Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Bob 'Bongo' Starkie been up to lately? OR From Commerce Student to Skyhooks Legend
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Bob Starkey takes center stage as he shares the wild twists of fate that led him from commerce student to the vibrant world of Skyhooks. Picture this: a chance introduction by his brother Peter, and the next thing Bob knew, he was auditioning for a spot in one of the most iconic bands of the era.
Listen as Bob transports us back to the cultural whirlwind of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in England, detailing how these musical giants influenced his early dreams. His journey is a masterclass in embracing the unexpected, shifting gears from student life to the limelight, and finding his groove in a career that spans jingles, soundtracks, and a rich tapestry of musical achievements.
The saga continues with a deep dive into The Skyhooks Show's evolving sound, especially through the impactful addition of female vocalists. Bob reflects on the indelible mark left by powerhouse singers like Laura Davidson, whose vocal prowess and stage charisma became synonymous with the band's identity. As the band embarks on a new chapter, Sasha Theunissen from Mum's Favourite steps in, captivating audiences with her remarkable talent despite her youth.
Bob's storytelling offers a backstage pass into the band's dynamic and evolution, making this episode a treasure trove for anyone eager to learn about the music industry's ebbs and flows through the eyes of a seasoned artist.
What has Bongo been up to lately? Let's find out!!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here. Welcome to the Still Rocking it podcast where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Bob Bongo Starkey from Skyhook has found a new front lady for the Skyhook show, and it's Adelaide's mum's favourite, sasha, who is hot off the heels performing alongside some of Ozrock's biggest acts, including Super Jesus, wolf, mother Master's Apprentices, screaming Jets and Ice House. Let's find out all the Skyhook's latest from Bob's Ducks. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to that radio chickcomau. You're with Cheryl Lee and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today Bob Bongo Starkey of Skyhooks. Thank you for joining us today, bob.
Speaker 2:It's good as gold Happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Skyhooks formed in March 1973. You were amongst the original founding members. How did you meet those likely lads and get involved in this band?
Speaker 2:The way it happened was my brother was originally in the band, my brother Peter and he asked me for a lift out to a gig because he didn't have a licence at that point in time. So I drove him out to the gig and it was this band called Skyhooks. They were great. I was really impressed. We had a different singer, steve Hill. At that point in time, as I was driving Peter home, he said well, I'm actually leaving the band. I said you're joking. He ended up joining up with Joe Camilleri, who he'd played with for a long time. Actually they were forming a band called Roger Rocket and the Millionaires and they were going to play up the west coast of Australia backing a stripper. They were all looking forward to that. Anyhow, after that I joined the band. I auditioned Greg McCoach, gave me the gig. So that's how I joined the band. I didn't know any of the other guys prior to that.
Speaker 1:Since 2015,. You've been doing your Bob Bongo Starkey Skyhook show and we'll talk about that in a minute. Because you've been doing that nearly 10 years, you deserve a gold watch soon. There's been some great changes to talk about. Do you mind if we just go back very quickly before we go forward? I was going to ask you if music was in your DNA. With a guitar-playing brother, I'd say it probably was. Are you from a musical family, Bob?
Speaker 2:Absolutely not. No, my dad was an Air Force officer. He had a tin ear. But I think the way it started is we were posted to England with my father's work in 1961. We were there until 1963, end of 1963. And that's when the Beatles and the Rolling Stones broke and we were there and it was just, you know, like it was really in your face and happening.
Speaker 2:My brother, he was well, he's four years older than me, he was turning 15, I think he was getting guitar lessons while we were over there. So by the time we came back to Australia he was pretty handy on the guitar. He sort of ended up joining a band called the King Bees. He went to Glen Waverley High. I was briefly at Glen Waverley High. Then Joe Camilleri joined that band. So he started playing with his band. They were doing really quite well. Peter was still at school and at university, I guess him playing regularly. He had, you know, like a Fender Jaguar and a Vox amplifier and it was all you know sounding pretty good. I actually started playing drums. I was like the drummer boy at school. When we had school assembly once a week. I would sort of drum the you know the school back into the classroom.
