Dear Enemy - Ransom Note

Dear Enemy

Ransom Note

1984

New Wave Indie Pop

Australia

Tracklist:


01.Computer One
02.The Good Life
03.Talkin' To You
04.All Through The Night
05.Kids On The Street
06.On The Line
07.Restless
08.Bit Of Your Heart
09.Day To Day


     Dear Enemy were an Australian New Wave, indie pop band formed in Melbourne in 1982 which had a Top 5 single, "Computer One", on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart from December 1983. They released a studio album, Ransom Note in 1984 on EMI and Capitol Records, which peaked at No. 15 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, and they subsequently disbanded in 1988.
     Dear Enemy were named from a Ginger Meggs comic strip–the hero receives letters from his rival which are always addressed to 'Dear Enemy'. The Melbourne band formed in 1982, with an original lineup of vocalist Ron Martini, guitarists Chris Langford and Les Barker (ex-Benders), keyboardist Martin Fisher (ex-Little Heroes), bassist Peter Leslie (ex-Little Heroes) and drummer Ian Morrison. Prior to taking the name Dear Enemy, they had played together as a covers band called Stonewall.
     The band picked up a strong following on the live circuit and in 1983 signed a recording contract with the American label EMI/Capitol - one of the first Australian bands signed direct to an overseas label. They recorded their debut album Ransom Note in the United States under the guidance of producer Peter McIan (Men at Work, Mondo Rock) - in fact the band were signed with the condition that Peter McIan oversee the recording sessions. The impressive album generated three quality singles, the first of which "Computer One" (which was written in America by Langford and Fisher) proved to be Dear Enemy’s one and only major hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Australian charts in late 1983. The follow up single "The Good Life" stalled at No. 39 a few months later, whilst the slide continued with the third single "Kids On The Street" failing to chart. Ransom Note sold more than 25,000 units and reached No. 15 on the national album charts.
     Dear Enemy released a new single a few months later with "New Hero", which featured on the soundtrack to the Australian motion picture Street Hero. The single however only reached No. 93 on the charts. A couple of lineup changes, with Joey Amenta replacing Barker in April, 1985, and two more flop singles, "Stay" and "You're Right, You're Right", followed over the next four years before Dear Enemy’s system crashed and they called it a day at the end of 1988. Dear Enemy did record tracks for a second album during this period but due to contract and legal problems the album didn’t see the light of day. Ron Martini also released a CD entitled Big Night Out in 1996 with backing band The Missiles Of Love. Ian Morrison went onto perform with Goanna.
     In 2000 EMI released a CD Best of Dear Enemy (Ransom Note and Beyond) which was a compilation of all the band's releases, this was followed in 2004 by a Best of, which was basically Ransom Note and the inclusion of the single "New Hero".


Members

Ron Martini - vocals (1982–1988)
Chris Langford - guitar (1982–1988)
Les Barker - guitar (1982–1985)
Martin Fisher - keyboards (1982–1988)
Peter Leslie - bass (1982–1988)
Ian Morrison - drums (1982–1988)
Joey Amenta - guitar (1985)
Peter Holland
John Joyce
Jerry Leigh - drums

Discography

     Albums
Ransom Note - EMI/Capitol (February, 1984)
The Best of Dear Enemy (Ransom Note and Beyond) - EMI (2000)
The Best of Dear Enemy - EMI (2004)
     Singles
"Computer One"/"Day to Day" - Capitol (1983)
"The Good Life"/On the Line" - Capitol (1984)
"Kids on the Street"/"Talking to You" - EMI/Capitol (1984)
"New Hero"/"Billy's Theme" - Festival (1984)
"Stay"/"Looking for Love" - EMI (1986)
"You're Right, You're Right"/"Love Flows" - EMI (December, 1988)

Machinations - Big Music

Machinations

Big Music

1985

Synthpop

Australia

Tracklist:


