Nick and Sue. This edition of the Chatterbox
Redux podcast is brought to you in association
with the Old Glory Iconic Music and Sports Superstore.
More from them in a bit. Chatterbox. When the
stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue. Welcome
to the 100th edition of the Chatterbox Redux
podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special
guest is Athol Guy of The Seekers. This is Nick
and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need
to know about music. Life goes on. And now Chatterbox
UK, we're just lucky enough to welcome Athol
Guy of the Seekers. Welcome. How are you, sir?
Good morning. Good morning. Well, thank you.
Thank you very, very much. Lovely to be with
you and to make contact again with our friends
and the people that have nurtured our music over,
I would believe, 60 years. I can hardly believe
that myself. Absolutely. Well, I'm the second
generation one. When the Seekers... when you
guys split in 1968. It was still a year before
I arrived. I arrived in 69, so I learnt you guys...
I learned all about you from playing my mother's
albums in the mid -70s and the singles and discovering
her record collection. I found you that way,
not knowing that I'd be presenting shows and
Seeker's Nights myself and speaking to you some
years later and even seeing you play live. So
there you go. It's how it came round. I hope
you enjoyed the live performances. Did you come
to the 50th reunion? Yeah. Did the 50th one,
that's the one just after when Judith had the
brain hemorrhage and to come to the UK she had
to learn to talk. Yeah, I had my tickets before
that and quite incredibly it was a birthday treat
for my mother and she didn't know she was going
until I actually got her to the Brighton Centre
doors. You've blindfolded her as well and took
her around three times. It was really good, so.
Well, it was an amazing turnaround, really. And
one of the intriguing things is there's a video
out, one of our DVDs, which I think was The 50th
Farewell, but that was shot here in Melbourne,
in Australia, and it was actually shot the night
that she actually had that cerebral hemorrhage
when she went back to the hotel. you would just
never believe that that could happen, but you
know, but it did and of course it was, you know,
it was a terribly traumatic time, but you know,
God bless her, she knuckled down and, you know,
had great health care with our medical fraternity,
and then turned everything around and you may
know Danny Patesh, one of your great promoters,
Danny was on ten of the hooks because we had
to postpone And we really, we didn't know for
quite a while whether we were going to be able
to make it. Anyway, miracle, a miracle. Heckled
right through. We had a rehearsal one day, and
out came all the notes, and that beautiful horse
again. But we went to see you all once more.
Anyway, for the last time, that it was a dream.
A brilliant tour, fantastic tour. Absolutely,
and people travel from... I know, of course,
in England terms, miles and miles, there's nothing
like Australia, but people do travel from all
over to see you. I know somebody in St. Leonard's,
which is part of the town where we live, Hastings.
I know somebody not only saw you at Brighton,
but then went to see you at Bournemouth the next
night and saw you at various places. And then
we got in later. Oh, well, later. We take our...
wherever we go. We have to make sure that there
aren't any empty seats. I like that. You say
that, but we had the lady contact the Seeker
Special a couple of times, hadn't she? And she's
in the States and she's seen you in Australia,
seen you in the UK, she's been everywhere, so
I think that's lovely. Can I ask you... Of course.
yeah it just shows you it doesn't it absolutely
just what following that you guys have uh now
how did it all start i mean you keith and bruce
knew each other how did it all sort of get together
because it was you three guys and a guy called
ken ray i know nothing about well the sequence
of events really uh starts from me coming out
of school days in fact the three of us Three
boys went to the same school, but we really didn't
know each other. We were consecutive years behind
each other. I was a year ahead of Keith, and
Keith was a year ahead of Bruce. And Bruce and
I had played a little footy together, but never
met up until after I left school when I was about
17. We started playing around. It was really
either jazz, you know, trad jazz or folk music
around the Melbourne. So I had a little trio
that was in that mode. And then I met up with
Keith, who'd started a group after he left school
as well. And then a little later on, Keith and
I formed a group called the Escorts. Four boys,
and we had a great lead voice there. And then
later I met Bruce when I went to work with the
big advertising agency, and we pulled up. with
us as did the other lead singer in this group
when we formed the Seekers. Originally the Seekers
were four boys. So we started singing around
the jazz and the folk clubs in Melbourne and
our lead singer decided to get married so he
opted out and the three of us decided we needed
a girl. And there were two terrific jazz singers
in Melbourne. One was a girl called Judy Marks
and the other was a girl called Judy Doam. I
met Judith's sister Beverly at Channel 9, a TV
station where I was working. And she said, are
you looking for a girl for your group? I said,
yeah. And she said, well, my sister's a really
good singer. Why don't you go and hear her sing?
So I said, oh, great. Tell me where. So she said,
oh, she's with this jazz club down the north.
Anyway, before I could get to do that, Judith
walked into the agency where I was working. She
was just interviewed for a job there. a miracle
of miracles, and she walked in and introduced
herself to me, and said, oh, I'm Judy Durham.