Speaker 1:When did it dawn on you and you realized that music was going to be your destiny? And did you ever have a plan B if it didn't work out?
Speaker 2:I didn't think for a minute that music was going to be my destiny. It was my hobby, I was quite motivated, I, you know, I sort of played in a few bands and what have you, had a lot of fun. But I was actually studying commerce. So I was in third year when Skyhooks had their first, you know, we had our first hit record. So I just walked out of that place and never went back. You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1:Well, it sounds like we have Bob's older brother, peter, at least a little bit to thank for Peter coming to Skyhooks, so let's have an early Jojo Zep song, all I Wanna Do. The music world lost Peter Starkey in 2020. Rest in peace, peter, and we'll be back to speak to little brother Bob after this.
Speaker 2:It was completely unplanned, but that's just the way it worked out. So I ended up in this fantastic band. I had a great time and made all those records and you know, I spent all my 20s playing in a pop band. It was just fantastic.
Speaker 1:And what a body of work. I mean, you weren't here for a long, long time, but you were here for a good time, that's for sure. 13 albums, I reckon, and so many you know hits that became the, you know, the soundtrack to our lives. What were you doing between the end of Skyhooks Was that after we lost Shirley and 2015, when you started Bongo's Skyhooks?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, yeah, a lot happened actually after skyhooks. I had a career doing jingles and film soundtracks. I had my own little studio and I was quite successful at it and that was born out of it. You know what I learned from skyhooks, really, and the confidence I had from that. But then just doing jingles that fantastic. The difference between doing that and playing in a band is that you'd get the job, you'd do it and then they'd give you the money, whereas in the music business it's like, wow, where's the money honey? Everyone had a piece of the action down the track and look, we did quite well. But you know, I didn't do very well financially out of skyhooks. But I did do well after skyhooks from. You know the experience I had. That was really my education. After that I got pretty lonely doing that, just working on my own in the studio and whatever. You know I love the live music venues and I ended up buying one.
Speaker 2:Oh thank you I bought the jump club in in, uh, sm Street, collingwood in Melbourne. They'd kind of gone broke and anyhow I liked the room so I bought that and I ran that for five years and that was very successful. It was, you know, like it was just a. It was jumping, it was jumping, yeah, that club was jumping. I changed the name to the Club because, you know, I couldn't be associated with all the debts. Ah, yes, yeah, yeah, it was great and that was a great experience. But I did that for five years and it nearly killed me. It was, like, you know, like a 24-7 party.
Speaker 2:Well, it was a bit like that. You know, I was working pretty hard and it's also a lot of pressure and when you're dealing one-on-one with people like Frank Stabala it sort of could get to you, you know. But look at the end of that I ended up selling that club. But there were great times had there. It was just terrific. And then after that, what did I do? I went to Brazil and ended up spending a bit of time in Brazil. I love Brazil. When I flew in, driving into town from the airport, I just felt like I was at home. You know just the vibe of the place. Yeah, I had long hair then and if I didn't open my mouth, people took me for a Brazilian.
Speaker 1:Did I read somewhere that you had an infamous friend in?
Speaker 2:Brazil. Well, you know, I was infamous, and so was he.
Speaker 1:Train robber Ronald Biggs.
Speaker 2:We ended up buying a house together on an island just south of Rio. Yeah, no, we were great friends. I really enjoyed his company. We got on really well. Yeah, we did some great things together. He was still on this thing called conditional liberty, because that's the way he could stay in Brazil. He had conditional liberty as long as he didn't do any bad things and he had to sign in to the federal police twice a week. So what we would do is we'd sort of drive down we owned our own little boat it was a speedboat We'd go out to the island and we'd spend a couple of days out there, you know, renovating and drinking and doing whatever we did, and then drive back up into town. It was just a great time. I was having a great time there. But the thing is, my younger daughter was starting to grow up a little bit and I really had to come back to Australia and look after her. So that's what ended up happening.
Speaker 1:Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. Wow, choices, choices, choices. How do you pick which Skyhook songs to play? How about, hey, what's the matter? From living in the 70s, 1974, back to speak to bongo? After this, you found yourself back in australia. What was the catalyst in 2015 for you to start up the Bob Bongo Starkey Skyhook show and start performing live?
