Rone

Slight change of profile, the last one was a bit too indepth about me, so let's just keep it music based now. I taught myself Double Bass (with the encourangement from good friends Phil and Pony who now play in Marching Orders & the Ten Fours respectively) back around 1992 (a late starter) and they suggested we start a band (even though at that stage I couldn't play a damn note). I guess my main passion for playing in the early days was the influence of those Rockabilly greats such as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette, Johnny Cash and yes, even Elvis' Sun Sessions, then I discovered the Stray Cats (got a soft spot for Neo-Rockabilly still) who took that sound and gave it a wilder, modern edge for that time and new I wanted to be on stage slappin my thing (the Bass I mean..... get ya mind outta the gutter.)THE PSYCLONES Period:
Hence, my first band was born back on the Gold Coast, Queensland (Aust)....the 'Psyclones'. We were a four piece with attitude, big hair, big bass, big sound...well sort of, I was just learning to play then so my 'slappin' wasn't as frantic as it could have been but we did o.k. Covered some European bands and even began writing our own tunes.

THE SLINGSHOTS Saga:
Anyway, reality kicked in... after all we were living on the Gold Coast, 'surfers heaven' and with the techno and house pumping out at the Nightclubs who the hell were we supposed to play to? Know one quite got the whole "Psychobilly" thing, so we went through a few changes over the years (and about 5 or 6 lead guitarists and two drummers) and we all dug the Customs, Rods, Bikes and most of the 'roots' music so it ended up more of a mix between traditional Rockabilly, Neo-Rockabilly with a touch of Psycho and some good old Garage/Swamp Rock feels.....even had a name change, the SLINGSHOTS (we also dig those crazy dragsters from the early 60's).

We shared some highlights over about 8 or 9 years as the Slingshots. Got to release our 'one and only' 5 track EP which was a pioneer of independantly released EP/CD-Roms with a Video Clip included at the time. Played some great festivals in Brisbane, legendary venues on the Gold Coast like the popular PLAYROOM (we played the second last weekend there before they demolished it.....Corporate BASTARDS!).

Played support on the Gold Coast & Brisbane with one of our favourite bands, Southern Culture On The Skids back in 1998. The Psychobilly/Neo tour that covered Queensland and New South Wales back in 1999 called the 'Nitrobilly Tour'.Also had a few years off the Rockabilly tracks and tried my hand at something different, a band called THE RAILS. I was spotted during a Slingshots gig by these two guys who were playing around town doing Irish/Pop/Folk-style tunes and was asked to jamm with them playing Double Bass, they then found a full 'Rock' drummer who was influenced by main stream acts like Ilanis Morriset, Pearl Jam and the like and we somehow formed a band. It was a very electic mix but for some reason it just worked, we played many shows performing alot of Dom & Will's original material until one day, everyone just decided to go their own way, a great experience though.

Current status, HANK'S JALOPY DEMONS:
Gold Coast lifestyle was not for me anymore and packed up to move to Melbourne, Victoria (Aust) during 2000. Made quite a few new friends who seem to share a lot of common interests and eventually found some like-minded musos. I decided to hang the Bass up for awhile though, after the move interstate (for about 18 months) then couldn't stand not playing any longer. Eventually I was asked to jamm here and there with a few bands and ended up going back to the roots of Rockabilly and joined a great local Melbourne act, HANK'S JALOPY DEMONS.