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In another expanded edition of SHOAM Craig delves into 80′s Sydney band Dropbears‘ debut single “Fun Loving” and features an interview with frontman Johnny Batchelor.

The Dropbears only existed in the periphery of my memory, briefly clashing with the already discussed Beargarden in the “bear” stakes around the same time both bands had their brief moments of fame. The crossing of paths only occurred when Australia was granted their own version of the English teen-oriented music magazine Smash Hits in 1984, and in an effort to contribute Australian content, bands were often shoehorned in that really had no reason to be there, but good publicity can’t be ignored and if you’ve got a half-way decent looking frontman, a pin-up opportunity awaits. This is where I recalled my first sighting of a Dropbear* and I’m pretty sure throughout 1985 when they charted with “Shall We Go” there were several more. What happened after that, well who knows?

I’ll come clean, and while admitting as much that I was familiar with the name and that of its singer, the enigmatic-sounding Johnny Batchelor, I had never actually heard (or could recall hearing) one of their songs until last year. Granted, I was the epitome of the introspective and impressionable teenager when the only opportunity would’ve arisen and it’s understandable in those delicate years that if you weren’t called Duran Duran, chances are incredibly slim I would’ve given a flying fuck. The only records I owned around that time arrived during birthdays and Christmas, so I had to choose and choose well. The phrase “support your local band” really didn’t enter my head for many years to come.

According to their brief Wikipedia entry, the band was formed in Darlinghurst, Sydney in 1981 and consisted off Johnny Batchelor on guitar and vocals, Simon Rudlin on drums and Chris Toms on bass. “Fun Loving” was their debut single, released in 1981. Four more singles and one mini-album followed 1981 and 1985, charting with the “Shall We Go” single. The differences between “Fun Loving” and “Shall We Go” are too numerous to mention. They almost sound like completely different bands. No, actually, they do sound like completely different bands. I’ll save a discussion on “Shall We Go” for another time, but right now it’s all about where it began.

Five things I love about “Fun Loving”:

1. The way the song is pieced together, from the slow-building thin, scratchy guitar to the introduction of the first bass notes and that sharp snare hit. The song literally just creeps up on you, conspicuous by its lack of volume or intensity.

2. Johnny Batchelor’s softly sung lyrics is at odds with Chris Tom’s bouncing bassline, giving the song a tense/nervous feel. You don’t quite know the direction of the song at this point. It’s not punk (the bassist is though), it’s not rock, it’s not Detroit-garage, there are elements of a nascent post-punk sound that reminds me of Three Imaginary Boys-era Cure and Joy Division, without any excess British influence, but on the whole it sounds like a new band still finding their feet.

3. The clarity and sound quality between the instruments that instantly sets this song apart from their peers. This isn’t to say “Fun Loving” was made at 301 Studios with a fancy budget, but that the band managed to get the best sound possible without unnecessary overdubs or studio trickery that would’ve dated the record (and the rest of the 80s to come). Perhaps purely because of this “Fun Loving” has hardly aged at all. A young indie band could actually get away with pulling this song off today without sounding like they’d walked off the streets of Surry Hills when Malcolm Fraser was still in office.

4. The naïve lyrical charm and the way the simple melody in the chorus appears out of nowhere. The song is largely driven by Chris Tom’s bass, and when he reaches the chorus he plays a perfect Peter Hook-ish melodic bass figure, that puts the fun in “Fun Loving”. When you strip the song down to its parts you see how rudimentary the structure is. The song is your classic three chord trick, E > F > G (F & G are played as un-barred E chords on the second and fourth frets), then back to G for the chorus. In lieu of an unnecessary guitar solo over the bridge, the song just speeds up. With the exception of the dominant bassline there’s nothing out of the ordinary here, but that unexpected lift in the chorus is what makes this song so special.

5. I’m torn between how to interpret the song. It feels like a response to being dumped (“Tonight, something inside’s changed/you left me with my thoughts rearranged”) or from someone making him feel inadequate (“I feel strange, apart from it all/I feel about a size too small”) but when Johnny sings “Fun loving me,” it sounds positive and doesn’t really fit with either idea. To be honest, I really don’t know. First rule of songwriting: always keep them guessing.

In the interest of filling in the gaps for future music historians and finding an answer to the previous question (because I just hate not knowing), I tracked down Johnny Batchelor and asked him to talk about the history of the band and the origins of “Fun Loving”. Thanks for indulging us, Johnny. Next time I’m in town, I owe you a beer.

How did Dropbears get started?

