A Space Race Finishes On A Blue Day

Mi-Sex decided to stick with the whole futuristic, high-technology theme (and style) on their next single ‘People’. The lyrics dealt with cloning and genetic engineering - pretty cutting edge stuff for 1980 - and Gilpin’s spoken word ‘Are You A Clone?’, followed by a tortured scream, was a memorable moment. ‘People’ populated the Australian charts during March 1980, and before mid year had peaked at #6 (NZ#3). It was the first track lifted from Mi-Sex’s sophomore album ‘Space Race’, released shortly after. The album became the band’s biggest seller, peaking at #5 in Australia, and exchanging pleasantries with Split Enz’s mammoth selling ‘True Colours’ set, atop the New Zealand charts. CBS launched a massive marketing campaign in support of the ‘Space Race’ album, centred around the slogan ‘Are You A Clone?…No, I’m in the Space Race’, and ensuring every record bar and venue across Australasia had its very own little rubber mannequin alien, as featured on the album’s cover. The album was sitting atop the New Zealand charts just in time for Mi-Sex’s triumphant homecoming tour, which attracted added publicity when then New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon attended one of the shows on invitation. It was related to an ongoing issue of popular music records being slapped with a 40% sales tax in New Zealand at the time.

The album’s title track ‘Space Race’ got the green flag for chart action during June 1980, and peaked at #28 in Australia (NZ#19), though a third single ‘It Only Hurts When I’m Laughing’ in late ‘80, became the first Mi-Sex song to be restricted to an outer orbit of the charts (OZ#84), and it signalled that the first misfires in the Mi-Sex machine were beginning to occur. Over the course of the next six months Mi-Sex kept up the touring schedule across Australia and New Zealand, but the music-scape was evolving at a frenetic rate, and by early ‘81, the likes of Split Enz, INXS, Cold Chisel, and an up and coming Melbourne band by the name of Men At Work, had pushed Mi-Sex several notches down the Australasian pop-rock pecking order. Audiences at their live shows had stopped growing, and if anything were on the decline, as illustrated by a return gig to the Sweetwaters venue in New Zealand during January of ‘81. Soon after Mi-Sex re-entered the recording studio, this time with producers John Sayers and Dave Marett, to record tracks for their third album. The lead out single ‘Falling In And Out’ fell into the Australian charts during May ‘81, but only made it to the entry point of the top 20, and fared relatively poorly in New Zealand (#48). The album ‘Shanghaied’ was well received by critics, but unfortunately Mi-Sex had ceased to be the flavour of the month on the Australasian pop-rock scene, and it was reflected in sales for the album (OZ#28) in late ‘81. ‘Shanghaied’ spawned two more singles, ‘Missing Person’ and the title track, but neither found a home on the charts. By late ‘81 all the hype was focussed on Men At Work, and by comparison Mi-Sex were less futuristic, and more like yesterday’s news.

During November ‘81 Mi-Sex also experienced the first shake up in their ranks for over three years, when drummer Richard Hodgkinson was replaced by Paul Dunningham (ex-Coup D’Etat). Hodgkinson opted to join a small Sydney based outfit called Silent Movies, alongside a guitarist by the name of Colin Bayley, who himself would soon gravitate to planet Mi-Sex. 1982 didn’t see the release of a new Mi-Sex album, but the band managed to maintain a reasonable profile with their next two singles. ‘Castaway’ introduced a more mainstream pop-rock flavour to Mi-Sex’s musical munitions, and whilst it still featured a strong synthesizer/guitar mix, the song’s lyrics were a bit more ‘human’ and accessible in pop terms. ‘Castaway’ found its way to #23 on the Australian charts, but by now it appeared New Zealand had thumbed its nose at the Mi-Sex formula. ‘Down The Line (Making Love On The Telephone)’ dialled up #37 on the Australian charts late in ‘82, but all things considered the Mi-Sex machine was showing some signs of mechanical wear and tear.

At the end of 1982 the band was dealt a body blow when founding guitarist Kevin Stanton was forced to take an extended break from band duties due to ongoing ill health. Ted ‘The Head’ Yanni came on board for the first half of 1983, and following Stanton’s return in April ‘83, Yanni stayed on until July, when ex-Silent Movies guitarist Colin Bayley joined the band, leaving Mi-Sex with two guitarists in the mix. Around that time they released the single ‘Lost Time’, but the song found neither a high place or prolonged tenure on the Australian charts (#57).

