The Angels are on an extensive national tour celebrating 50 years since the release of their unofficial Australian anthem, “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again”.
When it was initially released back in March 1976, the single stalled at No. 58 on the national charts. Written by Brewster-Neeson-Brewster, the OG version of “Face Again” – produced by Vanda & Young – featured singer Doc Neeson playing bass, the Brewster brothers, John and Rick, on guitar and Charlie King on drums.
It wasn’t until 12 years later – when a live version, resplendent with crowd-supplied “No way, get f*cked, f*ck off!” chorus chant, was released as the lead single from the band’s Liveline record – that “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” finally entered the Top 40, peaking at No. 11.
John sat down with Rolling Stone AU/NZ for an in-depth interview. Read below.
Check out The Angels’ tour dates here.
“We didn’t hold hands and do ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ together all the time…”
“We’re celebrating ‘Face Again’,” John explains of The Angels’ latest touring stint. “We’ve already celebrated the band being 50 years old, because we started in ‘74. The thing about celebrating ‘Face Again’ is, yes, it’s a wonderful thing to celebrate that song, because the song’s become such a big thing – it’s almost an anthem in Australia.
“But it’s also really celebrating that journey and the various people – not just musicians that’ve played in the band with us, but you think of the roadies and what they had to go through and what they did. And the tour managers – you know, like Mark Pope, for example – and managers and all these other people whose lives were caught up with ours, and the loyalty that was just fantastic. So, yeah!
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
“It causes you to do a bit of reflection. And it’s a really good reflection. I mean, we didn’t hold hands and do ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ together all the time, haha. Sometimes there were some pretty violent arguments, but that’s what happens in a band, you know? Cold Chisel’ll tell you the same.”
The Chant’s backstory: “It wasn’t a hit at the time, so we left it outta the set”
“The backstory is we had left the song out of our set, for probably two or three years, because by the time we did the Face to Face album [1978], which went through the roof, followed by the No Exit album [1979], which also went through the roof, then followed by the Dark Room album [1980] – again, a huge album for us – and then touring America and all that… It wasn’t a hit at the time, so we left it outta the set. We had sort of left that song behind.
“In 1983, we were playing in Mount Isa and we had three thousand people in the town hall. We did a normal encore and stuff, and they wouldn’t let us go – they kept on hollering for more and we were starting to run outta songs. So somebody said, ‘Well why don’t we go out and play ‘Face Again’?’ Which we did! And the three thousand people chanted, ‘No way, get f*cked, f*ck off!’ [laughs].”
During an interview with Jeff Jenkins, the late, great Neeson said, “I genuinely thought they were telling us to get f*cked.” The story goes that he leapt into the crowd to ask an audience member WTF was going on. “Apparently, he’d been at a Blue Light Disco in Sydney,” Neeson added, “where the DJ would stop the record at that point, and everyone would do The Chant.”
John remembers it differently, pointing out, “We knew that they were liking us – they loved us! It was a great show. But we went back into the Green Room and went, ‘What the hell was that!?’ And me being a wiseguy, I said, ‘Well, you know, Mount Isa is a pretty isolated community. It’s just something that happens here, I guess’ – ‘cause we knew nothing about it.
“So, anyway, what we decided is: ‘We’ll put the song back in the show now and see if they do it anywhere else.’ Well, we went across to Cairns after Mount Isa, worked our way down the East Coast – in those days you could do that. And then flew across to Perth, into Adelaide, into Melbourne and back to Sydney. And, in other words, everywhere that we played, they did The Chant. And when you think that that was the early-’80s when there were no mobile phones, no internet…
“[It spread via] word of mouth – the bush telegraph. It got across to Perth! I mean, I just don’t know how that happened. I know the first time we heard it, I just dunno how the thing happened. There’s lots of theories. A lot of people have put their hand up, ‘Oh, we started that!’”
“It has spread around. Later on – there was a period where I left the band [Bob Spencer (ex-Skyhooks) stepped in when John exited at the start of 1986, before rejoining in 1993]. The boys recorded an album in Memphis, I think it was. They did a show there and something else in New Orleans, and they did the song and people did The Chant there. So they were probably expats or something, I dunno.
