A Beat Largely Unheralded

There are many short lived bands that lay scattered across pop histories timeline, their musical legacy often lost in the shadows cast by rock and pop's luminaries and legends. Personally, as much as I love the work of the greats, it's often those lost gems that give me the most pleasure to reflect on and wonder what might have been.

Bang The Drum is such a band. The Sydney outfit came together in 1989 from the ashes of Tasmanian group Bigger Than Texas. They released one album, a self titled effort in early 1990, from which two singles 'Only You' (OZ#30) and 'Passion' (OZ#58) were lifted. Around the time the first single 'Only You' was sliding down the charts Bang The Drum found themselves as the support act for one of these rock legends Fleetwood Mac. I had recently bought the single 'Only You' on 45 and also had bought a ticket to see Fleetwood Mac in Sydney.

I had no idea who the support act was before hand and didn't much care until Bang The Drum played their set. This band was a class act. Vocalist Steve Driver, guitarist Jim Reece, keyboardist Jeremy Cole, bassist Geoff Robson and drummer J.J. Harris (ex-Divinyls) added up to far more than the sum of their parts. There wasn't a dud song and far from struggling to engage the interest of an audience anxious for the main event, they rocked the house. I'd have to wait another 13 years to see another opening act as good - that was Jet opening for the Rolling Stones.

But unlike Jet, Bang The Drum's beat didn't, for some inexplicable reason, translate to a wider commercial appeal. Their sole album was every bit as good as the best on offer from the more established Aussie pop-rock bands of the 80s - 1927, Noiseworks, Moving Pictures, Mental As Anything, Icehouse...err well maybe not as good as Icehouse - but they were good!

The track 'Stay Forever' also featured on the soundtrack to the brilliant Australian film 'The Big Steal', but Bang The Drum didn't release another record. It's a pity we didn't get to see and hear a lot more of them in the 90s. I guess one CD is better than none. I haven't been able to find much info on the band members post Bang The Drum. Steve Driver, Jim Reece and J.J. Harris played together again under the name Driver, releasing a self titled album in 1994. According to a review published in Consumable Online, their sound was overall much more rock oriented. And I'm not 100% sure it's the same guy, but I came across a MySpace page for an artist called The Steve Driver Incident that's still active. If anyone has any more info. on Bang The Drum the band, or the individual members I'd really appreciate it :)

So, you've read the rant, now hear what it was about: