Pat Drummond

Biography

Beginning with stints as Sydney's 'king of the hill' in the anarchic 'sing-along uni/ bar/ pub' scene of the late '70s and early '80s, Drummond became renowned for writing musical mini-operas that included whole sections scripted for and performed by the crowds.

Although the music was actually 'folk rock', it was a very 'punk' philosophy of performing in which the whole emphasis was on breaking down the' barrier' between the crowd and the stage.

For many in Sydney, his 10-year Friday night residency at Sydney's Rest Hotel was a 'rite of passage' and the pub saw well over three hundred thousand fans pass through its doors during that time. The night before its demolition in the late '80s the whole soundscape was captured by CBS/True Blue on the Double CD, 'Live at The Rest Hotel' in a gig that saw over 2000 people turn up to a pub that only held 350; and traffic brought to a standstill in the surrounding North Sydney streets.

Drummond's next project was the 1986 Rock opera 'Skooldaze'. This show provided his next 'character driven' reinvention and saw Drummond and his six-piece Rock outfit, touring with Cold Chisel and Marcia Hines in 1985 /1986. Drawing heavily on his training as a Primary School teacher in the early 1970s, the album explored the concept of 'hidden curriculum ' (the lessons that children often actually learn from the school experience as opposed to the ones the curriculum claims to teach them.)

With the demise of 'Skooldaze' Pat was invited by his friend, Roger Corbett to join the revived the Bushwackers after which he became a duo partner to John Schumann after having supported Redgum on a national tour.

With the release of his "Tales from the Local Rag' CD in 1990, Drummond adopted the on-stage persona of an 1940s newspaperman. On stage and off he interviewed at every opportunity those people who subsequently became the subjects of his songs.

Drummond then toured across Australia working for community-based organisations, schools, preschools, toy libraries, church groups and service clubs, staging fundraising concerts.

By 1993 he had been Joint Winner of Male Vocal of the Year at the Australian Bush Music Festival and was Grand Finalist for Album of the Year, Producer of the Year, Heritage Award and Country Song of the Year in the Toyota CMAA Australian Country Music Awards (The Golden Guitars).

He later undertook a series of successful tours, a number of which became the springboard for community festivals, which Pat co-directed, notably The Galston Country Music Festival which by 2005 had become Sydney's largest Country Music Event. In October 2000 Drummond was awarded the Australian Independent Country Music Artist of the Year.

Since "Laughter Like A Shield" in 1993 each of Pat's albums had incorporated at least one poem with his "Wheels and Wires" CD (1996) yielding the strikingly beautiful "Colours of the Cross" . By 1998 Pat's long standing interest in spoken word led to a successful association with The Naked Poets; a gathering of 5 of Bush Poetry's preeminent comedic performers.

The group featuring Marco Gliori, Shirley Friend, Murray Hartin, Ray Essery and Bobby Miller first performed with Pat at The Tamworth Golf Club in 1998– 1999.

Next came the Lie...v (Naked Poets 1) album, which became the most ordered item in ABC Shops and centres across Australia several times the following year. With sales in the tens of thousands nationally it was an overwhelming success for the independent label, Shoestring Records.

The hit single, Murray Hartin's, "Turbulence" went on to win The Australian Bush Laureate Award – Best Single Performance in 2000 and the following year, the Naked Poet's second album, 'Newdirections' followed up by winning both the Album of the Year category and Best Single Performance (for a poem written & performed by Marco Gliori).

The success of these albums expanded Shoestring's operations as record company and by 2008, the company had a roster of 78 albums, representing 15 acts and supplying over 600 shops across Australia.

Drummond collaborated with 2002 Independent Female Country Vocalist 'Karen Lynne'. Produced by legendary Australian Country Producer Rod Coe, "Six Days in December" and saw them pick up the 2001 award for Contemporary Country Song of the Year with a duet called "The Rush", which had previously already taken out 2 sections of the Queensland Songwriting competition.

In 2001, Drummond toured, "The Chess Set", which created two new characters which led to an in-depth musical examination of the political divisions that had emerged throughout Australia in the first decade of the current century. The Left Wing Black Knight and The Right Wing White Knight took up the cudgels over issues such as Australia's involvement in the Iraq War, The Refugee Detention Centres, Reconciliation and more.

In 2004-2005, Drummond released a double boxed interactive CD which featured 26 new songs and political speeches. It also included his live 4½-hour theatre show from the project featured at, The Blue Mountains Folk Festival and The National Folk Festivals in 2006.

In 2008, Pat's new close harmony three-piece comedy outfit, the BBQ Kings was signed to ABC/Universal and their first album 'The Fellowship of the Grill' was released nationally and received a Final Five Nomination in the 2009 ARIA Awards for Comedy Album of the Year.

With fellow songwriters, Tony Williams and Chris O'Leary the show was set around three old mates who meet at a BBQ after not having seen each other for nearly a decade and explored through comedy the triumphs and tragedy of the middle aged male.Complete with BBQ aprons, the piano set in to the BBQ six-burner and lots of laughs the show became an immediate favourite with Corporates and Rotary clubs around the Australia.

In January 2016, The Tamworth Country Music Festival, Pat Drummond was given The TSA Songmaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Songwriting.

His 'live' double CD, " Late Final Extra - Tales From The Travelling Years " was released in December 2016.

Drummond has also served as a long term and/or founding director with a number of major entertainment bodies; including 5 years with The CMAA (The Country Music Association of Australia), 12 years as Entertainment Director at The Galston Country Music Festival (Sydney NSW), and more recently with The Blue Mountains Folk, Blues and Music Festival, The Hartley Big Backyard Bash, The 2LT Oberon Music Festival and The Steam and Vintage Fair.

Solo and with Karen Lynne

Singles

With The Naked Poets

With The BBQ Kings

Trivia