The Festival Records Story
by Brendan Hancock and Matthew J Schelle
Introduction
After decades at the top of the Music Industry in Australia, Festival Records (now Festival Mushroom Records, after a recent merger with the Mushroom label), are now celebrating their 50th anniversary. It’s hard to believe that an independent label such as Fcestival, which had an inconspicuous beginning as a high risk-fast gain investment opportunity, has steered its way past numerous obstacles to become Australia’s biggest ever independent record label. It was Festival Records which took the chances and as such, it was Festival Records which was responsible in launching the careers of countless Australian Artists such as Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye, Dig Richards, Johnny Rebb, Olivia Newton-
Shortly after WWII, a highly successful and decorated army commander named Paul Cullen decided to finish his part in the armed services. He sought to put his keen business ideas to use, and it wasn’t long before he established one of Australia’s first merchant banks: Mainguard Ltd.
Mainguard’s duties were to set up businesses in a range of areas, but one of their most primary duties was financing a number of innovative but high risk ventures. These included an assortment of unusual and diverse operations ranging from whaling companies to rice farming. But just because they were believed to be big gain investments, it didn’t necessarily mean that they always paid-off.
Cullen employed some of his former army buddies, John Dulhunty and Cyril Beavis, to work as project co-ordinators. Their main purpose was to find struggling companies that could be cheaply acquired and then turned around for a good profit.
John, Peter Allen and The Bee Gees. And it was also Festival Records, which was instrumental in shaping the Australian Rock and Roll scene.
With what was initially a simple investment from a group of old war buddies working together, the label went through ups and downs, but the company always bounced back, due to the combination of off-beat thinking and sheer luck.
Although the Festival Records story does go beyond the years of 1977, it’s the early days that the real story, the real magic took place. From the people working behind the scenes to the artists themselves, the following will give you enough information to understand how and why the famous label became what it is today.
After some time, it was John Dulhunty that saw the potential in a small machine business known as Casper Precision Engineering, located in Redfern, Sydney. Dulhunty knew that vinyl microgroove LP records were becoming popular abroad and he also knew that EMI, the primary record company in Australia at that time, showed no sign of adopting this new system.
Although this new venture showed the promise of being a ‘sure thing’, Dulhunty knew very little about the music industry, so he sought out the advice of popular Sydney bandleader and close friend, Les Welch. Welch advised him there was indeed a need for another, ‘alternative’ record company, in Australia at that time. With that, Dulhunty convinced the rest of the group that the enterprise could be a good earner and he recom-mended that they invest in two Johns ten inch record presses held in bond on the wharf.
14th November 1953 saw the release of Festival’s first record, “Meet Mr Callaghan” by Les Welch on a 78rpm.
Record Breaking
In the early days of Festival’s record production, initially there was a lot of experimentation going on with both the shellac and vinyl micro–groove discs they were producing. Most of the experiments lead to breakages, The first vinyl discs had no sound due to too much heat being applied, and their first LP (with the green and gold festival label) could not be played because the gold metallic ink would spread all over the record making it glitter.
The Festival records head office and factory (until 1967) at 223-229 Harris Street, Pyrmont.
Immediately, Mainguard invested in the machine shop and moved in the newly acquired presses. Les Welch was also given a permanent job at Casper and they started to produce tailor-made shellac discs for individual clients. By late 1951, John Dulhunty had left to go overseas to ‘sniff-out’ any potential copying, manufacture and distribution rights for use in Australia, which in turn, would become the foundation of the company’s first lot of professional record catalogue. On his return, Dulhunty had a licence to release classical recordings from the well known and highly respected United States label Westminster, but also struck-gold with licenses from other labels such as Remington, Regent, Savoy, Atlantic and the non US labels Vox from England and Metronome in Sweden.
After the product had been sorted out, a new name for the record company was needed. After a brainstorming session, it was Dulhunty’s wife, Judith that came up with the name ‘Festival’. On the 21 October 1952, Festival Records Pty Ltd was born. The newly formed company moved its office to 126 Phillips Street Sydney and Dulhunty, was selected to become Festival’s first managing director.
March 1952 saw an old picture theatre in Gladesville leased, and ten working presses installed on site. Record production started with seven at the old theatre, with another five at the Phillip Street office. The position of festival’s first recording engineer was filled by a young electronics genius named Robert Iredale.
After getting the initial teething sorted out, Festival found it had to find acceptance from both the music publishers and more importantly the radio stations, the outlets which would widen their exposure. At that point in time, most Australian radio stations were unenthusiastic about playing Australian records on air. In an attempt to get around this hurdle, Festival set about to make Australian made covers of overseas hits. By seeking out cheap but talented local artists, Festival could cheaply push their way into the critical ‘airplay’ doorway.
