Mick himself was playing bass at the time. Ray played drums, Ian played electric guitar and Graham played flute and sax. Mick would take along his band-mates Ray McKeown, Ian Robins and Graham Hilzinger. In Mick's word's: 'We used to meet at this flat, have a jam and smoke pot, supplied mostly by a local bloke who lived only about two hundred metres away in Harbord Road'. Then Roy moved into a flat with friends in Pittwater Road, Dee Why, a suburb of northern Sydney which also has a beach. Roy befriended Michael 'Mick' Norris, who played in accoustic band 'Marastique' and a bluesrock band called Amageddon. The PACT (Producers, Authors, Composers and Talent) arts company still stands to this day ( link). Roy started putting his name about in the scene and playing his own songs at some local venues: 'I began playing at a theater called P.A.C.T. I lived right on Manly Beach in Sydney and went to sleep at night with the sound of surf coming in through the open balcony doors'. His early recollections of Australia were of having good times making many good friends: 'I smoked a lot of pot and indulged in other highs. He liked it there so much that he decided to fly straight back on discharge from the army. I'll bet that the people there are living the same way today as they did back in the '60s'.ĭuring his time in Vietnam, he chose to use two R&R periods to visit Australia. I saw a lot of drug use and very little support from locals. Asked for his recollections of the war, he told me 'I was in rocket attacks but didn't see much more action. All that was to end when he was drafted in 1966 by the US army, at which time he was working in a service station.Īfter a stint in Germany he was sent to Vietnam. They became a trio and played in different cities around the area. He and a friend started playing guitar as teenagers. In Roy's own words: 'I had kind of a bad childhood in many ways, but normal in others'. His mother was a 'truly good' pianist and his father was a gifted auotobody mechanic, but unfortunately a desperate alcoholic.

Roy grew up in Southbridge, MA, the oldest of four one brother and two sisters.

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