LaDeDas

Kevin Borich is Australia’s leading guitar virtuoso. He arrived with the La De Das
from New Zealand and they proved themselves to be one of the tightest
hardworking rock & roll bands in the world. They took the Australian charts by
storm with tracks like Borich's “Gonna See My Baby Tonight” and Chuck Berry's
" Too Pooped To Pop" which had the smarts of great pop records underpinned
by a crack band.
Glenn A. Baker

From their beginnings as a tough garage/R&B band to their final years as an exciting hard rock/boogie outfit, New Zealand's La De Das did it all.
Over the course of ten years together, La De Das recorded five albums, toured Britain and Europe, scored hit singles and established themselves as one of the most innovative bands in Australia.

Bruce Howard
Trevor Wilson
Kevin Borich
Phil Key
Brett Neilsen

When a bunch of idealistic 16-year-old musicians formed the La De Das
(originally called The Mergers) in Auckland during 1964, they had
immediate designs on following in the footsteps of national heroes
like Ray Columbus and the Invaders and Max Merritt and the Meteors.

Alongside the likes of The Pleazers, Chants R&B, The Avengers, The
Gremlins, The Underdogs, Larry's Rebels and Human Instinct, La De Das
were at the forefront of a vibrant New Zealand pop scene. La De Das'
debut single, `Little Girl'/`Ever Since that Night' (June 1965), was a
low-key slice of Rolling Stones-derived R&B Boogie issued on the local
Talent City label. Bruce Howard (organ, vocals) joined La De Das in 1965
and the band turned professional. La De Das signed to Philips and issued
the classic single, The Blues Magoos' `How is the Air Up There?'/`The
Pied Piper', which reached #4 on the New Zealand charts in May 1966.
The single also topped the Sydney charts.

From there the band issued one tough garage-punk single after another:
`Don't You Stand in My Way'/`I Take What I Want' (June 1966), Chester
Burnett's `On Top of the World'/`Hey Girl' (November), Bruce Channel's
`Hey Baby'/`Other Love' (a New Zealand #1 in March 1967), `All Purpose
Low'/`My Girl' (June) and `Rosalie'/`Find Us a Way' (September).
The band's first two albums, La De Das and Find Us a Way, plus the EP
`Stupidity', are also highly regarded by 1960s aficionados.
Having conquered New Zealand, La De Das set their sights on Australia.

La De Das made one tentative foray on to the Australian scene in mid
1967, but their brand of R&B made little impact. By the time La De Das
arrived back in Australia at the start of 1968 (with new drummer
Bryan Harris, ex-Action), they had changed direction. La De Das were
one of the first local bands to include covers of Vanilla Fudge, Doors
and Traffic (and later The Band) material in its repertoire.
Billed as `The Beautiful La De Das', the band was at the forefront of the
Australian flower power movement.

La De Da’s release ‘The Happy Prince’ is Australia’s first concept album.
With new drummer Keith Barber (ex-Wild Cherries) on board, the band
set about recording its ambitious concept album The Happy Prince
(based on the Oscar Wilde fairytale). 1969 was the year of the rock opera
(The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow, The Who's Tommy, The Kinks' Arthur)
and, upon its release in April, The Happy Prince was praised for its quality
musicianship and production values. Despite the fine playing, it was an
overly serious and flawed album, and duly sank without a trace. `Come
and Fly with Me' / `Swallow Little Swallow' was lifted as a single in May.

La De Das flew to the UK in April 1969. By that stage, psychedelia had
been replaced by Led Zeppelin-style heavy blues, and La De Das' brand
of soft psychedelic pop was outdated. La De Das did record a version of
The Beatles' `Come Together'/`Here is Love' as a single (September
1969), but the disastrous nine-month UK sojourn did little for the band's
confidence.
Back in Australia, La De Das changed direction again, and were
eventually hailed as one of the funkiest, hard- -driving rock outfits in
Australia. By 1972 it was this concept of straightforward, gutsy rock'n'roll
which resulted in the La De Das, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and Daddy
Cool becoming the country's three top groups.

