The Dynamic Hepnotics were an Australian

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

, blues and funk band which formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1986. Mainstay, lead vocalist and front man, "Continental" Robert Susz formed the group in Sydney. They had chart success on 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 from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Singles Chart with a top 5 single, " Soul Kind of Feeling" in 1984. It was followed by "Gotta Be Wrong (Way to Love)" which reached the top 20 in 1985. Their album, ''Take You Higher'', reached the top 20 on the related Albums Chart in June. In 1986, "Soul Kind of Feeling" won the

APRA Music Award 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 ...

for 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work'.

History

The Dynamic Hepnotics formed in Sydney in 1979 with Tim Martin on saxophone (ex-Friends), Manuel Patti on bass guitar, Richard Ruhle on drums, Andrew Silver on guitar (Big Town Playboys) and "Continental" Robert Susz on vocals and harmonica (Rugcutters, Humdinger Dogs). One of their early gigs was at the

Potts Point Potts Point is a small and densely populated suburb in inner-city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Potts Po ...

night club, Arthur's. In May 1980 this line-up issued a four-track extended play, ''Shakin' All Over'' on the Mambo label. By the time of its release, Silver and Susz had been joined by Bruce Allen on saxophone (ex-Jeff St John Band, Ol' 55), Allen Britton on bass guitar (Mangrove Boogie Kings) and Robert Souter on drums (Lizard, Gulliver's Travels, Living Legends). The group issued a single, "Hepnobeat", in September 1981 and subsequently changed from Mambo to

Missing Link Records Missing Link Records was an Australian-based independent record label established in 1977. The Missing Link label was created by Keith Glass (singer-guitarist ex- Cam-Pact) and David Pepperell (journalist and vocalist, ex-The Union) who were th ...

. Jim Niven from

The Sports The Sports were an Australian 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 drums, Andrew P ...

played organ on the single. An early line-up featured television presenter, Jonathan Coleman, on piano. In August 1982 they released a six-track EP, ''Strange Land'', which was produced by Ross Wilson ( Daddy Cool,

Mondo Rock Mondo Rock are an Australian rock band, formed in November 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria. Singer-songwriter Ross Wilson founded the band, following the split of his previous band Daddy Cool. Guitarist Eric McCusker, who joined in 1980, wrote ma ...

Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons are an Australian blues music, blues and rock music, rock band that features the singer, songwriter and saxophonist Joe Camilleri (aka "Jo Jo Zep"). The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had severa ...

) for Missing Link. The group contributed to the soundtrack of 1983 feature film, ''Going Down''. By 1984 the band had signed with

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...

' White Label Records. In late January Dynamic Hepnotics appeared at the

Narara Music Festival The Narara Music Festival was an outdoor music festival held on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia in 1983 and 1984. Despite the name, it was actually held at Somersby, a short distance from Narara. Narara is the original clan n ...

. They released a single, "I'll Make You", in May. Their highest charting hit, " Soul Kind of Feeling", appeared on the Australian

Singles Chart in October 1984 and peaked at No. 5. 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 replac ...

(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 ta ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. Early in 1985, they issued ''Live'' (aka ''The Dynamic Hepnotics Live''), which including cover versions and originals recorded live in the studio. An audible hissing noise was recorded onto the album from the sound of fire extinguishers used to put out a fire under the stage as the group performed. Mike Gubb joined on keyboards. ''Live'' was followed by "Gotta Be Wrong (Way to Love)" in May, which reached the top 20. Their album, ''Take You Higher'', reached the top 20 on the related Albums Chart in June. At the end of that year, Dave Brewer replaced Silver on guitar, Andrew Silver became a post man and never played again

Mark Simmonds Mark Jonathon Mortlock Simmonds (born 12 April 1964) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, and was first elected in 2001, succeeding Sir Richard ...

replaced Allen on saxophone and Peter Bishop joined on trumpet. The group's final single, "On Our Way Now", was released in March 1986, which reached the top 100. Souter was replaced by Duncan Archibald on drums, Gubb was replaced by Chris Pascoe on keyboards and

Lloyd Swanton Lloyd Stuart Swanton (born 14 August 1960) is an Australian jazz double bassist, bass guitarist, and composer. Swanton was a member of Dynamic Hepnotics in 1986McFarlan'Dynamic Hepnotics'entry. Retrieved 21 February 2010. and co-founded jazz ...

replaced Britton on bass guitar. However, the group disbanded before the end of the year. In 1986, "Soul Kind of Feeling" won the

for 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work'.

