Thanks so much to Jeff Baker for the interview! I had written about the little known Perth, Australia, band The Peppermint Drops in the past. And as it happens sometimes, Jeff, who was in the band got in touch and was up for doing this interview! Jeff was also part of some bands I have interviewed in the past like The Palisades or The Mars Bastards. But that’s not all, he has been in The Summer Suns, The Rainyard, and lately in The Jangle Band and The Golden Rail, among others. So definitely an amazing indie resume! So very excited to chat with him about one of his earliest bands!
++ Hi Jeff! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?
Hi Roque! Very nice to hear from you and thanks for the wonderful blog. It’s great reading about so many different bands and artists from around the world and discovering new/old music (and how they came to be). I’m glad somebody is doing so much work to document these things.
I’m good. Still working and trying to make music in between. I’ve been living in Melbourne for over 20 years now. Ian (Freeman) and I presently have The Golden Rail with Dave from Header on bass and our good friend Saki on drums. Our 3rd album was released in 2022 & currently working on album #4.
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what your first instrument was? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?
My first musical memory is hearing Ray Charles singing I Can’t Stop Loving You on the radio. I must have been pretty young then but I remember it being on the radio all the time. Then it was The Beatles of course although it took me a while to realise that all those amazing songs came from the same band!
I remember watching The Monkees on TV. I started thinking a bit more seriously about music around the time of bubblegum and then the glam period (Partridge Family then Slade and Bowie) but also really got into the early Elton John albums. I started buying my own records and, without much money, you had to think very hard about what you were going to choose. There were also a lot of great Australian groups around then – The Dingoes, Spectrum, Brian Cadd etc That started me thinking about music that somehow reflected the places you came from. I really liked rock music with a country flavour, I think.
I tried to learn guitar around then but only managed a few chords. The family moved around a lot at this time so it was easy to put things aside and move on to something else. I started going to see a few Perth bands play once we had settled there and that got me inspired to try the guitar again.
++ You’ve been in so many great bands, some that I have interviewed like The Mars Bastards and The Palisades and others very well known like The Summer Suns or Rainyard. How would you compare The Peppermint Drops to your other music endeavors and how important it was for you?
The Peppermint Drops was my first band. I had quit my job to start university and got a payout. I used that to buy a second hand Rickenbacker. I’d been going to see The Go-Starts (Dom’s band before The Stems) and got to know a guy called Terry Clavey. He was starting a band and asked me to join – probably because I owned a Rickenbacker – that was The Peppermint Drops. I really didn’t know much at all but got to learn a lot from the people in that band.
++ Who were the other band members in The Peppermint Drops? Had they been in other bands too?
Terry was the bass player and singer. We had a guy called John on drums, Dave Weir on guitar (an amazing guitar player) and another John on vocals as well. Terry wrote the songs and, I think, split the vocals between himself and John. Terry had been in another band before but, I think, quit that to do his own thing. I’m sure that Dave had played quite a bit (he was a really good player). I don’t know about the other guys.
++ Where were you from originally?
I was from a town about 170km south of Perth but our family constantly moved around Australia. We didn’t settle in Perth until my last few years of high school.
++ How was Perth at the time of The Peppermint Drops? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Perth was pretty amazing for live music at that time It still is, but back then there were a lot of venues and thousands of people would go to see bands. We had the early rush of punk and post-punk bands (The Victims, The Scientists and early Triffids). There were a lot of cover bands as well. The Peppermint Drops came in the wave following The Stems. The Stems really opened up the idea that original bands could play to big local crowds if you had great songs and put on a show The garage rock sound got bigger but a lot of bands also got into that Paisley Underground thing – a bit of early R.E.M – that was our kind of thing. There were plenty of good record stores – 78s and Dada in the city, Mills and Black and Blue in Fremantle. Plastic Passion in Maylands was a great second hand vinyl store. We also spent a lot of time trawling through op-shops looking for classic 60s stuff.
Most live music was at the numerous pubs – the Shenton Park and the Old Melbourne were bigger rooms and great for live original bands. There would usually be several hundred people on any given night. The Shaftesbury was great for up and coming bands. There were a lot of pubs around that size that tried having live music – the Albion, the Fitzgerald, Stoned Crow. The promoters would also book larger function centre rooms for big touring bands from the East.
++ Were there any other good bands in your area?
Most of the live original music was played in inner city venues. A bit in Fremantle as well. The bands all lived in different parts of the city. I think everyone just considered themselves a “Perth band”.