Newly in Sydney, I had a band with Phil Hall, who later became Dropbear’s bass player, but when we had trouble with drummers (Kerry Jacobson, ex-Dragon kept falling off his stool) Phil left to join Sardine V. I noticed that a bass player lived downstairs; he made such a bloody racket everyday, so I invited him upstairs to join my new band. That was Chris Toms, aka Chris Cross, hardcore punk ex-Bedhogs, and we called the new band Dropbears, though god only knows why.

What were your influences and ideas behind forming the band? It’s strange, but I hear The Cure circa the first album in “Fun Loving”, is that far off the mark?

Sydney inner city in 1981 was a real post-punk melting pot of styles and tribes and bands, so much going on, while the suburbs were pretty much straight ahead Oz Rock. You could walk around town though and see all these different things like maybe X and Tactics and a punk and a ska band all in the same night. And the music crowd, whether they were punks or skins or mods or whatever, would be doing that. The scene wasn’t insular. I was into all kinds of stuff like, yeah, The Cure, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, The Ramones, lots more. The band didn’t really have “an idea” we just all new we had to be in a band. I had, I guess, an eclectic approach to song writing and Chris had a really unique bass style, so I guess we just did what we did.

Where did you record the single? The production is surprisingly sharp and clear, especially the balance between the instruments. How did you go about releasing it and what was the response like?

Fun Loving was recorded at Palm Studios which was a demo studio really but lots of indie bands did their first records there on the cheap. I did a custom pressing of five hundred copies to start with and walked around to all the Sydney music stores pleading with them to take a few. I took it in to JJJ and they loved it and put it on high rotation. Until then we were the band playing on the floor at the corner of the bar. After, we were headlining the Trade Union Club, which was quite cool.

When I think of the music scene in Sydney at the start of the ’80s I think of bands still doing that post-Birdman Detroit/garage rock thing, and in that context, “Fun Loving” really stands out on its own. What was the music scene like when you started? Where did you see Dropbears fitting in and who were the bands you felt shared a like mind?

Fun Loving was a bit unusual on the radio at that time; it started so quietly for one thing. As I said, there was heaps of different stuff going on in the inner city all the way from the post-Birdman fast and furious to wimpy pop like The Singles, who had probably stopped by then actually, then there was sort of power pop like Sunny Boys and baby electronica like Severed Heads. In that scene nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. We played a lot with Sunny boys and Sardine V, two bands that couldn’t be more dissimilar but it all seemed to fit at the time.

“Fun Loving” has an almost childish naivety to it. It sounds like you’ve been dumped by a girl, but when you reach the chorus, I can’t tell whether you’re questioning an accusation of not being much fun, or surprise that you were dumped because you’re a fun loving guy? So which is it? Or am I completely off the mark?

Ha, I’m glad it has some mystery for you. I guess it was about that state of naivety of youth where you meet someone and they have such an effect on you. It might be as simple as the way they stand or move their hands but you’re just so moved by them. Then it all happens again the next night. That’s it really: fun loving.

With the success of “Shall We Go” and the minor pop star status afforded to you in the teen music mags, what was it that lead to the demise of the band?

Gee, so many things contributed to our downfall. A big thing, probably, was that we managed ourselves, meaning that I was managing the band. And though I thought I was pretty clever, I wasn’t really equipped to deal with a multi-national record company, I didn’t really know how it all worked. Ironically, though, it was when we finally did get a manager, ’cause everyone said we were too big not to have one that we really came to strife. Everyone thought we were rich ’cause our pictures were everywhere but our new manager got us seriously in debt and the record company wouldn’t let us do an album, so we decided to quit. Funnily enough, we did a last tour to earn money to pay debts, ditched our manager and stripped it back to the three piece sound, and it was the most successful tour we ever did.

What are your thoughts on “Fun Loving”, a quarter of a century on, and what have you been up to in the intervening years?

That long ah? I still like that song. There is quite a bit in the back catalogue that I can’t stand to listen to but the singles don’t bother me too much. “Fun Loving” has a kind of nice frailty yet Chris’s bass line is so strong. After doing some solo projects I dropped right out of music for quite a while. I’ve got a new thing now though, a duo, drums and guitar, called Best Friend Ever. We’ll be playing around a bit, every now and then, and doing some recording soon, which will be up on MySpace probably in May. You should hear the drummer, he’s magic.

*In case you were wondering, a Dropbear is a fictional Australian marsupial that resembles a more vicious version of the koala. They inhabit treetops and drop onto their victims from above, hence the name. So, look out…

Dropbears – MySpace