The Aussie Music Blog: The Wild Cherries..That's Life

The Wild Cherries started out in late 1964 playing R'n'B and became "the most relentlessly experimental psychedelic band on the Melbourne discotheque / dance scene" according to commentator, Glenn A. Baker. In 1964, Melbourne University's Architecture students, John Bastow on vocals, Rob Lovett on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Les Gilbert on bass guitar, formed The Wild Cherries. The Wild Cherries were named by word association: Chuck Berry – Buck Cherry – Black Cherries – Wild Cherries. Local blues man Malcolm McGee on lead guitar and vocals, and Geoff Hales on drums soon joined. Their debut performance was at Melbourne's first discothèque, the Fat Black Pussycat, located in South Yarra (Melbourne).Drummer Kevin Murphy, who had been playing in a modern jazz trio, replaced Hales almost immediately.

The band had several personnel changes, the 1967 line-up featured Keith Barber on drums, Peter Eddey on bass guitar, founder Les Gilbert on keyboards, Lobby Loyde (ex-The Purple Hearts) on guitars, and Dan Robinson on vocals. The band released four singles for Festival Records, including "Krome Plated Yabby" in June 1967 and "That's Life" in November, which peaked into the Go-Set National Top 40. Loyde went on to join Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, then formed Lobby Loyde & the Coloured Balls and also had a solo career.

Loyde resurrected the name in 1971 as a three-piece hard rock outfit with Johnny Dick on drums and Teddy Toi on bass guitar (both ex-Max Merritt & the Meteors, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Fanny Adams). The new line-up of The Wild Cherries issued one single on the Havoc label, "I am the Sea (Stop Killing Me)" in November 1971. Raven Records included "I am the Sea (Stop Killing Me)" on the compilation Golden Miles: Australian Progressive Rock 1969–1974 released in 1994. The band appeared at the inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival in January 1972, but disbanded a month later.

The Wild Cherries: That's Life was released in 2007 by Half A Cow Records.