Early on was the Triffids and Scientists. The early versions were great as were the bands they developed into. They left the country and spent time in the U.K. but would come back to Australia every so often. We would always go see the Go-Starts (Dom’s band) and a group called Silent Type. Later, when the Stems were up and running, there were the Marigolds, Holy Rollers, Bamboos, Rabbit’s Wedding and Chad’s Tree. There were dozens of great, original bands – I can’t remember them all.
++ How was the band put together? How was the recruiting process?
I can’t really remember. I was just asked to join – Terry probably did the rest. The only thing I recall doing was suggesting Ian as a replacement vocalist.
++ Was there any lineup changes?
I’m not sure what happened but Terry decided he wanted to replace John with another singer. I knew Ian was planning on singing with another band so suggested he should try out. We rehearsed with Ian and played one gig with The Stems in a country town. Our drummer never turned up so Gary (The Stems drummer) filled in.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
I’m struggling to remember. There were quite a few rooms around Perth at the time. There was a great place in Fremantle where the Stems would rehearse – I think we used that from time to time. Terry wrote most of the songs as I mentioned. I started adding a few ideas later on but not a whole lot.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
We wanted something kind of psychedelic bubblegum sounding – that was the best I could think of. Everyone was doing 60s style names around then.
++ From what I understand the song “The Morning After That” was the only song the band released. IT came out on a tape compilation called “The Perfect Traveling Companion” in 1985. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about this compilation. It was put together by a radio station, right?
Yes, it was put together by 6UVS. They were based at the University of Western Australia at the time. They were a great supporter of local music and also one of the few places to hear what became known as ‘alternative’ music. I think they wanted to release a representation of what had been happening in Perth at the time.
++ This radio station, RTR FM, did they usually do compilations? Were they really supportive to the indie scene, or was this a one off?
6UVS became independent from UWA eventually and was renamed 6RTR. I’m not sure, but this might have been their first attempt at a local compilation. But yes, as I mentioned, they really did support local music along with 6NR which was an AM station run from the West Australian Institute of Technology (W.A.I.T.). 6UVS did another compilation (this time on vinyl) a few years later called Hometown Farewell Kiss (named after the Triffids song). That one was a little more ‘indie’ sounding I guess. The Palisades had a track on that.
++ This compilation includes many great bands including The Stems, The Triffids or Rabbit’s Wedding. Were you familiar already with the bands on the compilation? Maybe played with them at gigs? Any of them were a favourite of yours already?
I think I knew every band on that compilation. I certainly had seen all of them play. To me, it was a really good representation of the pop/rock side of things. There were also a few great bands doing more electronic based music but that scene was a little more obscure, I guess. There was a great band called German Humour who used a drum machine and keyboards along with guitar and bass. They were terrific live. Another duo called And An A who were even more electronic based. I think they released one or two 12″ singles. The Peppermint Drops played with The Stems, The Russians, Angry Penguins and Rabbits Wedding from what I can remember. We were pretty good friends with most.
++ The compilation was put together by Steve Phillips. Do you know who he was?
Steve was a dj on 6UVS and was pretty involved with the station at that time. Like most of us, he enjoyed the local music scene along with a lot of ‘alternative’ music in general. He also helped get the second (vinyl) compilation organised but moved to Melbourne before it finally got released. He still lives in Melbourne now – I had a beer with him on Saturday night!
++ The track wasn’t recorded at SAE as the compilation says. Instead it was recorded at a live gig you said. Do you remember what gig that was?
I’m really not sure. I know there was a recording made of a live gig at The White Sands hotel in Scarborough. I always seem to recall listening to that version of the song. We might have gone to SAE at some point. A friend of ours was studying there and needed bands for his projects. We might have been one of them. The very early Palisades definitely went there and recorded but my memory is pretty hazy. I can’t exactly remember if Peppermint Drops went there which is maybe why I thought they used the live recording.
++ Also you were telling me that there may have been more songs recorded at the SAE studios. What do you think may have happened with these recordings? Do you think anyone may still have them?
I really can’t remember at all…so I can’t help you there. Terry would maybe know but I haven’t seen him for quite a few years.
++ And how was SAE studios?
SAE was an Audio Engineering school. I think their courses were often taken by people looking to get into that side of the music industry. At the time, they were in East Perth. Their studio was pretty basic and maybe only recorded to 4-track or 8-track. But we were pretty excited to be there. It was cool being in an actual recording studio for the first time.
+= And how come there were no releases by the band? Was there no interest of any labels at the time? Could you have considered self-releasing?