American producer Bob Clearmountain, who had already worked with the Church and Divinyls, was enlisted to try and get the wheels turning for a new Mi-Sex album in late ‘83. ‘Where Do They Go?’ could have been more aptly titled ‘Where Did They Go?’, because in the six months leading up to its release in November ‘83, Mi-Sex had all but disappeared from the scene. The lead out single ‘Only Thinking’ barely scratched out a top fifty spot (OZ#48), but by comparison to sales for the album (OZ#80), it was a relatively major hit. On the ebb and flow cycle of things, 1983 had been one long drawn out ebb tide for Mi-Sex. But they had one more slice of brilliance left to deliver up to their fans. In March ‘84 Mi-Sex co-hosted an episode of ‘Countdown’ (from memory alongside QED’s Jenny Morris - see future post) - you could always count on Molly and the crew to throw a struggling artist a lifeline. Mi-Sex performed their new single ‘Blue Day’ on the show, and maybe it was just the boost the brilliant synth-pop song needed to snag the audience it so richly deserved. ‘Blue Day’ featured one of the most hauntingly eerie synth-riffs I’ve heard, and it’s atmospheric lure hooked enough listeners to push it to #24 in Australia (NZ#36), and even flirt with the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. But despite the ‘Where Do They Go?’ album moving Mi-Sex consciously toward a more accessible 80s pop style, it failed to find the band a new audience, and worse still the band’s established audience had seemingly deserted the Mi-Sex cause. The band’s follow up single ‘Five O’Clock (In The Morning)’, missed the charts altogether, confirming Mi-Sex’s glory days where over.

By the end of 1984 Mi-Sex had called it a day, going from bona fide pop-rock superstars to the end of the road in the space of just a few years - still that’s a longer tilt at the top than most artists manage. In 1985 the medley single ‘Non Stop Sex’ was released, followed by the compilation album ‘79-85’, which sold in good numbers (#46), and featured a selection of material representative of just how damn good Mi-Sex were at the peak of their powers. Singer Steve Gilpin remained in Australia and worked with a number of bands including Under Rapz. In November 1991 Gilpin was returning home following an Under Rapz gig, when he was involved in a serious car accident. He lapsed into a coma from which he never recovered, and sadly died in January ‘92. Shortly after Gilpin’s death, a benefit concert was organised to aid his family. Held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, the likes of Midnight Oil and Noiseworks performed at the show, reflecting the high esteem both Gilpin, and Mi-Sex, were held in by the Australasian music community.

A 64 Bit Hit From Mi-Sex

By the late 70s the computer game craze had officially invaded countless shopping malls, and corner milk bars, and was quickly invading suburban homes the world over. The ‘Space Invaders’ arcade game had swept the world, and was consuming coins as fast as mints could print them. The Atari 2600 gaming console had made all of the fun and excitement (and addiction) of arcade games accessible from the comfort of your living room. During 1979 an Australian based band, hailing originally from New Zealand, captured the futurism and frenetic energy of computer games in a #1 hit titled ‘Computer Games’, and in the process carved out a permanent niche for themselves in Australasian pop-rock culture.

In 1972 a 22 year old singer by the name of Steve Gilpin took out the grand final of New Zealand’s ‘New Faces’ television talent program, going one better than another singer/songwriter by the name of Shona Laing (see earlier post). Over the course of the next five years Gilpin became a major drawcard on the New Zealand club and cabaret circuit, but by late ’76 he’d had enough of the tuxedo and bow tie, and wanted to have a tilt at being a rock singer. Gilpin had seen the prog-rock group Father Thyme playing, and floated the idea to the group of doing something together in early ‘77. Father Thyme members Alan Moon (keyboards), and Don Martin (bass) said yes and the trio set about completing the line-up for a new band. They hooked up with guitarist Kevin Stanton (ex-Think; Brigade) and drummer Phil Smart, to form Fragments Of Time. Smart and Moon were soon replaced by Richard Hodgkinson, and Murray Burns (ex-Red Rose) respectively, and Fragments Of Time soon took on the name Mi-Sex - the name taken in reference to a song by one of their key influences Ultravox (‘My Sex’), and on the suggestion of Gilpin, they decided to give being a ‘new wave’ band a go. With a new wardrobe of matching leather kit, short cropped hair, and a tough guy attitude, Mi-Sex soon had eyes sharply focussed across the Tasman, at Australia. They actually signed briefly with EMI New Zealand during early ‘78, but released only one single ‘Straight Laddie’ (originally recorded as a demo), which failed to make any impact. Mi-Sex continued playing a frenetic schedule at venues across New Zealand’s North Island, looking to raise enough money to fund their move to Australia. Having witnessed what fellow Kiwi acts Split Enz, and Dragon, had managed to achieve in the considerably more lucrative Australian market, Mi-Sex opted for the sooner, rather than later, approach, and shifted operations to Australia during August ‘78.

