 1978, 1983 * Leith Corbett (bass) 1970 * Mike McCormack (drums) 1970 ''Mountains'' line-up: * John Robinson (guitar) * Neale Johns (vocals) * Robert (Bob) Fortescue (bass) 1970–71 * Alexander (Al) Kash (drums) 1970–71 Late 1970– early 1971: * John Robinson (guitar) * Neale Johns (vocals) * Robert (Bob) Fortescue (bass) 1970–71 * Harry Brus (bass, vocals) 1971 * Terry Gascoigne (drums) 1971 * Steve Webb (drums) 1970 Post-1971 line-ups to present day: Neale Johns (vocals), with * Steve Murphy (guitar) 1970–71 * Lindsay Wells (guitar) 1970–71,1973 * Alex "Zac" Zytnik (guitar) Aug–Dec 1971 * Warren Ward (bass) 1971–73, 1978 * Paul Wylde (piano) 1971–73, 1978 * Warren Morgan (piano) late 1972 * Jim Penson (drums) 1971–72 * Billy Taylor (guitar) 1972, 1975 * Paul Gray 1972 * "Ginger"(Bob Evans) (drums 1972) * Trevor Young (drums) 1972, 1978 * Greg Sheehan (drums) 1972–73, 1978 * Tim Piper (guitar) 1972/73 * John Lee (drums) 1973 * Ray Vanderby (kbds) 1975 * Ian Winter (guitar) 1975 * Ian Rilen (bass) 1975 – * Billy Rylands (bass) -1975 * Doug McDonald (drums) 1975 * Lee Brossman (bass) 1976 * Rex Bullen (keyboards) * Stuart Fraser (guitar) 1976 * Warwick Fraser (drums) 1976 * Wayne Smith (guitar) 1976 * Ray Oliver (guitar) 1978, 1983 * Derek Pelecci (drums) * Rick Rankin (guitar) 1978 * Sam Righi (drums) * Jeff Rosenberg (bass) 1978 * Gulliver Smith (vocals) * Phil Smith (drums) * John Strangio (bass) 1978 * Huk Treloar (drums) 1978 * John Tucak (bass) * Tom ? (bass) 1983 * Andy Cowle (keyboards) 1983 * Cleve Judge (bass) 1983 * Joe Vizzone (drums) 1983 * Brenden Mason (guitar) 2003 - 2015 * Kerry McKenna (bass) 2003 - 2015 * Trevor Young (drums) 2003 - 2006 * Mick Holden (drums) 2006 - 2009 * Nic Carrafa (drums) 2009 - 2015 * Anthony Ziros (drums) 2017 - 2019 * Chris Ziros (guitars) 2017 - 2019 * Roger Mclachlan (bass) 2017 - 2019


References

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External links


Details of Blackfeather and Neale Johns


on Blackfeather Music Productions, archived fro

on 29 April 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackfeather Australian progressive rock groups Australian psychedelic rock music groups Pub rock musical groups