Almanac (Music) Memoir: Freshwater Creek: are you ready to rock’n’roll?
Murmurs, in a hall somewhere in the Geelong region, early 1980. KD is on the far left as one looks at the photo. (Image Source: KD.)
Freshwater Creek – Are You Ready to Rock ‘n’ Roll?
(Murmurs play Freshwater Creek Hall, near Anglesea, Victoria, 1980.)
I remember the trees as I approached. Big old trees, ones which cast lots of shade. Yes, there were definitely trees as I pulled up outside the Freshwater Creek Hall in my 1962 Ford Anglia – bass guitar across the back seat and amp in the boot. I’ve never been very good with flora, so I’m not sure if the trees were pines or gums, a mixture of both, or some other variety. Don’t know if they are there now, but they were definitely around then.
It was probably late afternoon when I arrived to set up. The band I was in at the time, Murmurs, was playing in the hall that evening. Before we appeared in pubs in Geelong and surrounding areas, we did a kind of apprenticeship, playing at 21sts, rural football clubs (such as Modewarre), that sort of thing.
Our lead singer was Dave. Like most lead singers, he had that front-and-centre “look at me” personality. One could be forgiven for thinking, at times, that the band was all about Dave. Along these lines, our rhythm guitarist once wrote a parody of our song list (the one we’d stick on the back of our amps and on the foldbacks on performance nights) which included Dave’s name in all the titles. In black texta and easy-to-see capital letters, it went something along the lines of …
BEAUTIFUL DAVE (Beautiful People by Australian Crawl)
INDIS-DAVE (Indisposed by Australian Crawl)
RESPECTA-DAVE (Respectable by The Rolling Stones)
ONE LONG DAVE (One Long Day by Cold Chisel)
TAKE A LONG DAVE (Take a Long Line by The Angels)
SHADOW DAVE (Shadow Boxer by The Angels)
COME ON DAVE (Come On Down by The Dingoes)
JUMPIN’ JACK DAVE (Jumpin’ Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones)
THE DAVE (The Wall by Flowers)
AFTER THE DAVE (After the Rain by The Angels)
You get the picture …
I thought it was funny, anyway … not sure what Dave himself thought about it but, from memory, he didn’t mind – probably, he was quietly happy about the number of times his name was mentioned! (Sorry, Dave – if you ever read this!) I should add, in fairness, that Dave was an excellent musician and performer.
But I digress …
I remember walking into the Freshwater Creek Hall before our gig and noticing the typical country hall set-up – small raised stage with curtain at one end, kitchen next to it, bare wooden floor etc. Sometime before the gig started, I noticed on a poster that an aspect of the evening was a “Ladies Bring A Plate” request, typical of country dances back then. I wondered what we were doing there, being a rock band without any of the repertoire I associated with such nights – but I suppose I was viewing the country dance setting and idea too literally, as Pride of Erins and barn dance tunes didn’t turn out to be obligatory.
We went through our usual repertoire. From the stage, I could see the quite small but enthusiastic audience dancing and enjoying themselves – which was to be expected, I guess, given that we knew most of them – as well as the line of tables along one side of the hall, spread with plates of sandwiches and cakes. There were probably party pies and sausage rolls, too. Of course, there was also the crockery for cups of tea and coffee, and the urn and carafes of orange juice at one end. (Additionally, there were the hip flasks in pockets and the grog we’d stored in our cars outside, of course.)
Still, overriding everything in my memory of that night, was us, the aspiring rockers, in that quaint (but quite lovely in its own way) setting. I still smile as I think about a hard rock song like The Rolling Stones’ “Respectable” rattling the rafters in Freshwater Creek: “Well now we’re respected in society / We don’t worry about the things that we used to be / We’re talking heroin with the president / Well it’s a problem, sir, but it can’t be bent / Uh yes …”
It’s certain that Murmurs weren’t the usual fare for Freshwater Creek Hall, but I suppose that’s the way most bands start out – with the idea of taking as many gigs as they can get, wherever they are located.
Acknowledgement: an earlier version of this piece, with a different title, previously appeared on our sister site Stereo Stories.
To find out more about Kevin Densley’s recently released book of poetry Sacredly Profane click HERE.
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, which was published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
I’m sure “One Long Dave” would have well been very well received by any frontman called Dave (One Long Day is in my top couple of Chisel tunes, magnificent song).
Being a country lad, the set up at the hall is very familiar!
Cheers, Luke! Thanks for the comments.
Yes, I think “One Long Dave” would have been a favourite for him!
And I do love those country halls!