A Question Of Drums: The Bill Flemming Story - Part 2
- graemebrown101
- May 5
- 20 min read
After the Rolling Stones tour Bill returned to the pub in Manly playing with the Questions. All the members in the Questions were competent musicians, so as well as performing live they were in demand for session work with various record producers in Sydney. They did quite a bit of session work with Sunshine producer Pat Aulton. Bill has a high regard for Aulton’s ability as a record producer,
“He was a very focussed and able producer. He knew how to get the best out of you in the required time.”
The Questions recorded the single March Of The Mods/What Did The Seagull Say as the Aulton Mob which was released on the Kommotion label in May 1966. As well as the single the ‘March Of The Mods’ EP (shared with the Blue Jays) was released on Sunshine in July 1967. A second Aulton Mob single, Theme From This Day Tonight/Groovy Gravel March and an EP of the same name was released on Festival.
During 1966, Bill did a session at Festival records for Johnny O’Keefe that resulted in two tracks featuring brass and backing singers, The Sun’s Gonna Shine Tomorrow and Mansion Over the Hilltop that charted at No.38. During this time JOK was regularly touring with a good group of musicians, now that he had parted ways with the Dee-Jays. The band used to have almost three months off a year and well before mobile phones, their first gig after a three-month layoff was at Wingham, a town in the Mid North Coast of NSW, 329 km north of Sydney. No one could get in touch with the drummer so O’Keefe rang Bill and asked if he could pick him up and take him to Wingham in case the drummer didn’t show up. Bill recalls,
“Driving with JOK was unsettling after the horrific accident that he had (27 June 1960 - 64 stitches in his head and 26 in his hands) and I was quite nervous as JOK explained the complete show in minute detail whilst driving on the M1. As it turned out, the drummer turned up at the last minute (hooray), I got paid and got a lift back to Sydney with a punter who was going that way.”
Festival producer Joe Halford asked the Questions to record an LP. The instrumental album was done in the style of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass whose records were big sellers at the time. The album, ‘What Is A Question’ did not receive many favourable reviews although Geoff Jermy in his ARID book remarked that “the album had a few good points, mainly Green’s guitar work and the choice of some of the material.” The album is highly sought after these days. Bill made these comments about the album’s recording,
“Rocky Thomas and Rory shared the trumpet duties. Joe Halford was the producer, but it was produced by us really. We put the tracks down really quickly.”
The album’s liner notes mentions that, “Under the very heavy baton Bill Flemming, the group’s leader percussionist and all round good-egg they were very excited about cutting their own LP. Bill has been in the business nearly six years … He is responsible for the drumming noises and several other kinds of percussive sounds on these tracks.”
A single, Wheels/Karelia was lifted from the album in October 1966 and the album was released on Festival in November.
In early December 1966 the Questions played on two tracks for ex-Aztec Tony Barber for his single, Lookin’ For A Better Day/I Don’t Want To Be Like That. The session was recorded at the St Clair studio in Hurstville and was produced by Nat Kipner. Tony Barber wrote in his Everybody’s column that because of some suggestive lyrics, Lookin’ For A Better Day had to be re-recorded. The bowdlerized version had the benefit of backing voices by Miss Cheri Gardiner and Miss June Fahey (Everybody’s, December 14th, 1966)
Things were moving along nicely for the Questions. The crowds at the Canopus Room were growing and the place was always packed for the Wednesday night Talent Quest. The fortunes of the band were about to change, however, when a young singer, Doug Parkinson showed up to take part in the talent quest. Bill recalls,
“Because I played the drums, the guitar player and keyboard player were always the people involved in getting the right key for talent quest entrants to be able to sing their song. So, I just used to go off and drink and then we just had to list what they were gonna do. So, I had nothing to do until I had to compere. So, I introduced Doug Parkinson and they gave him a chord, so he could pitch the opening words of ‘Sunny’, the Bobby Hebb song. I did the drum roll and I heard this voice go, “ ‘Sonny, yesterday my life was filled with rain…’ and I thought, Oh my God, this guy.“
Doug Parkinson did not win the talent quest that night, but his powerful voice certainly won over all the members of the band. The Questions were keen to have Parkinson join the band, but the hotel management was not keen to pay for an extra group member. Bill recalls,
“When Doug Parkinson sang ‘Sonny’ and we were desperate for him to join the band, the management of the Manly Pacific showed no interest in paying for a five-piece band despite our pleading and assurances that it would increase crowds. At that time the great producer Bruce Brown was working on a recording studio in Brookvale and Duncan McGuire (the bass player in the Questions), was often helping Bruce with the studio. We were so focused on getting Doug into the band that he actually joined the Questions playing bass and singing and we stayed a four-piece band for some time whilst Duncan went to hone his production skills with Bruce Brown for a few months.”
