LOBBY LOYDE FINAL ARIA INDUCTEE

ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) is delighted to announce one final music artist who will be honoured at the ARIA Hall of Fame. This standalone event will take place on Wednesday August 16TH at the Plaza Ballroom at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre and will be broadcast exclusively on VH1 on Sunday August 20th from 8.30pm.

Arguably one of Australia’s legendary guitar heroes, LOBBY LOYDE will join DIVINYLS, ICEHOUSE, DADDY COOL, HELEN REDDY and ROSE TATTOO into the hallowed ARIA Hall of Fame on Wed August 16th.

Acknowledged as the godfather of heavy rock in Australia, Lobby Loyde has influenced countless performers both here and overseas through his playing and songwriting as well as his production work. Barry Lyde — or Lobby Loyde, as he has been known since the late 60s — started out like so many guitar heroes, under the all-pervasive influence of The Shadows’ Hank Marvin. His incendiary guitar work has been a focal point of every band he’s played with. Among those who have cited Loyde as an influence are Billy Thorpe, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus (who covered The Coloured Balls “That’s What Mama Said”), Henry Rollins (who owns all Lobby’s recordings), Bored! and Cosmic Psychos.

Loyde played in trailblazing Brisbane outfit The Purple Hearts who were arguably one of the most original and individual Australasian bands of the mid-60s. The Purple Hearts were blues / R&B guitar fanatics who took the original influences like The Animals, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and gave them their own unique sound.

When The Purple Hearts split in January 1967, Lobby joined the new “Mark II” version of The Wild Cherries. After leaving The Purple Hearts Lobby spent about two years carving out a similarly iconoclastic niche in the Mark II Wild Cherries until their split in late 1968.

This was followed by a brief but crucial tenure as a member of Billy Thorpe’s new Aztecs in 1969 to 1972.
When Loyde adopted the band name of Coloured Balls for his new venture in 1972 his intention was to create high energy, rock’n’roll on his own terms. To that end he recruited a bunch of young and hungry musicians who did his music proud. With an aesthetic push that fused hippie philosophy to explosive rock’n’roll, the Coloured Balls ended up being one of the most misunderstood bands of the early 1970s. The mainstream media branded them as anti-social misfits, due in no small degree to their single-minded performances, the adoption of the (then prevalent) sharpie haircut and the aggressive nature of their skinhead following. From 1972 until their demise in 1974 they released six singles and three LPs, Ball Power, Heavy Metal Kid and First Supper Last (originally recorded in 1972) as well as performing with Billy Thorpe and others on the Sunbury ’73 live album Summer Jam.

Lobby then went solo again releasing the single “Do You Believe in Magic” (1975) and the acclaimed Obsecration album (1976). He spent time in the UK (1976-79) where he embraced punk and sat in on recording sessions with Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Police and Roxy Music. On his return to Australia he joined Rose Tattoo as bass player. That line-up of Rose Tattoo recorded an album in Los Angeles, which has never been issued.

In the ‘80s Lobby Loyde moved his considerable talents into production and live sound mixing. He produced acclaimed recordings for artists including the Sunnyboys, Kevin Borich, Machinations, Flaming Hands, X and Painters And Dockers. He returned to the stage in the early ‘90s with the supergroup Dirt. In recent years he has concentrated on recording and performing with his “pleasure band” Fish Tree Mother. In late 2002 Lobby reunited The Coloured Balls to take part in the Long Way To The Top concert tour. In October 2002 he celebrated his 40th year in music by being inducted into the Australian Blues Foundation Hall of Fame at a special gig at the Mercury Lounge in Melbourne, with Chain.

The 2006 ARIA Hall of Fame event was broadcast exclusively on subscription television on VH1 on last night.