It was 14 November 1952, when Festival’s own Les Welch recorded ‘Meet Mr Callaghan’. Festival’s first official record, a 78rpm disc, was given the catalogue number FM-1019 instead of FM-1, so as to give out the image that Festival was a big gun in the business. This first record sold over 10,000 copies within weeks, so it wasn’t surprising that Festival’s next releases were also by Les Welch.
In 1953, Festival released a prestige-packed set of the total Westminster recordings of Piccini’s opera, ‘Tosca’, and firmly set the standard that Festival were a force to be reckoned with. Its major release coincided also with a set of local 10-inch LPs, which included Welch’s ‘Tempos De Barrelhouse’. Now realising that they were set to fall behind, recording giants EMI quickly announced that they were going to begin pressing their own LPs in Australia. Shortly after, ARC also joined that race, pressing 45rpm and 331/3rpm microgroove recordings at
Festival’s ‘53/‘54 Catalogue catered for a good amount of popular jazz, swing, show tunes and stage musicals.
An employee working in the most often humid section of the manufacturing section of Festival Records.
an exponential rate. John Dulhunty realised that it wouldn’t be long before the competition would catch up to Festival’s gains and set about to return to the US in 1954 to secure a significant piece of the Decca Records catalogue. Due to his success with Decca, Festival now had the rights to produce records from artists such as
Louis Armstrong, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Frankie Lee and many more.
Because of such luck and skilful thinking from the likes of Dulhunty in acquiring the overseas catalogues, it was not surprising that in next to no time Festival Records had become the second largest manufacturer of records in Australia. Due to the increase and demands of manufactur-ing and sales, the company moved its office from Phillip Street to a converted warehouse at 223-229 Harris Street, Pyrmont. But even with the sales and success that Festival were having, they were still struggling financially, but they kept with it, in the hope that something would come along and push them through.
In the mid 1950’s, another size, the 45rpm 7inch record was quickly being developed, with many gramophones being adapted to play them. And it was Festival Records, which, once again, saw the marketing potential early and began issuing
Old Time Rock
Oddly enough it wasn’t just the teenagers who responded to the new rockin’ sound, brought on by Rock around the Clock, as it was there were more copies of ‘Rock around the clock’ sold then there were teenagers to buy them. Thousands of adults also saw the film The Blackboard Jungle and asked for the Bill Halley hit the very next morning. Even some people who didn’t even have a record player bought the record first and then a player to play it.
45rpm extended play (EP’s) to once more edge out the competition from EMI. In July 1955, the first of many 45rpm ‘singles’ was released. This single was in the form of Les Welch’s cover of the overseas hit, ‘A Man Called Peter’, with vocals supplied by a promising local talent named Darryl Stewart. The song itself was based on the life of a Scottish clergyman named Peter Marshall, chaplain of the US Senate. Due to Festival’s limited funds, the song was recorded under extreme difficulties. There had not been enough money to hire a big band backing, so instead Darryl and the rest of the crew had to settle for one trumpet (with echo) and one organ. Due to the tight and simple
Les Welch, Pianist, Bandleader and singer. He was already well known before Festival asked him to join the company, who in turn became their first recording artist but also the company’s Artist and Repertoire manager.
nature of the amount of instruments and money, the end product was simple but highly effective. The single was released in August of 1955 and sold over 100,000 copies throughout Australia.
In 1955, crowds of people visited their theatres around the April to June period. For all these people who went to their local cinemas, it can be said that they were there for only one film in general. The low budget, black and white American film had caused a controversial sensation back home, and it was barely a shock that the same would happen here. ‘The Blackboard Jungle’, starring the popular actor Glenn Ford, would be responsible for turning the lives of so many people in a completely different direction. The film, now lodged firmly in music folklore, is regarded as being the spearhead of the Rock and Roll scene both in the United States and in Australia. The sounds of Bill Haley and his Comets filled the theatres in Sydney with ‘Rock Around The Clock’, giving many people the opportunity to meet their potential with this new musical style. Festival’s A & R (Artist and Repertoire) man Ken Taylor was at the premiere, and so was a young Johnnie Ray impersonator named Johnny O’Keefe. One decided to get in on the song and cash in on the wave of potential marketing revenue, the other decided to create a rock and roll band.
Ken Taylor knew that this new rock sound would mimic the craze that had already taken over the U.S. He also realised that the Australian ‘young-sters’ would be ready to identify with rock personalities, and so he knew he had to give birth to Australia’s own local rock artists, who each had the power to reach out and touch, but also make or break Festival. But Ken Taylor wasn’t the only one at Festival Records who saw the promising profits from rock and roll, and most importantly the Bill Halley song ‘Rock Around The Clock’. Les Welch was already looking into acquiring the distribution rights, and as luck would have it, EMI failed to recognise the potential of the song and chose not to take up their first option to release it. Welch and the Festival team quickly snatched up the rights and rushed the release of the record in August, 1955. The hunch paid off and the record became an immediate success. For weeks at a time, all the manufactur-ing staff were working around the clock to fill the overwhelming supply of orders, and not surprisingly, for that period, it was the only record the company was manufacturing.
