Ganggajang, stylised as GANGgajang are an Australian
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
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 (both ex-
The Angels) and Kayellen Bee vocals and percussion. They were soon joined by Geoffrey Stapleton (ex-
the Aliens on keyboards, guitar and vocals, and Robbie James on lead guitar.
Their most popular song, "
Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)", was issued in December 1985 and peaked in the top 40 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 historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...
Singles Chart. It gained further exposure in Australia ten years later when it was used on TV in a
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
ad and then for the 1996
Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
station ID promotion. It was added to the
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...
's curated collection,
Sounds of Australia
The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film & Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings deemed culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant and relevant for Australia. It was fo ...
, in 2016; and was the opening song for the 2024
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
concert performed at
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
and beamed live on ABC TV, performed by
GANGgajang and
William Barton.
Their highest selling album was ''
GANGgajang'', which was released in November 1985. They have issued three other studio albums, ''
GangAGAIN'' (1987), ''
Lingo'' (1994) and ''
Oceans and Deserts'' (2002).
History
Earlier bands
GANGgajang founders,
Chris Bailey,
Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup, and Mark 'Cal' Callaghan had previously been members of various bands.
Bailey, on bass guitar and vocals, had been a member of Adelaide groups, Tattered Sole and then Red Angel Panic,
before forming
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
ers
Headband
A headband or hairband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plast ...
in 1971 with Peter Beagley (later known as
Peter Head
Peter Head (born Peter Beagley), is an Australian rock musician, pianist, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work with the progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock mu ...
) on piano and vocals.
In 1974 Bailey joined Mount Lofty Rangers alongside
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...
(later in
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
) on vocals and Head.
In March 1975, Bailey released a solo single, "Sunday Too Far Away".
Bidstrup had been the drummer in Fahrenheit 451 in 1967, then Red Angel Panic (with Bailey) and was in a succession of groups into the mid-1970s.
In August 1976, Bidstrup joined Adelaide hard rockers,
The Angels alongside lead vocalist
Doc Neeson
Bernard Patrick "Doc" Neeson OAM (4 January 1947 – 4 June 2014) was an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. He was the front man for the hard rock band The Angels from its formation in February 1976 through to 1999. The band then spli ...
.
In January 1977, Bailey also joined The Angels.
Callaghan had formed The Grudge in 1977 in Brisbane with fellow students from the Architecture Department of the
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
.
The Grudge underwent a succession of names (The Neon Steal, The Numbers) to become
The Riptides
The Riptides were an Australian power pop group which was formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977 as The Grudge. Their founding mainstay was Mark Callaghan on lead vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and as principal songwriter. Former member M ...
in 1979 with Callaghan on lead vocals and lead guitar.
In March 1981 Bidstrup left The Angels and Bailey left in April 1982.
In 1982 Bidstrup joined
The Party Boys
The Party Boys was an Australian rock supergroup with a floating membership commencing in 1982. Created by Mondo Rock's bass guitarist, Paul Christie, with founding member Kevin Borich (ex– La De Da's, Kevin Borich Express) as a part-time ...
in Sydney. In January 1983, Riptides had disbanded and Callaghan was in Sydney.
Bidstrup and Callaghan worked together on "Gimme Some Loving" and recorded it as a demo in 1983.
1984–1987: Formation to ''gangAGAIN''
In 1984, GANGgajang was formed in Sydney, the name is
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...
c for the sound of a guitar playing a loud chord.
The band grew out of songwriting and performing sessions that Bailey, Bidstrup, his wife Kayellen Bee and Callaghan undertook for the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
-TV music-drama series ''
Sweet and Sour
Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia and has been used in English cuisine, England since the Middle Ages.Clarissa Dickson WDickson ...
'' (July–August 1984).
They were soon joined by Geoffrey Stapleton (ex-
The Aliens, Rat Tat Tat) on guitar and keyboards.
Mercury Records released the earlier demo "Gimme Some Loving" as a single in May.
It reached the top 40 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 historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...
Singles Chart by November.
[
To record their debut album, '' GANGgajang'', they enlisted Gordon Sullivan (of Deckchairs Overboard, who had also worked on ''Sweet and Sour'') on lead guitar; Kayellen Bee (a.k.a. Kay Bee), (who co-wrote "The Heart Plays Tricks" as K Bidstrup with G Bidstrup and Callaghan for ''Sweet and Sour'')] on vocals and percussion; and Marilyn Delaney on vocals and keyboards. The album was produced by Joe Wissert
Joe Wissert (born c. 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American record producer. Wissert has worked with artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Boz Scaggs, Helen Reddy, The Lovin' Spoonful, Gordon Lightfoot and The Turtles.
