Th' Dudes are a New Zealand rock band that was formed in the late 1970s in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Hits include "Walking in Light", "Right First Time", "Be Mine Tonight" and "Bliss".

History

1975–1980

The band was formed by Morris, Urlich, Coleman and Dobbyn, students at Sacred Heart College in Auckland. The band name derived from the "Lone Groover" comic strip in the English music paper, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. The band's sound was heavily influenced by the British scene, especially

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

, and later by the Punk and New Wave sounds of

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the ...

and

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

. Starting off as a covers band that played surf clubs and private parties, Th' Dudes quickly earned a reputation as an energetic and skilful outfit featuring dual guitar work from Dobbyn and Morris, a tight no-nonsense rhythm section (Peter Coleman on bass, later replaced by Lez White, and drummer Bruce Hambling) and charismatic vocalist Urlich. Slowly the repertoire featured more originals and their status rose to the point where Th' Dudes were acclaimed NZ Group of the Year in 1979. The group disbanded in 1980.

1990s-present

The mid-1990s saw a resurgence of interest in Th' Dudes in New Zealand, when "classic hits" and "classic rock" radio became more prevalent, and the compositional, performance and production qualities of the band's records endured. ''Bliss: 20 Essential New Zealand Classics'' and other compilations showcased New Zealand

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

acts which epitomized the Kiwi rock genre. Th' Dudes', "

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...

", attained particular popularity and has since established itself as New Zealand's unofficial national drinking song. In October 2006, Th' Dudes embarked on a tour of New Zealand as part of

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state- ...

's 40th anniversary celebrations. The original tour was 11 dates, but quickly expanded to 17 shows due to demand. The band compiled a six-track album of demo and alternate versions of their biggest hits, culled from the band's own collections. This CD was available only at shows on the tour and was called '' Pubs, Parks, Theatres, Clubs, Church Halls, Gardens, Lounges & Band Rotundas''. In late 2007, Th' Dudes embarked on the "Summer of Love" tour. In 2008, the band sued Stebbing Studios for non-payment of royalties. The band sought to show that they were not paid royalties for sales of their music due to their songs being recorded in downtime at Stebbing, but studio owner Eldred Stebbing claimed production costs had not been met. The dispute was resolved to both parties' mutual satisfaction in November 2008. In 2019, the band announced a new tour of New Zealand, with dates from 9–25 April 2020, but it was postponed until November due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Ian Morris's brother,

Rikki Morris Richard Ernest Morris (born 12 August 1960) is a British-born New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and sound engineer better known by his stage name, Rikki Morris. He is perhaps best known for his 1988 hit single "Nobody Else" which he wr ...

joined the group for the tour. Ian Morris died suddenly in Napier on 7 October 2010. Prior to his death, Morris produced records and wrote advertising music, after having had a brief solo career under the stage name Tex Pistol. He is survived by his twin daughters, Julia and Maude.

Members

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then h ...

– vocals, guitars * Ian Morris (deceased) – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals *

Peter Urlich Peter Urlich (born 1956 in Auckland) is a New Zealand musician. He is the cousin of fellow New Zealand singer Margaret Urlich. Early years Urlich was educated at Sacred Heart College in the suburb of Glen Innes, Auckland. Son of Daniel and Rub ...

– drums (changing to vocals later) *Peter Coleman, (Replaced by Lez White 1978) – bass * Lez White - bass *Bruce Hambling – drums *Rikki Morris - guitar, vocals

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Demo albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Aotearoa Music Awards

The

Aotearoa Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

(previously known as ''New Zealand Music Awards'' (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in

New Zealand music The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including ...

and have been presented annually since 1965. ! , - , 2019 , , Th' Dudes , ,

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associati ...

, , , , , -

References

External links

Th' Dudes homepageAudioCulture

Th' Dudes at last.fm

NZ Music survey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudes APRA Award winners New Zealand post-punk music groups Musicians from Auckland People educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical groups from Auckland New Zealand punk rock groups