Mixed Relations

Last updated

Mixed Relations
OriginSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres Reggae rock
Years active1988 (1988)–1995 (1995)
Labels Red Eye
Past members

Mixed Relations were an Australian band formed by Bart Willoughby. They played a mixture of reggae rock, pop, and jazz. Mixed Relations toured Aboriginal communities, Australian cities, Pacific Islands, New Zealand, United States, Europe, Canada ,and Hong Kong. Their track, "Aboriginal Woman", was listed at No. 89 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1993.

Contents

History

Mixed Relations was a reggae rock group formed in Sydney by Bart Willoughby on percussion, lead vocals, guitar and didgeridoo in late 1988. [1] Willoughby had been a member of No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone and Yothu Yindi. [1] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt that Mixed Relations played "an infectious and funky hybrid of reggae, pop, rock and jazz. The band established a solid live reputation." [1] Their debut performance was at the Aboriginal Music Festival, Darwin, in December 1988. [2]

In August 1991 the group toured Europe and Canada. [3] Kaarin Davies-Cassin of Green Left Weekly described their sound, which "blends syncopation and counterpoint harmony, weaving traditional Australian rhythms and melodic form with traditional and Western instruments." [3]

In October 1992 Mixed Relations issued their debut extended play, Take It or Leave It, on Red Eye Records. [1] Alongside Willoughby the group included Murray Cook (not the one from the Wiggles) on keyboards and bass guitar (ex-Warumpi Band, Happening Thang), Leroy Cummings on guitar, Alvin Duffin on drums and percussion (ex-Mantaka), Brenda Gifford on saxophone, piano and backing vocals, Alice Haines on vocals and percussion, Vanessa Lucas on bass guitar, violin and backing vocals (ex-Tall Tales & True). [1] They followed with their single, "Aboriginal Woman" (February 1993), and their debut album, Love, appeared in April. [1] The Canberra Times ' Nic Haygarth opined that the album was "a concoction of joyous sounds urban and outback, indigenous and electric, with the spirit of Aboriginal culture at its core." [4]

Willoughby explained his stylistic philosophy to Haygarth, "There are people who came from radio to black and white television, and people who came from black and white television to colour, and there are people born to go from colour to virtual reality. We are the ones that remember the change from black and white to colour. And now you've got no corroboree rock, but a black and white sort of thing. I had to find some way to change from No Fixed Address. Mixed Relations allows me to work with whoever I want and play whatever I want. This style is like the middle where I am." [4]

"Aboriginal Woman", was listed at No. 89 on Triple J's listener's poll: Hottest 100 for 1993. [5] In November 1993 Willoughby was presented with the best indigenous performer award at the Australian Music Awards. [6]

Other musicians in Mixed Relations included Megan Briansky on keyboards and vocals, Sharon Carpenter on percussion and vocals, and Suzanne Irvin on keyboards. [1] The group disbanded in 1995 when Willoughby returned to his Pitjantjatjara community as a music teacher. From 1997 he worked as a solo artist and in 2008 he reformed No Fixed Address. [7]

Alice Haines departed the band in 1992 to play the part of Rosie in the national touring production of Bran Nue Dae . [8] She subsequently starred in the film Serenades, in the female lead role of Jila, [9] her own stage musical show Alice in 2001 [10] and releasing a solo album Matter of Time in 2005. [11] After the disbandment of Mixed Relations Murray Cook joined Mental As Anything. Selwn Burns played with No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone and Blackfire. Vanessa Lucas was a short-term member of Tall Tales and True. Brenda Gifford, a music teacher, later recalled her time with Mixed Relations, "It was a really great experience, I got to see Australia – urban, regional, remote, traditional. And we got to see a bit of the world." [12]

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goanna (band)</span> Australian rock band

Goanna is an Australian rock band which formed in 1977 in Geelong as The Goanna Band with mainstay Shane Howard as singer-songwriter and guitarist. The group integrated social protest with popular music and reached the Top 20 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart with "Solid Rock" (1982) and "Let the Franklin Flow". Their debut album, Spirit of Place, peaked at No. 2 on the related albums chart. They disbanded in 1987 and briefly reformed in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Whitlams</span> Australian rock band

