(Left to right) The Sunnyboys: Richard Burgman, Bil Bilson, Jeremy Oxley and Peter Oxley.
GUITARIST Brad Shepherd said it best, when talking to Sunnyboys bass player Peter Oxley about his brother Jeremy's guitar-playing, at this year's Hoodoo Gurus-curated Dig It Up! concert in Sydney. ''He just plugs straight into his amplifier and gets that amazing guitar sound - it's incredible,'' Shepherd said of the beautifully warm, inventive mix of tones the younger Oxley extracts, without effects pedals.
For a handful of years in the 1980s the Sunnyboys, with Jeremy Oxley on lead guitar and vocals, left the same impression on countless fans at live shows here and abroad, while the band's self-titled debut album stands strong three decades on as one of this country's most highly regarded pop-rock releases.
Pretty much from the moment they broke up, in 1984, fans, promoters and festival organisers have dreamed about the return of the original Sunnyboys line-up. Except for a 1991 reunion and the Dig It Up! show (playing as Kids in Dust), it remained just that - a dream.
The Sunnyboys' debut self-titled album.
But now the long wait is over, with the Oxley brothers, guitarist Richard Burgman and drummer Bil Bilson taking the stage at the Meredith Music Festival tonight, the Corner tomorrow night and A Day on the Green in January.
''We played [in April] under the name Kids in Dust, which was a name we used a couple of times in the '80s for warm-up shows … if it was a disaster at least we could say, 'That was Kids in Dust, that wasn't the Sunnyboys,''' Peter Oxley says with a laugh, ahead of the gig in the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre.
This is the Sunnyboys, make no mistake, bringing the songs from their first album, plus follow-up record Individuals and 1984's Get Some Fun, back to life with all the freshness, verve and infectious melodies that propelled them into the charts and overseas before the break-up in 1984.
A combination of the band's relentless touring schedule - often with shows seven nights a week - Jeremy's personal issues, internal dissent and industry pressures all contributed to the band's demise.
''There must have been aeroplanes back then, but maybe it was prohibitively expensive … we seemed to drive everywhere,'' Peter Oxley says. ''Essentially, we stopped playing because we were worn out, but that's what you did in those days, you drove. At the time it seemed better that we just stop playing.''
Although a teenager when the four members came together in 1980, Jeremy was the band's chief songwriter and creative force, and was just 22 when the band called it quits in '84; Peter was not even two years older.
''Jeremy, myself and Bil played together all through high school, so towards the end of the Sunnyboys, Jeremy and I were probably sick of looking at each other,'' Oxley says.
''Also, there was quite a bit of pressure from within the industry - we were really rushed into making a second album and in hindsight there wasn't much regard for people's recovery time.''
With its distinctive blue cover, the band pictured in one corner, the album oozed inside with Jeremy's obvious talent, from opening track I Can't Talk to You. Featuring the band's most widely recognised songs Happy Man and Alone with You, the album evokes feelings of lightness and overwhelming joy, while exploring themes of loneliness and alienation. ''I was conscious [at the time] that they were good lyrics, but not conscious of the depth and how soulful they were for Jeremy,'' Peter Oxley says. ''Even through the breaking up [of the band], we didn't really have a great grasp of what was happening. When you are very young like that, it's difficult to know about a lot of stuff.''
Hoodoo Gurus frontman Dave Faulkner recalls first hearing songs off the Sunnyboys' debut EP - released on the Phantom label before they signed with Mushroom - on a jukebox in Sydney's Darlinghurst.
''Alone with You, The Seeker … they sounded as fresh as today but were as cool as the best of yesterday,'' Faulkner says. ''They were the first band to come out of the rock'n'roll underground who could hold their own in the mainstream.''
According to Paul Kelly, Sunnyboys songs were ''beautifully arranged with no waste'', and Kelly says he loved Jeremy's ''soulful singing'' from the earliest days of the band. ''They were epic but never overblown,'' he says. ''Alone with You is a great example of joy in a minor key [and] that song was always part of our post-gig band singalongs in the '80s … that we murdered with gusto every time.''
After so long away from the spotlight, a simple phone call from Peter to Jeremy led to their home-town Dig It Up! show and the subsequent Melbourne performances.
''When the Gurus were first talking about it, we were asked if we could do an acoustic set, so I rang [Jeremy] and said, 'Would you like to do an acoustic set?' and he said, 'No way, that's way too scary.' He said, 'Let's do an electric set … let's do it,' and it was great that came from Jeremy.
''We all turned up in Sydney to rehearse for a couple of days and as soon as we plugged in our instruments and played a couple of songs we all just smiled, had a bit of a laugh and said, 'Well, that's all right,' it was just there, which was incredible, really.''
The Sunnyboys play sold-out shows at Meredith Music Festival tonight and the Corner tomorrow. Tickets are available for A Day on the Green on January 26, at Rochford Wines, with Elvis Costello, Joe Camilleri, Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses plus Stephen Cummings.
The Sunnyboys' first DVD, Sunnyboys - Dig It Up! Live at the Enmore Theatre 22.4.12 is available in stores and online from feelpresents.com from today.
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