A1 My Heart's On Fire     5:00
A2 Predator    3:45
A3 Jabber    3:50
A4 Execution Of Love     3:58
A5 Spark    5:07
B1 No Say In It     3:19
B2 Don't Take Me       4:11
B3 You Got Me Going Again         3:37
B4 5 Minutes Black     3:33
B5 The Letter     6:04


     Machinations was a popular Sydney-based outfit working the mid-1980s independent Australian music scene. Notable national hits included "Pressure Sway", "My Heart's On Fire" and "No Say In It". They also achieved indie prominence with the two versions of their first single, "Average Inadequacy". Machinations failed to achieve as much commercial success, either at home or abroad, as many of their peers. Nevertheless, the band had a cult following in dance clubs, by far their strongest supporters.
     The band formed around Tim Doyle and Tony Starr, who started writing together around the end of 1979, using what electronic instruments they could find. Their school friend Fred Loneragan joined as singer and they played their first show at Garibaldi's in Darlinghurst, Sydney in early 1980. Another school friend, Nero (Nick) Swan, soon joined on bass.
   In late 1980, with the assistance of radio Triple J, the band recorded some songs at Trafalgar Studios; in November 1980, the band entered the studio with producer Lobby Loyde.      These recordings resulted in the band's debut single, "Average Inadequacy"/"Arabia" (released 26 August 1981), and the four-track debut self-titled EP (20 November 1981), both released on the independent Phantom Records label.
     "Average Inadequacy" created enough interest for Mushroom's White Label to sign the band and reissue the single with a new B-side, "Machinations of Dance" in March 1982. A year later, Machinations issued a new single, "Jack"/"Be Double" in February 1983. This was followed by "Pressure Sway"/"Pushbike" in June 1983. "Pressure Sway" became the band's first national mainstream charting single when it peaked at #21 during July 1983. "Pressure Sway" also made an impact in the United States reaching #40 on Billboard's Club Play Singles chart. In April 1983, Machinations released their debut album, Esteeem, which peaked at #54 on the Australian album charts. The third single from the album was, "Jumping the Gap"/"Terminal Wharf", released in October 1983.
     Following the album's release, and an Australian tour support slot with Joe Jackson, Machinations added Warren McLean on drums; prior to that the band used a drum machine (a Roland CR-78). The band entered Rhinoceros Studios with English producer Julian Mendelshon, emerging with the smoothest and most fully realised album of its career, Big Music, in July 1985. The album produced four hit singles. The first of these, "No Say in It"/"Man Overboard" pre-empted the album by nine months (it was released in September 1984) and ended up being the band’s highest charting single, peaking at #14 in October 1984. The second single, "My Heart's on Fire"/"Spark" followed in May 1985, it reached #27 in June 1985. The third single, "You Got Me Going Again"/"I Ain't Waiting for No Train" was released in August, 1985, making #39, however the fourth single, "Execution of Love"/"Dusted Down", released in December 1985 failed to chart. Naomi Star sang backing vocals on most of the album, although Inez Anthony was featured on "No Say in It". The album peaked at #20 on the national album charts, spending several weeks at that position. It was also released in the United States on the A&M label.
     In 1985 Machinations performed the three national hit songs for the Oz for Africa concert (part of the global Live Aid program). It was broadcast in Australia (on both Seven Network and Nine Network) and on MTV in the US.
     In 1986, White Label issued the mini-album The Big Beat, a collection of dance remixes of singles like "No Say in It", "Execution of Love", "Pressure Sway" and "You Got Me Going Again", which reached #83 on the charts. That year, Warren McLean left Machinations to join Melbourne funk-pop outfit I'm Talking. Henry Downes took his place on drums. Downes was then replaced by John MacKay (ex-Sea Monsters) in early 1987. The band was back in the studios soon after with American producer Andy Wallace (Prince, Run DMC), recording a new album.
     Machinations' third album, Uptown was released in October 1988 and produced four singles spread out over eighteen months. The first single, "Do to You"/"Looking Out for You", was released in August 1987 and almost matched the highpoint of "No Say In It", reaching #15 in October 1987. The second single, "Intimacy"/"Hit by a Missile" (May 1988), reached #44, the third, "Do It to Me"/"Normal" (October 1988), peaked at #69 and the fourth, "Cars and Planes"/"Beats and Planes" (February 1989) failed to chart. The album was well received upon its release and reached #46 on the national album charts.
     By that stage, Machinations had established themselves as a popular band on the Australian touring circuit. The band's activities were curtailed in early 1989 when a hit-and-run accident left Loneragan unconscious and with a broken back. He spent several months recuperating in hospital. Initially other band members intended to continue writing new material whilst Loneragan recovered from his injuries, but over time the various members left to pursue other projects. Swan toured with the James Freud's band and with MacKay performed with Absent Friends.
     In early 1997, Machinations with Loneragan reconvened for some live appearances, which they hoped would lead to new recordings; however these plans never came to fruition.
     In September 2006 US label, Almacantar Records reissued the band's original 1981 EP, with one additional track, "Average Inadequacy".

