Little River Band founding member Graeham Goble in conversation with Darryl Cotton

In Memory of Darryl Cotton 4 September 1949 - 27 July 2012
Little River Band founding member Graeham Goble in conversation with Darryl Cotton, April 6th, 2010.
This interview was released to the public on July 27th, 2022, the 10th anniversary of Darryl's passing.
Very special thank you to Milton Hammon for his dedication to the preservation of Australian music history.
Video Editing by Ben Skene
Sound Mastering by Michael Costa
00:00:00 Intro by Darryl Cotton.
00:00:35 Grew up in Adelaide; Insular up-bringing; School; Conservatorium.
00:02:20 First Jobs: Insurance Co; Public Building Department
00:02:51 Early musical influences/inspirations; Bread; Cole Porter; Fantasy life (as depicted in the
movies).
00:04:21 Adelaide bands, The Harts (Bobby Gardiner), The Twilights, Seeing Zoot at Memorial
Drive; The Hollies (Carrie Anne).
00:05:37 Musical influences were unusual; Seeing a banjo player on TV; Writing first songs;
Forming first band 'The Silence'; Anxiety & Panic Attacks; Travis Welling Hedge; Adelaide
gigs.
00:10:55 Songwriting inspiration: Muse.
00:18:01 Leaving Travis Wellington Hedge.
00:19:14 Please Don't Ask Me.
00:20:45 John D'Arcy.
00:21:22 Allison Gros; Mississippi. David Mackay, Ron Tudor.
00:22:17 Kings Of The World; Humiliation at school, Hearing problems.
00:24:14 Mississippi performed at Sunbury (1973)
00:25:10 Drummond; Ern Rose
00:27:45 Mississippi album; Bootleg Family; Name change to Mississippi
00:30:30 Touring with Mississippi; anxiety okay now; finding a bass player and drummer… Beeb &
Derek Pellicci.
00:31:28 Finding Beeb; Beeb's Audition; The Harmonies.
00:33:57 Touring with Mississippi; Colin Deluca; Derek Pellicci.
00:34:46 Charlie Tumahai; Harvey James.
00:35:33 'Will I'.
00:37:09 Heading Overseas (1974); Barry Earl; Mississippi to UK; meeting Glenn Wheatley; Peter
Doyle; Glenn Shorrock audition; Laying plans for the US; Return to Australia (early 1975)
00:40:39 The Twilights
00:40:59 Coming back to Australia; Graeham & Glenn's first rehearsal in Adelaide; Glenn Wheatley.
00:42:13 Recording deal.
00:42:54 LRB name… changing our name from Mississippi.
00:44:00 'When Will I Be Loved?'; 'Curiosity (Killed The Cat)'
00:44:31 Glenn Wheatley going to the US to get a deal… Credit Card. Artie Mogull. 'It's A Long Way
There'. Signing with Capitol.
00:48:22 Ric Formosa & Roger McLachlan… David Briggs & George McArdle. The Classic Lineup.
00:49:26 Songwriting… allowing the melody & lyric to go where they want to; Roy Orbison; Cole
Porter.
00:51:31 Mistress Of Mine (Story of writing); Glenn & Graeham's Fathers.
00:52:46 Songwriting; Writing less now.
00:55:32 Songwriters are over-shadowed by Higher Forces; Music business; Songwriters are
born; Songs come from somewhere else… the true source.
00:58:09 Philosophy; added 'e' to my name. Numerology, Astrology; Clairvoyance; Destiny; Soul
experience.
00:58:59 International Light Foundation… part of my journey.. arrived at Rudolf Steiner. Divorce.
Karmic relationships.
01:01:39 LRB tours… very expensive to go to Europe: concentrated on America & Canada.
01:02:55 1981: George Martin; Montserrat; Beatles Story.
01:06:06 I'm Coming Home.
01:07:38 Duo Project: Birtles & Goble.
01:09:20 Graeham not touring option; I needed to be on the road for the band.
01:10:49 Glenn Shorrock leaving. Wayne Nelson singing my songs. 'The Night Owls'; Peter
Rooney; Take It Easy On Me. Graeham has a meeting with Capitol.
01:15:15 Uncovered; John Farnham in LRB; Glenn Shorrock fired.
01:18:32 'The Net'; 'We Two'; Head of Promotion leaves Capitol.
01:21:38 Beeb Birtles & John Farnham; We felt like a backing band to Farnham. Beeb leaving.
01:24:49 US audiences. America.
01:25:48 An unusual combination of personalities… very difficult. Graeham's difficulty with Glenn
Shorrock. I took the role of band leader. My note pad. Perfectionist.
01:31:24 LRB 5 piece... John Farnham, Davis Hirchfelder, Steve Prestwich… A different energy
producing LRB music. I was having fun. John Farnham to Whispering Jack.
01:34:21 1988: MCA deal; Graeham leaves; 'We Two'; LRB continues without Graeham. LRB
trademark. Housden becomes owner of trademark.
01:38:42 BSG; Court injunctions.
01:40:22 ARIA Hall of Fame Induction. We can't reform.
01:42:15 Favourite moments: Desperado; Silent Night.
01:43:00 My solo recordings; Steve Wade; The Days Ahead; Let It Rain; Steiner. Initiation Suite.
01:47:02 My thoughts on today's music (2002).
01:48:33 Sign Off.

