The morning after
The incessant ringing of a doorbell finally permeated the disoriented brain of the scantily clad young woman as she stirred from the couch that had been her place of repose since losing consciousness some time in the preceding hours. She negotiated the mine field of bottles, cans, overflowing ash trays, half empty glasses and prostrate bodies to open the door to a disturbed landlady. The property owner seemed confused when confronted with an unfamiliar face and queried the whereabouts of her legal tennants. It had been about ten hours since the Dead Livers were judged winners of a heat in 3UZ's Country Music Battle of the Bands at the Reservoir Hotel, and the band and supporters had retired for celebrations at the bass guitarist's rented Kensington cottage. It was here that one of the guitarists had found himself wrapped around a toilet bowl in the early hours of the morning, and here that a handful of others ultimately sucumbed to the onslaught of drugs and alcohol as the grey dawn broke. The landlady seemed content, if unconvinced, to accept explanations, apologies and assurances, and an attempt to return the household to normality began amongst the survivors.
About 6 months earlier (April 16th 1978), brothers Edward and Brendan Mitchell, had co-ordinated an event at their East Brighton home, billing it "Mitchell and Mitchell's first annual Beer and Country Music Festival". Their backyard was to be transformed into a stage for a newly formed band, and they began recruiting musicians for rehearsals. Besides Edward and Brendan on guitar, other interested parties came to include Marty Atchison on vocals, Michael Schack on bass guitar and Tony Pizzi on drums. Another guitarist at the initial rehearsals was someone named Tony McGie, but it is uncertain whether he made the actual performance day. Additional female vocalists in the person of Yvonne Cohen, Jane Little and Margaret Sinnott added to the theatrics. The eventual invitation/advertising flyer for the event included the line "featuring the Dead Livers and guests" -- the band had a name.
The question "how did you get the name the Dead Livers?" has been asked many times since 1978. In a 1982 interview on Donnie Sutherland's "Sounds" TV show Marty Atchison responded to the question with "We've got about 14 answers to this one ... we were playing at a backyard barbecue and a mate said '... call yourselves the Dead Livers' ... so we said alright we'll call ourselves the Dead Livers and it just sort of stuck". In the same interview Michael Schack contributed "we did have a few people with drinking problems at that point in time", adding "we've cured that now though".
In 2007 Brendan Mitchell threw some more light on the subject in a small piece he published online. In it he is quoted as saying "Bout '76 , '77 there was a bloke by the name of Nils who used to do the art work for various music venues , bands , music press , that sort of thing : the Fred Negro of the '70's . Bernie Slattery was telling me about one particular flyer for the Station hotel in Prahran that had the line---come to the Station hotel where all the dead livers hang out---or something like that . Bernie said "what a great name for a band" and I thought well no , not really , it's a #.)%! of a name . Sometime later while driving a taxi and making up songs I came up with the "Ballad of a dead liver" which was very similar musically to "Amazing Grace used to be her favourite song " by the (Amazing) Rhythm Aces, which was my favourite song at the time .... I started getting pretty keen on getting a band going and calling it the Dead Livers after the song ".
At any rate the name stuck and became as much a focal point as the music. In the initial stages some people in the media and the country music industry suggested a name change might be beneficial to the band's long term career prospects, and one Sunday afternoon members held a beer laden meeting to choose an alternate moniker. No agreement could be reached, although the label "Delivery" (derived from de Livers) was adopted momentarily before defaulting to the original appellation. One performance is recalled under the name "Delivery" -- at the Lady Bay Hotel in Warrnambool on Friday April 6th 1979.
About 6 months earlier (April 16th 1978), brothers Edward and Brendan Mitchell, had co-ordinated an event at their East Brighton home, billing it "Mitchell and Mitchell's first annual Beer and Country Music Festival". Their backyard was to be transformed into a stage for a newly formed band, and they began recruiting musicians for rehearsals. Besides Edward and Brendan on guitar, other interested parties came to include Marty Atchison on vocals, Michael Schack on bass guitar and Tony Pizzi on drums. Another guitarist at the initial rehearsals was someone named Tony McGie, but it is uncertain whether he made the actual performance day. Additional female vocalists in the person of Yvonne Cohen, Jane Little and Margaret Sinnott added to the theatrics. The eventual invitation/advertising flyer for the event included the line "featuring the Dead Livers and guests" -- the band had a name.
The question "how did you get the name the Dead Livers?" has been asked many times since 1978. In a 1982 interview on Donnie Sutherland's "Sounds" TV show Marty Atchison responded to the question with "We've got about 14 answers to this one ... we were playing at a backyard barbecue and a mate said '... call yourselves the Dead Livers' ... so we said alright we'll call ourselves the Dead Livers and it just sort of stuck". In the same interview Michael Schack contributed "we did have a few people with drinking problems at that point in time", adding "we've cured that now though".
In 2007 Brendan Mitchell threw some more light on the subject in a small piece he published online. In it he is quoted as saying "Bout '76 , '77 there was a bloke by the name of Nils who used to do the art work for various music venues , bands , music press , that sort of thing : the Fred Negro of the '70's . Bernie Slattery was telling me about one particular flyer for the Station hotel in Prahran that had the line---come to the Station hotel where all the dead livers hang out---or something like that . Bernie said "what a great name for a band" and I thought well no , not really , it's a #.)%! of a name . Sometime later while driving a taxi and making up songs I came up with the "Ballad of a dead liver" which was very similar musically to "Amazing Grace used to be her favourite song " by the (Amazing) Rhythm Aces, which was my favourite song at the time .... I started getting pretty keen on getting a band going and calling it the Dead Livers after the song ".
At any rate the name stuck and became as much a focal point as the music. In the initial stages some people in the media and the country music industry suggested a name change might be beneficial to the band's long term career prospects, and one Sunday afternoon members held a beer laden meeting to choose an alternate moniker. No agreement could be reached, although the label "Delivery" (derived from de Livers) was adopted momentarily before defaulting to the original appellation. One performance is recalled under the name "Delivery" -- at the Lady Bay Hotel in Warrnambool on Friday April 6th 1979.
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