Short Biography
THE ANGELS
GREATEST HITS TOUR 2013
TAKE IT TO THE STREETS
Through four decades, Rick and John Brewster, The Angels guitarists, co-founders and its most prolific songwriters, have seen lineups change and the band’s musical styles rearrange, but through it all they’ve maintained the pure Australian rock guitar sound that’s driven The Angels most legendary songs.
With Dave Gleeson (from The Screaming Jets) upfront, The Angels have been storming rock stages right around the country. They've even notched up a festival in Japan. Two years of blowing away new and old Angels fans at sold out show after sold out show. All the hard work has paid off. The Angels with Dave Gleeson are now widely known as the best live rock band in Australia today.
Now The Angels are heading for the heartland.
“It’s a bit like time-traveling for us,” says Rick Brewster, recently named of Australia’s five best guitarists, alongside Angus Young. “We’re doing some shows in theatres and towns we haven’t been to in decades, but the band is playing with the same kind of energy and passion again now that that shot us to the top in the late 70s.”
“We must be doing something right,” says Dave Gleeson, of The Angels’ recent successes, “I just wanted to give all these classic Angels songs I grew up with the justice they deserve live onstage.
“Now after 60 shows together,” says Dave, “Songs like ‘Long Line’, ‘Marseille’, ‘Be With You’, ‘After The Rain’, ‘Shadow Boxer’ and ‘Mr Damage’ are inside me, I feel them, and I can let them out onstage. Our audiences get that. They know we mean it.”
In recent months, The Angels have headlined sold-out music festivals and released a new album, Take It To The Streets, which debuted at No. 7 on the ARIA Australian Albums chart. They’ve seen new songs like Waiting For The Sun become FM radio hits, they’ve released their first live album in 24 years, ‘The Angels: Live At QPAC’ and they’ve published a book of stunning live photos taken by professionals and fans during their 2011 Waiting For The Sun tour.
“The Angels have always been about giving fans the best show they’ve seen from us yet,” says John Brewster. “With Dave Gleeson tearing up the stage now, and the whole band playing at the top of its game, that’s exactly what Angels fans who haven’t seen us for a long time are going to get.
“We’re having an absolute ball,” says John, “and everyone in the audience can feel it. This kind of energy is always infectious.”
While many Australian bands have abandoned the grind of life on the road required to take their shows to regional and country towns, for The Angels it’s never been about anything else. You make your music, says John Brewster, and then you take it out there and you play it to the people.
“We’re wandering troubadours,” says John, “always have been. That’s part of this thing we’ve always done. My brother Rick and I are still driving the same highways we’ve been travelling for 38 years. We’ve always been happy to play live to more of this country than most bands ever do.
“The fact we’ve been around so long as The Angels, that we’ve made so many fans and we play so many of our most famous songs live means we can keep doing that.”
In-depth Biography
Delivering raucous hard rock in the tradition of contemporaries like AC/DC and Rose Tattoo, the Angels were among the longest-lasting and most beloved bands ever to emerge from the Australian pub circuit. Their roots date back to 1973, when singer Doc Neeson and guitarist Rick Brewster first teamed at university in an eccentric acoustic covers group dubbed the Moonshine Jug and String Band; by the following year they began adopting a more straightforward and electric approach, rechristening themselves the Keystone Angels in the process. Soon abbreviated to simply the Angels, their original lineup consisted of Neeson (nicknamed the "Mad Irishman" in honor of his crazed behavior on and off stage) and Brewster, along with the latter's brother John on guitar and drummer Graham "Buzz Throckman" Bidstrup.
In 1976, the Angels' were discovered by AC/DC's Angus Young and Bon Scott, and soon entered the studio to record their debut single "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again," a major hit. With the addition of bassist Chris Bailey (not to be confused with the Saints' frontman), a tour opening for AC/DC followed, and in 1977, the Angels' eponymously titled debut LP appeared to enormous success. A second album, Face to Face, appeared in 1978 and preceded a national headlining tour; after 1979's No Exit became an even bigger hit, the group toured the U.S. and Canada, renamed Angel City for the Northern Hemisphere to avoid confusion with the glam band Angel. (To further complicate matters, a handful of releases later appeared credited to "The Angels from Angel City," the constant fluctuations no doubt contributing to their lack of success overseas.)
After just three LPs, the Angels issued their first Greatest Hits collection in 1979; with their next studio album, 1980's moody Dark Room, they scored their first Australian number one hit, "No Secrets." The record also featured the track "Face the Day," later covered by Great White. At the end of the year, the Angels headlined a free concert at the Sydney Opera House which ended in rioting, prompting a government ban on outdoor concerts; undaunted, the band opened in America for the Kinks, then returned home to begin work on their next album Night Attack, their first outing with new drummer Brent Eccles. A subsequent tour exchanged Bailey for bassist Jim Hilbun, and was followed in 1983 by the odd, experimental Watch the Red. Two Minute Warning -- a concept record exploring nuclear devastation -- was recorded in Los Angeles and issued a year later.
Upon returning to Australia, founding member John Brewster exited, and was replaced by ex-Skyhooks guitarist Bob Spencer. Howling followed in 1986, launching the hit singles "Don't Waste My Time" and "Nature of the Beast"; in support of the record, the Angels mounted a 16-month tour which in 1988 yielded the double concert LP Liveline. With new bassist James Morley, they next traveled to Memphis to record 1990's chart-topping Beyond Salvation, which notched four Top Ten singles -- "Let the Night Roll On," "Back Street Pick-Up," "Rhythm Rude Girl" and "Dogs Are Talking." After 1991's Redback Fever, both Spencer and Morley departed for solo careers late the next year, opening the door for the return of Hilbun and John Brewster. However, record company problems then kept the Angels from recording new material for several years; finally, in 1996, they issued their comeback single "Call That Living," which returned them to the Top Ten. Skin and Bone followed in 1998. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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