Spy v Spy
The DOK
don't know whether the Spies are readily available overseas, but anyway....
THERE COMES A TIME
The Spies are back - with a new C.D., a new drummer, and a new direction.
If you haven't heard of Spy v Spy don't start calling yourself a cultural
desert - they've been one of Australia's best kept secrets. Yet they fit
the rock'n'roll cliches of hard working, dynamic and powerful. They also
can't be comfortably be put into any box...they are, as one of thier songs
says "One of a kind".
Tell Magazine spoke to lead singer and bass guitarist Craig Bloxom, who
paints the picture of the Spies' background.
"Well, the Spies began in 1981, Mike (Weiley, lead guitar) and I met up
in a place near Newcastle, N.S.W., at school. We decided at the age of 17
that we were going to move down to the big smoke in Sydney and get a
rock'n'roll band going. Which horrified our mums and dads. They wanted us -
like most mums and dads do, to go to University and become Lawyers and
Doctors and things like that.
"So Mike and I left school, moved down to Sydney where we spent a couple
of years wasting time, getting right into all of the action that the big
smoke provides young men. But finally we got our acts together." Through a
mate they found a drummer living in a squat, went along and heard him play
and thought "That guy will do. And we said, 'Hey, do you want to join a
band?' And he went 'Yeah, sure'" and so Cliff Grigg joined them and the
Spies were formed. "It was literally that quick and that easy," says Craig.
Ironically, it was the experience of living in the squats that inspired
their best known hit "Don't Tear It Down" of the 1986 album
"A.O.Mod.T.V.Vers." Craig said indignantly that the government of the day
was planning to put an expressway through their loungeroom. "We really
wanted to make a statement and stand in the way of this kind of
development." The song is indicative of the Spies' ability to write lyrics
on strong social issues as well as more personal stuff. Craig goes on to
say "right down the line the band has been compelled to write music that
deals with our belief that people should be able to spek their minds
democratically about what's important to them."
He continues the story of the Spies' history: "We began playing in the
small pubs and clubs, mostly supporting other bands like the All-Niters and
the Numbers. And then we sort of moved up to the Angels, Midnight Oil, and
those bands. We rolled along until we recorded and released a self financed
E.P. That was '4 Fresh Lemons' which wasn't much chop. but it was what it
was," says Craig cryptically.
"Then 1984 we met Gary Morris who manages the Oils and he said he could
get us a record deal if we could broaden our mind musically. So we thought
'Yep, sure'. We spent lots of time around the kitchen table with Gary
talking about things which were important to us all. We literally worked
out what we wanted to write songs about and Gary in that time sort of
became the fourth member of the band.
"We released 'Meet Us Inside' in 1984, and did the 'Harry's Reasons'
album in 1985. It was a learning time for us. We learnt what it was like to
make the transfer of doing live gigs into a real recording studio and all
of the adaptations which you have got to make.
"A song which may work well in a live environment, mightn't work well in
a clinical studio environment. We were learning to come to terms with
technology and the recording process."
"A.O.Mod.T.V.Vers." saw the Spies maturing as songwriters with some
cutting lyrics in "Sallie-Anne" and "Credit Cards" - a dig at our society
with it's obsession with plastics despite the consequences. The album
acheived moderate success, but in the fickle world of record sales didn't
get the support it deserved.
"Xenophobia" was released in the Bicentennial year of 1988 when the
multiculturalism debate and racism continued to raise their ugly heads in
the country. Xenophobia means 'fear of things foreign'. Once again Spy v
Spy touched on things that were pretty close to the heart of the average
Aussie such as the "Working Week" and relationships.
"Trash The Planet" came out in 1989 with songs that had a definite
forward looking emphasis proving they are a band about hope for the future.
Even though they don't know "What The Future Holds", Spy v Spy believes in
the Creator who does, and thus as track 5 declares, "I Believe - Have No
Fear"!
At a time when many of their counterparts in the music industry were
sounding as though they were copying each other, Spy v Spy broke through
with a sound that belies the fact that there are only three of them. They
have toured with U2 and Midnight Oil, played all over the world and sold in
14 world territories.
But it then came time for Spy v Spy to re-evaluate their position. "It
was the end of 1990," tells Craig, "and I was realizing that I was
literally an alcoholic and drug addict. I wasn't being musically productive
and I wasn't being musically honest. So Mike and I decided that it would be
a good thing to move of of Sydney and move right away from lots of these
influences.
"At that point in time, Cliff didn't want to come because his roots were
growing more and more within the art world. So it was a very painful
decision for us all to make really. But Mike and I knew we had to leave the
influences that were going to destroy the band."
Years on the road had taken their toll on the guys and had left them
feeling pretty jaded. Craig admitted the cliched "sex, drugs and
rock'n'roll lifestyle was dragging them down. During the break the pair saw
some "Hard Times" as they reassessed what was important to them. After
realizing that they wanted to give it one more go. Craig and Michael set
out to do again what they did over ten years before - find a drummer. This
time the stakes were higher. Their goal was to find someone as proficient
and "stand out" as Cliff on the skins and percussion as well as someone
compatible with their beliefs and goals.
"We were very excited about getting the band back together, but we wanted
any new members to be like-minded."
They found Mark Cuffe who they had ironically met years earlier in the
bands "The Jones's" and "The Ludwigs". Mark brings to the trio a synergy of
complicated syncopation and "fills" his hard and mamic drumming style.
