Jerry Speiser | |
---|---|
![]() Speiser in 1983 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Jerry Harold Speiser |
Born | Australia | 12 August 1953
Genres | Pop, new wave |
Occupation | Drummer |
Years active | 1979–present |
Jerry Harold Speiser (born 12 August 1953) is an Australian musician. He is best known as the drummer and a founding member of 1980s pop/new wave group Men at Work, [1] [2] which had Australian, US and UK hits with their singles "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under" and their albums Business as Usual and Cargo . He left the band in 1984 and was a member of other groups including FX, One World and Frost. [1]
In an early session, he played on Greg Sneddon's Mind Stroll album in 1974, Sneddon was also part of the initial Men at Work line-up. He was also a drummer in a local band called Numbers in 1978 and early 1979.
Following Men at Work's break-up in 1986, he briefly joined pop band FX [2] (featuring keyboard player John McCubbery), and then Ross Hannaford's band One World as a guitarist. [2] In 1986, he and former Men at Work producer and sound engineer Peter McIan had a short stint with American band The city, where he played the drums while McIan played keyboards and produced the album Foundation. After that, Speiser joined pop rockers Frost [2] where he played the drums in the single "You and Me" from their album The Usual Suspects.
Speiser (Drums/vocals) and Ben Fitzgerald (Guitars/vocals) co-founded a guitar-driven style rock band Where's Claire? In 1990, they were joined by Andrew Midson (Bass/vocals) and Brenden Mason (Guitars/vocals) and released their first commercial album, Long Time Coming, in 2002. He also formed his own low keyed rock band The Working Stiffs and had a single called "Who Can It Be Down Under?" [3] By 2012 Speiser was a drummer for an Australian band called After Burner.