SPK - Metal Dance 12''

SPK

Metal Dance 12''

1983

Industrial Noise Synthpop

Australia

Tracklist:

01. Metal Dance (12'' mix)
02. Will to Power



     SPK, formed in 1978 in Sydney, Australia, was a 1980s and early 1990s industrial music and noise music group. One member, Graeme Revell, would later go on to become a successful Hollywood movie composer.
     The group was formed when Revell (aka Operator, Oblivion, EMS AKS) met up with Neil Hill (aka Ne/H/il). They were both working at a psychiatric hospital when they became inspired by the manifesto of the German radical Marxist group known as the Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (SPK). The band also recruited two teenagers, David Virgin and Danny Rumour, who helped create the first recordings of SPK in 1979. The following words, inspired by the SPK manifesto, are used on one of the band's first recordings, Slogun (1979): "Kill, Kill, Kill for inner peace/ Bomb, Bomb, Bomb for mental health/ Therapy through violence!" Dominik Guerin (aka Tone Generator) joined in 1980, and was later to concentrate on the band's notorious visual content. Guerin and Revell recorded the first album, Information Overload Unit (1981), in a Vauxhall squat (during the Brixton riots in London) with the help of Revell's brother Ash (aka Mr.Clean) and Wilkins (guitar/bass). After the recording of SPK's second album, Leichenschrei ("The Scream of the Corpse")(1982), they were joined by Sinan Leong, who had initially auditioned for a planned SPK side-project, Dance Macabre. She and Revell were later to marry. In the first week of February 1984, just short of his 28th birthday, Neil Hill committed suicide two days before his wife Margaret Nikitenko died as a result of complications from anorexia.
     Other musicians working with SPK included Danny Rumour and David Virgin of Sekret Sekret, who were on the band's first recordings that were done in 1979, James Pinker and Karel van Bergan, who toured the U.S. in 1982 with Guerin and Revell, Brian Williams of Lustmord, John Murphy of Forresta di Ferro (better known as Kraang) and Derek Thompson, who later had a brief stint in The Cure and went on to record as Hoodlum Priest. Thompson claims that he left SPK when founder member Revell wanted to take the band in what Thompson perceived as a more commercial direction.
     The meaning of the SPK abbreviation is deliberately unclear; the album covers suggest several different alternatives. The most well known is Sozialistisches PatientenKollektiv, but there are also others, such as Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation, SePuKku, Selective Pornography Kontrol, Special Programming Korps and SoliPsiK.
     The most notable recordings of SPK are early: Information Overload Unit, Leichenschrei and AutoDaFe. SPK's music is best described as disturbing and psychologically disorienting, in line with their nihilistic, subversive philosophy. Live performances included video backing (some of which was issued in two Twin Vison videos, Despair and Two Autopsy Films), transgressive performances with animal carcasses and other attempts to make the audience uncomfortable. The group issued manifestos, such as DoKuments 1 and 2, "The Post-Industrial Strategy", which appeared in RE/Search's Industrial Culture Handbook. There is a clear dichotomy between early industrial SPK (1978–83) and the more commercial music later favoured by Graeme Revell. Later releases, such as Machine Age Voodoo (1984), were more synthpop-oriented than industrial. Still later, the group moved into electronic orchestral work, with the release of Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers (1986).

