The Reels was an Australian rock band which formed in

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Go ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1976. It disbanded in 1991, and reformed in 2007. Its 1981 song " Quasimodo's Dream" was voted one of the top 10 Australian songs of all time by a 100-member panel from

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) in 2001. The Reels had top 10 Australian singles chart successes with covers of

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

's " This Guy's in Love with You" (No. 7, 1982) and

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

's " Bad Moon Rising" (No. 11, 1986). Rock music historian

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 journalis ...

described the group as "one of the most original and invigorating pop bands to emerge from the Australian new wave movement of the late 1970s."McFarlan
'The Reels'
entry. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
/ref>

Career

1976–1980: Early years

Native Sons, consisting of John Bliss on drum kit, drums, Craig Hooper on

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

and synthesiser, and

Dave Mason David Thomas Mason (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock mu ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, formed in the regional centre of Dubbo, New South Wales in 1976.
Mason is the son of Government of New South Wales, NSW parliamentarian, John Mason, who was the state's Liberal Party leader during 1978–1981. Colin (Polly) Newham (keyboards/brass) from Orange, N.S.W. joined in 1977. Native Sons played in the Dubbo/Orange/Newcastle area for two years, with a repertoire of cover versions and original songs. After moving 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 Mounta ...

in 1978, the band added

Paul Abrahams Paul Abrahams (born 31 October 1973) is an English former footballer who played as a forward or as a winger in the Football League, most notably for Colchester United, where he made over 100 league appearances in two spells between 1992 and ...

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 ...

and changed its name to The Brucelanders.
It developed an original repertoire of fast-paced, quirky pop and ska music, ska, and its energetic performances gained it a following on the east coast live music scene. It was given support in Sydney by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

(ABC) rock radio station Double J, which continued when the station moved to the

FM band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...

in 1980 and became

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

. By 1979, the Brucelanders had secured a recording contract with the Australian branch of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

and changed its name to the Reels, with the line-up of Abrahams, Bliss, Hooper, Mason and Newham. It released its debut single, "Love Will Find a Way" in October, which entered the top 40 of the Australian

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 (historian), David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music ...

Singles Chart. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 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 accompa ...

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 tabu ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. The group's self-titled debut album was produced by Mark Opitz ( the Angels, Cold Chisel) and appeared in November, as did a second single, "Prefab Heart". The group's distinctive image meant it gained increasing attention with

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

s featured on the influential national ABC TV pop 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 ev ...

''.McFarlan
'The Reels'
entry. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
/ref> In July 1980, the Reels added a sixth member, also a synthesiser player,

Karen Ansel Karen Ansel is a visual effects specialist in the United States. Previously an Australian musician, she was an influential member of the Australian band The Reels. In 2001, the title track "Quasimodo's Dream" from their album ''Quasimodo's Dream ...

, a former member of Melbourne group the Romantics. This new line-up released a third single, "After the News". It marked a transition in The Reels' music – the group minimised guitars instead utilising synthesisers as its main instruments. The Reels were one of the first groups to use headsets instead of traditional microphones. During late July, the group undertook the innovative Reels By Rail Tour, using rail transport to destinations in the eastern states. At the end of the year, returning to its covers band origins, The Reels released a five-track Christmas EP, ''Five Great Gift Ideas from The Reels'', produced by Bruce Brown and Russell Dunlop, which included

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentlem ...

' " According to My Heart" and Freda Payne's " Band of Gold". "According to My Heart" was accompanied by a folksy music video filmed at a farm in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. The EP included one original, "The Bombs Dropped on Xmas", co-written by band members Mason, Newham and Ansel with Pamela Shalvey.

1981: ''Quasimodo's Dream''

In May 1981, The Reels released the single "

Shout and Deliver "Shout and Deliver" is a song by The Reels, which was released as a single from their second album ''Quasimodo's Dream'' in March 1981. The single peaked at number 43 on the Australian charts. Reviewed at the time of release, ''Roadrunner The ...

