Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - Poison Ivy
Posted on January 7, 2008 by Kris Holmes
Great mid-60s garage rock 45 from an icon of the Australian music scene. This was their second 45 & was released in 1964 on the Australian "Linder Lee" label. It was licensed to probably New Zealand's biggest independent label of the time "Viking" for a New Zealand release after it hit in Australia & that is the pressing pictured. Originally from Manchester in England, Thorpe & his family moved to Australia when he was a child. This was the 45 that really broke the band in Australasia but ultimately led to a falling out between Thorpe & the rest of the Aztecs over lack of pay. Ironically Thorpe was allowed to carry on using the Aztecs name despite the fact that they had been an established band before he joined them in 1963, so he just hired a bunch of new musicians & carried on. Of course Billy Thorpe would lead various versions of the Aztecs through a number of personnel & stylistic changes & to varying degrees of success, even relocating to the US for much of the late 70s & 80s. He eventually returned to Australia where he died from a massive heart attack in February 2007.
Filed under: 45's and 7's, Garage / Freakbeat, Pop / Rock
3 Comments to “Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - Poison Ivy”
Yep.
I was in Australia when he died, and being an American, I was surprised by the huge reaction–full front pages on the papers and everything. basically, I was like David, saying to myself “Wait, the ‘Children of the Sun’ guy?” Turns out he was a huge talent and really quite influential in his home country. Thanks for sharing this great track.
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Was this the same Billy Thorpe who recorded “Children Of The Sun”?