As well as some great publicity for the Association I also got an opportunity to join a local club band, "Impulse". It was my first taste of being in a band and I liked it. Just a 4 piece, myself singing, Alan Oysten (Bass), Alex Sreckovic (Guitar & Vocals) and Dennis Heffernnan (Drums). It was only supposed to be a "trial" but it sounded great and I became an integral part of the band for the best part of a year, until the drummer decided he wanted the old keyboard player back and the money we made just couldn't support five. I was devastated initially, it was my first ever rejection and even though I cried all the way home that fiesty, fiery, stubborn "never give up" attitude within me was causing havoc by morning. As I nursed my somewhat wounded pride I thought, never mind, I'll show 'em, I'll start my own band! ... and that is exactly what I did.
I was a woman with a mission! My first solo gigs had been at Mt Kembla Heights Bowling Club and the "Fern Street Bistro" at Gerringong, but I had been becoming restricted to singing songs I could play and this was frustrating as my voice had out grown my guitar skills - and "Impulse" had spoilt me - allowing me to sing anything I wanted. I had also been using the Country Music Association's "Showband" sometimes, but again my choice of songs was restricted generally to the well known ones. I did try a sort of "family type" band - "Homefolk" with my brother Rob (Bass), Quentin (Guitar), my sister's Shirley and Liz singing (even with some basic banjo & mandolin respectively!), but they were very young and I needed something a bit more serious.

"Shades of Grey" was my first real band - a trio. Quentin was a great guitar/dobro/banjo player and an obvious choice along with a great singer whose name I can only recall as Michael. We practised for ages! It was a real folky - Simon & Garfunkel type thing - shows how much I knew about the music business! Great sound, but it only took one or two talent quests to realise that musically we needed more than 2 instruments and that regardless of the great voice he had,... our new male singer seemed permanently afflicted with a serious condition known as "stage fright" - not a good start. However, even as a teenager I was not easily discouraged when I had my mind set on something, so with my brother Rob on bass, my claytons brother Quentin on guitar, banjo & dobro and a fairly fancy drum machine the first truly commercial form of "Shades of Grey" was born.

Why the name you ask? When people would ask us what type of music we played it was kind of hard to describe - we couldn't really put it into one genre. A bit of country, some pop ballads, some country rock, some folk and bluegrass - we had a reportoire that was endless and we'd give just about anything a go. Our music wasn't one thing or the other but instead kind of everything in between - it wasn't black or white - kind of Shades of Grey.

We had a regular little band happening for while. Our first gig was at the Mount Kembla Hotel and soon we had a few residencies - but Quentin was a bit of a wild one and although a naturally talented musician, trying to pin him down to learn a solo, have a rehearsal or turn up on time, became all too difficult and I learnt my first most valuable lesson in music - don't mix friends and business. We had also been experiencing some limitations with the drum machine and were finding that gig opportunities without a real drummer were limited, so Rob and myself took that great leap of faith and hit the local newspapers.

Next >>