As we celebrate 50 years since one of our greatest bands of all time, The Easybeats, took ‘Friday On My Mind’ all the way to the U.K. charts, we also mourn the loss of one of our very best songwriters, their guitarist George Young, who passed away last week.
In tribute Young and The Easybeats, some of our best modern artists are joining forces to record a tribute EP, Rebeat, which will see five of the band’s hits reinterpreted.
Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns leads the charge, bringing his band together under the name Boom Tish, while The Bamboos team up with Montaigne, LDRU record with Nicole Millar, and San Cisco and KLP round out the lineup.
The first track, Johns & Co’s take on ‘Hello, How Are You’, is out today, and you can give it a spin below, while the remaining tracks will be rolled out throughout November, with the EP released in full on November 24.
“The Easybeats legacy is undeniable and Harry and George in particular created a blueprint of self-sufficiency for Australian musicians that is more relevant in 2017 than ever,” Daniel Johns says.
“I remember seeing a quote from George Young where he said ‘Hello, How Are You’ was considered by many Easybeats fans an unwelcome departure from the band’s typical rock sound,” he added. “I feel like I can relate to this statement. This is probably why the track is one of my favourite Easybeats songs and Boom Tish had a lot of fun working on it.
“We could assume that having four friends work on the song in my lounge room, self-producing and recording it in a day and then sending it to the label via text message was a slight departure from the recording process of 50 years ago!”
“The Easybeats are one of the iconic Australian bands, their musical legacy extends to forging Australian rock ’n’ roll history in the beginning, right up to supporting young songwriters with the Vanda & Young competition now,” adds Lance Ferguson, lead singer of The Bamboos. “It was a big honour to be part of this project.”
There’s more on the way for Easybeats fans, too, with a two part mini-series coming to the ABC on Sunday November 26 and December 3, as well as a special vinyl/CD reissue of the band’s 43-track Absolute Anthology 1965 – 1969 which has been digitally remastered from the original tapes.
Watch The Easybeats’ breakthrough hit, “Friday On My Mind’:
