The Dugites

History

The Dugites formed in Perth in 1978 with a line-up of Lynda Nutter on vocals, Peter Crosbie on keyboards, Gunther Berghoffer on guitar, Phillip Bailey on bass and Clarence Bailey on drums. In 1979 The Dugites released a single "Hit Single"/"Bruce", and toured as the backing band for Dave Warner. The single had been self-financed, but that year they were signed by the Deluxe label distributed by RCA Records. In 1980 Paul Noonan (ex-Dave Warner's from the Suburbs) replaced Phillip Bailey. Their first album The Dugites was released in August 1980 and reached No. 22 on the Australian Album charts. It went on to attain gold status (35 000 copies sold). Three singles were issued from the album, "In Your Car"/"13 Again" in May 1980, which reached No. 34 on the Australian Singles charts in July, "Goodbye"/"No God, No Master" in July and "South Pacific"/"Gay Guys" in October, which reached No. 90. At the 1980 Countdown Music Awards both The Dugites and Nutter received nominations for 'Best New Talent' (Johnny O'Keefe Memorial Award) and 'Most Popular Female' respectively. In December the band were the opening act for Elton John's concert at the Perth Entertainment Centre.

The band's second album, West Of The World which, like the first, was produced by Bob Andrews (Graham Parker and the Rumour), was released in July 1981. The album peaked at No. 33 on the Australian album charts and saw the release of two singles, "Waiting"/"Who Loves You More?", in May 1981, which reached No. 40 and "Part of Me"/"Never Touch" in September. In mid 1982 Berghoffer left the band and was replaced by guitarist Andrew Pendlebury (ex-The Sports), following which the band issued a single, "No Money"/"Decide" in July on the Rough Diamond label, and the related mini-album, No Money in August. Pendlebury was then replaced by Bob Fallovic (aka Boris Garter; ex-Stockings) and Paul Williamson also joined on saxophone. By mid-1983 however the line-up was reduced to Nutter, Crosbie, Bailey and Noonan. In 1985 after several appearances on TV's Hey Hey It's Saturday, Clarence and Linda stayed to live in Melbourne a while, where Clarence played drums in a Afro Reaggae Band called 'Randy and JahRoots' featuring Ghanaian star Randy Borquaye and drummer-congero Dezzy 'Animal' McKenna from Hey Hey.

The Dugites signed to Mercury/PolyGram and released their third album, Cut The Talking, in April 1984. Three singles were released from the album, "Cut the Talking"/"Michael and Rodney", in November 1983, "Juno and Me"/"Everything Must Change" in April 1984, which reached No. 60 on the Australian Singles charts, and "It Ain't Like That"/"All That I Want" in August. Following the release of the album the band added Peter Kaldor on saxophone and John Crosbie on trombone and trumpet to the line-up for touring purposes, but by the end of 1984 the group disbanded.

When the ABC's Sydney 'youth' radio station Double Jay was launched in 1975, Skyhooks' "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed" was chosen as the opening song played on air, specifically because it had been banned by Australian commercial radio. When Double Jay switched bands to FM in 1980, The Dugites' "Gay Guys", the B-side of the Dugites 1980 single "South Pacific", which was also banned by commercial radio, became the first song to be played by Double Jay's successor, 2JJJ-FM Triple J.

Members

Snakefish

The Dugites were asked to be one of a number of Perth bands of the '70s and '80s to be part of 2004's Old Day Out in Fremantle. Nutter recruited Perth keyboard player Kathy Travers and guitarist Richard Leach to join with Dugites members Clarence Bailey and Phil Bailey. The Old Day Out gig was a success and led to a new band, Snakefish, with Nutter on vocals, Clarence Bailey on drums, Phil Bailey on bass with Cathie Travers, piano accordion, and Richard Leach on guitar.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

EPs