Based in Sydney, Mi-Sex scored an early support slot with Australian rock sensation Jeff St. John. Within just six months, Mi-Sex had honed their rock edged, synth driven, new wave sound to the point of being the fourth biggest live drawcard on the thriving Sydney music scene - only outdone by Aussie rock heavyweights Cold Chisel, The Angels, and Midnight Oil. Musically, the various members of Mi-Sex brought an interesting selection of influences to the mix, with keyboardist Murray Burns a bit of a devotee of prog-rock, and guitarist Stanton leaning toward the heavier rock side of the spectrum. Their stage show featured a lot of futuristic imagery and kit (a strong element to certain factions of the ‘new wave’ movement), with a meticulously choreographed laser light show, helping to create an ‘other-worldly’ atmosphere to their image, akin to the likes of Tubeway Army and Ultravox, though paradoxically derivative of the band’s art-rock origins (think Roxy Music and Yes).

With a substantive, and ever growing, audience base, it was a given Mi-Sex would attract major label attention, and in February ‘79 expatriate Kiwi Alan Galbraith signed the band to a recording deal at CBS. In June ‘79 Mi-Sex released their first major single with ‘But You Don’t Care’. The guitar driven pop-rock number achieved a very creditable #25 on the Australia charts during July, and peaked at #33 in the lads native New Zealand. Mi-Sex had out performed both Split Enz and Dragon, in terms of their initial foray into the Australian music scene, but they were about to be elevated to a whole new level of commercial and critical acclaim.

As ‘But You Don’t Care’ was climbing the charts, CBS released Mi-Sex’s debut album ‘Graffiti Crimes’, produced by Peter Dawkins (worked with Dragon, Finch, John Farnham to name a few), and recorded over just a ten day period. Soon after, Mi-Sex found themselves in the coveted support slot for Talking Heads’ Australian tour, and soon after that as headliners on their own national tour. By September the ‘Graffiti Crimes’ album had climbed steadily to write its name at #16 on the Australian national charts (NZ#6), but the band had just recorded a new song, not featured on the original Australian pressings of ‘Graffiti Crimes’ (but later added), that was about to become their biggest hit. In September ‘79 Mi-Sex released the electro-pop anthem ‘Computer Games’, and the song exploded onto the Australian and New Zealand charts soon after. Penned by Stanton, Burns and Gilpin, it was meticulously crafted in every regard, pieced together so that every element served a specific, and concurrently collective purpose, to draw the listener inside an intriguingly futuristic and alien world. Stanton’s guitar riff and Burn’s synthesizer sequences burrowed into the consciousness, and Gilpin’s distinctive halting, almost yelping vocal style added a manic urgency to the song. ‘Computer Games’ encapsulated inside of four minutes the ultimate gaming experience, paradoxically eliciting almost primal responses via a contrived technological vehicle. The song was backed by, what was then, a cutting edge, and very clever, music video, which featured Gilpin and Co. breaking into a ‘high-tech’ computer lab on an apparent quest for answers to what lay within. One of the lasting images of 70s/80s pop music videos, for me, is Mi-Sex performing in front of a virtual computer game - complete with marauding Tie Fighters. Mi-Sex had already performed on ‘Countdown’ with ‘But You Don’t Care’ but their appearance in late ‘79 performing ‘Computer Games’, with full laser light spectacular as accompaniment, signalled their arrival as genuine heavyweights of the Australian pop-rock scene.

Whatever the cause, whatever the effect - ‘Computer Games’ became one of the defining pop-rock songs of the Australasian music-scape. It ascended to #1 on the Australian charts during November ‘79 and hit the top five in New Zealand, just as the band were on a national tour in support of Cheap Trick (see Nov post). By April 1980 ‘Computer Games’ had charted in more than 20 countries, and had peaked inside the top ten in Canada, France, Austria, Italy, West Germany and South Africa, though the U.S. (#61 - Club Play chart) and Britain remained largely unconquered territories. On the back of the phenomenal success of ‘Computer Games’, the ‘Graffiti Crimes’ album received an international release on the Columbia label (Epic in the U.S.), and went on to sell over half a million copies worldwide. To reflect their new found status, Mi-Sex were one of the headlining acts (alongside The Angels, Cold Chisel, Dragon, Renee Geyer, Skyhooks and Split Enz) at the November ‘79 ‘Concert of the Decade’, held on the steps of the Sydney Opera House before a crowd of 160,000. Soon after Mi-Sex found themselves on a month long tour of the North America during April 1980, supporting the likes of Iggy Pop and The Ramones along the way, in addition to scoring several headline shows at club venues. Whilst they were off jet setting, Mi-Sex received three gongs at the 1979 ‘TV Week/Countdown’ Awards ceremony - Most Popular Record for ‘Computer Games’; Best Australian Single for ‘Computer Games’; and the Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Award for Most Promising New Talent.

With so much commercial success and critic adulation, Mi-Sex faced the unenviable task of living up to the considerable expectation awaiting their next release.