You were going to come and hear me sing one night.
And I said, that's what she said. She said, when
are you going to do that? And I said, well, why
don't you come and sing with us tonight? And
that's exactly what happened. That's the bit
of magic that we picked up all the way along
the line. I mean, how could you manufacture anything
like that? Well exactly, he's got Judith's, and
it is a unique voice, people will tell, I mean
fortunately we've got these recordings, but basically
so much of your materials were recorded and saved
for good and people in a hundred years or two
hundred years or whatever who know anything about
music will identify with that unique voice and
there are certain singers in every generation
but that Judith is certainly one of those female
voices and it is a very special voice. and people
will be able to pick up on it in decades to come,
years and years to come, after we're all long
gone, definitely, I know they will, yeah. Our
recording company, the people who are now license
all their music, universal, universal music,
that's where they place. And it's that beautiful
sound that she gave us the opportunity to hang
those terrific harmonies on. Because the three
of us have always been pretty good harmony singers.
It was just a blend. It's like an orchestra.
You have your terrific lead pieces which pick
up on all that, but you can clear them. or you
can hear them clearly identified in all the major
concertos and all the classic music. And unfortunately
for us, we also got the sort of songs written
for us by Tom Springfield that allowed us to
let the voice cut through the needed with the
lead lines and the harmonics build around it
from the three chords. sound that we claim very
proudly is our own with her as our little diva
in the middle. Absolutely and of course you know
the three boys that you all sing it sounds like
your harmonies are all at a different level I
mean I'm no good with baritone and all that that's
that's beyond me but as far as a DJ listening
to good music and that to me yeah you're all
harmonizing at different levels and there's Judith
there and it is a unique sound nobody could ever
have a copy yet? Well, Javis, yeah, musically
speaking, our three voices rehearsed there as
Lee Javis gave us that lovely block where you
can virtually cover it. You can cover nearly
three octaves of it. Stu, I think you were going
to ask Athel something. Yeah, my favourite song
is Morning Town Ride. What's your favourite Seeker
song? Well, it's a real collector for me. I'll
tell you one of the most beautiful songs I really
love is The Leaving of Riverpool. And we just
put out an album now for the 60th, with 60 songs
for 60 years. And I have a Leaving of Riverpool
song, another song called The Water is Wine.
And there's a beautiful song of Tom's that he
wrote. I'm not sure it's on that particular album,
but it's a lovely sort of gospel -y song called
On the Other Side. And I think if anyone is listening
now that's sort of digging around in our treasure
chest, you know, try on the other side and you'll
hear it as well. It's one of those classic sort
of B -sides that we used to do, which comes about
in our gospely, bluesy days. But of course the
classics, I mean, all on the look -up, you know,
name all of the sort of top 20 and you'll see,
you know, basically that will be the same from
all of us. Sure. You can't go past what they...
what they did for our lives, our career, and
sitting there absolutely stamped indelibly with
a Seekers song. To celebrate the 60th anniversary,
it's 60 songs for 60 years, is that right, Athol?
Got that right? Yes, and I think the title of
it is actually, the title is actually Carry Me.
Now coming right to the end of our journey, we
found that in the archives, just as a demo track
that Judith did many years ago. And it was right
at that time when we lost her just recently and
we were planning the memorial service. And it
came out with just her lead voice on it. And
it's an absolutely classic speaker's song that
Bruce wrote. way back in about 1993. It's amazing.
Sitting there on an old tape, on an old tape.
Anyway, we got it out, and we played it for it
because we were planning everything for our 60th,
you know, before we said we lost it last year.
We were talking to her about it, and we said,
look, we're going back into the studio to put
the rest of the group sounds and everything on
it. And it came out so magnificent, it was such
a... It was such a poignant song for her memorial.
And that's actually the title. The title of the
album is Carry Me. So you'll get that on Spotify,
I already understand. But of course, Universal
Music hopefully would be putting that out over
in London and hopefully around the world as well.
I mean, I'm not sure how many distribution once
they've got the DVDs or CDs, it's a wet market,
you know, not out of position abroad. It's a
triple album. Wow, excellent. Well, Sue and I
are at the age where we prefer the actual CDs
now rather than records, but yeah, we would rather
have the actual CD as opposed to... Those are
digital libraries for the radio, but you know,
but I must mention this It's great that you mentioned
carry me and that's the title of it because carry
me as as the track as the song it's getting plays
on our shows and There's people that were born
in the 80s They're actually requesting to have
it played and I think that's really quite good
and it's in the CB UK Airplay chart at 38 or
39. So there you go on the back of all that,
so also it's good timing. I will bung you an
email as to how it's doing, if it's not going
up and things, but that is the airplay on over,
yeah, 216 stations put their airplay towards
that chart, so it's quite widespread, so you're
in the top 40 would carry me as a song anyway.