“We did some gigs in 2015, actually. We played The Garage in London and we did The Forum in Paris and then we did the Sweden Rock Festival, and people chanted there, too!”
“The larrikin Australian meets The Angels”
“Doc wrote the words to that song – Rick and I were more involved with the music – and it was about a friend of his that’d died in a car accident. You know, you look at that lyric [‘Am I ever gonna see your face again’] in that perspective and it’s quite sad. But the thing is: the wonderful Australian general populace have changed that song somewhat [laughs]. And I think it’s fantastic, because it’s the larrikin Australian meets The Angels. And I think it’s great we live in a country where you can say the larrikin Australian, because the larrikin Australian sense of humour is a good one.”
View this post on Instagram
“There were some strong similarities, however Doc wrote a better song”
After similarities between The Angels’ signature song and a Status Quo B-side, “Lonely Night” – the keys melody plus a pivotal line (“I never thought I’d see or hear you again”) – were noted, the two bands reached an agreement in lieu of a lawsuit to ensure Status Quo would receive royalties from “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again”.
“That’s pretty accurate,” John acknowledges of the above summary. “There was never a big deal, in one sense. But the reality in The Angels is that Doc Neeson – whilst he was wonderful and was a co-songwriter on a lot of songs with us – he never really wrote complete songs at all. And so when we heard ‘Face Again’, we thought it was just Doc’s song. But it turned out that he got a little bit influenced by the Status Quo song [laughs].
“And Alan Lancaster, who was the bass player of Status Quo, was my next-door neighbour and my best friend. Sadly he’s departed the world now, but he used to dig me in the ribs and say, ‘Ya bastard, you stole our song.’ And I’d say, ‘What are you talkin’ about?’ So one day I got sick of it and I called him up and I said, ‘Al, can you prove it?’ And he came over with this single and played it to me, and I had to sit down and went, ‘Oh my God, that’s pretty close.’
And I said to Doc, ‘I don’t suppose you borrowed that song, did you?’ And he said, ‘Oh, no, no, no, I might’ve heard it at a disco,’ so, yeah! There were some strong similarities, however Doc wrote a better song. I mean, ‘Face Again’ is better than ‘Lonely Night’, but it is definitely influenced by it. So, yeah, we came up with an amicable agreement.”
Albo’s dedication
“I think it’s wonderful that our dear Prime Minister, [Anthony] Albanese, on a radio interview, was asked if he wanted to play a song and he said, ‘Yeah, I’d like to play “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” by The Angels and I will dedicate it to Peter Dutton.’ Haha, he did! That actually happened. It was during the last election.”
The ambulance siren guitar riff: “a stroke of genius”
“Well, that was my wonderful brother, Rick, who just came up with that ambulance sound. It’s probably more an overseas ambulance [siren sound] than an Australian one, I think. But, yes, it is mimicking the sound of an ambulance, which of course relates very much to the lyrics in the song, and I thought it was all a stroke of genius. He’s prone to that; he’s quite clever.”
Hottest 100 of Australian Songs: “We came in one higher than our dear friends AC/DC”
On how The Angels found out about their placement on this awesome countdown, John recalls, “We found out about it through Dean McLachlan at Mushroom. He said, ‘I think “Face Again” is gonna come into the Hot 100,’ and we went, ‘Really?’ [laughs]. So then I don’t even remember how we followed it, ‘cause it was very exciting.”
“Face Again” came in at No. 12 on triple j’s Hottest 100 of Australian Songs last year, becoming the oldest title in the top 40.
“I didn’t think it’d be there at all!” John says. “But I think it’s great. I mean, we came in one higher than our dear friends AC/DC – what was it? ‘Thunderstruck’ came in at No. 13 and we came in at No. 12, so I think that’s pretty appropriate – put us together, that’s great.”
Gigging with AC/DC “in the Bon Scott days”
“We did three gigs with AC/DC in South Australia, which of course is where The Angels began – we did Port Pirie, Whyalla and Port Augusta. And it was in Whyalla – the second show, the second night. It was during the daytime – I remember the bright sunlight – and Angus [Young] and Malcolm [Young] and Bon [Scott] came up to Rick and me and Doc and said, ‘Have you got anywhere with getting a record deal?’ And we said, ‘We’ve sent tapes to everyone and they’ve all knocked us back.’ And they said, ‘We think you’d be perfect for Alberts.’
