Uncle Bob's Band

UBB began in early 1974, out of the ruins of the Original Battersea Heroes/Heroes, with three former members Terry Darmody, Tony Burkys and Bob McGowan, joining Warwick Kennington, John Taylor and Keith Shadwick to "rock that beat with Django swing" None other than the critic Toby Creswell described UBB as "hands-down the best rock band in the country" at that time. Throughout 1975 and 1976, UBB were consistently creative drawing on a range of blues, jug, country and jazz swing as well as their own compositions to produce a distinct rock sound. This was demonstrated further through the band’s various guises at the Adventures in Paradise shows – utilizing 5 different band name”versions” of UBB such as “The Ordinaires” The Hot Club Du Balmo was another spectacular example – exemplified on DJANGO ROCK via such tracks as Dinah, Sweet Sue and I’ll See you in My Dreams. Bob even presented himself as the nude guitarist preempting Flea by decades. Playing and living somewhere between Paddington and Dural N.S.W. took its toll and manager Steve Hill encouraged the band to move to Melbourne in 1976; where Dave Flett recorded some excellent material, but a record deal was not forthcoming and the tapes themselves were scrubbed. The band imploded then Shadwick left for the UK leaving his own copies of all 1976 tapes with his brother Ian. The band went into a long recess in 1976, emerging to make an album UNFINISHED BUSINESS, which recorded the passing of Shadwick in 2008, then later NOW AND THEN in 2018, which marked the passing of “uncle” Bob McGowan that year. In 2022 Ian Shadwick restored his brother’s tapes of the 1976 sessions; and DJANGO ROCK: 1976 was born.The album was mastered by Dave Marett.