Reminiscing with Glenn Shorrock

Glenn Shorrock’s name can be associated with every era of modern Australian music, and now, after 60 years in the business, he is fronting a special show at the State Theatre to celebrate.

It’s A Long Way There will see Shorrock joined by long-time friends and frequent musical partners Brian Cadd, Wendy Matthews and a six-piece band to present a show of around 30 songs taken from the highpoint of his career with The Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and his extensive solo career.

Expect to hear “Needle in a Haystack” and “What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?” from The Twilights, “Arkansas Grass” and “Little Ray of Sunshine” from Axiom, “Long Way There” and “Reminiscing” from Little River Band plus a couple of Beatles’ treats.

Reflecting on his sixty years in the business, Shorrock said: “I’ve learned how to be a young performer and I’ve learned how to be an International artist, and now I’m looking at the golden years, which in AFL parlance is the last quarter.

“And I am still enjoying singing.”

Known for his distinctive vocals, Shorrock also possesses a strong ability to use his harmony skills to collaborate and blend with fellow singers.

“I definitely like singing harmonies,” Shorrock said. “I found that out early on when I listened to the Everly Brothers when the whole rock’n’roll thing happened, and when I bought their records, I would sing the third part to their two parts.”

As a replanted UK immigrant to the new town of Elizabeth, north of Adelaide, Shorrock first came to national attention with his band, The Twilights. They quickly adapted to the new sounds of the British Invasion, eventually winning a 1966 national contest with a first prize of a slow boat trip to England.

This gave Shorrock his first experience of a wider stage and a belief in what could be.

Eventually broken by the English music scene, the band returned to Australia, breaking up in Melbourne in 1969.

“We lived in the South Yarra area and there was a disco there called Pinocchio’s and I met Brian Cadd, who was in the Groop, who also had broken up,” Shorrock said.

“One night we were at Ian Meldrum’s house and Brian was there and he suggested that we form a band, and the idea of Axiom was formed.”

Billed as something of a super group at the time, Axiom’s sophisticated country rock sound benefitted from the vocal blending of Shorrock and Cadd, along with their songwriting skills.

Songs such as “Arkansas Grass” and “Little Ray of Sunshine” encouraged the band to also try their luck in the UK, but even with a recording contract, it was not to be, and eventually the members found their way back to Australia.

With Beeb Birtles and Graeham Goble at the core, Shorrock would then move on to form Little River Band.

“We had made music in Melbourne as a home-grown product with music written by myself, Birtles and Goble, and with Glenn Wheatley’s help, we sold it to the world,” Shorrock said.

Little River Band belongs in that small pantheon of Australian acts who can claim to have achieved international success on a scale, and their long list of hit songs still resonate today.

“We got to the top of the charts in America and that was amazing and we had around ten top 20s in a row and that was a big deal,” Shorrock said.

“I was there, I was right in the very front of the stage looking out at over 85,000 people at the Dallas Cotton Bowl in Texas, and it was an amazing high.

“I am very proud of taking Australian music to the world.”

Shorrock has had a long association with Wendy Matthews, who is also finding that Australian audiences adore her as much as the many musicians she has worked with.

“I have known Wendy for a long time, since meeting her in Los Angeles in the late seventies, and I ended up getting her to sing backing vocals for my solo album, Villain Of The Peace,” Shorrock said.

This will not be Glenn Shorrock’s first appearance at the State, having done a six-week stint as Che Guevara in the stage production of Evita, and many other multi-billed shows, but it will certainly be one of the most memorable for him.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Glenn Shorrock said.

December 9