Also, "The Busking Arm" (as he was nicknamed by Craig and Mike as they saw
him busking in Sydney) adds harmony vocals and a singer/songwriter ability.
"How do you feel about the drummer singing?" We had to ask Craig.
"Oh, it's great mate - it gives me a rest! Because regularly when you are
up there pounding away you just run out of air. It's a bit like an aerobics
class and trying to play as well as run around as well as do the vocals can
really make you get dizzy and see stars a lot of the time. So it's really
good that Mark can sing - one, because I get a breather, two, because he's
got a good voice."
Last year saw the Spies writing some new material and doing the "We're
Back" tour. They appeared at the Blackstump Christian music and arts
festival, released the compilation C.D. "Spy Files" and used the single
"Stand Out" to raise money for the "Feed The Hungry" campaign. This was a
joint project with The Quick And The Dead who are a recent signing to the
Midnight OIl and Spies Management and are currently touring with the
latter.
We asked Craig about the line in "Stand Out" that says, "So take care
what you say and do, 'cause this could haunt you". "That was just kind of
commenting on my past experiences. I did things all the time that I regret.
I would get drunk and say stupid things. The story of my life is right
through that song.
"I have said so many things which I have regretted. You can literally
wreck peoples lives by being nasty and saying the nastiest things you can
drag up. People can remember that for their whole life.
"I remember once vividly, walking down the road - I was probably sixteen.
This bus full of schoolgirls went by and I was walking past the bus stop as
it stopped and one of them went, 'Hey, skinny!' and another one went,
'Bony, bony!' Then they all started going, 'Hey, check him out!' And up
until that time I didn't realize what I looked like and I was horrified. So
from then I've kind of been obsessed with becoming muscle-bound."
It's reminiscent of a line in the movie "Flatliners" where Kiefer
Sutherland says "Don't you see - everything we say or do in life matters!"
The turn around in Craig's life occurred early last year when he
spontaneously decided to be baptised and allowed the God of the universe
into his life. Things changed drastically for him from that point on.
"I don't have the desire anymore to do the things which I used to think
were having a good time. I used to think that going out and getting drunk
and taking drugs was a good time.
"It wasn't that I was told I shouldn't do things like that anymore. It
was just that I realized that I didn't want to do those things anymore.
Things that are really important to me right now are walking on in God's
Spirit and being led by that, rather than being led by lusts of the flesh.
"The instant that I became a Christian I lost most of my rock'n'roll
friends in the industry because I quit drinking, smoking, fornicating. Thay
all sort of run a mile when they see Craig from the Spies walking up. They
think, 'Oh, no, he's gonna start talking about Jesus.' They all watch their
swearing around me now.
"But you never throw pearls before swine, you know? If people don't want
to talk about it you don't talk to them about it. Lots of times you can be
a really effective witness by not talking about the Lord, too. 'Cause the
instant you say that you're a Christian you've set yourself up as a big
bulls-eye target. People are watching you like a hawk to see you slip up so
they can say, 'See, it doesn't work.' So I think you can be a really
effective witness just by being around people and just by the way you
behave. A lot of the time you don't need to speak a word.
"Often people will walk up quietly when there's no-one around or they'll
ring me and they'll go 'Just between you and me, could we have a talk about
what's going on in your life?' Because lots of people don't want people to
know they are curious about God."
Yet, as Craig's discovered, there "Comes A Time" when you realize your
life's going nowhere you want to be; you need to be real - you need to take
God at his word and live your life extraordinarily.
Says Craig, "We'll never be able to get this planet together in a
sustainable way, meaning no poverty, equality, etc., without the direct
intervention of Almighty God. I really think that too many people in this
country look up to political leaders who have no policies apart from
basically greed and power and the only person who can really bring order to
this planet is Jesus."
STAND OUT
Some things eat at your time/Reasons to strive get lost just like fairy
tales
Broken and bare we survive/Life can depend upon a cheque lost in the mail
So take care what you say and do/'Cause this could haunt you
It could turn you inside out and upside down/Just remember you got to stand
out
And if you're not made of sand then stick to it/Stand out
Decide, make up your mind/You fall in, or you fall behind
Symptoms will betray their causes/Starnge points of light strike your eye
So be sure if you follow through/That this could help you
It won't turn you upside down or inside out/Just remember you got to stand
out
And if you're not made of sand then stick to it/Stand out
============================================================================
The |\ /\ | / (a.k.a. Phil Grey) | "Do you ever feel this way/
| >< >|< u92...@postoffice.utas.edu.au| Like there is no escape/And
|/ \/ | \ | you're out there all alone/
'Has there been a murder?' | In a place that's not your
[BANG] | home/Trying to stand in a
'Yes, and very recently!' The Goon Show | fallen world"-Pierce Pettis
============================================================================
Michael Darrel Ferguson
>An article was in Tell Magazine a little while ago here in Australia, I
>don't know whether the Spies are readily available overseas, but anyway....
>THERE COMES A TIME
>
> The Spies are back - with a new C.D., a new drummer, and a new direction.
Just by way of a brief review, I thought you all might like a peek at Spy vs Spys latest album "FOSSIL"
Its wicked. Bassist and Lead vocalist Craig Bloxom hammers it out with some hard hitting lyrics and thumping rock n roll. The album contains music of the acoustic and electric rock and even a totally punk rock track called One Way Street if my memory serves me. A nice balad also. The album is worth buying whoever you are, even if you have to import it from Oz. If anyone needs an Aussie contact, Email me.
A socially concious band.
Michael Ferguson.
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