Eventually, the hotel management could see the takings increasing and finally gave the Questions a budget to afford a five-piece group. Duncan rejoined the band and Doug was able to put all his considerable energy into singing and things really started to take off for the group.
The Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds was an annual band contest that the Questions wanted to be part of in 1967. But unfortunately, they missed the deadline for entry into the Sydney heats. Bill rang Ron Hurst the program manager for 2UE and said, “Mate, is there anything you can do for us?” Ron replied, “I’ve rang around NSW and Tamworth hasn’t closed their entries yet, you can get in theirs.” So, the Questions travelled 400 km north of Sydney to Tamworth. They won the competition which made them NSW country champions. A local newspaper reported,
“A Sydney band the Questions won Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds held in Tamworth Town Hall on Wednesday night. An estimated 1000 people watched the nine groups from Tamworth, Quirindi, Sydney and Gunnedah compete. Judge, Mr Bob Cooper of EMI Records said the winner were a very professional group and he expected they would do well in the grand final.”
The Questions then had to travel all the way to Toowoomba to compete in the Queensland Country Finals. The locals were horrified that they would be competing against a top-class Sydney band. The Questions won in Toowoomba and qualified as Queensland Country Champions to compete in the National Finals to be held in Melbourne on July 16th. Bill comments, “This meant that with no profile at all in Melbourne plus arriving as Queensland Country Champions you could hear the crickets chirping as we took to the stage.” The Ronnie Charles led Groop, won the competition and the Questions finished a creditable second.
But the Questions’ performance made a big impression. Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum wrote in Go-Set, “When he (Parkinson) started to sing ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s World’ I couldn’t believe the guy was true. He bought Melbourne Festival Hall to a standstill.” Melbourne promoter Michael Browning was also in the audience and was so impressed that he contacted the group after the competition and arranged for them to make a return visit and perform at the Thumping Tum, Sebastians, Berties, and other Melbourne venues. One thing Bill noticed when the Questions played in Melbourne was that a lot of musicians who were in well-known bands came to watch them play. The second-place prize included $500, a TV contract and a Sitmar cruise.
Following their Battle of the Sounds success Festival were keen for the group to issue a single. They went into Bruce Brown’s studio in Brookvale and recorded four tracks. The first single issued from these sessions, Sally Go Round The Roses/Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) was a sizable hit in Sydney reaching No.4 in July 1967. It was followed by the Doug Parkinson penned And Things Unsaid, which did not chart. Although the song was not successful when released, today it is considered a psychedelic classic,
“The Doug Parkinson-penned ‘And Things Unsaid’ is a classy piece of work. It goes without saying that the vocal performance is first-rate – Parkinson is one of those ‘could sing the phone book and it’d be worth hearing singers – and the Questions contained some of the best musicians in the country. Billy Green coats this track with a caramel-smooth Indian-influenced fuzz guitar line, while veteran session drummer Bill Flemming (who had the good sense to add a nice smidgin of phasing on his skins in certain sections of the song) and bassist Duncan McGuire combine to lay a solid bedrock.” (Iain McIntyre – Tomorrow Is Today 2006).
A third single, Something Wonderful/We Got Love issued in February 1968 also failed to chart. Despite the failure of their last two singles, things seemed to be travelling along nicely for the Questions. But when Bill discovered Billy Green and Duncan McGuire had been experimenting with drugs, he read the riot act to them. As a result, Green and McGuire left the band and were replaced by guitarist Ray Burton and bass player Les Young.