“And they talked about big brother George [Young] and Harry Vanda and we just sorta thought, ‘Wow, if that could happen, that would be amazing!’ And of course, Angus and Malcolm – if those guys said they were gonna do something, they would do it; they were very true to their word.
“They went back to Sydney and told Vanda & Young about us. And the next time we went to Sydney – I’ll never forget it – we were playing Chequers and we could see four people coming down the stairs: it was George Young, Harry Vanda, Malcolm and Angus Young.
“So we met up – the guy that ran Chequers was a guy called Casey and so we went into Casey’s office and had a chat. And George said, ‘Come into the studio tomorrow and we’ll have a bit of a session.’ So the next day we carted all our amps and drums and the whole bit up to the studio – I think it was the sixth floor, at Alberts – and sort of piled ‘em up. And George said, ‘Oh, you didn’t need to bring all that stuff. Here’s an acoustic guitar, I just wanna hear your songs,’ hahaha.
“So I remember sitting at a microphone with Rick and Doc beside me, and a couple of acoustic guitars, and just sang the songs that we’d written. Of course the main one, really, was ‘Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again’. And we were signed two weeks later.
“It was incredible, actually. And fast. And, you know, the Alberts years are some of the happiest memories of my life. I mean, there’s lots of great memories, but that was incredible. Because we were on the same record label as AC/DC, we did a lot of gigs with them in the Bon Scott days. We were in the studio with them when they recorded ‘Let There Be Rock’ – we watched the whole thing go down, which was pretty amazing.
“And, you know, George Young would have BBQs around at his place and we’d finish up in his music room playing Chuck Berry songs [laughs]. So, wonderful days.”
“Bon was the only guy that actually got up and sang a song with The Angels”
“He’s the only other singer, back in those days, that came up and did a guest spot with us. We weren’t unfriendly to the others – Jimmy Barnes et cetera, you know, we were great friends with those guys [Cold Chisel] – but Bon was the only guy that actually got up and sang a song with The Angels. That was at the Coogee Bay Hotel and we’ve actually got a photograph – it must’ve been [taken] backstage after that show. And just the experience of actually being in a band that he was singing in was quite amazing.”
Does John happen to recall which song Bon sang on this particular occasion? “No, I have no idea.”
Moonshine Jug and String Band: “Massive in Adelaide”
“We were young songwriters and just kind of learning the ropes, if you like. I’d written a coupla things. In fact I wrote a song called ‘Keep You on the Move’, which is not a song I’m that proud of, really – it’s not bad. But we did that as the Moonshine Jug and String Band, ‘cause that’s what we were. It was a wonderful, wonderful band – just great fun. But it was never gonna go anywhere other than being – we were massive in Adelaide, that band, but, you know, we couldn’t’ve really made a career out of that.
“I wrote this song called ‘Keep You on the Move’ and we had a little hit with it in Adelaide; it wasn’t released anywhere else other than Adelaide, on an independent label. And I suspect my mum bought most of the copies, haha. So it went something like number four in the charts. And then I thought, ‘We can’t be a joke band anymore. If we’re gonna start writing songs, we’ve gotta take the whole thing to a different level’.”
Starting a rock band to knock Sherbet off their pedestal
“So I initially went to my brother Rick. I was driving him somewhere. He had his degree as an agricultural scientist in his hand and the mortarboard – you know the thing you wear on your head [at graduation ceremonies]? – was sitting in the back seat. And I stopped the car and I said, ‘Rick, I just wanna talk to you,’ and he said, ‘What about?’ And I said, ‘Well, you know that band Sherbert,’ and he said, ‘Yes,’ and I said, ‘I reckon if we start a rock band we could knock ‘em off in 12 months, whaddaya reckon?’ And Rick said, ‘Yeah, okay’ [laughs]. There was no debate – ‘Oh, really? Do you think we should do that?’ – he just sorta went, ‘Yeah, okay’.
