After Goanna
Shane Howard started his solo career by releasing Back to the Track in 1988, other albums followed, River (1990), Time Will Tell (1993) and Clan (1996). In 1986 Rose Bygrave toured briefly playing Reggae with Australian Diva Wendy Saddington with Mick 'Python Lee' Liber on Guitar, Angelica Booth on Bass, Javier Fredis on Congas and Dezzy McKenna on Drums. At ENREC Studios in Tamworth they made one album Lightning Ridge which was never released. Bygrave then issued a solo single, "Maybe Midnight" in June 1989 and started worked on a solo album which was not released at the time. Bygrave's first solo album, White Bird, finally appeared in 1999 and was followed by Walking Home (2001) and North (2009). Marcia Howard released solo albums, Butterfly, in 2000 and Burning in the Rain, recorded in Ireland, and produced by Stephen Cooney, in 2004. Marcia's song 'Poison Tree' was recorded with Mary Black and released on the compilation C.D, 'A Woman's Heart- a Decade on ', in 2003.
In October 1998, Shane Howard, Marcia Howard and Bygrave reformed Goanna and recorded a third album Spirit Returns, released in November. Producing and joining the line-up as a musician and songwriter was Kerryn Tolhurst (The Dingoes), with other guest musicians on the album including Bill Jacobi (bass guitar) and Greg Sheehan (drums). The tracks ranged from the bluesy "What Else is a Life" (which was released as the first single), the country-inflected "This Old Town", to the politicised "Song for East Timor", as well as a cover of the Tolhurst-penned, The Dingoes track "Your Song". Marcia Howard's "Sorry", was written for Australia's 'stolen generation' of indigenous people and based upon Margaret Tuckers' story of a Cummeragunja woman taken from her family as a young girl. It was also influenced by the documentary Lousy Little Sixpence. Shane Howard continued the recording in Ireland with Stephen Cooney and Liam O'Maonlai (Hot House Flowers), while Tolhurst added the final touches in New York. Goanna were asked to perform the song at the first National Sorry Day at Parliament House in Canberra in 1998, the same morning the "Bringing Them Home" report was released. "Sorry" was released by Goanna both on CD and as a resource book and video as a Sorry Day resource by Fraynework . The video included live footage of Goanna performing at the Port Fairy Folk Festival inter-cut with footage of Lousy Little Sixpence.
In August–September 2006 Shane Howard performed "Solid Rock" as part of the Countdown Spectacular tour and was joined at the Melbourne concerts by his sister, Marcia, and Bygrave. In October, a number of Goanna's tracks featured in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown of songs (which was voted and chosen by the listeners) including:
- "Solid Rock" (ranked 427 out of 2006 songs)
- "Razor's Edge" (ranked 1232 out of 2006 songs)
Read more about this topic: Goanna (band)