The first lineup of the Vicar's was Dave Rossall (vocals), Tony Kappen (lead guitar), Sid Brassington (rhythm guitar), Laurie Hellyer (bass) and Dieter Glaser (drums). With the joining of Dave and the consequent name change & the clerical garb, they became more stage conscious and started playing new material such as early Small Faces, The Who and Motown. At that time Motown was new to Australia.  Examples of songs they were doing live are the Small Faces "Itchycoo Park " and a Sue Thompson song, "Paper Tiger", the latter, which may seem an odd selection for a rock group, but it does have a good thumpy beat and one can imagine the Vicars rockiing into it, doing vocals sung with harmony. Other songs: that old Chuck Berry classic "I'm Talkin' Bout You" and a version of "Jailhouse Rock", which Dieter would sing whilst dancing like a madman behind his drums. 

In early 1967 they recorded their first single "Tears and Kisses", backed with "Watcha Gonna do about it",  a cover of a 1964 Doris Troy song, which had also been covered in 1964 by both The Hollies and Cilla Black. This was recorded at Studio 310 (sic) near Sydney's Taylor Square. It was re-released later in the year on the mainstream Festival Record label Leedon with the A & B-sides reversed. However they had already been beaten to the punch !. "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" had been a minor hit (#27) for Melbourne singer, Peter Doyle, in his hometown in November 1965. Coincidentally, his version was produced by Pat Aulton, who was later to produce the Vicars, only Top 40 hit, "Down to the Last 500".

These two Vicars recordings themselves have a very flat sort of sound with no echo or reverb on it.  "Watcha Gonna Do About It" has a very Merseybeat/Beatles feel to it with that distinctive Rickenbacker 6 string sound and all lead vocals sung in harmony. "Tears and Kisses", which was arranged by Dave, too is full of four part harmonies and is quite beaty but a rather lightweight song.  Dave's harmonising experience from Bruce & The Spiders comes to the fore on both tracks. The record label gives the writing credits for "Tears and Kisses"to Dave Rossall.  The UK Vicars's did a song with the same title, however research has established that this same song was previously recorded and released in 1964 in the UK by a band called Peter and The Headlines. The label on that single credits the songs composition to just (Gelber), which ASCAP shows was a US songwriter,  Stanley Jay Gelber. The same Tears and Kisses (credited to Stanley Jay Gelber), was also released in the US in Oct 1964 by singer Frankie Randall. 

In July1967 Sid Brassington & Tony Kappen left the band. Laurie changed from bass to lead guitar (before joing The Finks/Vicars he had been playing lead guitar with The Method).  The new replacements were, John Bellamy (bass), & Neil Williamson (organ). Neil had previously played with Sydney bands, The Gass Company and The Guyatones,  John with Liverpool (NSW) band The Flipside. Both Neil and John, who were British migrants too, came straight from playing with the up and coming, Sebastian Hardie Blues Group.  Sebastian Hardie  had been working at well known venues such as Sydney's, The Bowl Disco, (where it's possible they became aquainted with the the Finks/Vicars), and Canberra's Green Machine, and were centred in Sydney’s Cabramatta/ Liverpool area. This necessitated them both moving down to Wollongong to live. Other Sebastian Hardie members then were Dave Richmond (drums), Graham Ford (guitar) and Dave Waddington (vocals). Sebastian Hardie were to later spawn power house pop vocalist Jon English and, having evolved into a different line-up, became one of Australia's leading progressive rock bands of the 1970's. 

Neil was classically trained (since age 8) and a talented keyboard player and was to exert a considerable influence on the Vicar's music and arrangements. He was also to stay as a consistent member of the band right through to the Vicars final demise and then on into Tin Pan Alley, and playing on all their subsequent recordings.  John too was an excellent bassist. So at this time the line-up was: (l. to r. in above photo) Dieter Glaser (drums), Neil Williamson (organ). Dave Rossall (vocals), Laurie Hellyer (lead guitar) and John Bellamy (bass)  and this line-up was to last some six months until early 1968.