If there were any other recordings then I think they were just intended as demos. The band broke up before anything else happened and back then you didn’t consider releasing things unless the band was able to play live. Most bands at that time only released cassettes as there were no vinyl pressing facilities in Perth. All that had to happen in the Eastern States so you either had to get someone over there interested in releasing something (which was unlikely if you only played in Perth) or you had to raise the money and pay for it yourself and then wait a year for the record to turn up. There was a Perth label called Resonant Records that put out a few things in the early 80s (Triffids and Stray Tapes) but not much else until Easter Records came along.
++ Then I have to ask about “The Morning After That”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?
I don’t know about that. You’d have to ask Terry.
++ If you were to choose your favorite The Peppermint Drops song, which one would that be and why?
Ha ha! That’s the only one I can remember so it would have to be that song by default. The only other songs I remember are the covers that we played of ‘If I Needed Someone’ and ‘With A Girl Like You’ by The Troggs.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many?
We did play quite a few gigs – mostly opening for The Stems. This was before they started spending more time in the East. I was studying at university at the time and working for The Stems in the evenings doing their monitors and helping with the stage set-up. It was easy to also arrange to play with them as well. The Stems were very kind and helpful to us.
++ And what were the best gigs that you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
We did open for the Hoodoo Gurus a few times. We played one show at Canterbury Court (a large function room) with, what seemed like 2,000 people there. The Gurus always got huge crowds back then when they came to Perth. Terry and I started with the Troggs’ cover by ourselves. That was pretty nerve wracking. Our first ever gig was a multi-band line-up at The Red Parrot at Easter. I remember turning up and there was a queue around the corner waiting to get in. It was quite a highlight to start out that way.
++ And were there any bad ones?
We did play a lunch time gig at W.A.I.T. during winter. The gig was outdoors and I had just changed the strings on the guitar. By the time we started, every single one had gone out of tune and I just had to stand there waiting for the song to finish. We didn’t have stage tuners then. I had to stand next to Dave and re-tune the guitar string by string. That was very embarrassing. But I think we played alright after that.
++ When and why did The Peppermint Drops stop making music? What was the band that came immediately after for you? The Palisades?
The last band gig was the one I mentioned with The Stems – that was around September 1985. I have a vague memory that we looked for a replacement drummer but just gave up in the end. We might have auditioned Richard Nash. There was a duo night in December that year with quite a few bands represented – Ian and I decided to play that as The Peppermint Drops and Terry came along as well (so we were a trio for part of that). We might have started playing a few songs that Ian and I had started writing. Guido (who had been in the early Go-Starts) had just come back from Europe and approached us to start a band. We ended up getting Richard (I think from the audition a few months before) to play drums and eventually got Velo (who played bass in the Go-Starts) and that became The Palisades.
++ Was there any interest from the radio? TV?
Just the University radio stations – I’m sure they played the track from the cassette when it was released. We may have even given them a tape of the song to play. Perth TV wasn’t interested in local music at all.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
I don’t know if we got any reviews or interviews. It was just exciting to see your name in the gig listings or mentioned as support for a big show. I’ve still got some clippings somewhere.
++ What about fanzines?
There weren’t really any that I knew of until a few years later.
++ Looking back in retrospect, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
For me, it was just learning how to play in a band. The excitement was discovering that you could make a pretty reasonable sound – something along the lines of the records you had been listening to. That was mostly due to the good musicians I got to play with.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
I do like collecting old Australian clothes – mostly t-shirt, jeans and jackets from the 60s and 70s. The collection is getting bigger and bigger. CDs are quite cheap in the op-shops these days so I’m always buying anything that looks interesting. I guess that’s music-related but I still love discovering new and old things to listen to.
++ Never been to Perth, and I honestly would love to visit. So I want to ask a local. What do you suggest checking out in your town, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?
Well, I haven’t lived in Perth for a long time so I couldn’t really tell you much. You should probably visit as many beaches as you can – get in for a swim or a good walk then reward yourself with a chiko roll and choc milk for a real vintage Perth experience. If you’re in Melbourne in winter then get along to the football and drink expensive beer out of a plastic cup. Better still, find a great corner pub with live music, drink some beer from a proper beer glass and meet a vast array of interesting people. If you catch a tram back to where you are staying then you’ll meet even more interesting people but maybe don’t mention the football.
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Not really, Roque – just thanks again for what you are doing. I guess I should apologise if I’ve got anything wrong or left anything out. It’s a bit of a struggle to remember most of this.
Cheers!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
