Spectrum known as an original and unpredictable band in '70s,
and there were a number of forums then
(like the T F Much and Much More Ballrooms for instance) happy to accommodate them.
These days we're seldom asked to do something new and adventurous,
and with the current version of Spectrum working as a guitar, bass & drums three-piece,
it will be exciting to hear some of our new songs augmented with different
instrumentation. Bill, Robbo and I are looking forward to a special night
at the Comics Lounge, and I'm actually considering writing a song especially
for the show. Now, that hasn't happened for a while!Mike Rudd & Bill Putt have been around for so long they're considered part of Australia's musical heritage. Bands such as SPECTRUM, THE INDELIBLE MURTCEPS and ARIEL illuminated the 70's and inspired many of Australia's popular music icons. Spectrum's enormous 70's hit, I'll Be Gone (Someday I'll have money...) still inspires crowds to sing along all over the country.
During their thirty-year career together, Mike and Bill have played alongside such artists as Deep Purple, Manfred Mann, The Kinks, Joan Armatrading, Leo Sayer and Marc Bolan as well as playing all the legendary Sunbury Festivals. Ariel recorded at London's famous Abbey Road Studios in the 70's (Rock & Roll Scars) and artists as diverse as John Williamson and Manfred Mann have recorded versions of Rudd's I'll Be Gone.
Spectrum and Ariel released numerous albums up until the late 70's including their first, Spectrum Part 1, Milesago, ('a double album with no fillers' according to NME), the Indelible Murtceps' Warts Up Your Nose, Ariel's A Strange Fantastic Dream and Rock & Roll Scars and the list goes on. After Ariel's break-up in 1975, other bands followed, notably Mike Rudd and the Heaters and the ambitious WHY project. WHY, with Rudd on keyboards and a drum machine called Weird Harold, boldly attempted to marry video projection and live performance in the early 80's and spent some time recording in West Germany and creating stage videos.
Then, in 1995, after a ten-year hiatus, Mike and Bill re-emerged as a duo with an acoustically-skewed new CD, Living on a Volcano (the Herald Sun's critics' choice for two consecutive years) that saw the pair maturing as songwriters, producers and instrumentalists. They teamed up briefly with another long-time Spectrum fan, ex Crowded House drummer, Paul Hester, which culminated in an appearance on ABC TV's Hessie's Shed. Current Spectrum drummer, Peter 'Robbo' Robertson joined in 1997 and Mike and Bill couldn't be happier with the way things are working out. In 1999, Spectrum released Spill - Spectrum Plays The Blues, a CD that revisits Rudd and Putt's roots in blues. Spill features famous guests in Colin Hay of Men at Work (who says of Rudd and Putt 'those guys are my heroes') and Chris Wilson, another unabashed Rudd /Putt fan. The end result is that the Australian record buying public has embraced Spill and Spectrum is back in demand on the live circuit. And playing live is what Spectrum is all about. After playing together for thirty years, there seems to be some kind of empathetic communication on stage that even Robbo, as the junior member, seems to share as Spectrum switches seamlessly from blues, to rock, to almost ambient nylon-string guitar music, without losing focus.
Blues classics like Baby Please Don't Go and Hoochie Coochie Man, come alive with Bill's down-tuned nylon-string slide guitar and Robbo's amiable groove underpinning Rudd's distinctive vocals and harmonica playing. New songs like Rocket Girl, Silicon Valley and Sensible Shoes slip right into the eclectic Spectrum-plays-the-spectrum-groove mix. Then they'll treat the audience to a guided tour of Spectrum classics, including such weird and wonderful tracks as What the World Needs is a New Pair of Socks, Fly without its Wings, the Crab Saga, We Are Indelible and much, much more (never forgetting I'll Be Gone of course).
In the past three or four years Spectrum have played the Port Fairy Folk Festival, the Goulburn Blues Festival, the Dandenong Ranges Folk Festival, the Queenscliff Music Festivals, the Sydney Opera House, the Tamworth Country Music Festival (!), the Healesville Sanctuary Unplugged Concerts, the Melbourne Arts Centre Lawn Concerts, the Melbourne Zoo Concerts, the Pat Rafter Charity Luncheon and the Parkinson's Foundation Golden Turkey Roast, the Bridgetown Blues Festival in WA as well as gigs in NZ and California.
In the first few months of 2003, Spectrum has played the inaugural Melbourne International Music & Blues Festival, the Port Fairy Folk Festival, the Canberra Blues & Rock Festival and nearly played the Thredbo Music Festival (cancelled at the last minute due to the bush fires). I'll Be Gone was honoured in 2001 by being included in the APRA's list of the top Australian songs of the last 75 years (it came in at No.13). I'll Be Gone was featured in the ABC TV's A Long Way To The Top series and the band was included on the fabulously successful LWTTT tour, which toured the nation in 2002. Spectrum continues to tour Australia as well as make the occasional overseas visit. They are enthusiastically received wherever they play and obviously enjoy what they do as much as their audiences. See and hear them - and be inspired!
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