During the ‘60s/early ‘70s Bill did quite a lot of work playing on advertising jingles. Jimmy Sloggett returned from New Zealand and worked for the Mojo advertising agency. Among the ads Bill played on include, the Meadow Lea ad, You Ought To Be Congratulated and the popular Tooheys jingle, I Feel Like A Tooheys, which is still being played to this day.
In January 1968 the Questions were included on the Who/Small Faces tour of Australia. Also on the tour was Paul Jones ex-lead singer of Manfred Mann. The tour organiser was Ken Brodziak who rang Bill before the tour with some interesting information about the Who’s contract. Brodziak said, “Look I’ve got this contract from the Who and we can have smashing or non-smashing. And it’s the same price, what do you reckon? I said, “Well it’s Australia, take the smashing.” I don’t think the Who’s live performances would have been the same without the smashing, but Townsend’s stage antics did cause some anxious moments during the tour.
At one show Townsend brought the guitar firmly onto his hip during their version of Shakin’ All Over which broke the neck away from its body, then he grabbed one of the Small Faces’ guitars that were still on the stage giving David Brown the Small Faces manager a heart attack as it was Steve Marriott’s Gibson. Bill and David retrieved the pieces of the broken Fender guitar and took them backstage to carry out some quick repairs. In his memoir Doug Parkinson recalled,
“The unfortunate thing was that Flemming and Brown applied too much torque to the screws on the back plate and when it came time to bounce the guitar off the floor and smash it into the drum kit, it would not break. This guitar which was broken and put back together time and time again for the next show, absolutely refused to break. Townsend completely lost his block and really did smash it. Into 6 or 7 pieces. He threw it into the audience in disgust.”
When the tour arrived in Adelaide, as had happened for the Stones tour two years previously, they were met by a large contingent of Mods on motors scooters. This time there was a much larger group of motor cyclists. Bill recalls,
“Adelaide had a particularly large population of English and particularly Mod young people living there. We were on the bus travelling from the airport and I recall we were encircled by about 40 motor scooters on the way into town. The Mods of the era. We didn’t see that anywhere else in Australia except in Adelaide and it really was a trip because they were really enthusiastic about the Who and for that matter the Small Faces. It is also worth mentioning the huge Martin amps used by the Small Faces. They sat them in a stack, so across the stage there were a string of amplifiers in two tiers that dwarfed the members of the group. From the audience, it was a very impressive sight to see these dynamic performers in front of this wall of sound performing their great songs.”
The show that night at Adelaide’s Centennial Hall was a truly memorable event. Doug Parkinson recalled that, “we played to a capacity audience that had literally gone berserk. This was due in part to the strong migrant population who had settled in Adelaide. The show set a new level of power, volume and style not seen before in Australia.”
The show was the last leg of the tour before moving onto New Zealand. Despite problems with the revolving stage at Sydney Stadium and some bad press in Sydney, the tour had been without incident and the touring musicians had been well behaved. But this was about to change the next day on the flight from Adelaide to Melbourne.
Doug Parkinson managed to bring six bottles of beer onto the plane (there was no checking in those days) and some of the members of the tour party became lively and boisterous. When the female flight attendant brought the trolley to serve some refreshments and saw bottles of beer being waved around, she became agitated and refused to serve anyone. Bill recalls,
“When the air hostess came down the aisle she took the trolley past the entire entourage, past the Who and the Small Faces. Paul Jones and I were sitting together and the Who’s Road Manager (John ‘Wiggy’ Wolff), who was a fairly scary looking guy. He got up and started getting annoyed about not being given the chance to have some sort of refreshment. Then Doug started holding a bottle of beer in the air and it all got silly. The air hostess told the pilot.”
A few moments later the pilot returned and informed the tour party that when they landed, they would be arrested by Federal Police, and they would not be allowed to stay on the plane for the flight to Sydney. The problem was that the Brits were headed for New Zealand to complete the tour, and all the gear had to be sorted in Sydney Airport. Bill pleaded with the police and airport authorities to allow him to accompany the equipment to Sydney so he could sort out what gear was to remain in Sydney and what was to be sent to New Zealand.