[@JoeJamesMusic]

Graeham Goble, what an absolute legend and humble genius.❤ Kudos to the late Darryl Cotton ❤

[@michaelbuscombe2349]

Fantastic insight to LRB etc. I met Darryl quite a few times and was very saddened at his early passing. I played a support for Zoot at Hawthorn Town Hall in the early 70's. A very talented and humble man. A true gentelman.

[@liastalard40]

Fascinating interview from two of the Greats of the Australian Music Industry!

[@DreamsongsProductions]

Wow! As a huge fan of LRB since I was a teen, I really enjoyed this whole interview. What a nice and open interview Graeham did. I love hearing all the stories but it saddens me to see this great band unable to get together because of a technicality hidden in an 80 page contract. Housden should be ashamed of himself for what he did, what an ungrateful greedy person he turned out to be. So sad! Still, we have all those great songs and performances by this legendary band. In my mind, there's only one band that can top even the Eagles in harmonies and that is LRB. My only regret is not ever being able to see them live. But I have all their albums and listen to them regularly. Even though those impostors are out there, the real fans know who the real LRB is and there will probably never be another group quite like this one anymore. Thx so much for uploading this!

[@aussiemusicheritage]

many thanks Graeham, RIP Darryl, miss you buddy.

[@TheRedDevil_NC]

BSG have made some of the most memorable songs of our lives. Glad they are still around. All the best.

[@frankcastel3239]

What a wonderful interview.

[@JoeJamesMusic]

Absolutely Frank.

[@landondeez]

Hands down the best/most interesting interview I’ve ever seen.

[@margierogers1815]

Graeham is really a amazing man . His songs are all beautiful . I can just tell when I hear them ,This is Graeham !

[@deepsouthNZ]

Graham you CAN and you should consider yourself among the great song writers with so many people having loved your songs. I grew up here in NZ and you wrote the soundtrack to my life and I will be forever grateful to and I pay homage to you for the joy you provided many thanks to you. R.i.p. Darryl.

[@trevormwabulabrookings]

I love Graham and the Little River Band 🎼🎵🎸❤

[@clevebaker8399]

Little River Band!! Awesome

[@lukemacqueen946]

I so miss Daryl Cotton from the day waking up watching him on the Early Bird Show in the 80's

[@AlmostReady504]

Many great songs from this very underrated band John Farnham had an absolutely incredible voice.