The record, ‘Rock Around The Clock’, went on to sell over 144,000 copies and secured its place in history by becoming the fastest selling single for any Australian record company. Not only that, but it also made some much needed money for Festival and also proved that the 45rpm single could be a great seller. It also revealed an, as of then, unexploited money generator in the form of ‘the teenager’. The teenager was the perfect market, easily influenced by trends and because they had just been given a standard hourly wage increase, in some cases earning more money than their parents, they had more cash to burn than ever.
Ken Taylor soon realised that for Festival’s continued success, he had to cater for the teenagers and the new commercial market that was forming around them. Taylor knew that it was finally the time to break through with this new sound and some newly needed talent. Although the rest of the company weren’t as optimistic as he was, Taylor was quickly given the responsibility of tackling the market. Through this position and his newly found power to make or break careers, he was eventually seen as a god-like figure through the eyes of promising young artists.
The plan of attack was simple: local people, local talent and musical numbers that would rock the growing teenage market. It became the case that if Taylor failed, Festival’s demise would be inevitable. And then, as if by fate, he found Johnny O’Keefe, or rather, Johnny O’Keefe found him.
On a typical morning at Festival Records during the ‘sign up’ search, Ken Taylor sat down to read his Sydney Morning Herald newspaper to discover that the hunt for Festival’s first Australian rock artist had finished without him. In the press, Johnny O’Keefe’s name stood alone as being the artist. Intrigued by this, Taylor called JO’K to congratulate him on his success. During the conversation, Taylor invited the performer around for an audition at his new office at Harris Street, Pyrmont. After being given an interview and a standard audition, Taylor, amazed at both Johnny’s talent and audacity, signed him up as Festival’s first Australian rock artist: this time for real.
After Johnny O’Keefe’s signing, news quickly got out that Festival were looking for a team of artists to be attached to their label. Soon enough, Festival were flooded by a wave of rock wannabes, each one a clone of some other rebellious role model that they had seen or heard about. Of the many that tried to stake a claim at Festival, few had what it took to be
The Contract
It seems the story of Johnny O’Keefe’s recording contract with festival records has become rock and roll folklore. As Ken Taylor states in his book ‘Rock Generation’ it was the company secretary who broke the news to him with when he showed him the morning’s Sydney Morning Herald.
“I see you have booked your first rock artists,” the secretary said. “Oh I have? tell me more,”
replied Taylor.
“Someone called Johnny O’Keefe has announced in the press that he has been signed by us.”
Ken Taylor then asked his secretary to get this Johnny O’Keefe on the phone.
“Congratulations,” he said, not trying to hide his sarcasm.
“On what!” O’Keefe replied.
“I understand you have been signed by Festival Records?”
There was a pregnant pause, and then O’Keefe cautiously said,
“Who’s speaking?”
“Ken Taylor, the general sales manager and artists and repertoire manager of Festival Records.“
Another pregnant pause and then: “Well, am I?”
Ken Taylor responded, “I don’t know – what do you do?”
“I sing.”
“Can you prove it?”
O’Keefe regained his composure and asked “Will you give me an opportunity?”
“Yes, come and see me.”
So O’Keefe took up Taylor’s challenge and proved to him that he could indeed sing. Although Taylor wasn’t to overly impressed with O’Keefe’s voice. He was impressed with his confidence, and sheer determination. O’Keefe got his recording contract and with suggestion and blessing from the then touring Bill Halley, Recorded and released in July of 1957 (You Hit The Wrong Note) Billy Goat with I’m Still Alive (The Chicken Song) as its flip side. Despite constant plugging at dances and socials, the single received limited airplay and sold around 2300 copies.
stars. Then, quite unexpectedly, a group of former country and western style artists who had evolved into flashy rockers, took the lead in the prospective sign-up stakes. The Joy Boys, formerly known as the K.J.Quintet, led by singer Colin Jacobson with brothers Kevin and Keith in tow and young drummer Johnnie Bogie and saxophonist Laurie Irwin, grabbed Taylor’s attention. Intrigued by their potential, Taylor took five girls from his office out to a concert at Manly to see if his feelings were right. The girls, all unbiased, smart and not the type easily impressed, acted as secret judges. Despite their placid nature, they were won over in minutes. The very next day The Joy Boys were signed.
Almost immediately Johnny O’Keefe warned Ken Taylor that differences between Col Jacobson and himself, both personality and artistry wise, would cause rivalry between the two. The two men were polar oppo-sites: Col was a relaxed, straight-forward kind of guy whereas Johnny was outgoing and dynamic, which would lead to his eventual nickname, ‘The Wild One’. It would be these differences, which would present Festival with a unique platform, where they could sell the singers to different types of consumers. Col’s gentle nature would give Festival the edge in the more conservative market whereas Johnny’s attitudes appealed more to the kids who were only out to have a good time. But despite Taylor’s plans to build up a set of unique artists for Festival, some insiders were criticising his ideas, believing that it would be hard for the company to promote so many artists at one time. There was also a feeling that the stars might detract from one another. Despite all this, Taylor pressed on, with grander things in mind. Taylor was going to make each performer an individual task, each with their own distinctiveness.
