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MORE
ON THE LA DE DA'S |
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Kevin
Borich |
Keith
Barber |
Ronnie
Peel |
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When
a bunch of idealistic 16-year-old musicians formed
the La De Das (originally called The Mergers) in Auckland
during 1964, they had immediate designs on following
in the footsteps of national heroes like Ray Columbus
and the Invaders and Max Merritt and the Meteors. |
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"Kevin
Borich is Australia’s leading guitar virtuoso. He arrived
with the La De Das from New Zealand and they proved themselves
to be one of the tightest hardworking rock & roll bands
in the world. They took the Australian charts by storm with
tracks like Borich's 'Gonna See My Baby Tonight' and Chuck
Berry's 'Too Pooped To Pop' which had the smarts of great
pop records underpinned by a crack band. "
Glenn A. Baker |
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Alongside
the likes of The Pleazers, Chants R&B, The Avengers,
The Gremlins, The Underdogs, Larry's Rebels and Human
Instinct, La De Das were at the forefront of a vibrant
New Zealand pop scene. La De Das' debut single, `Little
Girl'/`Ever Since that Night' (June 1965), was a low-key
slice of Rolling Stones-derived R&B Boogie issued
on the local Talent City label. Bruce Howard (organ,
vocals) joined La De Das in 1965 and the band turned
professional. La De Das signed to Philips and issued
the classic single, The Blues Magoos' `How is the
Air Up There?'/`The Pied Piper', which reached #4
on the New Zealand charts in May 1966. The single
also topped the Sydney charts. |
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their beginnings as a tough garage/R&B band
to their final years as an exciting hard rock/boogie
outfit, New Zealand's La De Das did it all. Over
the course of ten years together, La De Das recorded
five albums, toured Britain and Europe, scored hit
singles and established themselves as one of the
most innovative bands in Australia.
Bruce Howard
Trevor Wilson
Kevin Borich
Phil Key
Brett Neilsen |
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From
there the band issued one tough garage-punk single after
another: `Don't You Stand in My Way'/`I Take What I Want'
(June 1966), Chester Burnett's `On Top of the World'/`Hey
Girl' (November), Bruce Channel's `Hey Baby'/`Other Love'
(a New Zealand #1 in March 1967), `All Purpose Low'/`My
Girl' (June) and `Rosalie'/`Find Us a Way' (September).
The band's first two albums, La De Das and Find Us a Way,
plus the EP `Stupidity', are also highly regarded by 1960s
aficionados. Having conquered New Zealand, La De Das set
their sights on Australia. |
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La
De Das made one tentative foray on to the Australian
scene in mid 1967, but their brand of R&B made
little impact. By the time La De Das arrived back
in Australia at the start of 1968 (with new drummer
Bryan Harris, ex-Action), they had changed direction.
La De Das were one of the first local bands to include
covers of Vanilla Fudge, Doors and Traffic (and later
The Band) material in its repertoire. Billed as `The
Beautiful La De Das', the band was at the forefront
of the Australian flower power movement. |
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La
De Da’s release ‘The Happy Prince’ is Australia’s
first concept album. With new drummer Keith Barber
(ex-Wild Cherries) on board, the band set about recording
its ambitious concept album The Happy Prince (based
on the Oscar Wilde fairytale). 1969 was the year of
the rock opera (The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow, The
Who's Tommy, The Kinks' Arthur)
and, upon its release in April, The Happy Prince was
praised for its quality musicianship and production
values. Despite the fine playing, it was an overly
serious and flawed album, and duly sank without a
trace. `Come and Fly with Me' / `Swallow Little Swallow'
was lifted as a single in May. |
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La
De Das flew to the UK in April 1969. By that stage,
psychedelia had been replaced by Led Zeppelin-style
heavy blues, and La De Das' brand of soft psychedelic
pop was outdated. La De Das did record a version of
The Beatles' `Come Together'/`Here is Love' as a single
(September 1969), but the disastrous nine-month UK
sojourn did little for the band's confidence. Back
in Australia, La De Das changed direction again, and
were eventually hailed as one of the funkiest, hard-
-driving rock outfits in Australia. By 1972 it was
this concept of straightforward, gutsy rock'n'roll
which resulted in the La De Das, Billy Thorpe and
the Aztecs and Daddy Cool becoming the country's three
top groups. |