Discography

     Albums
Information Overload Unit - LP/CD - 1981
Leichenschrei - LP/CD - 1982
Machine Age Voodoo - LP - 1984
Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers - LP/CD - 1986
Digitalis Ambigua: Gold & Poison - LP/CD - 1987
Oceania - LP/CD - 1988

     Compilations
Auto-Da-Fé - LP/CD - 1983
Box - CD - 1992

     Singles, EPs, cassettes
"No More/Kontakt/Germanik" - Single - 1979
"Factory"/Retard/Slogun" - Single - 1979
"Mekano/Kontakt/Slogun" - Single - 1979
"Meat Processing Section" EP (Slogun/Mekano) - Single – 1980
"See Saw/Chambermusik" (as SoliPsiK) - Single - 1981
"At The Crypt" - Cassette - Sterile Records - 1981
"Last Attempt at Paradise" - Cassette - 1982
"Dekompositiones" - 12"EP - 1983
"From Science To Ritual" - Cassette - 1983
"Metal Dance" - Single - 1984
"Junk Funk" - Single - 1984
"Flesh & Steel" – Single - 1985
"In Flagrante Delicto" - Single – 1986
"Off the Deep End" - Single - 1987
"Breathless" - Single - 1987
"Digitalis Ambigua: Gold & Poison" - Single - 1987

     Videos and films
"Despair" - SPK Video by Twin Vision - 1982
"Two Autopsy Films" - SPK Video by Twin Vision - 1983
"Despair" - Digitally extracted DVD by Twin Vision - 2007

Beargarden - All That Fall

Beargarden

All That Fall

1986

New Wave Synth Rock

Australia

Tracklist:


01. A Minute In Black & White
02. The Tell Tale Heart
03. A Year In The Shade
04. I Write The News
05. Drink Drink Drink
06. A Seaside Song
07. All That Fall
08. She's Crying
09. Bright Penny
10. Drink Drink Drink (Extended)
11. Instrumental No. 1 (Bonus Track)
12. Lounge (Bonus Track)


     Beargarden was a new wave band from Melbourne, Australia which, though well regarded critically, failed to achieve widespread success. It evolved directly from the post-punk group 'The Ears' which disbanded in 1981 and reformed under the new name with Ross Farnell replacing Cathy McQuade on bass. The other members were Sam Sejavka ( vocals) Mick Lewis (guitar), Carl Manuell (drums) and Gus Till (keyboards). Lewis was replaced later that year by Shane Andalou.

     All That Fall is the debut album by Australian New Wave group Beargarden. It was released in 1986 on Chase Records.
     Beargarden were selected by Virgin Records Australia as their first Australian signing. Under their new label the band released a single, "The Finer Things", which was produced by Ross Cockle at AAV studios in South Melbourne and released in October 1984 with a film clip directed by John Hillcoat and featuring a young Noah Taylor. The single however made little impact on the charts.
     In July 1985, Beargarden began recording their debut album, All That Fall, at Albert Studios in Sydney with producers Bruce Brown and Russel Dunlop. A second single, "I Write the News", resulted from these sessions. The B-side, "Sixty Perfect Windows", had been recorded previously at Richmond Recorders, Melbourne, and was produced by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farris (Hutchence provides backing vocals for the track). A film clip for "I Write The News" was directed by Paul Goldman (Australian Rules, The Night They Called It a Day, The Ben Cousins Story).
     All That Fall took a great many months to complete and during this time the band's inner turmoil again boiled to the surface. Bassist Ross Farnell was replaced by Simon Polinski, and Shaun Andersen (brother of guitarist Shane Andalou) was recruited as second guitar. These changes exacerbated the band's pre-existing instability and, after the release of a third single "Drink Drink Drink"', it folded. Paul Goldman directed a clip for "Drink Drink Drink" but, given the suggestive nature of the song title and the mistaking of burning scarecrows for burning crucifixes by the producers of Countdown, it failed to air and the single made little impact.
     Beargarden's disintegration was accompanied by acrimony and incidents of poor and/or outrageous behaviour on stage. Virgin quickly divested themselves of the product and All That Fall was ultimately released to little fanfare on Chase Records, accompanied by a fourth and final single "A Seaside Song".
     Originally appearing on vinyl, it never received an official CD release, though in 2010 became available for download, initially through Bandcamp.