Dig Richards, the third performer to be signed to Festival, was another kettle of fish. His appeal seemed to have more to do with his simple and partially withdrawn nature than anything else. It was his James Dean-esque looks which helped him get his foot in the door at festival and it was his unfinished composition with his
Talent
In his book Rock Generation, Ken Taylor described the basic charac–teristics found and the sort of wildlife that would be attracted to an open audition or ‘talent quest’, of which he held at his festival office on the night of the first Friday of every month. Many young hopefuls would come with their guitars, drums, gimmicks, sheet music and other instruments to prove to Ken Taylor, Mr Make or Break, aka GOD, that they were indeed the next Elvis, Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald. Most of whom turned up to these ‘talent’ quests, where most of the time void of such a thing. A lot of these very same people where absolutely certain that had the goods to be the next music star and in some cases were convinced that they were indeed better than the O’Keefe’s, the Joyes, The Devlins and Batley’s. So when ‘GOD’ through his finger down and calmly but frank, gentle, but honest, told them that there voices, their talent or even their whole act sucked. These self disclose ‘stars’ found it impossible to accept.
Although bribery was believed to be the key to win ole’ Ken Taylor over, It was soon realised that the man could not be persuaded, and would never change his mind over any person who seemed void of talent. Although it wasn’t un–common for young and ambitious Marilyn Monroe mimicked looking girls to seductively sway into Ken’s Office and offer an alternative form of persuasion. Ken being the decent man he was, made sure these girls would finish their ‘act’, which sometimes lead to his amazement to a complete striptease. Ken admitted these girls were talented, but not musically. And needless-to–say they never got a recording contract from Festival Records.
brother entitled, ‘I Wanna Love You’,
that sealed the deal. Now that he had enough artists
onboard, Taylor instigated another
search, this time for the right songs
for the artists to use. During this time,
many public appearances were set up
for Festival’s fledging children. These
included picture signings and record
shop appearances. At times, Taylor
arranged for the press to ‘accident
ally’ be informed of where and when an artist would be out and about. It wasn’t unusual for Col Jacobson, who by now had changed his name to Col Joye, to be mobbed simply when walking down the street. Although on a few occasions the artist themselves were rumoured to have paid fans to ‘go crazy’, Ken Taylor disapproved of such unnecessary actions. Indeed, Festival and Taylor himself, knew what they were doing.
Due to the success of the previous year, Festival branched out even further and obtained the remaining catalogue from the Decca and Vocalion labels. In doing so, Festival Records now had artists such as Jackie Wilson and Buddy Holly to add to their growing overseas catalogue collection. Now that the company had expanded completely into their news Harris Street address, with a new recording studio and laboratory, a new factory manager named Gordon Marshall set about building more brand new microgroove presses. And with every new record made on the presses, a ceremonial christening was given, with a nice bottle of bubbly.
Whilst Festival were expanding and showing signs of being a major success in the record business, based primarily on the good fortune from ‘Rock Around The Clock’, Main-guard’s other businesses and invest-ments were having a major battle with dealing with debt, let alone making any profits. Because of this, share-holders watched as Mainguard declin-ed quickly until it ceased to trade as a merchant bank in 1958.
In May of 1958, the L J Hooker investment corporation, who were interested in Mainguard’s real estate assets, took over the floundering company with a controlling share. Shortly after in August, Mainguard became non-existent on the stock exchange and L J Hooker personally took over the management of Festival Records. During this time, L J Hooker consolidated its gains in the industry by buying a music publishing business called Crown Music Publishing and by also setting up a subsidiary to Festival named Rex Records Pty Ltd, which was to be specifically used for Festival’s top local artists.
To Be Continued…
Division
Not long after the Sydney real estate Investment Company L J Hooker took over Festival Records, A&R man Key Taylor was also given the double duty of Sales Manager. Taylor soon realised using the famous L J Hooker name would be a great benefit to the company, and made his first job as sales manager revamping of the company’s stationary, letterheads, business cards and most importantly the record labels to include the words ‘A Division of L J Hooker Investment Corporation’ to be placed just under the now famous festival logo. This he thought would be a great way to capitalise on the well-known L J Hooker name, and in turn help the struggling Festival Records to be noticed and taking even more seriously. In his own words Taylor thought the use of the L J Hooker name with the Festival logo, ‘implied that we would stand solid and straightforward through all shades of fortune.’ But instead Hooker himself found out about Taylor’s executive decision and was furious. Mainly because L J Hooker took the Record company on as an investment and because of his lack of knowledge in running a record business he was already looking into ways to sell the company and still make a profit.
