1998 Tour biography

From the very beginning of the extraordinary musical unit known as the LITTLE RIVER BAND, there has been a fascinating face presented to the world - an image that is not an image. Whatever the line-up of the time and no matter how dizzying the success, a seasoned, intelligent core of consummate musicians go about their craft with an attitude of unstinting determination and professionalism, and without pretension or hyperbole.

By remaining aloof from extreme images and trends, LRB has survived as a respected and constantly demanded outfit, selling more than 25 million records and racking up more than a few achievements of note.

The tenacious LITTLE RIVER BAND was the first Australian rock group to successfully service major foreign markets from an Australian base - opening a door through which stepped the likes of MEN AT WORK, INXS, ICEHOUSE, THE CHURCH, MIDNIGHT OIL and others. Early in 1982, when REO SPEEDWAGON and the J. GEILS BAND were finally claiming significant chart breakthroughs after more than ten albums each, Billboard was bestowing upon LRB the honor of being the only act - from anywhere - to have scored a top ten American single every year from 1978 through to 1982.

After a series of inquiring phone calls in London in 1974 LITTLE RIVER BAND came together the following year in Melbourne. Their aim, as highly competent adult-rock musicians, was to create a textured, harmony-dominant mass appeal sound. Within an eight month period they had three Australian Top 20 singles, two Top Ten albums and an unstoppable trajectory to the top half of the world. On 17 September 1976 they flew out of Melbourne to play a QUEEN concert in London's Hyde Park and a string of dates in Europe. In November they were with the AVERAGE WHITE BAND on the U.S. East Coast, and the long grind had begun; over eight years they would notch up 13 Stateside tours.

Joining FLEETWOOD MAC and SANTANA on the 1977 Rock Arena tour of Australia, headlining their own major shows in America, and touring as support to the likes of THE DOBBIE BROTHERS, SUPERTRAMP, AMERICA, BOZ SCAGGS, EAGLES and JIMMY BUFFET internationally was a giant learning curve; one which transformed them into one of the best bands in the world.

From a late 1976 Top 30 placing with It's A Long Way There (also a major hit in Holland), LRB made the U.S. Top 20 (and usually Top 10) their home. The hits flowed thick and faithful - 16 of them by 1985. After It's A Long Way There came Help Is On Its Way, Happy Anniversary, Reminiscing (much beloved of John Lennon), Lady, Lonesome Loser, Cool Change, Night Owls, Man On Your Mind, Take It Easy On Me and more. Album performance was just as spectacular, commencing with an American gold award for their third offering, 'Diamantina Cocktail', in January 1978 - the first-ever U.S. gold LP earned by an Australian-based entity. This landmark was consolidated by a rush of gold and platinum plaques for all subsequent issues. 'Sleeper Catcher', 'First Under The Wire' and 'Greatest Hits' were all certified platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA.

Behind those disc achievements was a solid commitment to their audience, one which took them out on the American and international concert trail at least twice a year during the late 70s and early 80s. Polished, full-blooded, sincere performances from Seattle to Stuttgart to Sydney generated an enormously loyal following, which still enables the band to play before large and enthusiastic audiences outside of Australia more than twenty years after formation. The respect they won for their tireless professionalism would play a key role in their sustained American popularity. Their shows were a spirited musical celebration, with a buoyant attitude. As a writer from the Denver Post was moved to observe at the end of the 70s: "If musical Olympics were to take place, the United States would have cause for concern. How can the Aussies offer a band with such great pop sense as LITTLE RIVER BAND when all we can muster is wimps like Firefall?"

But it wasn't just the experience or the determination or the management or the timing that took them to the world. Before and beyond anything else it was the songs - it would always be the songs. A number of LRB classics have earned for their writer/s coveted BMI Million-Air and Three Million-Air awards. They have become a part of people's lives. They have stood the test of time.

A band not always blessed by formation consistency. Members came and went right from the beginning, though never with any appreciable disruption to the business of the band.

The LITTLE RIVER BAND of 1998 has, in many ways, come a full circle. American-based members are no longer with the band and it is once again based entirely out of Melbourne, with all Australian musicians. There is a new element of youthfulness and vitality, anchored by current leader and consummate guitarist STEPHEN HOUSDEN (an LRB mainstay for seventeen years) along with founding member ROGER McLACHLAN (bassist on the first two LRB albums and a revered session master in Australia). Other members are STEVE WADE, a vocal veteran of thirty major Australian albums and various film/TV soundtrack projects, drummer KEVIN MURPHY, keyboards whiz ADRIAN SCOTT (a founding member of AIR SUPPLY and ex-musical director of KYLIE MINOGUE), and guitarist/singer PAUL GILDEA.

For HOUSDEN, the most exciting aspect of this era of LITTLE RIVER BAND is the opportunity to re-embrace its greatest traditional strength - sweeping, glistening, layered harmonies. "There have been some great vocal blends over the years in LRB and now we have another one" he believes. "It's very exciting. You put a mic in the middle and everything is perfectly balanced. In Reminiscing we now have five part harmonies, which can really give you goose bumps."

The door that LRB opened more than twenty years ago has been walked through so many times that it is now no longer remarkable for an Australian band to use the world as a stage while living in the land down under. But let no one forget that what LRB pulled off was daring and breathtaking, and that they music they did it with is as impressive now as it was then.

Glenn A. Baker
MARCH 1998.