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Speaker 1: We would be singing a man at Work song to

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Speaker 1: twelve hundred people, and men at work began the roads.

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Speaker 2: Not only did the people party in the venue, but

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Speaker 2: the dance was away lock clesy Lisses, per pub crawl

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Speaker 2: at Pinocchio's.

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Speaker 1: Magnet Houses, resurrecting Pinocchio's for one night only Magnet House,

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Speaker 1: a mecca of dance and diversity right in the heart

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Speaker 1: of the city.

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Speaker 2: The man who was fresh out of the Air Force

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Speaker 2: and onto the stages of Perth with the rookies, Tom

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Speaker 2: Tapping and Ghetto made. How are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm going really well mate. I'm on the beach in

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Speaker 1: your poon in Queensland as we speak, and it's twenty yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know, it's about twenty two degrees. And then Ringo,

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Speaker 1: my best mate, is chasing seagulls.

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Speaker 2: Are very good. Oh what what breed is Ringo?

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Speaker 1: Name it? Yeah, he's a bit of that. Yeah, he's

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Speaker 1: the least challenged in the band. And everyone reckons, everyone

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Speaker 1: reckons he's shooting dorky day.

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Speaker 2: I love that his name's Ringo.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's half half the temperature here. It's eleven degrees

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Speaker 2: in Perl and rain around him.

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Speaker 1: Mate.

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Speaker 2: We wanted to bring up some memories of course, and

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Speaker 2: the Rookies were a band that you played the Raffles

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Speaker 2: and rock Wells, and as I mentioned, I noted someone

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Speaker 2: posting this week that video of you guys at the

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Speaker 2: Warrick Hotel great memories.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't seen. I'd never seen that video until last

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Speaker 1: night when Carlo Carlo posted it. He threatened to do

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Speaker 1: it a few times and let that loose and I

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Speaker 1: don't recognize the skinny bloke they got up and sang it.

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Speaker 1: I don't know some well, he wasn't long haired in

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Speaker 1: those days. You're right. What many people didn't know is

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Speaker 1: I'd come out of six years in the Air Force

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Speaker 1: and I've been a DJ around pers in pubs at

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Speaker 1: places like the Warrick and the Clovid Aale and mostly

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Speaker 1: the Well the Bolger basically which was the Sundowner or

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Speaker 1: the stage door or whatever you want to pull it

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Speaker 1: on any particular week, and worked with I heard Pete

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Speaker 1: Borg and Todd this week, and worked with bands locally

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Speaker 1: like the Motors and Trains and and and the Preludes,

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Speaker 1: so Todd with with Beavers and Harlequin Tears and Steal

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Speaker 1: on the Beam and all those sorts of bands. And

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Speaker 1: and then while I saw in the Air Force, I

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Speaker 1: called a excuse the intentional pun, but a really crappy

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Speaker 1: little band called Spens and yeah and uh and uh

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Speaker 1: and and true story, we we called it s Beens

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Speaker 1: because the Daily News wouldn't let us let us call

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Speaker 1: it cunning stunts. Really why yeah, no humor no, yeah, and.

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Speaker 2: Himself after a couple of beers.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely well, we didn't get we did get called worse

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Speaker 1: at various Yeah. Yeah, so so we we sort of

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Speaker 1: had a bit of an initiation. I was in the

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Speaker 1: Air Force. We used to play like places like the

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Speaker 1: Boragoon and we go down to some leisure in and

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Speaker 1: rocking or down to Bunbery or Bustleton or whatever. And

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Speaker 1: also some of our highlight gigs and some of my

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Speaker 1: best mates from those days we're in the Air Force

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Speaker 1: and we would play pay night discos every second Thursday

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Speaker 1: up up at ps and they were wild affairs and

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Speaker 1: there's some stories I would love to tell, but well

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Speaker 1: enough to show sometimes the name the Rockies actually is

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Speaker 1: that something?

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Speaker 2: Does that come from? Something to do with your time

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Speaker 2: in the Air Force.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that was so. Gary Grant approached me and he'd

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Speaker 1: been playing in a whole bunch of bands around the

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Speaker 1: place with a Hustler and various other incarnations Bowery Boys

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Speaker 1: at one stage, and he approached me towards the end

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Speaker 1: of my time at Air Force and said, look, you're

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Speaker 1: not very good, but I think you've got a bit

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Speaker 1: of potential. And so we decided to form a band.

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Speaker 1: I went to my parents placed the dinner one night

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Speaker 1: and broke the news to them I was going to

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Speaker 1: leave my government contract in my career and my trade

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Speaker 1: and going for a rock and roll band. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: and anyway after they died, job aside. Yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: very very funny. And and so we formed and we

81
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Speaker 1: started auditioning and and and rehearsing and such and and

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Speaker 1: and we we found a drummer that could play the

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Speaker 1: the drum solo from Power and the Passion.

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Speaker 2: By the oil rob not easy to emulate.