An urgent meeting was held, with Ken Taylor the centre of attention.
Then Hooker, businessman erupted.
“By what authority, have you publicly associated Festival Records with the L J Hooker Investment Corporation?”
“Well we are associated, aren’t we?” replied a cool, calm and collected Taylor.
“That’s beside the point,” yelled Hooker, “Who gave you the authority to do this?” and then came Taylor at his persuasive best…
“Nobody…But Festival Records is an Australian Company – about to sell Australian performers to Australia. The L J Hooker Company is an Australian Company selling Australia to Australians. It is my conviction that some of the parent company’s prestige and glory will rub off on to Festival Records. That was my plan. It will give us the edge I need to make an impact for Festival. And it’s my belief that in a very short time the glory of Festival records will be rubbing off on L J Hooker.”
There was a pause, silence, Hooker looked at the bald man with the pencil thing moustache and and smiled.
“Mr Taylor, go ahead. And if you have any problems from any source or from anybody, speak to me personally. Push it as far and as fast as you can!”
It wasn’t long after that L J Hooker created the ‘REX’ label that was designed for the elite of Festival’s new local talent. Some of the artist featured on the label included Dig Richards and the RJays and Noeline Batley who’s single Barefoot Boy reached No. 5 in most states of Australia during 1960, making it one of the labels successes. Unfortunately the label was phased out by 1961.
The Festival Records Story
by Brendan Hancock and Matthew J Schelle
Introduction
By the end of 1959, rock and roll music had finally begun getting the acceptance from not only the parents of the teenagers who appreciated the rocking sound, but also from the money makers. Rock and roll music and everything associated with it, was now officially a profitable investment and with that, the original dream of producing records was now a primary chance for all to experience new and exciting musicians, no matter what the genre. But with the profits and the investments came the revolution.
Music became a business, creative freedoms went straight out the window and marketing and sales were adopted as the new commandments. Thou shalt make money ruled above it all. Chance and fate had taken a backseat to the corporate driven ideals of chart toppers and sure-fire hits. Like the shifting sentiments that echoed in the motion picture industry, each new release had to be a record breaker, a blockbuster, surpassing everything before it. Originality and talent were valued less than marketability and the face of music was changed forever.
Although the Festival Records story does go beyond the years of 1964, it’s the early days that the real story, the real magic took place. From the people working behind the scenes to the artists themselves, the following will give you enough information to understand how and why the famous label became what it is today.
At the Festival Records company, things where running reasonably smoothly. By 1960, Festival Records had a large stable of recording artists, most of which delivered hit after hit. It was not uncommon for Festival Records to have up to 16 or more hits in the Top 40 at any one time. But all these achievements didn’t seem to be enough to satisfy L.J Hooker, because despite his involvement in the label and his creation of the new REX label), Festival still ran at a loss in 1959 in the order of £49,780 ($99,560). Few people knew at the time that because of this, Hooker was waiting for the most opportune time to offload the seemingly ‘unprofitable’ record company. Hooker was merely following the first dictum of the corporate world – Business is Business, no matter what the commodity is.
Ironically, it was around this time that the media mogul Rupert Murdoch was in the early stages of building his media empire. By 1960, he had already managed newspapers and was starting to branch out into the record industry. Murdoch, with the help of the American record label ABC-Paramount, seemed absolutely certain that he would dominate the recording industry, because ABC-Paramount were in the early stage of establishing a full scale operation in his native Australia. Because of the money and power involved, Murdoch and ABC-Paramount were seeking the best within the already established industry and as it stood, Festival’s A&R man Ken Taylor was considered the best of the best of the best. As money was of no object, Murdoch and ABC-Paramount were foolishly self-assured that getting Taylor to join them would be a walk-in-the-park. Little did they know that Taylor was a man whose last objective was the almighty dollar.
In 1959 Festival made a deal with Lee gordon to manufacture and distribute his Leedon and lee Gordon Labels. Not surprisingly Murdoch took advantage of Gordon recurring financial problems and bought the labels off Gordon for £10,000 ($20,000).
Although it wasn’t officially in his job description, Ken Taylor would often sit-in on recording sessions so that he could be present when a potential ‘hit’ was about to be taped. During these sessions, he had made it absolutely clear that he should never be disturbed unless emergency situations arose. When Ken Marks,
BIG BEAT OF THE FIFTIES
KEN TAYLOR (right) with ROBERT IREDALE (left) with two latin american recording artists.
Rupert Murdoch’s Assistant, called Taylor, it was considered an emerg–ency, although Taylor was unavailable at the time. Taylor soon returned the phone call and a lunch meeting was arranged. The events that followed, which took place at the meeting, would change the face of Festival Records forever.