So, Bill was allowed to stay on the flight and the rest of the band were held in Melbourne. The press had a field day with the story and as a result, the then Prime Minister John Gorton sent a telegram to Pete Townsend and the Who advising him that the band was not welcome to return to Australia. Following the tour, Bill played in a combo with Les Young and Chris Brown backing Thelma Houston on her Australian tour with Blood Sweat & Tears.
All was not well in the Questions camp. Sydney band manager Harry Widmar wanted to take over the management of Doug Parkinson’s career and planned to re-unite him with Billy Green and Duncan McGuire with a new drummer Doug Lavery. He also wanted to use the name the Questions. But Bill had registered the name and the matter went to court. The result of the court case was that neither one of the parties could use the name. Widmar’s band became Doug Parkinson’s In Focus.
Bill went back to the Manly Pacific Hotel and formed a new band called Dynasty which he describes as “a wonderful enterprise and a wonderful moment.” The band consisted of Ray Burton (guitar), Les Young (bass), Wally Scott (rhythm guitar ex-Ray Columbus & the Invaders), Bill Flemming (drums) and American multi-instrumentalist John Phillips. Phillips was such a good musician he was also doing a late show with Bobby Darin at the Chevron Hotel. When Darin’s season at the Chevron finished, he asked Phillips to return to the States with him. When Phillips left it really took the heart out of Dynasty.
In the latter part of 1967 Bill was asked to lead and be part of a 7-piece band called Inner Souls that travelled to Bangkok to open the An An Room in the Montien Hotel. It was a big deal at the time as they were the first white band to play in Bangkok for any length of time. The band consisted of Geoff Oakes (saxophone, vocals), George Andronico (keyboards), Marilyn Andronico (vocals), Les Young (bass), Bill Flemming (drums, vocals), Wally Scott (guitar) and Bill Vayda (congas). Upon arrival it was realised that Vayda was not needed, and he returned to Australia. Bill recalls,
“We went to Bangkok, and we were there for the better part of a year. I would put that down as the hardest job of my life because suddenly we were playing seven nights a week from 8 pm until 1.30 am and we discovered that you could not play an ending to a song. I know that sounds weird but at the time in Thailand and most of Asia, if you played an ending chord, people thought it was the end of the night and would leave. So, what we did was to vary the tempo from one song to the next, and we just kept playing the whole time. For a drummer it’s a nightmare. I used to play from 8 pm until midnight without a break, have 10 minutes off then come back at 10 past 12. When I went off, the organ player played bass on the organ and Les played the drums. Someone else would play some other instrument and it was just a nightmare. Then by at about 20 to 1 we’d end up with the band back in place again and play until half past 1 and then finish. It was murder on a stick, it was awful. But having said that, it was good fun.”
At the conclusion of the Bangkok gig all the band members went their separate ways. Bill along with George and Marilyn Andronico and another bass player immediately got a job for the entire snow season at Smiggin Holes ski resort in NSW. Upon returning to Sydney Bill was doing gigs with various bands and one night played with a pickup band at the Royal Hotel in Bondi. Just as he was leaving, he received a phone call from Denis Wong who ran Chequers Nightclub.
Chequers was Sydney’s classiest nightclub during the ‘60s and ‘70s. The owners Denis and Keith Wong paid exorbitant fees to attain the world’s best overseas entertainers of the era. The headlining act at the time were the Three Degrees. Their manager and musical director Richard Barrett had had a severe falling out with the drummer in the Chequers Orchestra. The situation had deteriorated to the extent that they refused to be on stage together. Bill was more than happy to play the show and continued for the rest of the Three Degrees three-week season. He then backed them for two more shows and got on so well with them that the group wanted him to return to America as a permanent member of their backing band. But unfortunately, he was unable to obtain a Green Card, so Bill continued on at Chequers. He recalls,
“The act that followed the Three Degrees was the Four Lads and that was something of a reprieve for me as it gave me a chance to do some woodshedding and catch my breath. Lesley Gore came in next, again with beautiful music charts and a very nice person. Then, George Chakiris who was the leader of the Puerto Rican gang the Sharks in the movie ‘West Side Story’. Good singer, with three lovely female dancers and music charts by the legendary American arranger Billy Byers. Boy, did this give me a challenge. Memory says the drum chart for his opening number was ten pages long – unusual for drums to say the least.”