" as a precursor to the album considered by many to be its best work, '' Quasimodo's Dream''. Here The Reels displayed an impressive maturity in song writing, backed with strong performances, inventive arrangements and top-class production. It peaked at No. 27 in June. The album's title track was released as a single but, although widely considered to be one of the best Australian singles of that period, it failed to chart. The band undertook the Kitchen Man Tour, which saw the stage dressed as a fully equipped Australian kitchen. The Reels' lack of top 10 mainstream commercial success was at odds with their strong live following, but it was due in part to the restrictive programming on commercial radio at that time, which gave little exposure to local "new wave" acts. The group's deteriorating relationship with Mercury was also a factor, as evidenced by the album's track listing: it included the earlier hit "According to My Heart", but a disclaimer printed on the sleeve noted that it had been included at the insistence of the record company (i.e. against the band's wishes). Internal tensions were also a factor in the group's career vicissitudes. Bliss left just after the recording of the album, to be replaced by Stephan Fidock (who had played with Ansel in the Romantics). The new five-piece lineup promoted the album with the Kitchen Man Tour, after which Ansel, Newham then Abrahams left the band. Now reduced to a trio (Mason, Hooper and Fidock) The Reels continued performing by augmenting their live sound with taped backing tracks, and used the new Fairlight synthesiser for studio recordings.

1982–1985: ''Beautiful''

In late 1982, having signed a new contract with the

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

label, The Reels scored a hit with a cover of the

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

song, originally recorded by

, " This Guy's in Love with You", which reached No. 7. This was followed by a one-off album for K-tel, which was known for its licensed pop hit compilations and budget 'golden oldies'. Although the tracks on ''Beautiful'' walked a fine line between sincere tribute and gentle parody, it proved to be the biggest success of their career, selling in excess of 40,000 copies and reaching No. 32 on the album chart, as well as being certified gold. The album was later released through

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. In 1983, the band released a five-track EP of original songs, ''Pitt Street Farmers'' (the title is an old Sydney satirical expression referring to wealthy owners of rural land who never leave the city). This was followed by a new version of "Quasimodo's Dream" in December 1983, which also failed to chart on its second release. At this point Mason was forced to give up performing after contracting

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...

, which effectively ended the group. Hooper joined the Church as keyboard player, and later joined the Mullanes, the original incarnation of

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Late ...

, and Fidock returned to Melbourne, joining the

Sacred Cowboys Sacred Cowboys are an Australian post-punk and rock band formed by mainstay Garry Gray, as lead singer-songwriter, and Mark Ferrie in 1982. The line-up has changed as the group splintered and reformed several times, being active from 1982 to 198 ...

. By late 1985, Mason had recovered and the Reels was revived (with the line-up of Mason, Hooper, Bliss and Newham) and completed its commitments to RCA with a single, a cover version of

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

's " It Must Be Love".

1986–1988: Later years

The band then signed with Regular Records and released a radically slowed-down, synthesiser-driven version of

's " Bad Moon Rising". It proved to be another hit, reaching No. 11 (October 1986); the arrangement featuring prominent use of the

Vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder ...

voice synthesiser, which the band also used extensively on stage to augment Mason's vocals. However, at the end of 1986, Bliss left the band again. In January 1987, their next single was a cover of the Edison Lighthouse hit " Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)". During that year, they embarked on the popular "Reels By Request" tour, where the audience was allowed to call out for the songs they wanted to hear, chosen from long printed lists. This was followed by an 'all Australian songs' version of the same concept, which led to The Reels' next studio album, ''Neighbors'' - the name of which, excluded the 'u' which would normally be contained in the Australian English spelling. This LP contained their idiosyncratic versions of thirteen Australian rock classics, including the singles " Are You Old Enough" (originally a hit for

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

) and " Forever Now" (by Cold Chisel). Steve Prestwich, who wrote "Forever Now", played on the Reels' version. The album also featured a new version of the Reels' own song "Shout and Deliver".