The lunch turned out to be a gathering of some ‘extremely import–ant people’. Those attending the meeting consisted of Mr Sam Clarke, President of the American Broad–casting Corporation and head of the ABC-Paramount Recording Company of America, who was accompanied by his finance director Fed Siegel. Also in attendance were Rupert Murdoch, Fred Marks and Rupert’s other business associate, John Glass. There, at the one table, sat representatives from radio, television, publishing and the recording industry. As it turned out, the lunch meeting was nothing short of a let-down. But Taylor was asked to meet back at Murdoch’s office at the Mirror newspaper building. Once there, the real reasons for Taylor’s presence was realised.
Ken Taylor soon discovered that for the past three months, ABC-Paramount and Murdoch had been surveying and testing the recording industry in Australia and had come to the conclusion that Taylor was the man to run their local operation. Then the question, which Taylor was expecting all along, was asked:
“How much is it worth to you to join us?”
Taylor, with his mind firmly set, replied, “More money than you have”.
Murdoch and his fellow lackeys looked at each other, in a half shocked and half bemused state.
“Huh? How was that again?”
“I simply mean that it’s not a matter of money – money couldn’t buy me,” Taylor confidently replied.
“That’s a pretty quick decision.”
“No, it’s a decision born of many years of hard work with my present company, with one aim in view. I am totally engaged in establishing what I regard as the first originating company for Australian artists and Australian material in this community. I feel that right at this moment I am near my goal – maybe not quite, but nearly.”
“Is that your final word?”
The gentlemanly aspects in Taylor’s character then showed themselves – “I am willing to dignify the question by giving it more consideration but I cannot see that my attitude will change”.
Then Murdoch, a man to whom the word ‘no’ had been erased a long time ago, continued to push even more, “Let me emphasize again that if it’s a matter of money”–
Then Taylor broke in and stressed, “Let ME emphasize that it’s NOT a matter of money, that’s not my way of working. I know my worth. I put a price on myself. But in this case there is no price”.
Murdoch was left speechless for the first time in ages. Taylor left and went back to Festival Records to continue on with his duties.
The following Saturday, Taylor
Caption to come.
received another phone call, this time by Sam Clarke, who asked Taylor back to Rupert Murdoch’s office for another meeting. Although Taylor knew what the subject matter would be about this time, he decided to make the appearance.
As Taylor entered the room, Sam Clarke focused in on the issue at hand.
“Mr Taylor, have you reconsid–ered?”
Taylor, equally shapely replied, “Yes I have, but I am afraid the answer has to be the same as before.”
“Well this disappoints me greatly, we came here to buy you…”
And then, at that very moment, Taylor said something that, although only said half jokingly, would seal his fate and that of Festival Records.
“There is ONE way you can buy me, Mr Clarke. You can buy Festival Records”.
Taylor thought nothing of the comment, because he felt confident that good old L.J hooker would never sell Festival Records. Little did he
BIG BEAT OF THE FIFTIES
realise that what he said would make Clarke take a step back, and ponder…
And with the click of his finger, Clarke turned to a seated Rupert Murdoch and said, “That’s it, who do we know in the Hooker organization”?
Rupert Murdoch’s Mirror news–papers bought all the available shares in Festival Records and purchased the Harris Street building from Hooker for £70,000 ($140,000) on the 30th of September 1960. ABC-Paramount was still involved with Murdoch and by October 1960, half of the newly acquired shares were transferred from Mirror newspapers to AMPAR records, part of the ABC-Paramount group. This was to help with the ultimate plan of making an impact in the Australian record industry. Unfortun–ately for ABC-Paramount, their plans of world dominance in the recording industry failed and by 1961, Murdoch had bought back their fifty percent share. To this day, Murdoch’s corporation News Limited remains the sole owner of Festival Records.
Murdoch invested heavily into the
Caption to come.
studio and the recording studio facilities were all brought up to a more professional standard. Festival then branched out even further with more overseas record catalogues. They also acquired the rights to the Lee Gordon and Leedon labels as well as the John Collins recording enterprise Teen, which brought about with it the recording contract of Kiwi rocker Johnny Devlin. Because of the new surge of both financial injection and new material, the record industry boomed and Festival was back on top. But perhaps to signify a sort of changing of the guards, L.J Hooker’s own creation, the REX label, was eventually phased out. Although Ken Taylor was made a director of the company it wasn’t long before he decided to move on too.
By 1961, to Taylor, it was the end of an era. He had played his part and played it well. When Taylor first started at Festival, Australia didn’t even have their own rock and roll artists and idols, but by the end of his reign, Taylor had left behind a working stable of disciplined and professional young recording artists and had made household names out of once unknowns such as Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye, Dig Richards, Lonnie Lee, Johnny Devlin, Judy Stone, Noleine Batley, Jimmy Little, just to name a few.
