My earliest recollection of singing together was when we would meet at Tony de Vries' house at night after dinner. Tony was another Plympton High student who lived close to Glenelg Hostel. John would teach us our parts to sing, copying the style from listening very closely to Hollies records. He was a stickler for getting the vocals absolutely perfect. He attended Plympton High for only one year because his family moved to Christies Beach, another seaside suburb about 20 miles down the coast of Adelaide where many English migrant families had moved. His moving there was the beginning of my hitch hiking days every weekend until I was old enough to drive. Christies Beach became the place for me to hang out. Teddy Higgins, who became our drummer, lived in Port Noarlunga and Darryl Cotton, who became our lead singer a few years later, also lived in Christies Beach. It was not uncommon for me to crash at any one of their houses whenever I needed a place to sleep. For me it was rare to be home on weekends. We named our first band Times Unlimited and after a couple of years we felt we had practiced enough and were ready to play our very first gig in a Scout Hall somewhere on Marion Road. The bass player promptly quit after playing that first disastrous show. Up to that point I was the nominated lead singer as I didn't play an instrument. "What are we going to do now?" I asked John. He said, "You're going to have to learn to play bass and sing at the same time". "But I don't even have a bass guitar!" I said. "We'll build you one," said John. So with the help of my father who was a carpenter, we roughed out the body of a guitar made out of plywood. John built the neck, measured out the spaces between each fret, and hammered the frets in place. The cheap and nasty Goldentone pickup we slotted in place may have been his. Regardless, there it was, my home made bass guitar! This may all sound very amateurish and crude but because of my friendship with John, he laid the groundwork for what was to come as far as me becoming an ear trained musician. In fact the building of the bass guitar was the easy part! Now it was up to me to learn the bass parts to all of the songs we were performing as Times Unlimited. My ear training had begun, all because of John Darcy. He was the guy who piqued my interest in popular music, in particular with singing harmonies that he himself so loved. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the guitar player, the singer and the songwriter I am today. John kicked all of that off for me. We worked together through several formations of the same band. Times Unlimited became Down The Line when Darryl Cotton joined the lineup and shortly after we changed our name to Zoot. John was a founding member of Zoot along with Darryl Cotton, Ted Higgins and me. As I write this, I have nothing but the fondest memories for this guy who was there for a season in my life, certainly a very integral season. I remember that I could always make him laugh but the most precious memories are those of making music together in our very first bands. Years later, he came to visit me in Melbourne after I had experienced success with Zoot, Mississippi and Little River Band and told me that he should have followed his heart with music instead of his head with studying. But I don't think he made a mistake. John was too intelligent to risk his career on music alone. He continued his studies as Darryl Cotton and I took off for Melbourne with Zoot in search of fame and fortune. It makes me think about the seasons of which I speak. You never know how you're going to touch somebody's life even if you connect only for the shortest time. And as far as John Darcy is concerned, at the time we didn't give it much thought. We were young, we just went along with everything, and we pursued the things that brought us happiness—and along the way we became lads. Beeb Birtles |
popular greeting amongst friends in the early sixties was, "hello, lad," or, "g'day lad." John Darcy and I were "lads" who met at Plympton High School the year his family migrated to Australia from England. As my family did, they lived in a migrant hostel in Glenelg, a beach side suburb of Adelaide. Music was the common thread that drew us together and he was from Manchester, hometown of The Hollies, and brought with him the latest musical influences. John wasn't particularly the hippest looking cat in school because he wore glasses and kind of resembled Buddy Holly, but with his IQ he could have been a member of The Zombies, reputed to be the band with the highest IQ out of any of the English pop bands.