Overview
Wis ...
(Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...
, Helen Reddy
Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...
, The J. Geils Band
The J. Geils Band (formerly known as The J. Geils Blues Band) was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, h ...
) with band members Bidstrup and Callaghan. In August 1985 during the initial stages of recording the album, Robert James replaced Sullivan on guitar.
The group's live debut was at the Mosman Hotel in March 1985. The band gained a solid following around Australia during 1985, aided by support from national radio station, Triple J
Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
, and pop music TV series, '' Countdown''. Their biggest commercial success came in November from the release of their self-titled debut album, which sold over 120,000 copies. The LP included the hit single, " Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)", as well as "House of Cards" and "Giver of Life". "Sounds of Then" was released in December and peaked in the top 40.[
In 1986 GANGgajang members, Callaghan, James and Stapleton performed with The Rock Party, a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, which included many ]Australasia
Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
n musicians, Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...
, Eddie Rayner, Tim Finn
Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...
, Nick Seymour
Nicholas More Seymour (born 9 December 1958) is an Australian musician and record producer. He is the founding bass guitarist and a mainstay of the rock group Crowded House, and is the younger brother of Mark Seymour, singer-songwriter-guitaris ...
and Paul Hester
Paul Newell Hester (8 January 1959 – 26 March 2005) was an Australian musician and television personality. He was the drummer for the band Split Enz for their last year together from December 1983 to December 1984, and co-founding member an ...
(all from Crowded House
Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...
); Andrew Barnum and Lissa Barnum ( Vitabeats); Deborah Conway ( Do-Re-Mi); Mary Azzopardi (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 t ...
), Michael Barclay, Peter Blakeley
Peter Blakeley is an Australian white soul/adult contemporary singer and songwriter.
Blakeley was a lead singer of the Rockmelons in the mid-1980s. He launched a solo career in 1987 and had a massive hit single in Australia in 1989 with " C ...
, Jenny Morris, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P Jones, Sean Kelly (Models
A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , .
Models can be divided int ...
), John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics
The Dynamic Hepnotics were an Australian soul, 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 K ...
) and Rick Swinn ( The Venetians). The Rock Party released a 12" single "Everything to Live For", which was produced by Wissert, Phil Rigger and Phil Beazley. In 1987, GANGgajang's music was featured exclusively in the Quiksilver
Quiksilver is a brand of surf-inspired apparel and accessories that was founded in 1969 in Torquay, Victoria, but is now based in Huntington Beach, California. It is one of the world's largest brands of surfwear and boardsport-related equip ...
surf movie ''Mad Wax: The Surf Movie''. The film became a cult surf classic and introduced the band to a worldwide audience: GANGgajang was named 'World's Best Band' two years in a row by the Association of Surfing Professionals
The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The WSL was originally known as International Professional Surfing (IPS), fo ...
.
The group released their second album, '' gangAGAIN'', in 1987, after which various members pursued solo projects although the band continued performing irregularly. Kayellen Bee left the band in mid 1987 and over the next six years Callaghan released a solo album, reformed the Riptides, then released a live album ''Resurface'' and a studio album ''Wave Rock''. He worked as an executive for the now-defunct 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 subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...
group. Bidstrup played sessions, produced albums and movie soundtracks. Bailey worked with various artists: Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon Barnes ( Swan; born 28 April 1956) is an 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-selling Australian music a ...
, Alannah Miles and Nathan Cavaleri. Stapleton toured Australia and Europe with Absent Friends and then went on to form The Dukes with Sean Kelly. James wrote a book, ''The Second Best Book of Disunderstandabilism'' and then recorded his songs with Wendy Matthews
Wendy Joan Matthews (born 13 January 1960) is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models (band), Models and Absent Friends (band), Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in th ...
.
1993–1996: ''Lingo'' to "Sounds of Then"
In 1993 GANGgajang reconvened and recorded their third album, '' Lingo'', without Bee and Delaney – both had gone on to careers in the film industry. GANGgajang were joined by Mark O'Connor on keyboards. O'Connor left soon after and was replaced by Mike Gubb on keyboards. The album was released in May 1994 on RooART
rooArt was an Australian independent record label, founded in 1988 by INXS's then-manager, Chris Murphy, label owner Sebastian Chase and Murphy's former employee, Justin Van Stom. The label's roster included several well-known Australian ban ...
and spawned three singles, "Hundreds of Languages", "Talk to Me", and "Ordinary World"/"Future Days".