After the loss of Taylor, the A&R committee, which now included Robert Iredale, Hal Saunders and Franz Conde, met on a regular basis to make sure Festival would not decline in Taylor’s shadow. The group regularly organised the management and planning of recordings and releases. As well as the technical side of the business, they also organised the performers’ song lists, telling them what to sing and how to sing it. The marketability of their artists was a reflection on the strength of their company and with television emerging as the golden idol of marketing, appearance was everything. The Festival artists regularly made appearances on Brian Henderson’s extremely popular ‘Bandstand’, some of which were eventually included into ‘the Bandstand family’. The A&R committee also held weekly auditions and were constantly searching for hidden talent. During this time, Festival’s existing talent were diversifying their interests. Johnny O’Keefe, already hosting his own popular show, ‘Six O’clock Rock’, was simultaneously managing Festival’s Leedon label and signing new acts to it constantly.
The first budget for musicians on ‘Six O’clock Rock’ was £254. By the middle of 1962, the budget was being stretched to its maximum. Johnny O’Keefe was constantly talking to ABC executives about different ways of increasing and diversifying the musical contributions on the show. After a phone call that year between O’Keefe and the ABC’s General Manager, Charles Moses, O’Keefe was sacked. Although varying accounts of what occurred during the phone call still exist to this day, O’Keefe left when his contract ran out on the 30th of June that year. The show continued for several months afterwards, but in September it was pulled from the air. As it died-off, ABC rival Channel Seven, were in production on a new show called ‘The Johnny O’Keefe Show’. It wasn’t long before JO’K was gracing television screens once again.
By the end of 1961, the music scene was changing. Good old rock and roll was making way for love songs, ballads and eventually, by 1963, Festival and its artists followed the new Surf Craze. It seemed every artist was bringing out surf related songs. The Joy Boys released Murphie the Surfie, The Delltones had Hanging Five and Come a Little Bit Closer and even rocker Johnny Devlin pushed out Stomp the Tumbarumba. Even the female artists were getting involved, shown by Noeleen Batley, who released Surfer Boy. The surfing craze hit hard and the Delltones became household names because of it. After the beach bound summers of 1961, 1962 and 1963, it seemed that every month, a new dance craze would hit Australian shores. Lee Gordon heavily promoted sell out shows across the continent for Chubby Checker’s ‘Twist’ and with it, more and more youths were swept up in the dance madness. With every fad, there were greater and greater profits, of which Festival and its owner, the mighty Rupert Murdoch took a very big slice.
But nothing on the earth changed rock and roll or ever had as much impact on music, as the year 1964 did, when four guys from Liverpool invaded Australia, as well as the rest of the world, with a new sound, style and culture. Although their influences were from the likes of Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry etc, the Beatles created a sound of their own and in the process stole the limelight from the good old rock and roll ways of old. There were no more side burns, slicked hair and bobby socks. From the Beatles invasion onwards, Australia gave birth to a new bred of rockers of which, Ray Brown and the Whispers began to shine, as did The Easy Beats, The Twilights, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, who had a hit with Poison Ivy on the Linda Lee Label, an independent label that Festival Records distributed. By the end of the 1960s Festival Records were forging more and more deals with smaller independent labels and were becoming a major recording industry powerhouse because of it.
From subtle beginnings in 1952 when a group of old World War II army buddies forged one of Australia’s first merchant banks, few people would have expected that one of their high-risk/high-gain adventures would go on to become a powerhouse in shaping the Australian rock and roll recording industry and play a lead role in defining Australian Rock. Festival Records navigated itself through turmoils and triumphs, with countless identities involved along the way like Les Welch, L.J.Hooker, Ken Taylor, Lee Gordon, Johnny O’Keefe, Col Joye, Rupert Murdoch and many more. Through the changing sentiments from establishment to sustainability, Festival has remained an icon of Australia’s past, with a keen eye on the future.
Perhaps in the years to come, an Australian rock and roll renaissance will arise and people will look back on the early years with amazement, wondering how such great names came out of the unknown all under the visage of the Festival Records label, and hopefully, Festival Records will continue to unearth hidden Australian talent for some time to come.
Tales from the Studio Part 1
Recording
In the early days at festival records, there were problems obtaining a satisfactory sound, but festivals recording engineer, Robert Iredale, learnt to improvise with their limited technology and created his own little gadgets and gizmos in order to get the professional sound they were after. In one instance, while recording Les Welch back in 1953, Iredale created a ‘sophisticated’ reverberation device made of two tape heads with a slight gap. It was a thing nicknamed Iredale’s ‘magic black box’.
Even when the business was starting to become successful and the company had moved into the Harris Street studio, the recording techniques were still as primitive and were limited to a one-track recording Ampex tape machine. It wasn’t unusual for microphone stands to be strategically placed on cabinets, chairs, etc. just so each member of the band would be picked up correctly. An echo effect was obtained by placing a speaker and microphone in the toilets. Iredale devised an ingenious system of washers and lead weights to selectively slow down or speed up the Ampex machine in order to get the correct pitch when needed.
