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In April 1971, Zoot decided to split up due to the failure of getting a release for our popular single, "Eleanor Rigby" overseas. Rick Springfield launched his solo career and Darryl Cotton and I were approached by an advertising agency to form yet another band which they wanted to call "Deep Frieze". One of the advertising agency's accounts was Frieze Brothers Suits, located in Melbourne. I remember sitting down with Darryl in the offices of the Australian Management and Booking Agency (AMBO) and hearing these guys pitch their idea to us. Their bright idea was that they wanted every guy in the band to be named after a type of cloth material! So obviously Darryl Cotton was fine with his name but the suggestions for the other members were Terry Lean and his brother "Crimp" (as in terylene and crimplene). So we're sitting there thinking, hang on, we've just come out of "Think Pink - Think Zoot" and these guys are wanting us to do this all over again? We promptly told them that for us to pursue this kind of idea, we would get us laughed out of the music business. Instead we talked them into doing a duo using just Darryl and myself and calling ourselves simply, "Frieze". With the financial support they gave us we bought a station wagon, a sound system and a tape recorder to use for our pre-recorded backings and, of course, we were fitted for a wardrobe full of Frieze suits, free of charge! We performed mostly behind catwalks in shopping malls across Australia, while male models would strut their stuff wearing the latest Frieze suits.
We played the popular music of the day, songs by Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, and an Everly Brothers medley. I not only felt very uncomfortable wearing the Frieze suits but I really didn't enjoy being part of a duo. I missed the interaction of playing with other musicians and the excitement of being part of a band -- that was my passion. Frieze only lasted a year during which I grew more and more unhappy with what I was doing. Eventually I told Darryl and our manager, Jeff Joseph, that I wouldn't be continuing doing the Frieze thing. My year as one half of Frieze lasted from June 1971 to June 1972. There was an incredibly kind woman working at AMBO who offered me the job of answering phones there for $50 a week. Jean Gair was a lifesaver at that time because I still had to live and pay rent. It was there at the Australian Management and Booking Organization that I answered the phone one day and a voice asked, "yes, I was wondering if you could help me, I'm trying to get in touch with Beeb Birtles?". The voice belonged to Graeham Goble. |