Speaker 2:again when Cheryl died. Look, I hadn't really been playing guitar for some years because it's a bit of a mugs game. It's one of those things you've got to go. That was then, and now I've got to concentrate on the future and what have you. But when Shield does you know it just hit me. I said you know what I actually love playing guitar, you know. So I started playing again and I decided I'd never learnt how to play guitar. It was all just I just sort of picked it up and made it up.
Speaker 2:But it was a really good experience with Skyhawks because we had something to work on. Greg McCains would present these songs and then Red and I would work out parts and what have you? And we created, you know, our own sort of sound. It was just really good. It was a creative outlet for me and I'm quite a creative person. So it was just like a dream come true, really, person you. So it was just like a dream come true really. But when I, when it came down to the business of it, you realize you're surrounded by roadies and you know tour managers and you name it, it's sort of like it gets to be. Sometimes it gets to be not that much fun, you know, and also you're married to five other people, you know. So we sort of struggle with that a bit and anyhow, the water always finds its own course and the things come to an end. You know, the bass player fucks a drummer's girlfriend and of course you know it's all over. It's sort of a very insecure thing, you know yeah rock and roll.
Speaker 2:You know I always, you know, extreme individual I, you know I left home at 17. I finished school, you know, living out on my own. You know I've always been a one-man show and and so it was good getting out of that and doing my own thing. And then I started making a bit of money and then, when Cheryl died, I thought, you know what, I'm going to learn to play guitar. And I decided to learn to play Chuck Berry because I thought if it's good enough to Keith Richards, it's good enough to George Harrison. That's where I'm going to go. So that's what I did and I started a little rock and roll band and started playing Chuck Berry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as time went on, that was just a lot of fun. I'd play once a month, it was enough, you know I was getting my hand in. And then had the Skywars thing started. Oh yeah, what happened was Greg McCaich asked me to come and play with him at a uh, it was at a suburban festival, playing our suburban songs, and that was ball and calling turret, cowboy and carton, like on street limbo, yeah, and so that I actually sang and I'm not a very good singer, you know, but anyhow we got away with it and went down, well, and then greg was asked to do it again the next year and I'm like, oh no, no, greg, let's just leave that we did. Well, you know, it's like let's just leave it at that. You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast with Cheryl.
Speaker 1:Lee. Yes, well, if it's good enough for the Beatles and the Stones, it's good enough for Skyhooks. Here's Johnny B Good by Chuck Berry. Back to speak to Bongo Starkey in just a minute. Go go, go, johnny, go, go, go, johnny, go Go. Of course Greg couldn't just leave it at that.
Speaker 2:Anyhow, I called back like I said look, you know, I want to do it. And I'd been out with my girlfriend one night. I'd seen this band called acd she, and it was, um, yeah, laura davidson, and I was knocked out. I thought, wow, she is hot, you know. She had a great stage presence and she looked really naughty, you know, and it was like it's like you know what, if we do this suburban, I'm going to find out if she wants to do it, you know. So that's what happened. So we got Laura to sing and she brought the house down. That's where it started. And then she came into my band, which was a rock and roll band, and it became sort of 50s, 60s and hooks, and then, of course, everyone wanted the hooks. So what ended up happening is I split the band, so I stuck to my chess records, rock and roll stuff, and the Skyhooks show sort of started with Laura, and that's where it began. Had Laura not come along, it would never have happened, because, let's face it, no one can sing like Shirley.
Speaker 1:That's right. I think you do need a female vocal to do Shirley.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not only is it just because of the range, it's also the sound, you know. Like he did kind of have a female voice. It's extraordinarily high and he could go up, you know, without going into falsetto, you know. And the other thing is, with the Skyhawks you've got to have a singer who's got stage presence, and Laura had that. She just loved stage, more than that, she loved audiences, loved audiences, you know. So she'd sort of get out there. And if you're playing in a band, that's what you want, you know. You can stand there like a style bottle and play your guitar parts and what have you?