[@SpottoBotto]

Fantastic interview 👏

[@FreeTheRocks]

Get Lucky and Monsoon are my favorite LRB albums.....and I'm a die hard Farnham fan. The Steve Wade(Graham) solo releases were BRILLIANT. What an amazing singer Steve was/is.

[@brianasimor9402]

Excellent interview! Thanks!

[@williamtruscott9656]

Saw LRB on Aussie TV in January 1976. Fell in love with you guys bought the album took it back to Canada, showed all my friends, and a few months later looked like a genius when your album was released in Canada.

[@user-zx9cm4or2g]

Enjoyed this. Thank you.

[@sideman7117]

Great interview. Thx

[@waynemanna1402]

Great interview detailing some of the history of one of my favourite bands. From probably 1970 up to 1982, LRB and its progenitors meant a lot to me as a passionate music fan. The later stuff is still great, in parts, but just didn't have the same "magic - for me at least and from First Under the Wire, I feel, the band struggled to maintain the standards set with earlier work - despite that in terms of musical ability, the Farnham era band featured a phenomenal level of talent with the great Farnham, Hirschfelder and Prestwich - no wonder it is a time Goble remembers fondly, despite the "Farnham backing band" issue. That said, I saw LRB in concert in an Adelaide pub and Farnham and the band played beautifully but sadly, Farnham's stage banter was crass at best - not a patch on his later work when he could so comprehensively command an audience. The more I come to understand how Housden fell into ownership of the LRB name and how nasty he has been (albeit I understand he would protect his commercial interests and in the US, the LRB brand clearly generates a good living for Housden and Nelson), the less time I have for the guy. I never really warmed to his playing in LRB - he is an accomplished musician and was a session player prior to LRB (I believe he even played guitar on the Sadie the Cleaning Lady sessions for John Farnham!), but stylistically, I would still put Formosa first, Briggs second and Housden third, despite that Briggs was part of the "classic" LRB line-up. Sadly, when it came to the rights to the LRB name being transferred to the new company from the original LRB company. Wheatley and the lawyers "sorted it out" and whether Wheatley was careless or not, we'll likely never know, but for fans of Shorrock/Goble/Birtles LRB, the consequences were and continue to be catastrophic. The DVD of the classic line-up in Australia cost me a shed load on eBay because Housden blocked its release, even in Australia and there are only a few copies available! It all points to Housden knowing all too well where the real "value" in the LRB brand lies and it's not with its legal owner licensing the name to a tribute band - a very capable tribute band, but a band that plays songs mostly written by others (Nelson and Housden did have some writing credits, and plaudits to Housden for his co-write on Love is a Bridge), mostly sung by others (can't knock Nelson's singing or playing) and using the arrangements of others. I'm left to wonder if Shorrock or Pellici knew what they were signing away - if they did, they made decisions they would later regret. Goble clearly did not know, so for a founder and primary songwriter of LRB to sell his rights to the name for $5,000 - a veritable "song" is an outrage - the law is, sometimes, truly "an ass". A silly suggestion perhaps, but I wonder if Shorrock et alia had thought about going out as "Mississippi", at least in Australia - many Australian LRB fans would have some idea of the history of the band and would jump at the chance to see them in concert with Briggs/McCardle/Pellici (assuming Pellici still plays - I'm not sure he does). I reckon tickets for a show that featured material from say, The Silence, Twilights and Travis Wellington Hedge onwards would sell like hotcakes - while we boomers are still just young enough to go out at night!

[@nickmolloy9563]

Thanks for the memories Graeham. Kings Of The World is still at the top of my play list, so thanks to Mr. Botts too. Godspeed LRB.

[@LEObondTraveller]

The Timeless music of LRB

[@bobbgoldstein9987]

Graeham Goble so underated. The key to LRB harmonies. And of course songwriting.

