Supernaut (band)
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Supernaut were an Australian
glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
band from
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 ...
. Formed as a pub-rock group, Moby Dick, by British-born brothers Chris Burnham on guitar and Joe Burnham on drums, they were joined late in 1974 by fellow immigrant
Gary Twinn Gary Twinn (born 7 December 1956 in West Ham, London, England) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, TV host and editorial writer, currently fronting punk rock supergroup The International Swingers, which also features Clem Burke, Glen M ...
on lead vocals. After Randall Murphy joined on bass guitar, they changed their name. The group's debut single, "
I Like It Both Ways "I Like It Both Ways" is a song by Australian glam rock band Supernaut. The song was released in May 1976 as the debut single from the band's debut studio album, '' Supernaut'' (1976). Musically, "I Like It Both Ways" is a tough glam number, wi ...
" (May 1976), was produced by
Molly Meldrum Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM (born 29 January 1943) is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent co-ordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular mus ...
and was heavily promoted on his TV pop music show, ''
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 ...
''. It peaked at No. 16 on the
Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...
singles chart. Their self-titled debut album reached No. 13 on the related Kent Music Report albums chart in November of that year. Murphy had left in June 1976 and was permanently replaced on bass guitar by Philip Foxman in August. The album provided another single, "
Too Hot to Touch "Too Hot to Touch" is a song by Australian glam rock band Supernaut, released in released in September 1976 as the second and final single from the band's debut studio album, '' Supernaut'' (1976). The song peaked at number 14 on the Australian K ...
" (September 1976), which appeared at No. 14. In April 1979, the group shortened their name to the Nauts, returned to a heavier pub-rock sound and released a second album of that name in December 1979. They disbanded by March of the following year, with reformations occurring in 2007 and 2016.


History

Supernaut were formed as Moby Dick, a pub-rock group, by British-born brothers Chris Burnham on guitar and Joe Burnham on drums. Fellow British immigrant,
Gary Twinn Gary Twinn (born 7 December 1956 in West Ham, London, England) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, TV host and editorial writer, currently fronting punk rock supergroup The International Swingers, which also features Clem Burke, Glen M ...
, joined on lead vocals (ex-Sidewinders) in late 1974. Soon after Randall Murphy took up bass guitar and they changed their name to Supernaut. The name references, " Supernaut" (September 1972), a track by British heavy metal group, Black Sabbath. Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...
, observed, "despite the heavyweight name, the band... developed a commercially-minded glam rock style that relied as much on visual impact as the sound of the music." The group relocated to Melbourne and were signed to
Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
in 1976 upon recommendation from
Molly Meldrum Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM (born 29 January 1943) is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent co-ordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular mus ...
, (in turn tipped off by
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
).Michael Smith (2007-08-14), ''The Power of Countdown'', Drum Media Magazine, p. 38 In May 1976 they released their debut single, "
I Like It Both Ways "I Like It Both Ways" is a song by Australian glam rock band Supernaut. The song was released in May 1976 as the debut single from the band's debut studio album, '' Supernaut'' (1976). Musically, "I Like It Both Ways" is a tough glam number, wi ...
", which was produced by Meldrum. The song was initially shunned by some commercial radio stations in Sydney because of its controversial lyrics, Note: page 89 has a photo of Twinn but promotion on Meldrum's TV pop music show, ''
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 ...
'', encouraged radio stations to play the track. "I Like It Both Ways" peaked at No. 16 on the
Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...
singles chart. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until
Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
(ARIA) 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. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
Randall Murphy left the group in June 1976, "citing mutual disagreement". Note: includes a double page photo of the group on pages 96 and 97 He was temporarily replaced by Little Russ Silver (a.k.a. Argentino Russo), and more permanently by Philip Foxman (ex-Zygotes, Prothalis) in late August. Murphy returned to Perth. Note: name is given as Randle Murphy A follow up single, "
Too Hot to Touch "Too Hot to Touch" is a song by Australian glam rock band Supernaut, released in released in September 1976 as the second and final single from the band's debut studio album, '' Supernaut'' (1976). The song peaked at number 14 on the Australian K ...
", was released in September 1976, reaching No. 14 on the charts. Their self-titled debut album was released in mid-November 1976 and peaked at No. 13, achieving double gold certification. The group were presented with the ''TV Week'' King of Pop Award for Best Australian TV Performer (on ''Countdown'') and for Most Popular New Group of 1976. By November they had supported gigs by "Lou Reed, Suzie Quatro and Sweet and wherever they play there is raging hysteria." Julie Meldrum of ''
The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
'' described their performance in
Narrabundah Narrabundah () ( postcode: 2604) is a leafy, medium density suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, located in the inner south of the city. Narrabundah is an established garden suburb, valued for its equal proximity to both Civic and ...
: "Trouble began when Perth rock group Supernaut, which thrives on 'bopper' appeal, came on stage. The crowd made a rush for the group and many had to be forcibly removed. After the group finished its set organisers had to appeal for the crowd to move back from the stage 'or else someone will get hurt'." In 1977, the band released two original singles, "Young and Innocent" (April) and "The Kids Are out Tonight" (July), and a cover version of "
Let's Spend the Night Together "Let's Spend the Night Together" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and originally released by the Rolling Stones as a double A-sided single together with " Ruby Tuesday" in January 1967. It also appears as the opening track ...
" (November), originally by
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
. They worked extensively on recording sessions for a proposed second album, with working titles included ''Exile'' and ''Test Pressing''. "The Kids Are out Tonight" came from those sessions. After more than a year, they realised their music style was out of touch and the project was abandoned. In April 1978, they released another single, "Unemployed". before leaving Polydor. The group relocated to Sydney and were signed to
Robie Porter Robert George Porter (4 June 1941 – 16 December 2021) was an Australian country and pop-rock musician, producer and record label owner. Beginning in 1959, he performed under the stage name Rob E.G. and recorded lap steel guitar instrum ...
's Wizard Records in mid-1978. They returned to their original pub rock influences and "adopted a quasi-punk/new-wave direction". With the addition of Noel Kennedy on keyboards, they released, "Spies" (December 1978) McFarlane noted that their "live repertoire included cover versions of material by David Bowie, the Stranglers, XTC, and the Doors". They shortened their name to the Nauts in April 1979 and released, "Black Market World", following that with a new album under that name in December 1979, produced by Porter. The group had disbanded by March 1980.