Kids In The Kitchen - Shine

Kids In The Kitchen

Shine

1985

New Romantic New Wave Synthpop

Australia

Tracklist


Shine
Current Stand
Change In Mood
Place To Go
Cynical
Something That You Said
Bitter Desire
My Life
Not The Way
How Come?



     Kids in the Kitchen was a band from Melbourne, Australia that enjoyed considerable local success during the 1980s. The band stood squarely within the New Romantic movement that dominated mid-1980s pop, showing influences of "New-Rom" groups such as Ultravox in its use of synthesisers, its angst-ridden lyrics, and the tendency of frontman Scott Carne to pronounce words such as "too" and "do" as if these had two syllables.

     The band's original line-up when it formed in 1983 was:
Scott Carne (vocals)
Greg Dorman (guitar)
Craig Harnath (bass)
Greg Woodhead (keyboards)
Bruce Curnow (drums)

     The band's debut single, "Change In Mood", (produced by Ricky Fataar and Tim Kramer) reached No. 10 on the Australian national charts in November 1983. A second single, "Bitter Desire", hit No. 17 in May 1984, after which Dorman and Woodhead quit the band and were replaced by Claude Carranza (guitar) and Alistair Coia (keyboards).
     The first single released under the new line-up was "Something That You Said", another Top 20 hit in May 1985, and this was followed by a belated debut album, Shine, which was a big seller nationally and topped the Melbourne charts. Although the title track only reached No. 40 when lifted as a single, the next single release, "Current Stand", became the band's signature song and was a hit overseas as well as peaking at No. 12 in Australia.
     Carne joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on Fairy penguins, which peaked at #10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.
     A second LP, Terrain, was released in 1987 with several accompanying singles, but the band could not repeat the success of their debut. They broke up the following year.
     Following the split, Carne formed a band called Priscilla's Nightmare, who released one self-titled album, then he embarked on a solo career. Carne's solo single "All I Wanna Do" was a minor hit in 1990. Curnow opened a Billy Hyde music store in Shepparton, Victoria in 2002. Harnath owns Hothouse Studios in St Kilda, Melbourne.

Koo De Tah - Koo De Tah

Koo De Tah

Koo De Tah

1986

Synthpop

Australia / New Zealand

Tracklist:

01 Too Young For Promises
02 Think Of Me
03 Missed You All Along
04 Over To You
05 Body Talk
06 Change My Ways
07 Meant To Be
08 Fun Girl
09 Drift Away (Don't Let It)
10 Into The Future


     Koo De Tah was a New Zealand/Australian pop music band of the 1980s. The core band members were Tina Cross (a native of New Zealand) and Leon Berger (Australian), who met in Sydney.
     They scored a hit in 1985 with their first single Too Young For Promises, which reached number 6 in the Australian charts and number 48 in New Zealand.
     self-titled debut album was released in 1986.


