Harry Young And The Aztecs

Harry Young & The Original Aztecs

NEWS

TOMMY EMMANUAL joins us on the new album as our special guest playing Acoustic Lead Guitar on the Tony Barber penned song "Blue Day" - Tommy recorded his parts at Beech Creek Studio, Franklin Nashville, Tennessee.

Thank You Tommy

BREAKING NEWS

PEE WEE WILSON, COL JOY, JIM KEAYS, LITTLE PATTI & RAY COLUMBUS will also feature in our NEW version of Billy's hit "Mash Potato" with the new title "Remember Mash Potato". Prime Minister Julia Gillard declined the offer to sing along with us.

Cassandra Tobin - Northern Star (March 2011)

THE AZTECS ROCK INTO KYOGLE

LEGENDARY Australian rockers The Aztecs are heading into a Kyogle recording studio this weekend to lay down their first album in almost 40 years.
Best known for their stint with the late Billy Thorpe in the 1960s and ’70s, their last studio recording, More Arse Than Class, was released in 1974.
The band heads into Harry Young’s Pump Room Studio this weekend with Mr Young taking on lead vocals.
The album will include re-recordings of classics including Some-where Over The Rainbow, Poison Ivy, Blue Day, Don’t You Know and Twilight Time.
As well as the new versions the guys are also recording some fresh tracks, including the never-released Sunshine Friends written by Billy Thorpe and Tony Barber just before Thorpe died from a heart attack in 2007.
Col Baigent, John ‘Bluey’ Watson and Vince Maloney will join Mr Young in the studio, while Mr Barber will work with the guys from a studio in Melbourne.
“It’s very exciting to be back in the studio,” drummer Col Baigent said. “I can tell you the hole in the middle of our last record has healed up it has been that long.
“To have a voice like Harry Young on the album is an honour. He is one of the great singers of our time.”
Mr Baigent said the album was a tribute in the memory of Billy Thorpe and with a few days up their sleeves the guys all jumped at the chance to record again.
“There will be a few surprises too,” he said. “It’s not just a lesson in memory jogging. There are all-new versions, thanks to the help of Tony Barber, and new tracks.”
Mr Young had his own success in the ’70s with his group Harry Young and Sabbath, including their biggest hits San Bernadino (1970) and The Wheat In The Field (1971), before setting up the Pump Room Studio in Kyogle five years ago.
The studio specialises in backing tracks for theatre, but Mr Young said they were happy to be recording with a band again.
“We’re all old rock and rollers,” Mr Young said. “We’ve been friends for many years, so we’re very excited to have a crack at recording again.”
The last time Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs played together was on the national Long Way To The Top tour in 2002.
The band hopes to have the album out within three months. The single Sunshine Friends will be released next month on My Country, a compilation of Australian artists.

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ENCORE FOR AZTECS

RICHMOND RIVERS EXPRESS EXAMINER

One of the most respected bands in Australlia's history , The Aztecs, were in Kyogle during the weekend to complete the studio recording of a tribute album to their former lead singer Billy Thorpe.
Thorpe died after a sudden heart attack in 2007.
The band which has not been together since the All The Way To The Top concerts in 2002, had not been into a recording studio for nearly 40 years.
However, band members - drummer Col Baigent ,bass guitarist John "Bluey" Watson and lead guitarist Vince Melouney- settled in to Harry Youing's Pump Room studios in Kyogle as if they had been recording regularly.
Harry, who is performiong the vocals on the album, has worked with the band on many occasions.
Once the serious business of producing music began , the four showed just how good they were and why they were considered by many to be Rock and Roll Royalty.
The album features new arrangements of some of the groups old favourites , such as Poison Ivy, Sick and Tired, Mashed Potato and more.
New material includes Sunshine Friends, a song written by Billy Thorpe but never recorded, At The End Of The Rainbow , a beautiful melody written by Harry Young , while Vince Melouney's instrumental version of the bands classic Over The Rainbow is breathtakingly good.
Col Baigent indicated their delight at being able to record the album and to have Harry sing the vocals.
" We could have searched Australia and not found a better vocalist. Harry Young has a real feel for rock and roll and it is obvious in his vocals" he said.
It is exttremely rare for the band to get back together as they live far apart. Watson lives on the Gold Coast, Baigent on the Central Coast and Melouney on the NSW south coast.

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THE PUMP ROOM ROCKS WITH THE AZTECS

NORTHERN RIVERS TALKING TURKEY

by John Spackman

Harry Youngs’ Pump Room Studios in Kyogle rocked to the music of one of Australia most iconic rock and roll bands, The Aztecs who had come to Kyogle to record a tribute album to their former lead vocalist, Billy Thorpe, who passed away in 2007 from a sudden heart attack.
The band made up of Col Baigent on drums, John “Bluey” Watson on bass and Vince Melouney on guitar have not performed together since the hugely successful “A long way to the Top” tour in 2002.
Having discovered material that had been written by Billy Thorpe, but never recorded the band decided to get back together and record this song “Sunshine Friends” and other new material together with new versions of some of their hits of the 60’s and 70’s including Sick and Tired, Poison Ivy and Mashed Potato, all songs that topped the charts.
The band wanted Harry Young to perform the vocals on the album because, as Col Baigent says, “There is no better rock and roll vocalist in Australia, and the timbre of his voice is amazing”.
The band have not been together in a recording studio in nearly forty years but fell quickly back into the groove as though it was only yesterday.
A feature of the new album is Vince Melouney’s instrumental version of “Over the Rainbow”. This is a hauntingly beautiful rendition of this classic song and leaves the listener in awe.
Harry Young said, “That he was delighted to be asked to do the vocals on the album and that renewing his association with the group was bringing back many wonderful memories from when he performed with them in the seventies”.

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Sneak Preveiw of "Sunshine Friends" (Thorpe/Barber)