JOHN HOOD

We arrived in Melbourne late in 1972 and quickly went about trying to become established in the local scene.

We were signed by Mushroom pretty quickly and appeared at Sunbury 1973. We also recorded some live gigs at the Garrison. 

 A trip back to Perth allowed us to be the support band for John Mayall at the WACA. I got to talk with his drummer Keef Hartley, who made some fabulous albums with his own band. In our early days, we did a couple of his tracks. His first few albums are just great, I still listen to them.

                From newly-discovered shots taken at The WACA,
                  LHS - Bob with Owen, RHS - Bob with Ken 

                         From the left, JH, Owen and Noel at The WACA

By about August 1973 I was pretty burned out or freaked out or whatever and decided to return to Perth. I was a partner in 78 Records and went straight back into the business.

The following tracks, all from Victoria in 1973 and all on Mushroom, are the only official recordings that I appeared on during my time with the band.

1. Sailing  (8:30) (live at Sunbury 1973)
2. I'm Free (8:35) (Live At Garrison)
3. 40 Days and 40 Nights (3:37) (Live At Garrison)

On Sailing Bob plays the first solo, I come in at the end. Then we take it out together with the harmony thing. Great band.

The guys picked up a great new guitarist, Mick Elliot, who I think was a better fit than I was. I wanted to improvise and the other guys wanted to rock a lot more. Mick was a great rock guitar player and the band progressed to recording an album, known as First Offense that charted. They also played Sunbury 1974. 

These two shots are of a version of the first album, remixed by Bob from the original master tapes. Hence the change in the title. It sounded great.

In hindsight, I guess my guitar playing in Melbourne was not what I was "hearing" in my mind, it seemed very stiff. Little did I know it was going to take another twenty years to get to the point where I thought I could truly express myself through the instrument.

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