After disbandment

In 1988 Susz formed a "stylish soul / R&B" group, The Mighty Reapers, with Archibald, Brewer and Ruhle. That group recorded three albums, ''The Mighty Reapers'' (1993), ''Trouble People'' (1994) and ''The Hurt Is On'' (1997). Susz was later in the group, Continental Blues Party. Bruce Allen later toured &/or recorded with The Allniters, Eurogliders, The Eddys, Glenn Shorrock, Doug Parkinson and Ross Wilson, and currently performs with a number of Sydney-based bands including The Layabouts, The Bellhops and The Hollywood Hombres. Mike Gubb has worked with a number of Australian bands, including

Mental As Anything Mental As Anything are an Australian new wave and pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977 to 1999, and recorded all of their charting singles and albums) was Martin Plaza (birth name Marti ...

Ganggajang Ganggajang (styled as GANGgajang) are an Australian pop rock band which formed in 1984. The four founders are frontman Mark 'Cal' Callaghan (ex-Riptides) on guitar and lead vocals, Chris Bailey on bass guitar, Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup on drums ...

The Whitlams The Whitlams are an Australian indie rock band formed in late 1992. The original line-up was Tim Freedman on keyboards and lead vocals, Andy Lewis (bassist), Andy Lewis on double bass and Stevie Plunder on guitar and lead vocals. Other than main ...

and

Dog Trumpet Dog Trumpet, originally known as Reg & Peter's Dog Trumpet, is an Australian rock band, founded in 1990 by brothers Reg Mombassa (aka Chris O'Doherty) and Peter O'Doherty, original members of Australian new wave and pop rock band Mental As An ...

. Lloyd Swanton formed a jazz trio,

The Necks The Necks are an Australian avant-garde jazz trio formed in 1987 by founding mainstays Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. They play ...

, in 1987 with

Chris Abrahams Christopher Robert Lionel Abrahams (born 1961, Oamaru, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based musician. He is a founding mainstay member of experimental, jazz trio the Necks (1987–present), he collaborated with Melanie Oxley a ...

and Tony Buck.McFarlan
'Chris Abrahams'
entry. Archived fro
the original
on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 13 December 2011. Dave Brewer has worked with The Catholics (formed by Swanton in 1991) and currently performs with Perth-based blues band The Doodaddies. In late 2008, Brewer released a solo album titled ''Life of Riley''. Richard Ruhle performs with Sydney-based jazz 4-piece Seriously Cool. Robert Souter performs with Mental As Anything. Duncan Archibald performs with Sydney-based band The Moods. Four of the original band members (Susz, Souter, Britton and Brewer) performed 2 shows under the Dynamic Hepnotics name in 2015, at the Caloundra Music Festival and the last ever Narooma-based Great Southern Blues and Roots Music Festival.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

Countdown Australian Music Awards

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 ...

'' 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, partic ...

''. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards. , - , 1984 , " Soul Kind of Feeling" , Best Single , , -

Band personnel

Credits: Vocals, harmonica * Robert Susz (1979–1986) Guitar * Andrew Silver (1979–1986) * Dave Brewer (1986) Bass guitar * Manuel Patty (1979) * Vickie Kenny (1979-1980) * Allen Britton (1980–1986) *

(1986) Drums * Richard Ruhle (1979–1980) * Robert Souter (1980–1986) * Duncan Archibald (1986) Saxophone * Tim Martin (1979–1980) * Bruce Allen (1980–1985) *

(1985–1986) Trumpet * Peter Bishop (1985–1986) Keyboard * Mike Gubb (1985–1986) * Chris Pascoe (1986)

References

External links

* {{Authority control APRA Award winners Australian funk musical groups Australian soul musical groups Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 New South Wales musical groups