The members of 'The Substitutes' were
all inspired by the music of the Sixties to start their own
music careers. Though their careers went in different
directions, they all became professional musicians, toured
nationally (and internationally) and recorded albums
and singles. All the while they have retained a love for performing
live and for the music that originally excited them.
N.B.
The careers of all the
members of the 'The Substitutes' are documented in the Fifth
Edition of 'Who's Who of Australian Rock' published in 2002 by
The Five Mile Press.
Frequently
Asked Band Questions (youtube videos):
How
did the band get started?
Why do you only play '60s music?
Where did the name come from?
Who was in the band?
Why do you play music exactly like the record?
Who are the fans?
Why do you talk so much?
Facebook
Links
The
Substitutes
Peter Summers
We Want 'The Substitutes'
Do
you like this website? Let us know by clicking here!
Neil Scott
Vocals
and guitar
Neil
Scott grew up in Manchester (U.K.) and learnt to play guitar
by listening to records by The Beatles, The Hollies and The
Who. His natural ability and a succession of bands lead him to
turn professional in 1972 with the band
Tiger Fog
who were
invited to tour
Australia
shortly thereafter. Rebranded
as Chalice, the band found considerable success in both
Australia
and the
U.K.
through extensive touring, the release of 3 singles plus, in
1975, the recording of an Australian album produced by Jon
English.
Neil, as part of Chalice,
performed in concert with David Cassidy, the Doobie Brothers,
Roy Orbison and childhood heroes The Hollies. The band also
appeared on Countdown and other TV music shows as well as in
the TV drama
'Chopper Squad'
in 1977.
When Chalice broke up in
1979, Neil played first with Albatross and then with
successful early '90s cover band The Stealers. In 2000 he
formed the Captain Spalding Trio but in 2004 decided to
'retire' from music after a 30 year career.
A casual invitation to play with the
Wendy Stapleton band in 2013 reignited Neil's
interest in performance again. He has been further inspired by
the opportunity to play the British music of his youth with
the experts in this field, The Substitutes.
Neil
is an extraordinary guitarist, a fine lead singer and has a
great 'rock' sensibility. His Mancunian accent enables him
to sing a range of British Invasion songs with uncanny
authenticity. The harmonic blend of his voice with the Peters
in The Substitutes has enabled the band to play a variety of
songs they would otherwise have deemed to difficult. Hearing
is believing!
Peter
Reed
drums
Peter Reed is a veteran
of Melbourne's rock scene who began his career as the drummer in
60's band The Dream
who later became the
New Dream
and had a national #1 hit with
"Groupie"
in 1969 and a top ten hit with
"Soft
Delights"
. Since then he has played and recorded with numerous bands
such as
Gary Young's Hot Dog
(at Sunbury '75)
,
Pantha, the
Mark Gillespie Band
,
The Tremors (with
Kerryn
Tolhurst
from the
Dingoes
), Lyn Randall Band, the
Phil Manning Band
,
the Jane Clifton Band
.
Peter
met Dennis during their long stint together in the
Room
Service Blues Band
. He is a fantastic and authentic rock drummer.
"For about 12
months I studied with Peter Reed. Peter was the drummer in a
band called "The New Dream" and was a mate of mine,
so I asked him to teach me. I practised 4 to 5 hours a day. I
don't think I've ever done anything in my life that required
so much concentration."
Gary
Young
of iconic Aussie band
Daddy Cool from an interview in DRUM Scene magazine Issue 47
Dec/Jan/Feb 2006-2007.
Pete Robinson
vocals and
bass
Pete was a founder
member of one of
Melbourne
's first 60's pop bands, "
The
Strangers
". This
band appeared regularly on TV, had a succession of national
hits ("Lady Scorpio", "Happy Without You",
"Melanie Make Me Smile, "Western Union") and
included John Farrar who went on to become a successful
songwriter in the
US
.
Pete's subsequent musical career has included such roles as
television musical director/arranger/record producer for the
likes of John Farnham, Johnny Young, Russell Morris, Ted Mulry,
The Masters Apprentices and The Town Criers. He has continued
to play with professional bands (including a long stint with
the Seekers and a short but intense spell with punk rock band
Blacksmith Hopkins) and is a highly respected musician.
Pete�s standing in the music community was acknowledged when
he was invited to become Music Director for the Go-Show
reunion shows that have toured
Australia
annually since 2010. He has been responsible for selecting the
musicians, arranging and charting the songs being performed
and playing bass in all the shows.
With his long and prestigious career in music, Pete is very
well known within Melbourne musical circles and has played all
sorts of music but The Substitutes have rekindled his love of
the British Invasion music of the �60s because they aim to
play with true period authenticity.
Peter Summers
vocals, guitar,
keyboard
Peter has been obsessed with music in all forms his entire life
and played in many different sorts of bands, recreating the 30's
music of Eddie Lang & Joe Venuti with
Brendan
Shearson
, stretching the limits of country rock with the
loving remembered Riverina Playboys (led by 'magic realist' artist
Graeme
Drendel
) before forming his own band,
Strange
Idols
, with
Brian
Gamble
in 1979. Check out the
video of their Countdown performance
here
.
Recruiting singer/actor
Robert Price
(always the bad guy in such
programs as
Police
Rescue
and
Blue
Heelers
) as the singer, Strange Idols were part of the early 80's New Wave and
played extensively for 4 years (with Split Enz, Midnight Oil, Eric
Burdon, Australian Crawl, The Angels and Cold Chisel amongst
others), and recorded a single and an album before Peter disbanded
the group in 1983 due to family and business commitments.
Though influenced by everyone from the Hot
Club de France through the Sex
Pistols to Matthew Herbert, for years Peter toyed with the idea of
forming a band to play solely Sixties songs with an emphasis on the
music of Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, et al because there are many classics that are not often
performed.
After being forced to attend yet another corporate event with a
B-grade covers band (the one with the two singers and a laptop
computer doing Abba songs), he decided that, enough was enough, and
he would form The Substitutes with some likeminded musicians.
|