Recording Drums in the early days at Festival Records involved another huge effort. As they were not only loud in the small space, but frequently upset the mic–rophones used, most of the time, the drummer was asked to drum outside the studio or told not to used drums at all, in some cases their drum kits where replaced with telephone books, shoeboxes, tea cups or as in Col Joye’s hit ‘Oh yeah Uh Huh’, a typewriter.
Soundproofing the studio was also a problem. Former Studio manager Barry Nagal once said that gear changes from the trucks on Harris Street were audible on early Bee Gees recordings.
BIG BEAT OF THE FIFTIES
The Artists
One of Festival’s first artists, was Vic Sabrino, who made some of Australia’s first rock and roll type recordings with his 1957 version of Fraulein/Hitch Hiking Heart. This early hit in Australia, was also one of the first records to be released on an American Label.
But it was Ken Taylor who was responsible for bringing the true rockers to the public, the first being The Wild One, Johnny O’Keefe, who’s story of obtaining a contract with Festival, has now become a part of Australian rock history (see The Festival Records Story Part One). Taylor’s next rocker on the label was Col Joye, who like O’Keefe, would become Festival’s other major star. Although Joye would go on to record many hits, his second single, Oh Yeah, Uh Huh, was the first rock and roll song ever produced and recorded in Australia to become a national number one hit.
It wasn’t uncommon for Taylor to visit gigs to sniff-out new talent, although sometimes, when not impressed with the actual music that was being played, he left it up to the attending teenagers reactions, and based on this, he would either sign new bands straight up or give unknowns opportunities to prove themselves worthy.
One of the artists who were given the chance to prove themselves was Dig Richards and his band the Rjays. Although not so impressed with the audition, Taylor asked them if there was anything else that Dig had to sing, so Richards told Taylor about an unfinished song that his brother had written. Taylor asked to hear it and was impressed. The song, I Wanna Love You, was finished, recorded and became a hit. Taylor told the singer that “even if you haven’t got a voice…I could sell your records on your looks if nothing else”. The Rjays became Festival’s official house band and backed the likes of Johnny O’Keefe, Lonnie Lee, Jimmy Little, The Delltones as well as their own Dig Richards who eventually went on to have a solo career.
Dig Richards and the Rjays were one of the first artists featured on the
L.J Hooker created REX label, which was also the home for The Graduates, Candy and Mandy, Rob EG, Judy Cannon and John Laws. Noeleen Batley’s ‘Barefoot Boy’, which was also on the Rex Label, became the first national hit by an Australian Female singer. A late edition to the REX label was Melbourne group, The Thunderbirds, who were already highly successful in the Melbourne dance scene. They released a series of EPs and singles, usually using special guest vocalists such as Billy O’Rourke, Billy Owens and Judy Cannon, who was regarded as one of the first female singers to have a rough, raunchy rocking sound. Not happy with Festival and with the help of famous Melbourne DJ, Stan ‘the man’ Rofe, The Thunderbirds went on to record classic instrumental classics as Wild Weekend for the W&G label.
When Lee Gordon sold his Lee Gordon and Leedon labels to Festival, Johnny O’Keefe, who was already in charge of Artist development, created his own stable of local talent for the label, which included Lonnie Lee, Barry Stanton, Warren Williams, Johnny Rebb and Booka Hyland. O’Keefe took the young unknowns under his wing, choosing their songs and arranged their appearances on stage and television, of which O’Keefe’s own ‘Six O’clock Rock’, was a major source of their publicity. Even After Lee Gordon’s Death in 1963, the label continued and with the help of O’Keefe, added such acts as The Delltones, The Dee Jays, The Cresents, Warren Carr, Tony Brady, Paul Wayne, The Bee Gees and Ray Brown and The Whispers.
While most of these acts were regulars on O’Keefe’s ‘Six O’clock Rock’, Col Joye, Rob EG, Lucky Starr, Sandy Scott and the Allen Brothers and Judy Stone were the regulars on ‘Six O’clock Rock’s’ rival television show, Brian Henderson’s ‘Bandstand’ and became known as the ‘Bandstand Family’.
Tales from the Studio Part 2
Ghost Stories
Every place has it’s own history and myths and the studios at Festival Records were no exception. Two famous ghost stories continue to circulate today from those who played a part in Festival’s life.
The Engineer Ghost:
Many stories have come out from late night recording sessions at which doors would mysteriously open and close, console lights go on and off, and strange noises could be heard. But on some occasions a ghostly engineer in white overalls would appear at the recording console, obviously doing what engineers do best.
The Ghost of Johnny O’Keefe:
Another tale from the late night recording shift is the story of the ghost of JO’K, who was not only the first in giving us Australian rock, but one of the first to take advantage of the late night recording sessions back in the 1960s. Many have said that since the Wild One’s death in 1978, many have been in the same recording studio where he once recorded and felt a “presence”, and that there would be special coldness in a particular part of the studio where the Wild One would sometimes sleep on the floor during the down time of one of these late sessions. Keep in mind that it was these late sessions that gave us the hit ‘SHOUT’.