Go-Set Magazine reported, around the time of this lineup change, of a controversy occurring in the Wollongong, NSW heats of Australia's annual National rock band contest, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. It was reported that The Wanderers, a band described as "a good versatile group but getting on in years now...better suited to club work", beat up-and-comers, Reverend Black & The Rockin' Vicars, a long haired R 'n B band, who true to their image decked themselves out in clerical garb and had a large, vocal following. It was reported that the majority of the audience, other bands, and even members of The Wanderers expected Rev Black to win. Obviously the Vicar's were a very popular and respected band in their area. Meanwhile, the controversy was kept stirred up when a woman wrote to Go-Set and said people found the Vicars outfits and name offensive to people......the writer was Neil's mum ! Apparently Dave and his dad, George, their manager, were rather adept at getting attention seeking articles in the media.

                                                   The Reverend at Windang praying for a hit !

This was a period of plenty for the Vicar's, with 4 nights a week at the Windang Hotel, plus running and doing spots at their own dances while using other bands. They also did country tours and worked out of Sydney for a while. They regularly headlined at Wollongong's biggest music venue of the time, Wonderland, and on one occasion they were so popular that Australia's top pop star, Johnny Farnham. appeared as support act for them there (and that was after 'Sadie the Cleaning Lady" was a huge hit for him). They also supported The Beach Boys (including Brian Wilson) there (an event promoted by their manager and Dave's father, George Rossall).  

So what was a Rocking Vicars show like ? Mike Mitchell, fan of the band and contemporary local musican at the time, poetically describes the opening of their appearances thus....." picture five hundred fans at a dance hall...the hall is shrouded in darkness......... slowly, very slowly, the stage lights up in a mist, accompanied by soulful church music, a choir in the distance...silhouettes of five people emerge from the receding fog, the choir and the organ steadily fade away as the black figures on stage come into the light...

It was around the time of the recording of "Down To The Last 500", that the proverbial, "man with the big cigar", Ivan Dayman, came along and took over their management. Ivan Dayman, who was based in Brisbane, was a major player on the Australian pop music scene at that time. He managed and booked artists such as Normie Rowe & Tony Worsley, & owned and ran discos, dances & venues in every Australian state, including Cloudland Ballroom in Brisbane. As well, he was the man behind the Sunshine record label.  Working for him meant a continuous tour of residencies and gigs on his large circuit around Australia.                                                   

In January 1968 Laurie decided to leave to get married and so Tony Kappen, after an eight months absence, re-joined on lead guitar. For a brief time the lineup was Dave Rossall (vocals), Tony Kappen (lead guitar), John Bellamy (bass), Neil Williamson (organ) and Dieter Glaser (drums). in February 1968 the band went into the studio to record its second single, Vanda & Young's, Down to the Last 500 and Sugar Train (a song written by four members of the band).  This was recorded at Festival's studios at Pyrmont in Sydney with Pat Aulton producing. However, just on the eve of recording, John Bellamy decided to leave, apparently because he wished to play more Hendrix and similar heavier type material. John never played on any Vicars recordngs. A new bass player had to be quickly recruited, enter Wagga Wagga boy, Greg Hill, a.k.a Greg Gibbons, (ex Sydney band, Gus & The Nomads). It must have been a close run thing as the band had to get Laurie to rush up from Wollongong to help out in the studio showing Greg some bass lines. So it was that the Dave, Tony, Greg, Neil and Dieter line-up was the one that played on the single (although Laurie got a co-writing credit on the label) and all subsequent recordings and was to be the bands longest lasting lineup. 

"Down To The Last 500" entered the Brisbane charts on 6 April 1968 at No 35 and stayed there for 4 weeks, reaching a highest position of No 30. According to Laurie Hellyer it also reached No 13 on the Darwin charts. Down to the Last 500 is a good up-tempo workmanlike pop song typical of Vanda & Young's style at the time. The band do a good job with the dramatic piano intro and high harmonies. The B side, Sugar Train, which was written by the band, is an excellent track. It has a solid thumping soul beat, catchy hook riff played by guitar and organ, shoo-wah-doo backing vocals and post-Sergeant Peppers type lyrics in that fantasy style that was popular at that time and delivered by Dave Rossall in his northern English accent (sounding a bit like Gerry Marsden). A nice touch is added at the end with the organ doing a short solo piece,  Raymond Scott's, "In an 18th Century Drawing Room" which is based on Mozart's  Sonata for Piano no 16 in C major, K 545, 1st Movement (Allegro). The Easybeats studio version of Down to the Last 500 was only released  later on (as well as The Easybeats version of the Vicar's later V & Y song, Such a Lovely Day).