Afterwards

Two years later, Gary Twinn was back in the United Kingdom, where he formed
Twenty Flight Rockers Twenty Flight Rockers were a late 1980s English rock music band, founded by the singer Gary Twinn, drummer Mark Laff, and the bassist Steve Counsel. Career The band was formed in London in 1983 by Gary Twinn, former singer/frontman of the Austr ...
with former
Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
drummer
Mark Laff Mark Laff (born Mark Red Laffoley; 19 May 1958) is a retired English drummer and former member of several rock bands, including Generation X. Early life and career Mark Red Laffoley was born on 19 May 1958 at Barnet General Hospital, at Chip ...
, and he later played with rock
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...
the International Swingers The International Swingers is an American–British rock supergroup based in Los Angeles Formed in late 2011, the band is composed of Clem Burke (drums), Glen Matlock (bass/vocals), James Stevenson (lead guitar/vocals) and Gary Twinn (lead vocal ...
. Chris Burnham played in The Saints with Chris Bailey from 1982 and 1989. Philip Foxman formed Illustrated Man in 1984 with
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
member
Rob Dean Rob Dean (born 23 April 1955) is a British musician turned professional illustrator, who rose to prominence playing lead guitar as a member of the British new wave band Japan from 1975 to 1981. Biography He is from the Clapton district of ...
,
Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...
keyboardist Roger Mason, and
Hugo Burnham Hugo Hamilton Mark Burnham (born 25 March 1956) is an English musician, and drummer for the rock group Gang of Four. The band formed in 1977 at Leeds University, where Burnham was studying English Literature. Before the band signed with EMI R ...
from
Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
. They recorded one self-titled album and toured the UK and US with their single, "Head Over Heels", charting the top 20 on MTV's dance charts. Foxman later had a solo career releasing two albums, ''West 4th and Charles'' and ''Up Antenna'', as well as being a musical composer for Off Broadway show, ''Atomic'', which ran for a limited season at the Acorn Theater, New York City. Supernaut reformed for the ''Countdown'' Spectacular 2 Tour of Australia from late-August to early-September 2007. In 2016 Supernaut commemorated the 40th anniversary of "I Like It Both Ways" with a three-day tour from 16 to 18 June, followed by another show on 25 June at Charles Hotel in Perth.


Members

* Chris Burnham – guitar (1974–80, 2007, 2016) * Joe Burnham – drums (1974–80, 2007, 2016) *
Gary Twinn Gary Twinn (born 7 December 1956 in West Ham, London, England) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, TV host and editorial writer, currently fronting punk rock supergroup The International Swingers, which also features Clem Burke, Glen M ...
 – vocals (1974–80, 2007, 2016) * Randall Murphy – bass guitar (1974–76) * Little Russ Silver (a.k.a. Argentino Russo) – bass guitar (1976) * Philip Foxman – bass guitar, keyboards (1976–80, 2007, 2016) * Noel Kennedy – keyboards (1978–80, 2016)


Discography


Albums


Singles


Awards


King of Pop Awards

The King of Pop Awards were voted by the readers of
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 King of Pop award started in 1967 and ran through to 1978. , - , rowspan="2" , 1976 , rowspan="2" , themselves , Best Australian TV Performer , , - , Most Popular New Group , , -


See also

* List of musical acts from Western Australia


References

{{Reflist


External links


Supernaut Myspace page

Supernaut - Discogs.com

Official site for Philip Foxman


Glam rock groups Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups disestablished in 1980