Graeham Goble - Early Career

Early Career

Goble was drawn to music, in particular its harmonies, at an early age. "My early influences were bands like The Beatles, The Hollies, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Bread and I always wanted to be in a band with harmonies. ... From my very first band we had 3 part harmonies"

Starting out as a drummer, Goble quickly progressed to the banjo. "As soon as I had a stringed instrument in my hands I suddenly had all these melodies." Thereafter came the transition to guitar.

A number of bands followed in quick succession: The Silence (1966–67), Travis Wellington Hedge (1968), Allison Gros (1969–71) and Drummond (1971). Each of these bands was recorded, and Goble fans are always keen to hunt down the vinyl.

Allison Gros recorded their first single ("Naturally") on the Gamba label. Record producer David Mackay, impressed with this record, brought the band to the attention of Ron Tudor, owner of the Fable label. Tudor arranged for Allison Gros to travel from Adelaide to Melbourne where the band recorded two singles, "If I Ask You" and "All The Days".

The members of Allison Gros were recruited to record the song "Daddy Cool" but their Chipmunk version was so atypical that they recorded under the fictitious name Drummond. Drummond would provide Goble with his first Number 1 hit single, albeit through unusual circumstances. The Australian band Daddy Cool released their debut album in July 1971. That album contained the eponymous song "Daddy Cool", however, the song was overshadowed by the monster hit "Eagle Rock". The website milesago.com reports their achievement thus: "Drummond's dopey Chipmunks-style assault on the vintage rocker Daddy Cool was a blatant cash-in on the success of Daddy Cool the group, who had covered it on their first LP and had taken their name from it. Incomprehensibly, Drummond's version became one of the biggest Australian hits of the year, knocking Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock off the #1 spot." "Daddy Cool" would remain on top of the charts for seven weeks from 6 September. The song is available for listening here:

The success of the hit song "Daddy Cool" brought about greater awareness of Allison Gros/Drummond and led to a recording contract with the new independent record label Bootleg. The band morphed yet again, this time adopting the name Mississippi. Still consisting of Goble, Russ Johnson and John Mower, the band was augmented by session musicians for the recording of their first, self-titled album.

The first single released by Mississippi would provide Goble with his first chart success as a songwriter, the song "Kings of the World" climbing to the Top 5. The album Mississippi would attract further success, receiving the ARIA Award for Best Group Album of 1972, with "Kings of the World" awarded Best Group Single.

With a successful album and single behind them, Mississippi decided to hit the road. To fill out their live sound, the band was enhanced by the addition of top musicians including Beeb Birtles (an ex-member of the band Zoot, he had emigrated as a child from The Netherlands to Goble's home town of Adelaide) and drummer Derek Pellicci. The first appearance of the expanded Mississippi took place on 28 October 1972 at Corbould Hall, Ballarat. With various personnel changes, but always including Goble, Birtles and Pellicci, Mississippi would go on to notch up over 400 live performances in 1972–74.

England was still the proving ground for aspiring Australian bands in the seventies. Mississippi decided to try their luck overseas on the back of encouraging interest in their album. So, in April 1974, the band sailed off as the resident band on the Fairsky, playing 28 nights during the voyage.

Prior to their departure, Mississippi recorded a single consisting of the songs "Will I" and "Where In The World". The latter song marked the first co-written song for Goble and Birtles, and Birtles recalls that "it's still one of my favourites to this day." The song is available for listening here:

The British venture proved to be disastrous. As Beeb Birtles recalls, "our management booked us to play the absolute worst disco gigs in and around London and it wasn't too long before we all knew the writing was on the wall. Mississippi fell apart in a matter of months. While the band members took temporary jobs and Goble headed off for a belated honeymoon, the core members Goble, Birtles and Pellicci still believed that the band had a future. They enlisted ex-Masters Apprentices bassist Glenn Wheatley as manager and recruited the very experienced Glenn Shorrock (formerly with The Twilights and Axiom) as lead singer and frontman. It was agreed that the nucleus of the new band would meet in Melbourne in January 1975.