Gavin Wood's Podcast

Bob 'BONGO' Starkie

Bob was guitarist & backing vocals of Skyhooks who formed in Melbourne, March 1973, acquiring their flamboyant lead singer Graeme "Shirley" Strachan a year later, the band would end up touring and recording for nearly 30 years. Racking up number 1 hits like: 'Ego Is Not A Dirty Word,' 'Horror Movie,' 'Living In The 70s,' 'Women In Uniform,' & 'Jukebox In Siberia'. Skyhooks also dominated the radio waves with fan favourites: "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed", "All My Friends Are Getting Married", "Million Dollar Riff" & "Balwyn Calling".

Bob was inducted alongside his band mates into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 1992, cementing Skyhooks' legacy as one of Australia's finest acts ever. Bob "Bongo" Starkie has continued in the music industry with the intention of keeping the group's music alive.

Belinda Carlisle is an American musician, singer, and author. She gained fame as the lead singer of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist.

Raised in Southern California, Carlisle became the lead singer of the Go-Go's after the band's formation in 1978. With their chart-topping debut release Beauty & The Beat in 1981, the group helped popularize new wave music in the United States. The Go-Go's were the first (and to date only) all-female band in history who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to achieve a No. 1 album. The Go-Go's have sold over seven million records worldwide.

At age ten, Carlisle began to express interest in music, and recalled the Beach Boys, Cat Stevens, the Stylistics and the Animals as being early musical influences. In Belinda's teenage years, Carlisle became rebellious. She stated: "By the time I hit fourteen, I'd gone really wild, I ran away from home, smoked pot, dropped acid ... you name it, I'd try it. Today Carlisle is very much into Buddhism which she credits with helping her maintain sobriety.

Carlisle has been noted by critics for her dynamic soprano vocal range. Carlisle has been alternately described by critics as a "punk diva" and "pop princess"

In 2011, Carlisle, as a member of The Go-Go's, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, 2021.

Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter, born 25 August 1954. Costello began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s.

He has won multiple awards in his career, including Grammy Awards in 1999 and 2020, and has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist. In 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Costello number 80 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Costello has co-written several original songs for films, his music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a "pop encyclopaedia"

Costello has worked with Paul McCartney, Madness, Tony Bennett, Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint, T Bone Burnett, Lucinda Williams, Johnny Cash, Kid Rock, Lee Konitz, Brian Eno, and Rubén Blades.

Elvis invites us into his world to discuss a new album release called The Boy Named If.

Matthew Weston Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English, singer-songwriter and musician, currently based in London. He is the lead singer of 1980's pop group Bros, which also features his twin brother, Luke as drummer.

Goss' accolades include the Brit Award Winner; Las Vegas Icon Award; British Entertainer of the Year; Best Show of Wembley Arena;[citation needed] Goss wrote the theme song for So You Think You Can Dance, produced by Nigel Lithgow.

Beeb Birtles (born Gerard Bertelkamp, 28 November 1948) is a Dutch Australian musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has been a member of various Australian groups including Zoot (1967-71), Mississippi (1972-74), Little River Band (1975-83), and Birtles Shorrock Goble (2002-07). He has also worked as a solo artist, including releasing an album, Driven by Dreams (2000). In 2004 Birtles and other members of the classic line-up of Little River Band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Jon Stevens (born 8 October 1961) is a New Zealand singer, best known for his work with Noiseworks and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Andrew Charles Farriss AM (born 27 March 1959) is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021.

Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band that formed in 1982 by founding mainstay Brian Canham on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Pseudo Echo had Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", "Living in a Dream" and their cover of "Funky Town" which peaked at No. 1 in 1986. In 1987, it reached No. 1 in Canada (No. 17 Year End), No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 6 in the United States, and No. 8 in the United Kingdom.

Their 1984 debut album, Autumnal Park, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report. Love an Adventure followed in 1985 and reached No. 14. Their third album, Race (1988), peaked at No. 18. In 1990, the group disbanded. They reformed in 1998 and have issued four more studio albums but with less chart success, Teleporter (2000), Ultraviolet (2014), Acoustica and After Party (both 2020). Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane stated that in the 1980s they "combined flash clothes, blow-wave hairstyles, youthful exuberance and accessible synth-pop to arrive at a winning combination ... and found a ready-made audience among teenagers who fawned on the band's every move."

Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut single "Speak to the Sky" reaching the top 10 in Australia in mid-1972, when he moved to the United States. He had a No. 1 hit with "Jessie's Girl" in 1981 in both Australia and the U.S., for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. He followed with four more top 10 U.S. hits: "I've Done Everything for You", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Affair of the Heart", and "Love Somebody". Springfield's two U.S. top 10 albums are Working Class Dog (1981) and Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (1982).

David Sterry - Real Life

Real Life are an Australian new wave and synth-pop band that achieved international chart success with their 1983 singles "Send Me an Angel" and "Catch Me I'm Falling", both of which were taken from their debut album, Heartland. The band originally consisted of David Sterry (lead vocals and guitar)