“I then went to Doc Neeson. He came around to my house, and that’s when I was living in a place in Goodwood, and we stayed up all night. I think I wore him out, we talked all night about it – haha, I reckon [that’s why] he probably ended up saying, ‘Yeah, I’m in’. So that’s how The Angels came about.
“Then, of course, the one year to knock off Sherbet turned into four. And, anyway, we never really wanted to knock off Sherbet – they’re friends of ours, too, so,” trails off laughing. “But, you know, there’s a bit of truth to that, because in those days you were really very competitive with all the other bands. It wasn’t quite the camaraderie that now exists with us all [pauses] – not that we hated anybody.
“I think we learnt a lot of that sort of attitude from AC/DC, ‘cause you’d talk to those guys back then and they always thought they were the greatest band in the world. And they were! When Bon Scott was in there – and don’t get me wrong, ‘cause I know and really like Brian [Johnson] – but Bon was, in my opinion, the greatest rock singer in the world.”
Honing “the nic-nics”: “That set us apart from AC/DC”
“I wrote a song called ‘I Ain’t the One’ and we all got really excited, because it was really kind of emphasising what we call nic-nics, which is, like, the bass strings on the guitar and it’s all down strokes. In other words it goes deh-deh-deh-deh-deh, you know? It’s really quite fast and ‘I Ain’t the One’ had that, and it was like, ‘That’s our sound; it’s no one else’s guitar sound.’
“It’s not like the nic-nics are our invention; other people have used them, but not the same way we did.
“So, you know, then we wrote ‘Take A Long Line’, I wrote ‘Marseilles’ and ‘After The Rain’ – all these songs have the nic-nics in ‘em and so we went, ‘Well that sets us apart from AC/DC – they’re great at what they do and now we’re great at what we do’ [laughs]. We never competed with them, we just recognised them for what they were, which is unbelievably great.
“You’re in the same record company as AC/DC, so you wanted to make sure you didn’t try and copy them.
“And in the process of all of that, Ray Hawkins was lighting us. He was just a friend of ours, but he got into the band as a lighting guy when our lighting guy at the time – whose name I can’t remember – broke his foot or toe or something or rather; he dropped a bass bin on it. We were on the road and we were in Adelaide, and Rick and I went up to Ray and said, ‘Can you light the band?’ And he said, ‘How do you do that?’ And we went, ‘Well let’s have a look at the rig.’
“He immediately started changing all the lights and putting lights going sideways and beams here and beams there and whatever, but immediately turned it into much more of a theatrical presentation.
“Both Doc and I did filmmaking and drama at Flinders University and, you know, when you’re a young band you’re trying to find out what you are and what your angle is, and why we would stand out from other bands, for example.
“At the same time, we had ‘I Ain’t the One’ et cetera, and also Doc went and saw Professor Wal Cherry – who was the guy at Flinders University, who was brilliant. And between the two of them they came up with this ‘demented aristocrat’ kind of idea. So Doc would come on stage looking like he was going to the Ascot Races, and then through the course of the performance he would dishevel.”
“We wore sunglasses and suddenly there was a whole look to the thing”
“And at the same time, Rick and I thought, ‘We’re much too boy next door kind of private school-educated boys, we should look a bit more mysterious. So we wore sunglasses and suddenly there was a whole look to the thing, you know? Musically, there was a feel to it. Stage presentation, there was a feel to it. And with Doc becoming theatrical, which of course he was…
“So it’s all very natural stuff, but at the same time it’s also designed. ‘Cause we lived and breathed it. I mean, we were in marriages et cetera – I feel sorry for those girls, they were wonderful. Yeah, none of the marriages survived, by the way. But we only think wonderful thoughts about those girls and the support that we had trying to get somewhere, back in the day when you could get into the old [Holden] EH station wagon and play seven nights a week!
“I mean, it was great, because we learnt how we do what we do, really, by writing songs, putting them on stage. And if we didn’t get much of a response, we’d shelve that song and go write another one.
“I had a Holden EH station wagon, which I sold to the band for $450. We spent yeeeeeaaars in that car. And that car never let us down. But when I look back, I just shake my head – I don’t know how the hell we did it! But we’re not alone; Cold Chisel could tell you the same sorta story. ‘Cause coming from Adelaide, we had to get across to the East Coast.