1989–2006: Breakup

In 1989, Mason appeared in the acclaimed Australian feature film '' Ghosts... of the Civil Dead'', in which he co-starred with

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, ...

. In September 1991, The Reels issued its first original single in five years, "I Don't Love You Anymore", followed by what proved to be their last single, a remix by Filthy Lucre of "Bad Moon Rising". The group officially disbanded to coincide with the release of the compilation CD ''Requiem''.

2007–present: Comeback

In May 2007, Dave Mason released his first solo album, ''Reelsville'', an acoustic re-recording of Reels hits. In August 2007, ''Reel to Reel'' was also released, a compilation of the Reels classic tracks with new liner notes as written by Mason. In May 2008, Dave Mason, John Bliss and Colin Newham reunited and played shows. At a subsequent show (the Gaelic Club, Surry Hills; 27 September 2008), Mason announced that Newham was retiring from the band. Original bassist Abrahams then rejoined the band, after 23 years. Despite this, the Reels never got to reunite as a six-piece group.

After the Reels

Hooper was also a member of the Church, the Mullanes (the original incarnation of

), and also recorded with

Rockmelons Rockmelons, often referred to as the Rockies, were an Australian pop/dance/ R&B group formed in 1983 in Sydney. Primary members are Bryon Jones, his brother Jonathon Jones and Raymond Medhurst. They had two Australian top five hit singles in th ...

and Ross Wilson. Karen Ansel retired from the music business and became a noted film and TV

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

specialist in the US. Paul Abrahams also played bass in a band with Newham called The Company of Strangers and was also a member of Peter Blakeley's band, The Resurrection. In addition, he played bass for Wendy Matthews, plus drums for Ya Ya Choral, Rat Tat Tat ( Peter Blakeley and Jeff Stapleton) and The Bonerattlers who were regular buskers at Paddington Markets. Fidock joined the

in 1987. In 2008, or earlier, he established his company Fidock Drums, creating handcrafted snares and drumkits. He died from cancer in April 2020. John Bliss co-authored the book ''The A to Zen of Lawn Bowls'' with John Salter in 1997. David Mason appeared in the

Countdown Spectacular The ''Countdown Spectacular'' is a series of concerts reviving the nostalgia of the Australian music television series ''Countdown''. Countdown Spectacular The first tour was staged from June to August 2006. It featured mainly Australian artists a ...

2 concert series in Australia between late-August and early-September 2007 as a solo performer. He sang only one song, "Quasimodo's Dream". In 2007, Mason released a new album, ''Reelsville'' on Liberation Blue. He performed one gig to launch the album at The Basement in Sydney on 16 May 2007. A further gig was booked for the Factory Enmore Theatre in Sydney on 24 May 2008. This show became a local cause celebre when police with sniffer dogs arrested two 60-year-old punters for smoking illegals. On 26 March 2011, Mason appeared on episode 114 of ''RocKwiz'' on Australian SBS TV. He performed "Quasimodo's Dream" and ended the show in a duet with Sally Seltmann performing the

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

song "

As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" is a song written by American country artist Conway Twitty, and recorded by Twitty and Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In ...

". Mason, who now suffers from bipolar disorder, continues to play occasionally in three separate shows, an acoustic duo with

Brendan Gallagher Brendan Gallagher (born May 6, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger and alternate captain for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Canadiens in the fifth round, 147th overall, of the ...

from

Karma County Karma County are an Australian country, pop music trio which formed in 1995. They comprise Stuart Eadie on drums, percussion and backing vocals; Michael Galeazzi on bass guitar, double bass and backing vocals; and Brendan Gallagher on lead guit ...

and an electronic (one man show) 'Dark' with visuals by artist Libby Blainey, music by Scott Saunders from Dig; both these shows are mostly interpretations of Reels songs. 2017 saw the formation of the group Sandy Shores with Mason, Gallagher, Blainey together with

Lindy Morrison Belinda "Lindy" Morrison (born 2 November 1951) is an Australian musician originally from Brisbane, Queensland. She was the drummer in indie rock group the Go-Betweens from 1980 to 1989, appearing on all of the band's releases from their firs ...

and Amanda Brown from

the Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

playing hits from past bands but mostly new original material.

