For some unfathomable reason Spectrum hasn’t played in Sydney for an awfully long time, to the point that some of our audience might not be aware that Spectrum still exists. Mind you, Facebook fairly exploded when Bill Putt, my musical buddy for forty-four years, died suddenly in August of last year and a crowd of 1500 from all points round Australia turned up to his memorial, so clearly a lot of people still remember Spectrum with some fondness.
Despite not playing in Sydney of late, Spectrum has been constantly treading the musical highways and by-ways round Oz and further afield since I’ll Be Gone (Someday I’ll have money) reached the No. 1 position on the charts back in 1971. (Remember charts?) Along the way there’ve been personnel and name changes, but we’ve been called Spectrum again since the late nineties and I’m comfortable with that.
So, what does the Spectrum of today look, and perhaps more importantly, sound like in 2014? Well, today’s Spectrum still sounds like a band, mostly because, apart from newbie Broc O’Connor who took over Bill’s role on bass, drummer Peter ‘Robbo’ Robertson and keyboardist Daryl Roberts have been playing with me since the nineties, so on-stage the band can anticipate and adjust empathetically just like the Spectrum of old.
And, of course, we still play vintage Spectrum songs like I’ll Be Gone, Going Home, Launching Place Part 2, Make Your Stash, and Fly Without its Wings, plus Indelible Murtceps’ songs like We Are Indelible and Some Good Advice as well as Ariel songs like Jamaican Farewell, Red Hot Momma and Hard Way To Go.
Apart from the ‘70s repertoire we also play a selection of more contemporary Mike Rudd songs written in the intervening thirty or so years - and when the mood takes us we’ll play some blues tunes in our Spectrum Plays the Blues alter ego.

Spectrum’s keyboardist Daryl Roberts has a band of his own called Hey Gringo and they’re touring NSW simultaneously to Spectrum, so it’s a natural pairing to have the Gringos playing a support role for Spectrum’s one-off Sydney show. Alongside Daryl are Dean Haitani on guitar and drummer Ivan Frost. You can look forward to boogie piano, hot sax, steamy harmonica and quirky guitar over a layer of irresistible rockin’ roots and rhythm.