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 on double bass and Stevie Plunder on guitar and lead vocals. Other than mainstay Freedman, the line-up has changed numerous times. From 2001 to 2022, he was joined by Warwick Hornby on bass guitar, Jak Housden on guitar and Terepai Richmond on drums – forming the band's longest-lasting and best-known line-up. Four of their studio albums have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 20: Eternal Nightcap, Love This City, Torch the Moon and Little Cloud. Their highest charting singles are "Blow Up the Pokies" and "Fall for You" – both reached number 21. The group's single, "No Aphrodisiac" was listed at number one on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1997 by listeners of national radio station, Triple J. In January 1996 Stevie Plunder was found dead at the base of Wentworth Falls. Andy Lewis died in February 2000.

Def FX was an Australian band founded in 1990 by keyboardist Sean Lowry. Members included Fiona Horne on lead vocals, Blake Gardiner on guitar and Martyn Basha on bass. They released four albums between 1992 and 1996 before disbanding in April 1997. For United States releases and touring, the band used the name Definition FX to avoid confusion with similarly named groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fauves (band)</span> Australian band

The Fauves are an Australian rock band formed in 1988. The band are known for their witty lyrics, melodic pop-rock and often satirical or evocative exploration of Australian themes.

Blekbala Mujik are an Australian rock, reggae group formed in Barunga, Northern Territory in 1986. They fused rock and reggae with a pop, dance sound and have support base for their live shows and recordings. They are cited in the World Music: The Rough Guide as next best known to Yothu Yindi. The band sings in English and in Kriol. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 their album, Blekbala Mujik, was nominated for Best Indigenous Release.

<i>Wrong Side of the Road</i> 1981 Australian film

Wrong Side of the Road is a 1981 low-budget feature film made in South Australia. It is distinctive for being one of the first attempts to bring modern Australian Aboriginal music to a non-Indigenous audience, featuring all-Aboriginal rock reggae bands No Fixed Address and Us Mob.

Bartholomew Edwin Willoughby is an Aboriginal Australian musician, noted for his pioneering fusion of reggae with Indigenous Australian musical influences, and for his contribution to growth of Indigenous music in Australia. A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and singer, he is known as a founder member and leader of the No Fixed Address, which was the first Aboriginal rock band in Australia, and the first Aboriginal band to travel overseas.

Joseph Benjamin Geia is an Aboriginal Australian musician of Murri heritage. As a solo artist he has released three albums, Yil Lull (1988), Tribal Journey (1996) and Nunga, Koori and a Murri Love (2005). He has worked with artists, No Fixed Address (1982–83), Shane Howard and Rebecca Barnard (1990). In 1988 Geia composed the track, "Yil Lull", which has been recorded by other artists, Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Jimmy Barnes, and the Singers for the Red, Black and Gold, which included Howard, Kelly, Christine Anu, Renée Geyer, and Tiddas.

No Fixed Address (NFA) are an Australian reggae rock group whose members are all Aboriginal Australians, mostly from South Australia. The band formed in 1979, split in 1984, with several brief reformations or guest appearances in 1987–1988 and 2008, before reuniting in 2016 and continuing to perform into 2024. The original members were Bart Willoughby, Les Graham, Ricky Harrison, John Miller, and Veronica Rankine. As of 2024 the members are Willoughby, Harrison, Tjimba Possum Burns, and Sean Moffat. They were the first Aboriginal band to travel overseas. They have been inducted into the Hall of Fame at the inaugural National Indigenous Music Awards as well as the SA Music Hall of Fame, and have had a laneway in Adelaide CBD named after them.

The Mavis's were an Australian rock band formed in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1987. Founding mainstays are Becky Thomas on vocals and keyboards, her brother Matt Thomas on guitar and vocals, and Andrea Vendy on drums. They were joined by Nick Gill on guitar in 1990, and Josh Alexander on bass guitar in 1994. They released three studio albums: Venus Returning, Pink Pills – which reached No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart – and Rapture. Their synth-driven single, "Cry", peaked at No. 13 on the ARIA Singles Charts and was listed on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1998. The band also performed the song on Hey Hey It's Saturday. They disbanded in December 2001 after a farewell tour of Australia.

