Hush (band)

History

Hush were formed in the Sydney suburb of Seven Hills in 1971 as a five piece light pop group by Robin Jackson on guitar, John Koutts on drums, Keith Lamb on lead vocals, Rick Lum on bass guitar and Chris Nolan on keyboards. Jackson and Lamb had migrated to Australia from England at the same time. Nolan had previously been with Grandmars Observers.

Hush released their debut single, "Over You", late that year via the Philips label. In April of the following year Les Gock (ex-Chariot) on lead guitar and Chris "Smiley" Pailthorpe on drums joined Lamb and Lum in the Hush four-piece line-up. They reached the state finals of national band competition, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, and issued a cover version of "White Christmas" as a single in December. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt that "Gock gave the band a tougher sound in the guitar department."

Hush first made the Kent Music Report singles chart in October 1973, with their own composition (co-written by Gock, Lamb, Lum and Pailthorpe), "Get the Feeling", which reached No. 40. They followed with their debut album, Aloud 'n' Live!, on WEA, which reached No. 20 on the Kent Music Report albums chart and was certified gold. Ian Cross of The Canberra Times observed that their "sound is simple, hard rock and roll, yet it has a sense of originality about it. A great deal of its appeal is generated by the wild stage act. Dressed in colorful costumes the members dance around the stage involving themselves and, their audience." During 1973 they supported concerts by the Jackson Five and by Status Quo. The album provided another single, "Man Eater", in February 1974.

Their second album, Get Rocked, was issued in July 1974 on Wizard Records and peaked at No. 9 The Canberra Times' Garry Raffaele declared, "May the saints preserve us from such musical sludge." The title track provided Lamb with a memorable moment, he recalled in August 2004 that they were due to perform in Manjimup, Western Australia, "The mayor had heard we got the crowd to sing 'get fucked' during our song 'Get Rocked' ... which is something the crowd always did off its own bat. The police said the mayor didn't want us interfering with the local girls." The group's highest charting original single, "Walking" (August 1974), was co-written by Gock and Lamb, which peaked at No. 22.

They released their third album, C'mon We're Taking Over in December 1974, which reached No. 26 Hush made an unforgettable appearance in 1975 on pop music TV show, Countdown, with their colourful outfits – they became regular performers during the mid-1970s. By the time they made No. 4 on the singles chart in September 1975 with a rocked up, driving cover version of Larry Williams's "Bony Moronie", they were riding the wave of the glam-rock craze in Australia.

McFarlane felt that "One of the defining moments of Australia's 1970s pop legacy was undoubtably [sic] Hush performing 'Boney Moroney'." He described how "Lamb wiggled his satin flares-encased bum, thrust out his crotch and leered at the camera with a mischievous look in his eyes (and all the little girls understood). [Gock] dashed around the set in stack-heeled boots and glam threads, with peroxided streaks in his flowing, jet-black hair. [Lum] hammed it up in a serious kind of way. [Pailthorpe] cheerfully revealed his goofy, gap-toothed grin whenever the camera panned across his face." Their next cover version, "Glad All Over" (late 1975), which peaked at No. 8, was originally released by the Dave Clark Five.

In August 1976 they added a second guitarist, Jacques De Jongh (ex-Shadowfax, Redhouse); Rick Lum left three months later and De Jongh moved over to bass guitar. They supported Alice Cooper on his tour of Australia during March 1977. The group released an album, Touché, in July of that year. McFarlane noticed they "tried to make a serious affirmation of [their] abilities" where the album "featured a rock side, A Touch of Decadence, and a slow side, A Touch of Class." Pailthorpe left the group at the end of 1977 with Gock following soon after.

After the band broke up in 1977 De Jongh and Lamb formed New Hush, a.k.a Hush 2. De Jongh left in April 1978 to join John Paul Young and the All Stars. Lamb continued New Hush with Criston Barker on bass guitar (ex-Ash, Freeway, Hollywood), Con Gallin on guitar (ex-Fingerprint), Paul Grant on guitar (ex-Buster Brown, Hollywood) and Nat De Palma on drums (ex-20th Century). Lamb formed other bands including Keith Lamb Band, Larry and Airport. He was later a partner in an international embroidery company, Rajmahal, and co-author of a card game series, TAOC: The Art of Conversation. Lamb co-wrote songs for Status Quo, including the top 10 hit, "Ol' Rag Blues" (September 1983).

According to McFarlane "in the lucrative world of advertising, [Gock] has established himself as one of the country's foremost music and sound designers. He has also produced the soundtracks for the film Puberty Blues and the television drama Water Rats." Pailthorpe became an architect. De Jongh continued his music career and recorded material; he was also a chef. Lum worked in graphic design.

In November 1979 Lamb reformed Hush for a one-off gig, Concert of the Decade, at the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Hush reunited in August 2004 for a Nordoff-Robbins charity event. The line-up was Gock, Lamb, Lum and Pailthorpe; which performed together for the first time in 25 years. Gock's son Adam joined them on stage. In September 2006 Hush toured Australia with other artists on the Countdown Spectacular Tour. Another original member, guitarist Robin Jackson, then-playing with Chris Turner & the Wolftones, re-joined Hush for that tour. After leaving Hush in 1972 Jackson had "dropped out of music for a bit. But late '76 I got the bug again and joined the '60s oriented group Punkz." Punkz changed their name to Cheek in mid-1977 to avoid association with punk music; they had a top 50 hit with "So Much in Love" (January 1978).

Members

Albums