Melbourne singer Karen Marks found her footing in music, first through rock journalism and then in band management. Formally of Adelaide, newly arrived synth-punks JAB (Johnny Crash, Ash Wednesday and Bodhan X) approached her for representation and JAB were signed to Suicide Records in January 1978, and two of their songs, "Blonde and Bombed" and "Let's Go", were included on the Lethal Weapons compilation of 1978. They played at the Crystal Ballroom's opening night. Wednesday and Crash would soon dissolve JAB, enlisting Mark Ferrie and Sean Kelly to create Models. Still under Mark's management, Models became one of the fastest rising new bands of the punk movement, playing to full houses of dedicated and frenzied fans everywhere. Sadly, internal frictions forced Marks and Wednesday to leave after two years.
Her creative relationship with Wednesday fortified with the co-production of his 1980 machine-pop prank ''Love By Numbers'', her swooning chorus uplifting his deadpan count to 100, before the two collaborated on Marks’ own recording persona. ''Cold Café / Won't Wear It For Long'' was released on the Astor label in 1981 with future Icehouse member Robert Kretschmer on guitar.
Fans know of one more recording, ''You Bring These Things'', a forlorn arrangement of an otherwise unreleased Paul Kelly song, gifted to her by the revered wordsmith. The track only ever appeared on the Astor promotional LP 'Terra Australis', alongside Mike Brady's ''Up There Cazaly'' and Joe Dolce's ''Shaddup Your Face'' - hard proof that the label grossly misunderstood her talent (Marks recalls their persistent requests to show midriff and cleavage). Locked in a dissatisfying label arrangement and at this stage unwilling to follow her peers to greener pastures overseas, she felt her only way out was to cease all further activities. In 2019 label Efficient Space reissued the complete works of Karen Marks in May. The result is a five-track EP.
No comments:
Post a Comment