In the ‘70s the Hollies did a residency at Chequers, and this is when Bill recalls that things dramatically changed at the venue. John Harrigan (well known around Sydney as Surf City owner and Aztecs manager) took over the running of Chequers. Bill recalls that the nightly entertainment at the venue was totally full-on,
“The set-up was that a trio from the big band played a 15-minute set prior to the early show and the ballet, support and star act did the early show. Then the In People took to the stage and played for the time between the early and late shows in a way of keeping the crowd entertained and engaged. They dressed well, had a great repertoire and with Ron Barry, Janice Slater and Tony Gaha out front, it was all go.”
During the ‘60s the In People were the hottest and most in demand group in Sydney. Drummer Tony Gaha formed the band in late 1965 and they were the opening act at Sydney’s newest discotheque Romano’s Au Go Go. The original line-up included Peter Martin on guitar, Tony Curby on Hammond organ and piano, John Blake on bass and Janice Slater and Ron Barry on vocals. About 2 weeks after they opened at Romano’s in November 1965, Tony’s brother Neville (better known as Little Sammy) joined and took the group to a whole new level. Janice Slater describes Little Sammy as a ‘fabulous front man and like no-one I‘ve worked with, knew how to work the room and have an audience in the palm of his hand.” When Whiskey Au Go Go opened in late 1966 the In People were booked to play the first shows there. In the summer of 1968/69, the In People secured a 3-month residency at Chequers.
Tragedy struck the In People in December 1969 when their drummer Brian Payne died suddenly. Bill took off his diner jacket and bow tie and donned the white coat that the In People wore and sat in on drums with them. Bill ended up doing the two shows as a member of the big band, playing for the In People and when the drummer in the late-night trio left, doing that as well. When John Harrigan came in one night and noticed Bill playing in the three different bands, he understandably made a few changes. Bill recalls,
“The In People became the pre-show entertainment and the backbone of the orchestra plus being augmented as necessary for artists that required a large orchestra such as Shirley Bassey. With over 20 musicians on that very crowded stage, we did 48 shows with La Bassey who was wonderfully entertaining.”
Other international entertainers who came through Chequers at that time included Lou Rawls, the Four Tops, Phil Silvers, Trini Lopez, Billy Preston and Sammy Davis Junior.
In October 1970, the In People were engaged to fly to New Guinea to play at the Lae Ball with lovely vocalist Evie Pikler. They were also flown around the territory to do concerts at Mount Hagen, Wau, Goroka, Madang and Port Moresby. When the group returned to Sydney, they got a job at the Associated Motor Club in George Street Sydney. The line-up of the In People at this time consisted of Terry Kaff (vocals), Evie Pikler (vocals), Bill Flemming (drums), Robin Workman (keyboard), Chris Brown (guitar), Les Young (bass), Lee Hutching (saxophone) and Nevil Blanchet (trumpet). It was this line-up that recorded a song to promote the John & Merrivale clothing store in Sydney. Mister John was produced by Sven Libaek and was issued on the Jam label. It’s a shame that this is the only recorded output of this talented band. Bill made these comments about the In People,
“This was a red-hot band and at the right time, as we could all read music really well. Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago were in the charts and the club which operated 7 nights a week was buzzing. Tony Gaha left the group, and I took over. We were there for the next couple of years, it was a golden time. We had some personnel changes, but the group remained very high quality and we enjoyed our time there very much. A bonus was that Ricky May was compere for close to a year which was inspiring as he was a force of nature.”
New Zealand born (1943) Ricky May, came to Australia in the 1960s and had a very successful career in cabaret, recording, TV shows and live appearances. Bill had also worked with May when he was the resident compère at the Manly Pacific Hotel in 1965/1966. Bill has the highest regard for Ricky May’s ability as an entertainer,
“In my view, no recordings or TV appearances can fully portray his absolute musicality and spontaneity. Firstly, he could sing anything and was breathtaking when he improvised. It is easy for me to call him the most exciting artist I have ever been lucky enough to work with over a considerable time. He would often start a song and then go on a musical journey that not only went through many musical genres, but often branched off into current songs, musical comedy, jazz improvisation, comedy and back (sometimes) to the song that started it all. For a band it was a huge challenge but also exhilarating for all members as it was a case of ‘keep up if you can’.”
