The Go-Betweens

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The Go-Betweens were one of the most influential Australian pop bands in independent music internationally . It was founded in Brisbane in 1977 by Robert Forster (guitar, vocals) and Grant McLennan (guitar, vocals). After McLennan's death in 2006, the band broke up. In 2016 Robert Forster published his memoirs under the title Grant & I with Penguin Books . The book tells the story of the Go-Betweens and was published by Heyne Verlag in 2017 under the title Grant & I in German translation .

The Go-Betweens 2005: Robert Forster and Grant McLennan (in the background)

music

The Go-Betweens combine pop music influenced by the aesthetics of punk and new wave with folk . Her texts are poetic considerations of everyday life and interpersonal relationships, which are often autobiographical or related to films and books. Forster, for example, admires the poet Paul Bowles and set a radio play to Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road (Unterwegs) for Bayerischer Rundfunk . The songs are attributed to the Forster / McLennan team of authors, with each of the two writing their own songs, which are treated equally on the albums and on stage.

biography

The beginning

Forster, then 20, met McLennan at the University of Queensland . They discovered a common interest in films, books, and American and British punk and new wave bands. Forster played the guitar fairly well and encouraged McLennan to learn to play the bass. They were soon joined by Lindy Morrison (drums). Amanda Brown (violin) and Robert Vickers (bass) later completed the band.

In interviews the musicians described the climate in Brisbane, which at that time had the reputation of the province in Australia, as politically right-conservative. Forster and McLennan were outsiders because they had different values. They also challenged the traditional concept of masculinity by associating gentleness, sensitivity, and emotionality with heterosexuality (see Straight-Queer Masculinities ). Forster maintains a dandy image to this day and plays with gender stereotypes . On a US tour in the late 1980s, he even wore a dress to a show, partly out of annoyance at his record company's lack of understanding of the band's concept. The audience, which consisted primarily of PR people , found that not very amusing.

In 1978 the Go-Betweens recorded the first single Lee Remick / Karen on the small Able label . After another single, the small British label Postcard Records became aware of her, which released her single I Need Two Heads . In 1981 her debut album Send Me a Lullaby was released on the Australian label Missing Link. They then got a contract with the renowned British independent label Rough Trade Records , which prompted the band to go to England. Since then they have frequently commuted between Europe, especially Great Britain, and their native Australia.

The 1980s - underground stars

Despite the quality and pop catchiness of their songs, which have been compared to the Smiths and REM , they were always the only potential contenders for a chart hit - commercial success failed to materialize. This was partly because the band had bad luck with their record label choices. The European branch of the Beserkley label , which offered them their first contract outside Australia, went bankrupt before they were signed and with it the master tapes of the first songs disappeared. Her first major label, Sire , considered the album Spring Hill Fair (1984) not to be released for the North American market. The European branch of Major Epic , for which the band produced their next album, disbanded during the recording. In Forster's assessment, other record companies they represented often lacked an interest in their music and an understanding of what the band wanted.

So the Go-Betweens remained critics favorites and over the years achieved cult status among the fans. The band toured frequently in Australia, North America and Europe. British radio DJ John Peel played their music on his shows and recorded several of his famous sessions with them. The band had small hits like Cattle and Cane (1983), The House That Jack Kerouac Built (1987) and Streets of Your Town (1988), but only the latter made it into the top 100. In retrospect, Karen, the B-side of her first single, became a minor cult hit. While fans consider the LPs Spring Hill Fair and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express (1986) to be their best releases, the album 16 Lovers Lane (1988) was their most successful. Nevertheless, Forster and McLennan dissolved the Go-Betweens in December 1989 without prior consultation with the other musicians. Vickers had left the band in 1987 and was replaced by John Willsteed. Lindy Morrison played a. a. live in Nikki Sudden's band , as he "likes to work with Australians".

The 1990s - solo paths

Forster, who lived with his current wife Karin Bäumler-Forster near Regensburg in Bavaria for several years from 1990 , and McLennan released solo albums, but remained on friendly terms. Their respective solo careers did not prove to be particularly successful. Again and again they played together, but not under the name Go-Betweens. It wasn't until 1997 that they went on tour together, after the French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles had named them “the best band of all time”. Their popularity in independent circles was increased by a re-release of their albums in 1996 on the Beggars Banquet label . Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown also released two EPs as Cleopatra Wong in the early 1990s . In the early 2000s, Morrison ran (unsuccessfully) for the Australian Democrats .

The 2000s - reunion and end

In 2000 Forster and McLennan officially reformed the band and started new recordings. Morrison and Brown were still upset about the circumstances of the dissolution and refused to work together again. Instead , the members of the band Sleater-Kinney jumped in on the comeback album The Friends of Rachel Worth, which was recorded in just 14 days in Portland, Oregon (USA) . It was released in Europe (except England) on the clearspot label, which no longer existed due to the bankruptcy of the EFA, and in the USA on the jet set label of their former bassist Robert Vickers, who now lives in New York. The last album Oceans Apart was released in Europe (except England) on tuition, a label of Schott Music & Media in Mainz that was initially founded for the new release of Go-Betweens. The idea of ​​the label name came from Grant McLennan. The last line-up for Go-Betweens (2005) consisted of Forster, McLennan, Adele Pickvance (bass) and Glenn Thompson (drums).

Grant McLennan was found dead in his Brisbane home on May 6, 2006, aged 48. He probably died of a heart attack. A few days later Robert Forster declared the band dissolved.

Discography

Non-album singles

  • Lee Remick / Karen (Able Label, 1978)
  • People Say / Don't Let Him Come Back (Able Label, 1979)
  • I Need Two Heads / Stop Before You Say It (Missing Link / Postcard, 1980)

Albums

  • Send Me a Lullaby (1981)
  • Before Hollywood (1983)
  • Spring Hill Fair (1984)
  • Metal And Shells (1985)
  • Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (1986)
  • Tallulah (1987)
  • 16 Lovers Lane (1988)
  • 1978 to 1990 (1990)
  • 78 'til 79: The Lost Album (1999)
  • Bellavista Terrace: Best of The Go-Betweens (1999)
  • Live On SNAP with Deirdre O'Donaghue (1999)
  • The Friends of Rachel Worth (2000)
  • Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003)
  • Oceans Apart (2005)
  • Live in London (2005)
  • That Striped Sunlight Sound (2006)

Others

In season 4 of the US TV series 24 , a company is called McLennan-Forster . The producer and author of the series Evan Katz wanted to express his connection to the Go-Betweens by naming them.

In Brisbane, the Go Between Bridge was opened over the Brisbane River on July 5, 2010 . This was preceded by a public competition in which eleven proposals for naming the bridge could be voted on via a website. An unofficial baptism of the bridge took place on June 25, 2010 with a benefit concert, at which Robert Forster also performed.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Grant & I by Robert Forster . Publisher's website; accessed on August 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ Hardbeat! Magazine, I / 1995 - D, Nikki Sudden interview with Tom Sobilo
  3. ↑ spanish.imdb.de
  4. ↑ theguardian.com