MOTHER GOOSE 1975 - 1984 and a one-off on March 23rd 2007 | Welcome to the Drum Studio

MOTHER GOOSE 1975 - 1984 and a one-off on March 23rd 2007

See the Live Shots page for March 07 reunion concert photos. MOTHER GOOSE What can you say about Mother Goose? The band really was one out of the bag on all counts. There was never anything like it before and there’ll never be anything like it again. It was a unique piece of rock’n roll, vaudeville, theatre that just seemed to hit the mark wherever it played. + Photo by Craig Baxter,Dunedin taken at the Re-sound concert March 23rd 2007 The original concept of the way out costumes, a mad stage performance and pumping rock music was motivated by the desire to stand out from the rest, to make a point to be better than any other local/national band and hopefully take the world on. At the first rehearsal every band member was asked to turn up with something ridiculous to wear. I went home and dug up a green and red pixie outfit complete with pointy hat that I wore when I was eight years old in a school play. I tried it on and, amazingly, it still fitted if a little tight in the chest! The early photos of Mother Goose reveal some ridiculous looking outfits that made no sense whatsoever but looked hilarious on. Over time the outfits became a bit more identifiable, a sailor, a pixie, a baby in nappies, a ballerina, minnie mouse and a bumble bee. We also strived to make the music different to anything that was going on at that time. We had all come from local rock cover bands and the idea of creating our own music was really exciting. The early musical ideas came from keyboard player Steve Young, singer Craig Johnston and guitarist Peter Dickson. Before our first ever gig at Nods Nightclub, Dunedin on November 25th 1975, we rehearsed at the Dunedin City Highland Pipe Band hall in Maclaggan St. We stayed there for three solid weeks working nine to five. We’d break for morning and afternoon tea and have a one hour lunch. No alchohol was drunk till the end of the day. This was a working regime unheard of in those early days. It was like having a day job but it worked. We got lots of work done. We also did a lot of laughing at the hilarious ideas floating around, ideas for the very first stage show. That pipe band hall is essentially where the whole future Mother Goose concept was initiated and implemented. I often flash back to those times when I drive past there today… the building looks exactly the same and is still operated by the City of Dunedin (pipe) Band. An interesting point not many people know is that when the band first started making a name for itself, everyone thought that because of our frantic, manic and mad stage performance, that we have must been on something. The funny thing is that at all our gigs Mother Goose were drug and alcohol free. We saved the partying till immediately after the gigs. The drink rider was always delivered to our dressing room during the show and not before. Ok, in a nine year history that rule may have been broken a dozen times or so but, in all honesty, that habit of not drinking before the show, developed in the pipe band hall in Dunedin in 1975, stuck for the duration of our career. For me, the whole thing was a blast. Really, the life and times of Mother Goose could fill a book. But this is not the place for a tell all, warts and all look at nine years of successes and failures, hits and flops, incredible highs and incredible lows, bad management and bad decisions, fantastic beaches, fantastic parties, great songs and not so great songs, band members leaving, record company hassles, wonderful band camaraderie, stadium shows and tiny clubs, relationships and bust ups, overseas tours, rip off managers, awesome gigs, funny gigs, rotten gigs, an enviable lifestyle and the one big adventure that this was. There’s too much to tell….. suffice to say that the photos and press stuff on this website should give you indication of how it was at different times in our career. There’s no doubt that for all of our fans, road crews, tour managers, media, record companies, booking agents and all those millions of people who were involved with us at some time or another, Mother Goose brought a sense of fun, adventure and serious rock’n roll to their gigs. That’s how I remember it and I have well and truly buried it with the memory that each time we ran onstage to 20 people or 20,000 people, we were there to ‘kill’. It wouldn't matter where we were or who they were. Everyone got the same treatment. I would suggest that for those punters and fans who came to our shows time and time again, year after year, they left their venues satisfied, knowing we had done just that. If you were one of them... thank you!