Meanwhile, Wilson had not returned from the UK. In disarray, the band
recruited fellow New Zealander Reno Tehei (bass; ex-Compulsion, Luke's
Walnut, Genesis). Wilson eventually returned to the fold as guitarist, but
the three-guitar line-up just did not work. The band's tenth single, the
delicate, flute-led ballad `Sweet Girl' /`I Can't Find a Reason' (January
1971) bombed. 1970 had been a transitional year for the band, and by
the end of it Howard had left to join Levi Smith's Clefs (and later Billy
Thorpe and the Aztecs), Wilson had also departed (later to join Home)
and Tehei had been deported back to New Zealand. With the addition of
Peter Roberts on bass (ex-Freshwater), La De Das spent 1971 consolidating
their position as one of the hardest working bands on the scene.

The funky, infectious singles `Gonna See My Baby Tonight'/`Fare
Thee Well' (September 1971) which brought them a Top Ten hit,
spending twenty-eight weeks in all in the charts, and `Morning
Good Morning'/`You and Me' (March 1972) featured Phil Key on
vocals. Key and Roberts left in October 1972 to form Band of Light,
and as a three-piece (with new bass player Ronnie Peel; ex-Missing
Links, Pleazers, Rockwell T. James and the Rhythm Aces, Browns,
One Ton Gypsy), the La De Das pulled out all stops.

The La De Das featured prominently at the inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival which
also featured Billy Thorpe, Max Merritt, Spectrum, and Chain in January 1972,
and alongside The Aztecs and Friends managed to attract one of the largest
crowds ever assembled in Australia at a concert at Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl
(estimated at over 200000 people).

Borich was now firmly entrenched as Australia's guitar hero supremo;
his superb rendition of Jimi Hendrix's workout on Dylan's `All Along the
Watchtower' became a signature, and the band was never allowed to
finish a gig until delivering it. The fiery Rock and Roll Sandwich (the
band's first album in five years, issued November 1973 and probably the
first Kevin Borich album) considered their best album and came nearest
to capturing their admired live energy on vinyl. Kevin Borich wrote
(or co-wrote) all the material, sang every song and backed them
superbly with electric and/or acoustic guitars and piano. It remains a
classic boogie rock album. The singles `I'll Never Stop Loving
You'/ `It's the Beginning' (December 1972) and `The Place'/`No Law
Against Having Fun' (March 1974) maintained the pace but were not
chart hits. The band's final singles, punchy, commercial covers of Chuck
Berry's `Too Pooped to Pop'/ `She Tell Me What to Do' (#26 in July 1974)
and Hank Williams' `Honky Tonkin''/ `Temple Shuffle' (August 1974),
were minor national hits. `Too Pooped to Pop' also peaked at #13 in
Melbourne. La De Das supported UK glam-rocker Gary Glitter on his
July 1974 Australian tour.

In March 1975, EMI gathered up the band's recent singles and four unissued
tracks for the compilation album Legend, in a superb gatefold sleeve with an
intricate leatherwork pattern, as something of a contractual obligation.

In the early 70s the La De Das and especially KB were in great demand
as session musicians and backing instrumentalists and the group spilt to
go its different ways. By May 1975, the band had run its course.
After playing with John Paul Young and the All Stars for several months,
Borich re-formed La De Das briefly with a line-up comprising Peel, Warren
Morgan (piano; ex-Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs) and Johnny Dick (drums;
ex-Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs), all of whom were also concurrently in
The All Stars.
By early 1976, Borich had formed the Kevin Borich Express.

Phil Key died of a heart attack in 1984. Trevor Wilson still plays in Australia.
Bruce Howard relocated to London, where he still works as a songwriter.
Brett Neilson lives in Auckland where he is still active on the pub circuit.

The La De Da's came together one more time in New Zealand in 1992
for the Galaxie reunion gig and played a blistering set which they dedicated
to the memory of Phil Key. In 1995 the "Legend" album was re-released on
CD. It was called "Best Of The La De Da's Legend"

There a 2 La De Das - Anthology CDs.

Information Sources and to purchase available La De Das CDs visit