Sid Rumpo

Background

Sid Rumpo formed in Perth in late November 1971 when singer–guitarist Rob Searls, keyboardist–percussionist Ken Wallace, bassist Owen Hughes, and guitarist–harmonica player John Hood assembled at 6 Mount Street in Claremont. The quartet recruited drummer Noel Herridge through a Sunday newspaper advertisement after several local auditions. Friend Gordon “Gus” McPhee joined as road manager and transported equipment in a pale-green Commer bus. Neighbor Laurie Scanlan suggested Sid Rumpo from Kenneth Williams’s Rambling Syd Rumpo character on BBC radio comedy Around the Horne.

Searls attended Hale School and performed with Scott Wise at the University of Western Australia Folk Club, where the pair won a 1968 talent quest. Wallace knew Searls through university and played piano and drums; final-year examinations kept both men occupied through much of 1971.

Hood and Hughes entered the Perth blues circuit with My Grandfather’s Blues in July 1968, then continued with the renamed Jellyroll Bakers at Gaslight Cavern. The Jellyroll Bakers placed second in a 1969 6PR Battle of the Bands and cut an acetate of Little Walter’s “Off the Wall” as part of the prize. Hood subsequently worked with Juke and King Biscuit Company. Herridge drummed with Melbourne blues group Adderley Smith Blues Band from 1968 to 1970, then reached Perth while traveling around Australia.

Early Activity

The new group first performed on Jan. 29, 1972, at Cottesloe Civic Centre for the wedding of Laurie Scanlan and Shirley Dearie. The musicians briefly used Gazelle for early bookings and soon adopted Sid Rumpo. The band secured a Tuesday residency at Cleo’s in Fremantle. From late April, Sid Rumpo also held a Monday residency at the Leederville Hotel under the Sandgroper name and developed an expanding set of original material by Searls, Wallace, and Hood. Producer Peter Holland recorded Sid Rumpo at ABC studios in Perth on “Early in the Morning.” The band also recorded a Hood instrumental at radio station 6PR.

Sid Rumpo won the Western Australian final of Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds in 1972, which brought a trip to Sydney for the national final against Sherbet. The band played a Perth farewell on Oct. 4 at Embassy Ballroom and crossed the Nullarbor for Melbourne. McPhee approached Michael Gudinski at Australian Entertainment Exchange and secured a Nov. 4 booking at Garrison in Prahran. By November, Gudinski was discussing a Mushroom Records deal with the group.

Sid Rumpo built a Melbourne schedule through Australian Entertainment Exchange and appeared in January 1973 at Sunbury Pop Festival. The group contributed the Wallace–Searls composition “Sailing” to Mushroom’s triple album The Great Australian Rock Festival – Sunbury ’73. In May, Sid Rumpo filmed “Don’t Bug Me Boogie” for ABC-TV program GTK. The band also recorded live material at Garrison, including “Now I’m Free” and “Forty Days and Forty Nights,” which Mushroom placed on Garrison: The Final Blow Unit 2.

Hood left on Aug. 5, 1973, and returned to Perth, leaving Sid Rumpo as a quartet until guitarist Mick Elliott joined the lineup. Elliott started in 1964 with Melbourne group The Sound and followed the lineup into Moppa Blues. By late 1972, he played in twin-guitar band Sayla with Harvey James. Sid Rumpo returned to Sunbury in January 1974 with Elliott and entered T.C.S. Studios in Melbourne the next month for First Offense.