Tina Cross - vocals
Leon Berger - keyboards, programming, bass, vocals
John Bettison - guitars, violin
Capree Morris - keyboards
Roger Faynes - bass
Peter Radnai - drums


Discography

     Albums
Koo De Tah (1986)
     Singles
Too Young For Promises/Dancing (Towards The Stranger) (1985)
Body Talk/My Eyes Are Shut (1985)
Think Of Me/Love 'Em Never (1986)
Missed You All Along/Change My Ways (1986)
Too Young (To Know) /? (1988) (possibly a re-recording of Too Young For Promises)

Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance

1984

Ethereal Wave Gothic Rock Post Punk

Australia

Tracklist:


"The Fatal Impact" – 3:21
"The Trial" – 3:42
"Frontier" – 3:13
"Fortune" – 3:47
"Ocean" – 3:21
"East of Eden" – 3:23
"Threshold" – 3:51
"A Passage in Time" – 4:03
"Wild in the Woods" – 3:46
"Musica Eternal" – 3:52
The following tracks were originally released in 1984 as the Garden of the Arcane Delights EP and were included on the CD release of the album:
"Carnival of Light" – 3:31
"In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated" – 4:11
"The Arcane" – 3:49
"Flowers of the Sea" – 3:28


     Dead Can Dance (sometimes referred to as DCD) were an ethereal neoclassical world music duo which formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981. Its mainstays were Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998, but reunited temporarily for a world tour in 2005. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance as having an ambient style of world music that "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty... with African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chants, Middle Eastern mantras and art-rock".
   
     Dead Can Dance is the debut album recorded by Dead Can Dance in 1984. This album differs greatly from later Dead Can Dance releases. The instrumentation consisted of guitars, bass and drums with added percussion and the very distinct sound of the Yang Chin as played by Lisa Gerrard. This album has been at times described as post-punk or goth rock. The musicians who performed on this album, as well as the EP, were Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard, Paul Erikson, James Pinker, Scott Rodger and Peter Ulrich. Erikson returned to Australia and was replaced by Rodger. The album was not released in North America for some time because 4AD wanted to have a proper label deal and not license the artists individually. Modern English And Cocteau Twins were the exceptions at that time. The band touring was limited to Europe and Scandinavia during this period because the album was not readily available. The early live show was incredibly dynamic and very soon a dedicated live following evolved. In these early days, the band was run in a very democratic way. Something that would change as the years progressed.
     The album was mixed twice as the band were not happy with the way it was sounding after the first pass, very much over processed. Being mixed by inexperienced recording artists didn't help too much either. The album would now benefit from a proper mix so that the songs could actually live for the first time.
     The beginning of "The Fatal Impact" is taken from the 1964 film Zulu and was recorded off of a TV broadcast onto a cassette player. The Drum Machine used was built into the same cassette player. The percussion used was 3 upturned empty 5 gallon paint tins tied together. One of the main reasons this song was not performed live was due to the unorthodox instrumentation.
     No merchandise was made at this time as the band didn't want to commercially exploit their artwork.

The Flaming Hands - The Flaming Hands

The Flaming Hands

The Flaming Hands

1984

New Wave

Australia

Tracklist:

01. Real world
02. Break down and cry
03. Out of our hands
04. Wild boy
05. -------
06. New day
07. Cast my love
08. Tunnels and trains
09. The edge
10. Cross my heart


     Sydney's Flaming Hands were an early 80s Australian new wave pop band that recorded some amazing songs. Unfortunately, their output never translated to much more than a cult following, and today there is very little information available on the band.
     Flaming Hands' principal members were singer Julie Mostyn and songwriter/guitarist Jeff Sullivan, who together created something truly special. Sullivan delivered memorable, hook-filled songs that Mostyn made sparkle with her soaring, soulful vocals.
     The band released their first single - I Belong to Nobody / The Stranger - on Phantom Records in 1980. They followed it up with four more singles - Wake Up Screaming / Sweet Revenge, It's Just That I Miss You / Go Or Stay, Cast My Love / Kismet and The Edge / Sacrifice. These singles were marked by an earthier sound than what Flaming Hands would be producing by the time they released their first and only full-length album in 1984. The self-titled LP, which featured Andrew Fariss and Kirk Pengilly from INXS, is enjoyable but relies a bit too heavily on synths.
     Unfortunately, the LP failed to get them the recognition they deserved, and Flaming Hands called it quits shortly after its release.

