Band of Light was an Australian heavy blues style based rock band formed in October 1972 and disbanded in late 1974. Phil Key was the founding member, bringing with him Peter Roberts, both of whom were originally with The La De Das. Ian Rilen (bass) replaced Roberts after three gigs, with Norm Roue (slide guitarist) and Tony Buettel (drummer) joining to complete the lineup. The band allowed Phil to develop his own songs written with his wife Pam, under the pseudonym of Wheel, using a quasi-religious philosophy which explored themes of racial equality, social justice, spiritual harmony and cosmic enlightenment. The music was energetic and funky with a heavy blues and boogie style interlaced with intense slide guitar work. In early 1973 they signed a recording contract with WEA, releasing two LP's, one EP and four singles. They worked consistently touring from Sydney to Melbourne doing pub gigs and concerts whilst playing alongside such bands as Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Carson, Coloured Balls (Lobby Loyde's band), Chain, Madder Lake and Buffalo. They highlighted themselves during the 1973 Sunbury Music Festival, and were included on the resulting live concert triple LP set "The Great Australian Rock Festival Sunbury 1973" with the track "Messin' with the Kid". Phil Key disbanded the group in late 1974 and died in May 1984 of a congenuial heart condition. Ian Rilen died from bladder cancer at the age of 59 on 30 October 2006.
Their albums have long been sought after as rarity vinyl's with 'Total Union' fetching up to A$300, 'The Archer' USD 100 and the EP 'Band of Light' USD $250. 'Total Union' is now re-released as a remastered CD, with the 'Archer' to follow later in 2007.
Read more about Band Of Light: Band Members, Discography
Famous quotes containing the words band of, band and/or light:
“And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.”
—Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1783–1835)
“Nothing makes a man feel older than to hear a band coming up the street and not to have the impulse to rush downstairs and out on to the sidewalk.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)