45 years on since the release of their classic eponymous debut album, Sunnyboys are excited to announce a 4LP vinyl-only box set version of the album as well as a special one-off performance at Brisbane’s Roma Street Parkland, Friday, October 23, on the evening of the box set’s release.
To be released via Warner Music Australia, the 4LP box set brings together the original Sunnyboys album, the band’s iconic 1980 Phantom Records debut EP and, for the first time ever on vinyl, the 17-track pre-album demo session and a live performance recorded at Sydney venue the Governors Pleasure in February 1981. With added snippets of a band interview undertaken by Triple J’s Stuart Matchett around the album’s release, plus the contents of a scrapbook kept by the mother of drummer Bil Bilson and more, the collection provides the complete picture of the band’s astonishing first twelve months.
Released in September 1981, Sunnyboys has become one of the most celebrated Australian debut albums of all time. Consistently charting on ‘Greatest Australian Album’ lists and containing the singles Happy Man and Alone With You (since covered by Jimmy Little and Paul Kelly among many others), Sunnyboys paired the high-energy thrills of late seventies Sydney with an acute pop sensibility that owed as much to The Beatles as it did English new wave. Combined with 19yr old songwriter Jeremy Oxley’s passionate heart-on-sleeve lyrics, the band’s irresistible sound provoked a fanatical live following and continues to inspire and resonate with folk of all ages even today.
“Something about this music hits you in the guts, the heart and the head. It says it all you need to know about being young and alive, with all those doubts, joys, heartache and hope. And its rocks.” – Noel Mengel / Courier Mail
To celebrate the release of the new 4LP Sunnyboys boxset, Sunnyboys will reform for a special one-off performance on the evening of its release, Friday, October 23, at Brisbane’s Roma Street Parklands. The band that inspired a hundred garage bands, hook-ups, road trips and surf sessions will bring their timeless songs to the stage one last time for 4ZZZ’s ZED51 celebrations, heading a massive bill which also includes The Clouds, vSpy vSpy and local legend (from the Screaming Tribesmen) Mick Medew and Ursula 4.
“We were always after world domination, and Australia is the world to me… so I’m grateful that we haven’t been forgotten!” – Jeremy Oxley / Sunnyboys
The Clouds, vSpy vSpy, Mick Medew & Ursula 4
Friday 23 October
Roma Street Parklands, Brisbane
5 pm-10 pm
The other bands on the bill…
THE CLOUDS – Those who remember the Clouds as one of the most exhilarating live acts of the heady 1990s have had their faith confirmed over half a dozen steadily escalating tours since they re-united in 2011. With their immaculate explosion of interweaving guitars, delirious vocal harmonies of Jodi Phillis and Trish Young and breathtaking song-craft breaking barriers of sound and lyrical subject matter, one of the world’s great lost rock bands is back to claim their interrupted legacy. Apart from ecstatic old fans, their recent tours have attracted a new generation transfixed by the focused power and technical precision of a bygone age where a band lived or died on the strength of live performance.
vSPY vSPY – In 1986, vSpy vSpy did something almost no band manages: they released two albums in a single year, on different labels, and charted with both. Harry’s Reasons arrived on Midnight Oil’s Powderworks label in February – raw, political, and rooted in the inner-city Sydney squat scene the band called home. A.O. Mod. TV. Vers. followed in December on WEA, spawning the platinum-selling ‘Don’t Tear It Down’ and peaking at #12 nationally. Forty years on, those records sound less like nostalgia and more like the news. To mark the occasion, vSpy vSpy are hitting the road for a national tour this October, celebrating the 40th anniversary of both albums with a night that’s as much a conversation as it is a concert.
MICK MEDEW AND URSULA 4 Mick Medew formed the Screaming Tribesmen in Brisbane in 1981.He’s now fronting his own band with his wife Ursula, a self-proclaimed Punk Grandma on keyboards, Lois on bass and Stu on drums. They are excited to be doing an encore of their well-received set on New Year’s Eve last year, consisting of Screaming Tribesmen songs and a couple of their hits as well. They’ve got a feeling you’re gonna dig it!
Tickets for Sunnyboys Exclusive Australian show with guests The Clouds, vSpy vSpy & Mick Medew and Ursdula 4 go on sale Thursday 9 July 10.00 am AEST via www.oztix.com.au
Released Friday, October 23rd. Pre-sales coming soon.
Full tracklisting below.
LP1
Side 1 (original album + interviews)
Jeremy intro/iv
I Can’t Talk to You
My Only Friend
Jeremy talks Trouble
Trouble in My Brain
Gone
Jeremy talks Its Not Me
It’s Not Me
Jeremy talks Happy Man
Happy Man
Side 2 (original album + interviews)
Jeremy Talks Alone
Alone With You
Tunnel of Love
Liar
Let You Go
Jeremy Talks Shakin’
I’m Shakin’
Tell Me What You Say
LP2
Side 1 (New Kicks demos)
I Can’t Talk to You
Tunnel Of Love
Physical Jerk
Gone
Thrill
I Don’t Want You
Side 2 (New Kicks demos)
Guts of Iron
Individuals
Catch My Heart
Strategy Idol
My Only Friend
Happy Man
LP3
Side 1 (New Kicks demos)
New Kicks
Tomorrow Will Be Fine
I Wanna be Alone
Let You Go *
I’m Shakin
Side 2 – EP
Love to Rule
What You Need
Alone With You
The Seeker
LP4
Side 1 (Live)
Alone With You
What You Need
I’m Shakin’
Tunnel Of Love
I Don’t Want You
Happy Man
Side 2 (Live)
I Can’t Talk to You
The Seeker
I Wanna Be Alone
Let You Go
Thrill