     Track 5 is missing, but I´ll try to find it. I posted it anyway, because it's a great album. When the album's complete I'll reupload it.

Joe Dolce Music Theatre - Shaddap You Face 7''

Joe Dolce Music Theatre

Shaddap You Face 7''

1980

Novelty Pop

USA (In Australia since 1978)

Tracklist:

01. Shaddap You Face



     Joseph "Joe" Dolce, born 1947 in Painesville, Ohio, is an American-born, Australian singer/songwriter who achieved fame with his multi-million-selling song, "Shaddap You Face", released under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980. The single reached number one in 15 countries, it has sold more than 350,000 copies in Australia, remaining the most successful Australian produced single in music history for thirty-one years and selling an estimated six million worldwide. It reached No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980. The track kept Ultravox's "Vienna" off the number one singles spot in the United Kingdom.
     Dolce was born in 1947 in Painesville, Ohio and formed various bands including Headstone Circus. with Jonathan Edwards (musician) who subsequently went on as a solo artists to have a charting hit song in the US 'Sunshine'. Dolce relocated to Melbourne, Australia in 1978 and his first single there was "Boat People"-a protest song on the poor treatment of Vietnamese refugees-which he donated to the fledgling Vietnamese community starting to form in Melbourne. His one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, performed in cabarets and pubs with various line-ups including Lin Van Hek as singer/performance artist.
     In July 1980 he recorded the self-penned "Shaddap You Face", for Full Moon Records label at Mike Brady's new studios in West Melbourne. When in Ohio, Dolce would sometimes visit his Italian grandparents-they supplied the inspiration with "What's the matter, you?" and "Eh, shaddap". He wrote the song about Italians living in Australia and first performed it at Marijuana House, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy in 1979. Dolce paid A$500 for the recording and spent $1000 on the music video clip, which was created by Melbourne filmmaker, Chris Lofven. It became a multi-million-selling hit, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980, in UK from February 1981 for three weeks, also No. 1 in Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland. Dolce received the Advance Australia Award in 1981.
     Follow up single, "If You Want to Be Happy" charted in Austria (No. 7) and New Zealand (top 40) but not in Australia. Dolce's subsequent singles included "Pizza Pizza", "Christmas in Australia" and "You Toucha My Car I Breaka You Face" and he released two albums during this period, 'Shaddap You Face' and 'The Christmas Album'. With Lin Van Hek, he formed various performance groups including Skin the Wig, La Somnambule (1984) and the ongoing Difficult Women (1993). Van Hek and Dolce co-wrote "Intimacy", for the 1984 film, The Terminator's soundtrack. He has continued to perform solo shows and with his longtime partner, Van Hek, as part of their music-literary cabaret Difficult Women. Over the last two years Dolce has begun achieving recognition as a serious poet, winning the 25th Launceston Poetry Cup in Tasmania and having sixteen poems and lyrics selected by Les Murray for Quadrant Magazine as well as being published in Meanjin, Island, Cordite, and Divan. His first book of poetry Hatbox was released in 2010.

Discography & Books

     Albums
Shaddap You Face (Full Moon, 1981)
Christmas in Australia (Hammard, 1981)
Memoirs of a Mouth Organ (1997)
Difficult Women (1998)
Steal Away Home (1999)
FreeLoveDays (2000)
Flower (2001)
The Wind Cries Mary (2007)
     Singles
"Boat People" (1979)
"Shaddap You Face" (Full Moon, 1980)
"If You Want to Be Happy" (Full Moon, May 1981) AUT No. 7,[8] NZL No. 33[9]
"Reggae Matilda" (1981)
"Christmas in Australia" (November 1981)
"You Toucha My Car I Breaka You Face" (June 1982)
"Pizza Pizza" (Fable, 1984)
"Vaffanculo Polka" (February 1989)
     Books
"Hatbox (poetry)" (2010)