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Speaker 1: No, no, So so Rod Paigels came in and he

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Speaker 1: auditioned with us and literally had charted that drum solo

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Speaker 1: right down to the last cow bell. So we've gone holy,

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Speaker 1: holy whatever and and yeah, heck that was the word,

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, And and and so we thought

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Speaker 1: he's a guy that can play. And then we've got

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Speaker 1: Mel McIntosh on guitar, who you know now and I

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Speaker 1: sort of never never really saw right, but he was,

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Speaker 1: you know, a great guitarist, really terrific guitarist. And then

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Speaker 1: and then we auditioned a second. We're a bloke by

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Speaker 1: the name of James Morley. And and so James was

96
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Speaker 1: sixteen and auditioned as a drummer, and as a drummer

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Speaker 1: he was a really good truck driver and and and

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Speaker 1: you know, so it is a very funny story. He yeah,

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Speaker 1: we auditioned him after we auditioned rot and said, yeah, mate,

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Speaker 1: thanks for no thanks, and he said, and we said,

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Speaker 1: we're still looking for a bass player. And he goes,

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Speaker 1: I can play bass, and yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: the ones that like to hang out with musicians. And

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Speaker 1: and so the following week he comes in and plays

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Speaker 1: the same songs. He got us to hire a guitar

106
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Speaker 1: and ant for him because he couldn't get one, and

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Speaker 1: and he plays with the handful of songs and does

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Speaker 1: backing vocals and all the rest of it. We go, okay, well,

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Speaker 1: your audition is the drummer. How long it be in

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Speaker 1: paying bass and he looked at his watch, I mean

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Speaker 1: half out, and we thought, and we've gone no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: not today, you idiot. How long? Half an hour? I've

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Speaker 1: never actually held a base before in my life. Bigger

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Speaker 1: than I thought. And what he'd done the week before

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Speaker 1: after the drum alledition, he went home, took the top

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Speaker 1: two strings off his beating up old acoustic, learned the

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Speaker 1: bass lines and and fooled off. So we thought we're

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Speaker 1: living at.

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Speaker 2: Fool you deserve it. And then he went on play

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Speaker 2: for the Angels, of.

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Speaker 1: Course, absolutely still playing around.

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Speaker 2: He's a very funny man, he is. Indeed, indeed, since

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Speaker 2: since those heady days are you now you live over East?

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Speaker 2: I believe you have a Cold Chisel tribute band?

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Speaker 1: I did, I did before I left. Yeah, so so

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Speaker 1: I did that for a while. We did. We did

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Speaker 1: an Angels tribute thing around the time that Doc announced

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Speaker 1: about the brain tumor, and James and Bob Spencer actually

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Speaker 1: back to Perth and played in that, which was great,

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Speaker 1: and so all sorts of we sort of going, how

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Speaker 1: do you get the Angels to play in an Angel's

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Speaker 1: tribute show? And you go, I don't know, you ask him,

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Speaker 1: and and and so we did that, and it was just,

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Speaker 1: you know, the eighties period was just so good. There

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Speaker 1: were so many good bands around, so many punters spots. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And the thing is that we when we first born,

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Speaker 1: our first show was in autumn, and and we actually

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Speaker 1: spent around that nine months just to regional w A.

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Speaker 1: We didn't play a show in Earth for about nine months,

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Speaker 1: and we had the Yeah, and we had the best

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Speaker 1: road through in the world. And I still missed my

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Speaker 1: best mate Joey and Joey Robertson, I know his kids

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Speaker 1: sont Tom actually contact with you last night when he

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Speaker 1: heard about this. And I remember Thomas a little kid

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Speaker 1: sort of running the mark and run around sort of backstage,

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Speaker 1: and and you know Raza and Jabbie and all those

147
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Speaker 1: guys that were just it was just so much fun.

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Speaker 1: And you would go and play like you know, Wednesday

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Speaker 1: night in Bustleton or Thursday night in Management or whatever

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Speaker 1: it is to and and really every other band, and

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Speaker 1: you know, I heard your discussion with Todd the other day.

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Speaker 1: Every other band at that stage was playing sort of

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Speaker 1: Juran Duran and Spando ballet and wearing Philly shirts. I

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Speaker 1: just I just wasn't that talented. So so we had

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Speaker 1: to go to guitar rock and and sort of and

156
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Speaker 1: I'm a massive Angels fans, so so you know, we

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Speaker 1: did angels and shoes on and oils and more Australian rock,

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Speaker 1: and it really stood out from what everyone else is doing.

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Speaker 1: And when we eventually hit Birth, our first regular gig

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Speaker 1: in town was at the Old Mainland Hotel, which was

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Speaker 1: the time was owned by John K. Watts.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, and so we I think our first

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Speaker 3: night we had about twenty people there and fifteen of

164
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Speaker 3: those were friends and relatives and five people lost and and.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it just built from there. We sort

166
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Speaker 1: of went on stage as if the place was packed,

167
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Speaker 1: and you know, within sort of six or eight weeks,

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Speaker 1: we you know, we had a couple of hundred people there,

169
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Speaker 1: and there's Joe's from Rock Exchange called us and said,

170
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Speaker 1: how are you getting two hundred people at the mailings? Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you have clothes on or you're not?

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Speaker 1: The fruit of it was no one's ever done that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that three B A sign Tommy so many made

174
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Speaker 2: so many great memories. We could look, we could hang around,

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Speaker 2: but the radio does allow us for another half hour, yes,

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Speaker 2: but awesome really good to catch up mate. We really

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Speaker 2: appreciate your time. The sounds like the beach is calling you.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, the beach is always calling.

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Speaker 2: Yeah that visit next time you're into.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. Well I'm back in back in town

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Speaker 1: in August. My son's getting married to a lovely Sam

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Speaker 1: and so we'll be in first for a little while

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Speaker 1: in August. And yeah, I love to catch up with

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Speaker 1: Paper when I'm there.

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Speaker 2: Tom, you guys hanging out for here to throw the

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Speaker 2: thanks Tom, Tom tapping the rookies as we continue this incredible.

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Speaker 2: I know, this trip down memory lane in a rock

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Speaker 2: and roll station, isn't it