Jimmy and The Boys - History

History

Ignatius Jones (born Jaun Ignacio Trapaga) and Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth (born William O'Riordan) were friends from Cranbrook and Riverview, exclusive private schools in Sydney. The pair founded Jimmy and the Boys in 1976 as a shock rock group with Tom Falkinham on bass guitar, Hairmouth on keyboards and vocals, Scott Johnston on drums and vocals Jones on lead vocals, Jason Morphett on saxophone and Andrew de Teliga on guitar. On-stage Jones was also a contortionist and Hairmouth was "the kitchiest of transvestites". Other than mainstays, Jones and Hairmouth, the line-up was regularly changed. By the end of the 1970s they were "one of the most popular live acts on the Australian scene". Australian rock music journalist, Jenny Hunter-Brown, described Jimmy and the Boys as a "high voltage package of filth, glorious filth". In 1978 Hairmouth and Jones were joined by Danny Damjanovic on saxophone and flute, Steven Hall on guitar and vocals (ex-Jasper), Barry Lytten on drums (Rabbit) and Michael Parks on bass guitar and vocals. In October 1979 the group issued their debut single, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" which is a cover version of The Kinks 1966 B-side of "Sunny Afternoon".

In November 1979 the group released their first studio album, Not Like Everybody Else, which was delayed after Astor Records decided it was "too obscene". It appeared on Avenue Records – a newly formed imprint by Festival Records "to handle Jimmy and the Boys". By April 1980, the new line-up included Joe P. Rick (Joe Atala) on guitar and vocals, who replaced Rick Sutton(Chariot), Michael Vidale on bass guitar and vocals, and a returning Johnston on drums and vocals. In May that year the band were featured on the cover of RAM (aka Rock Australia Magazine) which described the group, "heir performances featured politics, simulated sex and violent humour. Their stage antics involved the use of props, such as setting fire to dolls and maiming an effigy of Malcolm Fraser". In 1981 they scored their only top 10 single with "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk to Me", written by Split Enz leader, Tim Finn. According to the Split Enz radio documentary, Enzology (2005), Finn was initially unhappy with Jimmy and the Boys' version. The original demo by Finn appears on the album Other Enz (1999).

Their second studio album was July 1981's Teddy Boys' Picnic. Jimmy and the Boys briefly disbanded in January 1982 and Jones moved to the theatre stage, playing the dual roles of Eddie and Dr. Scott in the Australian revival of The Rocky Horror Show. In mid-1982 the band reformed for a national tour, which resulted in a live album, In Hell with Your Mother (1982) but they disbanded soon after. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, the group's performances "mixed S&M trappings, sex shop props, mock rape and other depravities with sub-Zappaesque humour, hard rock, jazz, reggae and disco". Following the second and final break up of the band, Warner Bros. Records signed Jones to a six-album record deal, of which little actually materialised, although Jones released a 1982 single "Like a Ghost". In the mid-1980s Jones and O'Riordan formed a swing jazz-cabaret band, Pardon Me Boys, with Jones' sister, Monica Trapaga – former Play School presenter – on lead vocals. Following his solo career, Jones co-wrote a book True Hip (1990), and in 2000 helped organise the opening ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.