In 1995, the first two albums were repackaged into '' The Essential'' (aka ''The Essential GANGgajang''). In September–October the band toured Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
for the first time. While in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
they appeared on Brazilian TV's ''The Seu Boneco Show'' and met local comedy rock
Comedy rock is a genre of rock music that is Comedy music, comedic in nature. It is often mixed with satirical music, satire or irony.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and ...
band, Mamonas Assassinas. Ten years after its release, "Sounds of Then" became better known to Australians when it was used for a Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
commercial. In 1996, the Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
used it on its station ID promotion. The group returned to Brazil for their second tour.
2000s
GANGgajang played the Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
and Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...
as part of the Corroboree
A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the ...
2000 celebrations and during the 2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
the band was in demand for concert appearances around Sydney as part of the Olympic Arts Festival. In February 2001 the group completed its third tour of Brazil.
In October 2002 they released their fourth studio album, '' Oceans and Deserts'', produced by guitarist Robbie James, which spawned the singles "Nomadsland", "Anodyne Dream" and "Trust", to critical acclaim and extensive airplay across Australia on ABC radio. Five tracks featured backing vocals from original members Kayellen Bee and Marilyn Delaney (aka Marilyn Sommer).
In 2004 a live concert featuring a selection of new songs and some of the classics was filmed for the ABC's ''Live at the Basement'' series. Late in 2006, their double DVD, ''The Complete GANGgajang'' was issued. It featured music video clips, live performances, interviews, and a documentary of their first tour of Brazil.
When not performing or recording together as GANGgajang each band member is involved in other projects: Callaghan was General Manager of Shock Music Publishing (2002–2007); in May 2007 he was appointed GM of Australian Music Publishing Association Limited (AMPAL). As of 2010, he was writing songs for GANGgajang's next album - due to begin recording early that year. Bidstrup managed Australian music personality, 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 professi ...
, since the release of Little's 1999 ARIA Award-winning CD ''The Messenger'', and is CEO of Uncle Jimmy Thumbs Up LTD, a charity whose primary aim is to provide health and nutrition education to young Indigenous Australians. He has also played on and off at times with various formations of The Angels.
Bailey worked in a variety of music cultures in Sydney and produced an album for singer-songwriter, Dave Debs. Bailey also played in Little's live band and with The Angels from 2002 to 2012. He died on 4 April 2013 after battling cancer.
James has released three solo albums ''Suzannah Suite'' (1999) and ''Secrets in the Sand'' (2006) and ''24 Hours A Night'' (2022). He was also a member of Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced , natively ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a wh ...
from 2001 when they toured Brazil with GANGgajang until the end of 2005.
Stapleton resides in Adelaide and prepared his painting exhibition, called "Oceans and Deserts". He made several film clips for the band and for others, whilst maintaining and developing the band's website and writing new songs.
GANGgajang have a following outside Australia and are especially popular in Brazil following their ''Mad Wax: The Surf Movie'' soundtrack and three tours. In 2011, Jeff Harris (ex-Divinyls
Divinyls () were an Australian rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1980. The band primarily consisted of vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett garnered widespread attention for performing on stage in a school un ...
) joined on drums while Bidstrup was unavailable while working for the Jimmy Little Foundation. but founding member Bidstrup soon became available again has appeared with the band subsequently. In April 2011 the group performed at the 50th anniversary of the Bells Beach Surf Classic
The Rip Curl Pro, formerly the Bells Beach Surf Classic, is a WSL (formerly ASP) World Tour surfing competition held in and around Torquay, Victoria and sponsored by surf company Rip Curl. The event is based at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia ...
.
Group members
* Mark 'Cal' Callaghan – guitar, vocals (1984–present)
* Chris Bailey – bass, vocals (1984–2013; died 2013)
* Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup – drums, percussion, guitar, keyboards, vocals (1984–1996, 1997–2010, 2013–present)
* Geoffrey Stapleton – keyboards, guitar, vocals (1984–1992), (1995–present)
* Robbie James – guitar, vocals (1985–present)
* Peter Willersdorf – bass (2014–present)
* Kayellen Bee – backing vocals (1984–1987)
* Marilyn Delaney – backing vocals (1984–1985)
* James Black – guitar, keyboards (1984)
* Gordon Sullivan – guitar (1984–1985)
* Mark O'Connor – keyboards (1993)
* Mike Gubb – keyboards (1993–1995)
* Frank Corby – drums (1996-1997)
* Jeff Harris – drums (2011–2012)
* Doug Bligh – drums (2012–2013)
Discography
Studio albums
Soundtrack albums
Compilation albums
Singles
References
General
* Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
*
{{Authority control
Australian rock music groups
Musical groups established in 1984
Musical groups from Sydney