Entertainment
The track was recorded in 1985 at Glebe Studios in Sydney. Engineered by David Richards and co-produced by David and the English producer Jon Kennett. The subsequent album “Culprit And The King” was produced by David Richards. The keyboard player in the clip is Tim Wedde a very talented musician who went on to play with the great Australian band The Flood.
Andrew Fagan’s Mockers were hugely successful in an early-mid 80s New Zealand obsessed with then-current crop of British pop. Fagan’s vocal inflection (slightly nasal, almost morrissey like at times) were the absolute focal point of the band, a pop-orientated rotating cast of support men, specifically noteable for the mammoth hit (and a genuine kiwi classic, despite how british it sounds) ‘forever tuesday morning’.
The band initially formed in 1979 as The Ambitious Vegetables, a highly visible member of the Wellington terrace community with the line-up of Gordon Costello, Andrew Fagan, Gary Curtis and Charlie Mannell who were all at Rongotai College together.
Their original songs were written by Gordon Costello when he was aged approximately 10, eg, “Strathmore Slum Shuffle”, etc, etc. Gary Curtis wrote many of their songs as well and continued on to write most of the music for The Mockers.
The lineup later became Andrew Fagan, Gary Curtis, Dean Hazelwood, Geoff Hayden, Tim Wedde and Brett Adams. Fagan (who had gone by the pseudonym ‘crumbed cutler’ in usual punk fashion) redubbed the band The Mockers with the original band line-up splintering (the others would surface as the red around the same time as the mockers made their debut).
Later members included Murray and Gordon Costello, Brendan Fitzgerald, and Steve Thorpe. Andrew Fagan won Top Male Vocalist of the Year in the 1985 RIANZ Awards. The Ambitious Vegetables was the pre-Mockers band. Their original line-up was: Andrew Fagan (vocals), Gordon Costello (lead guitar), Gary Curtis (bass & vocals) and Chas Mannell (drums).
The original Mockers line-up was Andrew Fagan, Gary Curtis, Chas Mannell and Dale Moynihan (guitar). This line-up lasted until 1982 when the members were variously fired by Fagan. The Ambitious Vegetables formed at Rongotai College in 1979.
They appeared on Radio With Pictures with their original tune ‘Who Needs It’. Band Members: Andrew Fagan (guitar, vocals) Gary Curtis (keyboards, vocals) Dean Hazelwood Geoff Hayden Tim Wedde Brett Adams Murry Costello Gordon Costello Brendan Fitzgerald Steve Thorpe Paul Lightfoot (guitar) 1984