“It was AC/DC that caused us to move to Sydney – it was signing with them – and then we went, ‘We can’t stay in Adelaide and be signed in Sydney.’ These days you can actually live wherever you want – with the digital revolution – but then you had to be in the one place, and it was either Melbourne or Sydney. But because Vanda & Young were in Sydney, that’s where we went.”
The Angels relocated to Sydney from Adelaide in 1976 to commence work on their self-titled debut album, with legendary producers Vanda & Young.
Doc takes a long ride in the boot of Rick’s Peugeot
“It was Rick’s Peugeot – he had a Peugeot 404 – and we were driving back from somewhere like Taree into Sydney. And back in those days we used to do huge miles, you know? I remember once we drove from Sydney to Coffs Harbour to play a 45-minute opening set for John Paul Young. And we couldn’t afford the accommodation, so we jumped back in the car and drove back to Sydney – it’s about a seven-hour drive. We used to do that sorta stuff.
“And, anyway, Doc’s in the car – and Doc was tall, so he was very uncomfortable – and he’s going, ‘I can’t handle this, stop the car! Stop the car!’ So we stopped the car and he said, ‘Oh, look, I’m gonna lie down in the boot,’ so he did! [Laughs] So we’re driving along and we’d knock on the back thing and Doc would knock back to say, yeah, he’s still alive. The boot was shut; it was stupid. But we kept knocking and he’d knock back to say, ‘Yeah, I’m still here. I’m still alive.’
“It wasn’t a particularly smart idea, but… [Doc] hated flying, too. I’d hate to be that tall sitting on an aeroplane – your knees are up against the seat in front of you.”
“They can’t get rid of us, because we’re the guitar players and it’s a guitar band!”
The current Angels lineup features founding members Rick and John alongside John’s sons, Sam (bass) and Tom (drums), and now-frontman Nick Norton, who was formerly the band’s drummer.
“Here we are, 50 years later! Rick and I are the old guys in the band, but they can’t get rid of us because we’re the guitar players and it’s a guitar band! Haha. And, by the way, they don’t wanna get rid of us. I’ve got two sons in the band and they’re playing with us because they’re great musicians, not because they’re my sons. But it’s evolved this way; it’s become a bit of a family band. And Nick Norton out the front singing – people love him, we think he’s amazing.”
Ninety Nine: “I think it’s one of our best-ever albums”
“We did an album Ninety Nine a coupla years ago and I’m really proud of that album. I think it’s one of our best-ever albums, actually. I think of benchmark albums like Face to Face, No Exit, Dark Room – that trilogy’s pretty amazing, and that was the line-up with Buzz Bidstrup and Chris Bailey. The band did other albums, which were great, like [1990’s] Beyond Salvation – I wasn’t actually in the band for that one.
“I think Ninety Nine is one of our best. And that’s a real reflection on – in particular, my brother and Nick Norton and my son, Sam. From a creative point of view, I’m less involved in that album than the other ones, because I was getting over some fairly serious things – you know, I had a heart attack. So the boys went into the studio and finished that album. And I did my guitars on the road, in hotel rooms [laughs]. It was fantastic!”
When asked for a health update, John reassures, “I’m great, thank you. I used to be a surfer in the old days and they were the days when we used to kneel on the boards, and I think that played a part in me having really bad knees. So I’ve had both of my knees replaced and it’s the best thing ever! It’s just incredible.
“I’m getting older and getting younger at the same time. And I’m made of metal, now, hahaha… I’m getting old, but I don’t feel old. And I think the band helps me feel young, you know? I’m sort of bragging now, I guess, but our songs’ve stood the test of time and it’s great to play them. And to have sons play them with me is pretty amazing, too.
“Rick’s son Jody’s incredible, too – he could be in the band tomorrow – but he’s gone the jazz route. He’s a great jazz player. He plays sax, but he plays everything. I said to Rick one time, ‘Why don’t you add some piano to such and such?’ He said, ‘Oh, I’ll get Jody to do it; he’s much better than me.’ Well Rick won the eisteddfod in South Australia, on piano, when he was 16 years of age. Rick’s a great piano player.”
