Precision players in age of pub gigging
The year 1969 is known as the summer of love, and it’s also the year an Invercargill covers band began to leave its mark on Southland’s music history. Damian Rowe reports.
Alegendary band that held a 17-year residency at the Whitehouse pub is ready to hit the stage again this weekend in Invercargill.
Covers band Vision will reunite for the first time since 2011 to play its 50th anniversary show.
The band previously held shows on its 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th anniversaries, but Vision drummer Trevor Daley says this is the last time they will play.
About 35 musicians have been part of the band through its years, and at least 20 of them are expected to attend the reunion.
Gathered at the Southland Musician Club, around a long table, band members Scott Calvert, Bob Daley, Pat Houlihan Tony Ross, Paul Rosel, Brendan Burgess, Jeff Ross, Geoff Burn, Brent Walker, Jason Sagmyr and Trevor Daley reflected on the band’s history ahead of its gig on April 21.
When asked what brought on another anniversary Trevor Daley says, ‘‘Just another moment of insanity, I suppose. We’ve been really good mates, so it was just an excuse to get together again.’’
Through its 50 years the members of the band witnessed radical changes to the music scene.
However, they mostly existed in a period of time when a band could make a living from holding down a residency at a pub.
‘‘The major shift was there used to be bands in most pubs and now there aren’t, like, real-sized bands playing four to five nights a week – that world doesn’t exist any more,’’ keyboarder Pat Houlihan said.
The band held a residency at the Whitehouse for 17 years.
Brothers Trevor and Bob Daley both played in the band.
Bob is an original guitarist, and said the band played at a few bars before they moved into the Whitehouse. They decided to pick the toughest night to play a gig, which was a Tuesday, and away they went.
During its peak the band played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, twice on Saturday and held rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday. Playing so regularly meant the band members became close friends.
‘‘Some of the band members saw each other more than they saw their wives,’’ Bob Daley said.
‘‘A lot of the wives and girlfriends became barmaids because they missed their men,’’ bass player Brent Walker quipped.
The best part of having a residency for so long was not having to shift their equipment around. Daley recalls that when the odd touring band came to town and Vision had to move their equipment, it would be stuck to the carpet because it had been there for so long.
‘‘I had a nine-piece drum set with 10 cymbals and I didn’t have to move them for 10 months . . . It was heaven,’’ drummer Paul Rosel recalled.
‘‘That’s bloody showing off, Paul,’’ Daley interjects.
‘‘I couldn’t play any of them, though,’’ Rosel says.
While Rosel jokes about his playing ability, Vision built a reputation for covering songs with precision. ‘‘To work with a band with that work ethic is a privilege,’’ Walker said.
Vision certainly had a touch of the obsessive when it came to getting the songs right. ‘‘We could spend a couple of weeks working on a song,’’ Bob Daley says.
The band members may be serious about playing their songs, but the reminiscent mood also brought out the quick wit.
‘‘Apart from some smart bastard, who could learn the song on the way to rehearsal in the car, aye Scott? He [Scott Calvert] could learn the song with one hand while texting,’’ Rosel said.
Band members gained a lot of satisfaction by playing the covers
right. Tony Ross, who was the band’s singer in the 1980s, with a growl to his voice, rejects the suggestion the band had been influenced by the Dunedin sound during that decade.
‘‘We were as far away from that stuff as you possibly could be.’’
Vision only did covers, and Walker said the covers had to be the best music.
‘‘We had the best guys in music writing for us,’’ Daley said.
The covers that will be played at Vision’s show on Sunday will most likely be received as throwbacks, but during the band’s residency era they played the newest and hippest popular songs of the moment.
The age of residency was long lived but the music scene eventually evolved and that put Vision on the endangered list.
The band moved out of the Whitehouse and into the old Lasers nightclub at the Waikiwi tavern.
There, the band only took to the stage at 2am and 3am. ‘‘And the bloody DJ would get some bird and take her home so we had to finish the night off,’’ Daley said.
The band members were all holding down full-time jobs and at the time the workload and playing so late became a bit too much.
Vision moved on to playing functions before taking a long hiatus from 2011 until now.
Vision will play at the Invercargill Workingman’s Club on April 21.
‘‘Some of the band members saw each other more than they saw their wives.’’