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Meanwhile,
Wilson had not returned from the UK. In disarray, the band
recruited fellow New Zealander Reno Tehei (bass; ex-Compulsion,
Luke's Walnut, Genesis). Wilson eventually returned to the
fold as guitarist, but the three-guitar line-up just did
not work. The band's tenth single, the delicate, flute-led
ballad `Sweet Girl' /`I Can't Find a Reason' (January 1971)
bombed. 1970 had been a transitional year for the band,
and by the end of it Howard had left to join Levi Smith's
Clefs (and later Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs), Wilson had
also departed (later to join Home) and Tehei had been deported
back to New Zealand. With the addition of Peter Roberts
on bass (ex-Freshwater), La De Das spent 1971 consolidating
their position as one of the hardest working bands on the
scene. |
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The
funky, infectious singles `Gonna See My Baby Tonight'/`Fare
Thee Well' (September 1971) which brought them a Top
Ten hit, spending twenty-eight weeks in all in the
charts, and `Morning Good Morning'/`You and Me' (March
1972) featured Phil Key on vocals. Key and Roberts
left in October 1972 to form Band of Light, and as
a three-piece (with new bass player Ronnie Peel; ex-Missing
Links, Pleazers, Rockwell T. James and the Rhythm
Aces, Browns, One Ton Gypsy), the La De Das pulled
out all stops. |
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The
La De Das featured prominently at the inaugural Sunbury
Pop Festival which also featured Billy Thorpe, Max Merritt,
Spectrum, and Chain in January 1972, and alongside The Aztecs
and Friends managed to attract one of the largest crowds
ever assembled in Australia at a concert at Melbourne's
Myer Music Bowl
(estimated at over 200000 people). |
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 Borich
was now firmly entrenched as Australia's guitar hero
supremo; his superb rendition of Jimi Hendrix's workout
on Dylan's `All Along the Watchtower' became a signature,
and the band was never allowed to finish a gig until
delivering it. The fiery Rock and Roll Sandwich (the
band's first album in five years, issued November
1973 and probably the first Kevin Borich album) considered
their best album and came nearest to capturing their
admired live energy on vinyl. Kevin Borich wrote (or
co-wrote) all the material, sang every song and backed
them superbly with electric and/or acoustic guitars
and piano. It remains a classic boogie rock album.
The singles `I'll Never Stop Loving You'/ `It's the
Beginning' (December 1972) and `The Place'/`No Law
Against Having Fun' (March 1974) maintained the pace
but were not chart hits. The band's final singles,
punchy, commercial covers of Chuck Berry's `Too Pooped
to Pop'/ `She Tell Me What to Do' (#26 in July 1974)
and Hank Williams' `Honky Tonkin''/ `Temple Shuffle'
(August 1974), were minor national hits. `Too Pooped
to Pop' also peaked at #13 in Melbourne. La De Das
supported UK glam-rocker Gary Glitter on his
July 1974 Australian tour. |
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In
March 1975, EMI gathered up the band's recent singles
and four unissued tracks for the compilation album
Legend, in a superb gatefold sleeve with an intricate
leatherwork pattern, as something of a contractual
obligation. |
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In
the early 70s the La De Das and especially KB were in great
demand as session musicians and backing instrumentalists
and the group spilt to go its different ways. By May 1975,
the band had run its course.
After playing with John Paul Young and the All Stars for
several months, Borich re-formed La De Das briefly with
a line-up comprising Peel, Warren Morgan (piano; ex-Billy
Thorpe and the Aztecs) and Johnny Dick (drums; ex-Billy
Thorpe and the Aztecs), all of whom were also concurrently
in The All Stars. By early 1976, Borich had formed the Kevin
Borich Express. Phil
Key died of a heart attack in 1984. Trevor Wilson still
plays in Australia. Bruce Howard relocated to London, where
he still works as a songwriter. Brett Neilson lives in Auckland
where he is still active on the pub circuit. The
La De Da's came together one more time in New Zealand in
1992 for the Galaxie reunion gig and played a blistering
set which they dedicated to the memory of Phil Key. In 1995
the "Legend" album was re-released on CD. It was called
"Best Of The La De Da's Legend" |
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There
a 2 La De Das - Anthology CDs.
Information Sources and to purchase available La De Das
CDs visit
MILESAGO
New Zealand Music /
ladedas.html
Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and
Pop / Ian McFarlane
Howlspace/ Ed Nimmervol |
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