Original Members
The original Tully members were all seasoned veterans of the Sydney club scene. NZ-born John Blake had previously played in Johnny O'Keefe's backing band The Dee Jays (1959), The Chessmen (1961), the Jimmy Sloggett Five (1963–64) and Max Merritt & the Meteors (1965). Carlos and Blake had both been members of popular Sydney mid-60s club band Little Sammy And The In People (1966–67).
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor met in the 1968 lineup of Levi Smith's Clefs, the Sydney R&B band led by veteran R&B singer Barrie "The Bear" McAskill. Many prominent Australian performers played in the various incarnations of this seminal Sydney club band and former members of the Clefs subsequently several other major Australian bands including Tully and Fraternity.
Carlos, Lockwood, Blake and Taylor left Levi Smith's Clef at the end of 1968 to formed Tully. Like their Sydney contemporaries Tamam Shud Tully's music combined many disparate influences including pop, rhythm & blues, soul, modern jazz, classical music, folk/world music and psychedelic rock. Unusually for that period in Australia, Tully played mostly original compositions and improvisation was a key feature of their performances.
Like Tamam Shud, Tully had close associations with Sydney underground media collective UBU; their debut concert as Tully was at the final UBU Underground Dance at Paddington Town Hall on 4 January 1969 supported by The Id (after which the dances were banned from the Hall because of complaints about the noise and the "casual attire" of patrons), and they played at many subsequent UBU gigs.
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