Dave Carter

.......THE BIO THING............. .....I have always found it hard to write the 'bio thing'.........I'll have a go.......................................................... ............................................................ ................................ I left school in 1980 ish and I had already been doing gigs around pubs in the Hunter Valley for the previous year playing bass and guitar with my old friend Tony Heads in a band called Refugee. My dad had taught me how to play guitar a few years before and I also had drumming lessons for a year, and once I had a taste of the stage I just knew that I wasn't going to become a chef or fireman like I thought when I was younger. My dad taught me alot of stuff without me realizing it at the time. I am now learning how to use all those skills he and mum handed me when I was a little fella. But hey, I digress................. .............I picked up a stack of experience playing with Headsy and Peter Sheehan...(the drummer)... and we did alot of miles from Taree to Wagga Wagga over the next couple of years. During this time I met a drummer by the name of Craig Lancaster and we hit it off in between a couple of albums.... 'Kite' (Kate Bush) and 'A' (Jethro Tull). We seemed to be of like mind on alot of stuff so we formed a band (I played bass) with one of the greatest guitarists I've had the privallige of jamming with.....Mick Punch. The band was called EDEN............. ...............We were OK and we started to do a stack of our own stuff...supporting bands like Matt Finish and The Beats on a regular basis... and a heap more.....and people liked it. But like most good bands we split up just as we were getting to taste a little local success. There was probebly a girl or maybe even a job involved.................I can't really remember, it was a great time of my life and I treasure the memories I have of it. ...'82 - '84 ish........... ......I was wearing a Hawian shirt and playing bass in a band called Yesterday with Col Bagent, Andrew Hill, and a guy called Maurie. As the name implied, we were a middle of the road easy listening dance if you want to come and see us again nostalgia pumping covers band. Actually it was a good band and I learned much from those guys. I recall one night being so ordinary that I thought ...'this is a good time for me to learn to play my Rickenbacker with my fingers'. I had been playiong with picks up until then and after that month I had another style up my sleeve. Thanks Yesterday band! ' 84 - '86 ish........ .............From There I ended up starting a band called 'THE FUNBUSTERS' .......... .........with UJ Neil, Phil Screen, and Mick Stove. It was in this band that many aspects of my life changed...........many times. We were successful, we were irreverent, we were disrespectful, we were caberet to the extreme but with an edge.!!! It all started as UJ's jam night at THE CASTLE in Newcastle. (It was called NOBBYS LIGHTHOUSE in those days) For some reason people kept coming. From there we went to THE GRAND HOTEL (Newcastle) every Sunday arvo and eventually.......THE CAMBRIDGE HOTEL every Thursday night. (home for the funbusters I guess) I left that band 3 times. I loved it and despiZed it all at once...and for a young bloke in a successfull band, that drank too much, and had girl problems...TOO MUCH PERSPECTIVE!............. Looking back, well, I just didn't really understand what was going on I suppose. Anyway... Within that time frame I was involed in other side projects as well......... Cafe Society........... .......... A great bunch of people. We played lounge music every Monday night for 3 and a half years at the Castle night club. (That was alot of Mondays).... ........Sharon Dormer, Ron Bult, Myself and our dear late freind Ross Young........a legend then nad now! ...'86 - '87 ish... .................................SPECIAL BRANCH.............. ................WE Rocked! Craig Lancaster, Mick Stove (both previously mentioned) and me. We did songs by Queen, FAB, The Police and alot of our own stuff as well. We were to stop gigging as a three piece and reform later on in the eighties as a four piece with another living legend...Paul Elliott........The Branch did many shows and as mentioned, we were a good band (all modesty aside) so it was our duty to break up. Before we defunked ourselves we tried another drummer, (Ron Bult) and changed our name to 'THE CRUSH'. We lasted about a year and during that time gigged alot including a weekly residencey at Sydneys infamous Springfeilds niteclub! ....... That was that then. .................During the first incarnation of Special Branch, I met Kevin Shirley, a record producer from South Africa. We did alot of recording with him over the period of about eighteen months. (I have never worked with many engineers/produers of his calibre) . He is a champ! This period of my life was a massive creative ferment for me...I met so many people and played so many gigs. One of the people I met back in Eden days, and stayed in coctact with was a guitarist from Sydney named BEN LITTLE. An amazing musician and a great guy. Kevin and Steve White Managment put together a band for Alex Smith (Moving Pictures) to tour the east coast of Australia, it featured Ben Little, Mick O'Shea (drums), and myself........... ...........We eventually called the band DBM. (after a brief stint as 'Anything But That').. Lee Borkmen on keys and Alex completed the touring line up. After all the touring was over DBM got down to try and write and reherse. We did a lot of shows and were vey tight and loud!!! I left the band to do a different project....Looking back it wasn't the right thing to do I suppose....hinesight, it's a .............. ya know........................................................ ......................................... '88 - '90 ish...........From there I dagged around for a while doing gigs with lots of different people. I played in Arvidson Price........... Mr JINX................. I even got a band together to play Bryan Adams songs.....(we did 3 gigs and then stopped!!!) Life was good, and beer was cheap. Good times......................'93 - '94 ish............ Amongst all that Bob Corbett, (check his site out) and I started a duo called 'LOONATIC FRINGE'.....(it's still together and gigging on). We played basically covers, Beatles, Police, Split Enz and of course alot of 'duo' classics. It was ,and still is great fun......... During that period, some friends in a band called Judge Mercy let me know that Ian Moss was looking for a bass player......... I auditioned, and got the gig.......We (Ian Myself and Kerry Jacobson on drums) did some shows in Sydney...... then we took off for 6 weeks in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The beer was not that cheap but hey...times were GREAT. After that tour we did alot of shows all around Australia for the next 18 months - 2 years. I finished up with Ian just before his album 'Petrol Head' was released................ .................... You should create your own MySpace Layouts like me by using nUCLEArcENTURy .COM's MySpace Profile Editor !