TMG

Rip It Up, Issue 10, 1 April 1978, Page 9

TMG

Alastair Dougal

The Ted Mulry Gang are in many ways typical of the Aussie bands that make it to New Zealand. Like Hush and Skyhooks (and come to that like many Australians), they're loud, brash and vulgar and a lot of fun. They’re tagged in Australia as a good time tock ’n’ roll band and the label, for once, is true. Their concern is with giving the audience a good time, and at their most successful gig here, at Auckland’s Albert Park, they certainly managed to do that. Unfortunately in the pubs the audience, and attendance, was much quieter. That didn’t seem to phase TMG too much though, who were here to have a kind of working holiday. TMG came together when Ted Mulry found he couldn’t make money as a solo act. Guitarist Les Hall puts it slightly differently: “We felt sorry for him.” So in timehonoured fashion, they put together a rock ’n’ roll band with Ted on bass. Only trouble

was Ted couldn’t play bass. On thefirstfew dates his fingers blistered and by his own confession ning”, but he picked it up as they went along. Australian success was sometime in coming. It arrived when their “Jump in My Car” single became the “sleeper” of 1974. Released in March it peaked in December. Since then their career in Australia has been steady and successful. So why are they in New Zealand? Most overseas bands in NZ pubs are on their way down. It’s a graveyard for has beens. The answer is simple Auckland is closer than Perth (if you live in Sydney that is), and with their single “My Little Girl” beginning to take off, they decided to try to consolidate their small following here. Hoping to build up from scratch as they did in Australia. So from here it’s back home and another slog round the country towns of the outback.