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In October 1973, Bill was on a barge at Lady Macquarie’s Chair backing Renee Geyer for the opening of the Sydney Opera House. Also, in 1973 Bill started working for the band on the Mike Walsh Show then moved on with Geoff Harvey to the Midday Show with Ray Martin. Bill recalls,
“The wonderful thing that Geoff did was to have three bands, A, B and C. These bands did one week each so that gave about 20 plus musicians a basic wage if you like. We got enough to get us through pretty well the year because every three weeks we did a television program for a week. I think it was one of the most adventurous and collaborative things to do.”
Geoff Harvey also asked Bill to be part of a band to back Don Lane for his cabaret shows. The band backing the American entertainer included a 7-piece group with three girl back-up singers. This lasted to 1978. Bill also did some casual work with Winifred Atwell in the ‘70s. After that time, he played for many years at a variety of clubs on the central coast of NSW with Jack Grimsley and Stafford (Ford) Raye (ex-Daly Wilson Big Band) as a trio. In 1971 Bill started working for Warner Bros. Music as the Senior Copyright Officer and progressed to be the Managing Director in 1974 and was with WB Music until 1981.
In 1983 Bill took a ‘gap’ year and returned to playing music on resorts on Dunk and Brampton Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. He returned to Sydney after 12 months and landed a position at the ABC where he worked for the next 20 years. In the early 2000s he moved to the Southern Highlands of NSW to the small township of Bunadoo and during this time he played in a band called Shades Of Silver. In 2013 Bill and his family moved to the Port Macquarie area on the NSW Mid North Coast and it was around this time that he sold his beloved Pearl drum kit which must have been hard for him to part with.
For the past 18 years Bill has attended regular get togethers of ARROWS (Australian Rock’n’Roll Original Wankers Society). ARROWS is an association of musicians and entertainers going back to the early days of Australian rock’n’roll. Bill talks about this group with great affection as it has given him the opportunity to reconnect with people like Booka Hyland, Barry Stanton and Digger Revell. Bill is highly respected by his fellow musicians who often phone him to help them recall memories from the past.
Bill Flemming had an outstanding career as a musician during a time when there was so much going on in the Australian music scene. Bill says that there has been a lot of sliding doors moments in his life which he was able to take full advantage of and build a career with many highlights. It has been an absolute pleasure talking to Bill, being able to remember events going back as far as 60 years is truly an amazing gift.
Discography:
With Dale Wayne & the Wanderers
Juke Box Hop/I’m Lonely Now Lee Gordon LS-587 1960
With the Chessmen
Way Up Thar/Just Because HMV EA4400 1960
The Stoogie/Hot Spell HMV EA4401 1960
With Jimmy Sloggett Five
Temptation/It’s Gonna Work Out Fine Zodiac Z45/1152 1964
With the Aulton Mob
March Of The Mods/What Did The Seagull Say
Kommotion KK-13580 5/66
March Of The Mods EP , Sunshine QX 11265 07/67
Theme From This Day Tonight/Groovy Gravel March
Festival FK-1964 09/67
Theme From This Day Tonight EP Festival FX 11,415 1967
With the Questions
Wheels/Karelia Festival FK-1493 10/66
What Is A Question LP Festival SFL 932169 1966 Sally Go Round The Roses/Hey Gyp(Dig The Slowness)
Festival FK-1862 07/67
And Things Unsaid/I Can’t Hear You Festival FK-2026 10/67
Something Wonderful/We Got Love Festival FK-2165 02/68
Sally Go Round The Roses EP Festival FX 11381 1967
Something Wonderful EP Festival FX 11477 1968
With Terry Kaff & the In People
Merrivale/Mister John Jam MX 16436 1970
Sources:
Bill Casey – Spin Dried, Moonlight Publications, 2007
Bill Flemming – interviews & information via email, August - March, 2024
Ian McIntyre - Tomorrow Is Today, Wakefield Press, 2006
Sonicarchaeology.com – Stepping Out With The In People
Chris Spencer – Australian Rock Discography 1956 – 1969, Moonlight, 1998
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