Skunkhour are an Australian funk rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1991. They released four studio albums, Skunkhour, Feed, Chin Chin and The Go before disbanding in November 2001. Feed peaked at No. 21 on the ARIA Albums Chart while Chin Chin reached No. 34. Four of the group's songs, "Up to Our Necks in It" (1995), "Weightlessness" (1997), "Home" (1999), and "Kick in the Door" (2000) were listed in the annual Triple J Hottest 100. The group has reformed periodically since 2009 for occasional concerts and festival appearances.

Scrap Metal were a reggae, country, rock band from Broome, Western Australia which formed in 1983. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The group issued four albums, Just Looking (1987), Broken Down Man (1988), Scrap Metal (1990) and Pub Sweat 'n' Tears (1992). They toured nationally supporting Midnight Oil in 1987 and as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical in 1990 and 1993. They were the first Aboriginal band to sign an international publishing deal. Scrap Metal are the subject of an ABC TV documentary From Broome to the Big Smoke (1991). They won the Best Indigenous Act award at the 1992 West Australian Music Industry Awards. The group disbanded in 1995.

Us Mob were an Aboriginal reggae rock band from South Australia.

"We Have Survived" is a song originally performed by No Fixed Address. It was composed by Bart Willoughby when he was 18. It first appeared in the film Wrong Side of the Road and on its soundtrack and was later included on No Fixed Address's album From My Eyes. It has since been included in The Black Arm Bands concert murundak.

Kuckles was an Aboriginal Australian band in the early 1980s.

Swoop were an Australian seven-piece rock, funk and disco band established in 1991 by mainstays by Joshua Beagley on guitar and keyboards and Roland Kapferer on lead vocals. They released three studio albums, Thriller, The Woxo Principle and Be What You Is. Their most popular single, "Apple Eyes" (1995), reached No. 9 in Australia on the ARIA singles chart, and was certified gold by ARIA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Last Train (Christine Anu and Paul Kelly song)</span> 1993 single by Christine Anu and Paul Kelly

"Last Train to Heaven" is a song written by Paul Kelly for the album, Gossip, which was performed by his group, Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls. It was re-written as "Last Train", a dance-orientated remake, and is the first single released by Christine Anu. Anu and Kelly performed "Last Train" as a duet, which was issued on 20 September 1993 and peaked at No. 93 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in the following month. It was listed at No. 61 on national radio, Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Gifford</span> Australian composer and musician

Brenda Gifford is a Yuin classical composer, saxophonist and pianist. She was a member of the Australian rock band Mixed Relations and is an archivist in the Indigenous Collection Branch of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).

Dorothy Leila Rankine was an Aboriginal community worker, musician, and poet. Known as Leila Rankine, she was a founding member of Adelaide Aboriginal Orchestra and the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music.

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McFarlane, 'No Fixed Address' entry. Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  2. ↑ Polglaze, Karen (25 May 1989). "Good Times: Rock for the Forests". The Canberra Times . Vol. 63, no. 19, 587. p. 23. Retrieved 10 April 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  3. 1 2 Davies-Cassin, Kaarin (12 June 1991). "Oil war shoots holes in band tour". Green Left Weekly . No. 15. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 Haygarth, Nic (1 July 1993). "Mixed Relations' love for music has no fixed address". The Canberra Times. Vol. 67, no. 21, 261. p. 34. Retrieved 10 April 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "1993 | History | Triple J Hottest 100 – 2008". Triple J (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)). Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Top music award goes to Baby Animals". The Canberra Times. Vol. 68, no. 21, 411. 28 November 1993. p. 2. Retrieved 10 April 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Celebrity Vibe – Bart Willoughby". Vibe Australia. Archived from the original on 4 January 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Theatre Heritage Australia - Bran Nue Dae (Part 1)".
  9. ↑ Serenades at IMDb   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  10. ↑ Haines, Alice; Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre; Perth International Arts Festival (2001), Alice (catalogue entry), Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre, retrieved 10 May 2024
  11. ↑ "Matter of Time". Spotify . January 2005.
  12. ↑ "From Mixed Relations to Music Composition". ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences. 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.