Speaker 1:and you've got someone that's why they're called front men and women. So laura was with you for nearly a decade. Oh, I saw her with you for nearly a decade. Oh, I saw her with you a few times, I think, out at the Bridgeway and out at the motorbike place with the Angels one time. But the new news is Laura has moved on to some other individual pursuit and you've got a brand-new female lead and there's a fabulous Adelaide connection there. The wonderful Sasha from Mum's Favourite yeah and yeah.
Speaker 2:she's a little pocket rocket. She's got what it takes and, amazingly, she's only 21.
Speaker 1:I know right.
Speaker 2:Which is just unbelievable. I mean, she could be my granddaughter. You know, I think two years ago she didn't even know Skyhawks. It's just really fascinating. But I saw a video of her. I just thought, you know what? She's got the range and she's got this amazing. You know, she loves the stage. She's one of those, you know, girls that just eats the stage and she moves. She moves so well. I thought, oh, you know what, see, if she's interested, you know I'm thinking, oh, there's no way she's going to be interested in this, but anyhow, she was, and so I went.
Speaker 2:You know, I flew over to Adelaide and auditioned her, and the way we did the audition was look, it was just the two of us in a room and her singing along to the tracks, you know, and me playing along to the tracks as well. Three songs in, I've just gone. Oh yeah, it just sounded great and there's not many people who can hit those. You know, there's a few notes you've really got to nail, like in women uniform and in a song called Boogie, you know. So I mean, she just went bing.
Speaker 1:Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. Let's have a quick listen to Sasha out the front of Mum's Favourite, their. To Sasha out the front of Mum's Favourite, their single Wind in the Willows from last year. And then we're back to say goodbye to Bongo Starkey from Skyhooks.
Speaker 2:Oh, wind in the willow. Yeah, we love Sasha. Join the gang and we are going to be playing back in Adelaide October the 18th.
Speaker 1:Clovercrest, clovercrest. So you're on a little bit of a tour at the moment. You've got us next month and then you've got Victoria and New South Wales, all with your fabulous new singer, sasha, which we've seen a few times here out the front of Mum's Favourite, and you're so right, she definitely can hit those notes and she definitely has that stage presence, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:The other important thing is I flew over here to sort of play with the guys we were originally going to do. Our first gig was going to be up at Mount Hotham's, you know, doing a gig up the snow, but that didn't happen because they closed the mountain because of, you know, the lack of snow and the season. The snow season just stuck down in Victoria and she came over and we spent a whole day with the band and they just loved her and she's just a natural fit. So that's the other most important thing. You know we just got a great band. You've seen us and you just know we're a band that gets on and we just have fun. She fitted right in. All the guys were really, really, really impressed and they just love her. Yeah, it's a whole different energy, but it's a band energy, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great. Well, we are so looking forward to seeing you here in Adelaide. Get onto the Googlometer, Adelaideans. Don't leave it to the last minute to get your tickets, like you sometimes can Get on there. Don't miss out, because it probably will sell out, and we just love hearing all those old songs. Do you have a favourite song that you like to play, bob, or is it like too hard to pick?
Speaker 2:You know I've got to tell you I love playing Red's tunes because they really are different and he's so clever, that guy. Yeah, and funnily enough it's a track called Every Chase a Steeple, which is sort of a negative tune. I really love it. And I asked Sasha what her favourite tunes were and she said I think Revolution and Every Chase a Steeple. And I thought wow.
Speaker 1:Meant to be a match made in heaven. Yeah, we've got an awful delay, haven't we? I was just going to say it sounds like it's meant to be and it's a match made in heaven. So I just wanted to thank you so much for your generosity today with your time, and we look forward to seeing you at the Clovercrest. We'll see you down the front. I'll give you a wave. Okay, look forward to seeing you at the Clovercrest.
Speaker 2:We'll see you down the front. I'll give you a wave. Okay, see you, cheryl.
Speaker 1:Thanks very much, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:You are listening to Still Rocking it. The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1:Okay, here it is. We're going to go out with Every Chase. A Steeple from the Ego Is Not a Dirty Word album back in 1975. You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.