ArtistInfo

The Never Never

Band, AU
Rock

Formed in Perth, Australia during 1980 The Never Never evolved from guitar pop trio Silent Type. The band consisted of Simon Goodridge (founding member), Sean Diggens and Ross Philpot. School friend Peter Busher joined the band later that year making a four piece. Managed by Brian Peacock (Eurogliders) Silent Type went on to become a very popular original act, consistently drawing large crowds and supporting international acts such as The Clash and Adam and the Ants. They also supported virtually every Australian touring act of the era in Perth, sometimes playing up to ten gigs per week. In 1981 after a six month break to write and record, Sean Diggens left the band and was replaced by bass player Phil Morgan. Another band on the East Coast called Silent Type forced a name change heralding the birth of The Never Never. As The Never Never, the band’s first gig back after the break saw a crowd of over 600 people at the Shenton Park Hotel and the band pulled similar sized crowds from then on. This was no small feat in a time when the Perth music scene was dominated by cover bands. The Never Never moved to Sydney in 1983 touring relentlessly, and also built a strong following in the Inner City. A change in the line up saw the inclusion of British drum legend Jim Toomey, who had played with The Zombies and Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox’s The Tourists. The band released their first single ‘Bigger in Texas’ / Just a Few Thousand Miles which went to number one on the Independent Charts. At a time when the charts were dominated by synth-heavy ‘hairspray’ bands The Never Never’s guitar-based pop seemed out of step with what major record companies wanted, and despite coming close to signing a deal the band continued to remain an Indie act. Moving back to Perth in 1986 the drum chair was filled by the addition of Andrew ‘Gus’ Warburton. Once again The Never Never were pulling large crowds at local venues. Tuesday nights at The Claremont Hotel were always packed as the band continued to play to a loyal local crowd and cemented their reputation as Perth’s most popular original band. After more than ten years as a group and thousands of gigs the band called it quits in 1991 with Simon Goodridge going on to form acclaimed power pop trio Spacecake. Peter Busher formed the multi-award winning Western Swing band Dude Ranch.

Members

	Simon Goodridge voc, g *1960 SE
	Peter Busher bvoc, acg, voc, g
	Phil Morgan cb, b AU
	Andrew Warburton dr AU

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