Members

– production, design, lead vocals (founding member Native Sons) * Keith Greig – keyboards (founding member Native Sons) * Tony Martin – bass (founding member Native Sons) * Colin 'Polly' Newham – keyboards, vocoder, brass, production, songwriter, vocal *

Craig Hooper Craig Lincoln Hooper (born 23 November 1959) is an Australian musician who was a core member (with Dave Mason) of indie rock band The Reels (1977–1992), and was in bands The Mullanes (the initial incarnation of Crowded House Crowded Hou ...

– guitars, keyboards, sax, production, songwriter, vocals (founding member Native Sons) *

– bass, vocal * John Bliss – drums (founding member Native Sons) *

– keyboards, design, costumes, vocals * Stefan Fidock – drums, vocals (deceased) Timeline

ImageSize = width:680 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:80 bottom:20 top:0 right:0 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1979 till:01/06/2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:lead value:red legend:vocals/keyboards id:keys value:orange legend:keyboards id:guitars value:purple legend:guitars/keyboards id:bass value:green legend:bass id:drums value:blue legend:drums id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_Albums Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1979 ScaleMinor = increment:2 start:1979 BarData = bar:Dave text:"Dave Mason" bar:Colin text:"Colin Newham" bar:Craig text: "Craig Hooper" bar:Paul text:"Paul Abrahams" bar:John text:"John Bliss" bar:Karen text:"Karen Ansel" bar:Stefan text:"Stefan Fidock" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Dave from:01/01/1979 till:31/12/1983 color:lead bar:Dave from:01/12/1985 till:01/04/1992 color:lead bar:Dave from:01/05/2007 till:end color:lead bar:Colin from:01/01/1979 till:01/06/1981 color:keys bar:Colin from:01/12/1985 till:01/04/1992 color:keys bar:Colin from:01/05/2008 till:27/09/2008 color:keys bar:Craig from:01/01/1979 till:31/12/1983 color:guitars bar:Craig from:01/12/1985 till:01/04/1992 color:guitars bar:Paul from:01/01/1979 till:01/08/1981 color:bass bar:Paul from:01/10/2008 till:end color:bass bar:John from:01/01/1979 till:01/06/1981 color:drums bar:John from:01/12/1985 till:31/12/1986 color:drums bar:John from:01/05/2008 till:end color:drums bar:Karen from:01/02/1980 till:01/08/1981 color:keys bar:Stefan from:01/06/1981 till:31/12/1983 color:drums LineData = at:01/06/1979 color:lines1 layer:front at:01/05/1981 color:lines1 layer:front at:01/10/1982 color:lines1 layer:front at:01/11/1988 color:lines1 layer:front at:01/06/2007 color:lines1 layer:front

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

EPs

Singles

Notes

Awards and nominations

Countdown Music 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. , - , 1982 , " This Guy's in Love with You" , Best Australian Single , , -

Legacy

The song "Quasimodo's Dream" is regarded as an Australian rock classic and has been covered by

Kate Ceberano Catherine Yvette Ceberano ( or , born 17 November 1966) is an Australian singer and actress who performs in the soul, jazz, and pop genres, as well as in film and musicals such as ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Her song "Pash" received a gold sa ...

, Rob Snarski,

Mick Harvey Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The ...

and

Jimmy Little James Oswald Little, AO (1 March 19372 April 2012) was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales. Little started his profes ...

. In 2001, it was voted one of the top 10 Australian songs of all time by APRA.

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. * Note: n-lineversion established a
White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd
in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition. ;Specific

External links

Official website
by "NoNightSweats"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reels, The APRA Award winners Australian new wave musical groups New South Wales musical groups Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Mercury Records artists RCA Records artists