[@derek5168]

This is the third time I've watched and listened to this interview and love Graham's honesty talking about the difference between being an individual and musician which are two different things mentioning things like using something negative like anxiety to his advantage it's not always about the stereotype of musicians being cool calm and collected all the time all different personalities is what can make music great despite any differences with three different songwriters and personalities in one band it worked so well for LRB

[@ladianrios4199]

I love you and will ALWAYS love you, Graeham! 👓❤❤❤❤❤❤🍎✝️

[@GraehamGoble]

That's a very nice message Ladian. Thank you. Hope the world is treating you well. Graeham

[@tmnl8037]

Graeham still has hope of finding 💕 love💗 when messages like these arrive.

[@richardcollacchi351]

you still write great music i've heard it and i like it

[@richardcollacchi351]

good luck

[@margierogers1815]

I loved the way John Farnham sang and finally pumped up the feel of the band . Thank you Graeham for all you did !

[@jefffuller9918]

Graeham and the guys should tour as the "Small Stream Goup". That should get Housden pissed off.

[@gregjameson2141]

Or re name the band to Big River Band, or Little Creek Band, lol

[@DJ-bj8ku]

John Lennon said Reminiscing was his favorite. I’m wondering why Goble can’t put a band together, record the songs he thinks would’ve been massive years ago, and put them out on KZbin.

[@tmnl8037]

Where did this interview take place? Was it at Daryl’s house at Hanging Rock? I had no idea that he did interviews with other singers. Whatever happened to Graeham’s dream girl who he wrote all those songs about? She got married to someone else?

[@derek5168]

Smooth talking Steve housden (just an opinion)probably said thanks for letting me into the band once you've children are old enough/family etc let's play again when we can (then went about stealing the not just name but business brand (enjoy your ego trip Steve you've been on it since the late 80s

[@thomaspick4123]

Graeham, take a lesson from another great song writer, performer, Ray Davies of the Kinks. Ray never gets anxiety attacks before a performance.

[@WrestlingErnestHemingway]

Excellent interview. I don't want to get into any negativities of the past or present so I will try to keep this brief & positive. First off, Imho Beeb sings or sang "Night Owls" a thousand times better than Wayne Nelson ever did. Nor did Wayne deserve to be in the band he didn't have the talent to write hit songs & was just a standard session bass player & semi-ok standard singer. Second, Graeham, and especially Beeb was correct in that John Farnham didn't fit as a "band member" he was his own solo artist (American Idol type singer) not made for LRB AT ALL, and it seemed quite a bit of super foolish move to let Shorrock be driven out. After Beeb & Shorrock was gone I was also as a fan of LRB and stopped buying their albums. Get lucky was a travesty of a joke to be called LRB. I was so angry I wasted my money buying that album it went into my trash can after 2 listens to it. Anyways, lastly, if, IF Birtles, Shorrock & Goble wanted to continue on (strictly for their original fans and not money), they could have ALL THIS TIME been making NEW music FROM THEIR OWN HOMES and putting it together. I still think they should do that if not just FOR THEIR ORIGINAL FANS. Their original fans know who B,S, G is and it wont' matter if they can't use the LRB reference whatsoever. IF I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY TO BIRTLES, SHORROCK & GOBLE, IT IS TO GIVE YOUR ORIGINAL FANS NEW MUSIC & JUST DO IT. You can all do your own parts from home. Time has been a wasted. YOUR FANS DESERVE IT. You could use old LRB tunes you never had on records & also make new songs. You'd probably get some hit songs from making new music once again also. RIP Darryl Cotton.

[@derek5168]

I copped the bamboo feather duster for not eating the sandwiches in my school bag made to stand in the corner of the classroom and had those sandwiches thrown at me thank God the soggy banana didn't follow

[@SteveInQLD007]

*What a great interview but I can't believe the amount of politics that goes into making music and being part of a great band!*

[@servantofgod5642]

yer lucky Wheatly wasnt a Shep Gordon or Farnham woulda changed his name to Little River and given you blokes the ass like Vince Fernier.