Meanwhile Laurie Hellyer & John Bellamy had both moved down to Melbourne to live. John joined singer Tony Worsley's pop band, The Blue Jays, and then went on to Bobby Bright's pop band, Penny Arcade in mid 1968. Laurie was later to return to Wollongong to re-join the last line-up of the Vicars and, to form Tin Pan Alley.

The band continued on for the next year touring on the Ivan Dayman circuit to Melbourne, Adelaide & Queensland. They cut two more singles during that time. Their next single "Such A Lovely Day"  was produced by well known New Zealand A & R man, Ron Dalton.  It  was lyrically very suited to their image, with references to "Sunday is a lovely day" and had a very controversial line in it for the time, "you are coloured, I am white". It also has a quirky off-key sounding part in it which, according to Neil, was done deliberately for effect.  Neither  this single nor the next achieved any chart success. The last single, "Walkin & Talkin", another Vanda/Young song, was well recorded and a typical pop-psych song of the time. It is more guitar dominated than Down to The last 500, with a catchy intro riff played on a surfie sounding guitar and stop-start verses and choruses. Apparently it was a copy of the original Easybeats demo which has never been released.

Of the three Vanda/Young tracks the Vicar's put out "Walkin & Talkin" would be of the most interest to Vanda/Young afficionados as it has not been released in any other version. The flipside, "How Does It Feel", produced by Pat Aulton, is probably one of the best things they ever did, a good rocker with an almost gospelly type call and answer vocal interplay.  Dave Rossall's English accent  sounds great and comes across strongly too, again sounding rather like Gerry Marsden.

Vicars website contributor and devoted fan, Ged Fitzsimmons, (author of the forthcoming "Moonshine On Steeltown" CD & book), has provided an interesting eyewitness account of the bands standout arrangement of the Lennon-McCartney classic, With A Little Help From My Friends, that they were performing at this time in their latter days as the Vicars.

Ged recalls them "...taking their cue from The Beatles Sgt Peppers album, the boys would launch into Ringo Starr's version with drummer Dieter Glaser singing the lead vocals (a-la Ringo) while playing the skins. The rest of the boys would beautifully harmonise along with Dieter.  Then suddenly, Dieter would stop the bouncy number by hitting his drums hard with a slow, steady beat. Neil Williamson's keyboard notes would arise......slowly building in the background. The audience would be momentarily stunned by this dramatic change of tempo....but then...before the patrons had time to let out their collective breath, Dave Rossall would step forward and, grasping the microphone like his life depended on it, would launch himself into the bluesy, gritty version of the song, the way Joe Cocker had recently re-invented it. By the time the number was finished, the crowd was cheering and calling for more of the exciting showmanship displayed by the Reverend Black himself on this showpiece, apocalyptic, performance".

Rev Black & the Rockin Vicar's broke up in early 1969. Before the break-up there was a last, short-lived (only a few weeks) line-up, with the return on bass of Laurie Hellyer (who had been playing with Local band The Cast), the addition of another Cast member Stuart Bedford on lead guitar, together with stalwarts, Neil Williamson (organ), Dieter Glaser (drums) and, of course, the Vicar himself, Dave Rossall.  Their final gigs were doing a one month residency at Wollongong's "Wonderland" dance. True to the Vicars image right to the end, they continued to dress in their religious clobber and dogs collars through the entire residency. This was not to be quite the end of the band, however, as changes were in the air. During this time this core group had already started to rehearse on the sidelines with two other Cast members, brothers Phil & Wayne Cooper, to form a new band with a new style and name, Tin Pan Alley.

Click on the links below to go to:   

Tin Pan Alley

Discography

Time Line & Band Family Tree

Vicars Pictures Gallery