It's happening. It's happening, isn't it? So
what a way to start the 60th anniversary. It's
brilliant. Absolutely good. Old Glory is the
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You're listening to Nick Prince and Sue L on
Chatterbox UK. Well, that's the truth of the
whole story, really. I've made arrangements here
in Melbourne for us to go on a Pacific Island
cruise and then a return trip to the UK with
the Shipmars shipping lines, an Italian line,
because I'd looked after all their advertising
here in Australia when I was working in an advertising
agency. And myself and the team would go down
there and then when the ships would work in Melbourne
and we'd play for their VIPs on their overnight
stockover in Melbourne. So we got to know them
really well and they offered us the opportunity
and work and go cruising around the world with
that trip to the UK as part of it. And of course
when we got to the UK we sent some material over
to The Great Organization which was one of the
biggest agencies in Europe and also the operator
of ITV at that time way back in the 60s and London
Weekend TV. When they saw the tapes and saw some
video of the group they actually had us put on
a show called day to the night. It was called
Mitchellmore back in 1964. And the moment the
ship left in Southampton, I got a telegram telling
us, you know, welcoming us to the UK because
we were going to be staying there for about 12
weeks while the ship went back to Melbourne and
came back to pick us up for the return journey.
And as a result of that, we were on television
in the UK literally the second night we got off
the boat. From that point on, in the first six
months, we were calculating the other day. We
did about 35 national TV shows in the UK in the
first six months, and we were there. So we were
pretty well overnight. Not successively, but
overnight. Overnight we were recognized as this
little band from Australia. And as they say after
that, because we met Tom and coming to the other
point, the new Rose, Dusty in Blackpool, we played
a charity night in Blackpool and Dusty was on
the hill and we loved her of course because she
was a big star here in Australia with her beautiful
voice and the sprinklers of course and I'm chatting
and I want to meet up with Tom because I know
he's got a 12 -string guitar and I'm looking
to get a really nice 12 -string which became
that great element in all our songs, our beautiful
12 -string guitar So she said, yeah, sure. So
we gave Keith Tom's number and then we all caught
up with Tom and introduced him to Eddie Jarrett.
And then the two got together and decided that
Tom should write a single for the group that
was getting into late 1964. And of course he
came in one day on a little piece of paper, had
the lyrics of I'll Never Find Another You and
sang it to us. And that went quite well, yeah.
He said, oh, that sounds like us, Tom. Thank
you. And off we went into Abbey Road Studios
and recorded it on a beef side on a Saturday
night. And went off to play somewhere, I don't
remember where, it doesn't really matter. And
it entered at number 40, I think in about the
third week. And then the pirate radio stations
picked it up to see if the BBC didn't. play any
record unless they were in the top 40. So we
knew a couple of the Aussie DJs out on the prior
radio shows and I think we sent them out a few
bottles of Scotch and everything. Well it obviously
worked because it was 1 .75 million copies in
the UK alone and kind of it is over followed
up and absolutely just massive. I think it was
Melody Maker over here, you've been described,
Seekers has been described many many times and
I'm just going to say what it is, too folky to
be pop, too poppy to be folk and I think it was
Melody Maker said it first, but how did that
make you feel? Because actually that's quite
a unique little thing and it's not a million
miles removed from the truth, it's a great unique
sound. It's a reasonable description that other
people have tried, you know, describing We the
Seekers too. And quite simply, Never Seekers,
and that's our sound. And that made the way for
those songs to, you know, to edge their way into
the pop shaft, even though you would never have
regarded us at that time as a pop group, because
in actual fact we were playing the folk programs.
that were being broadcast out of Edinburgh. We
were certainly, you know, very smoky, but in
an instant, you know, we switched to, you know,
gospely songs. We switched to, you know, pop
songs like, I'll never find another you in a
world of our own. absolutely yeah a little niche
of our own and you had a few few successful years
now i understand you the four of you had had
an agreement where if one of you wanted to leave
it was to be six months notice and it was Judith
who'd met her future husband in the UK and she
gave the six month notice and the final night
this is how big you were in the UK because you
were actually obviously discovered in the UK
as we've basically covered already and the final
night was actually done on British television
wasn't it the last night of the Seekers and it's
on YouTube It's an amazing concert, but it's
hard even for me to sit there with a dry eye
because that was it for a very very long time,
but where we had a bit of learning churns fun
on stage, because we were all great fans of another
crazy group in the UK called the Nickwigs. And
there was a group of about ten blokes playing
an amazing array of instruments, who got up to
the most ridiculous antics on stage. We played
some shows with them at the Palladium, and we
were in hysterics of the things they used to
do, so we pinched a couple of their ideas and
we did a... We did a version of it, and our own
version of Sweet Adeline with false moustaches.
So, you know, there was a very poignant moment
at the end where I had to say goodbye, in a few
words, which was pretty moving. But the sub -total
was, you know, we left them with a lot of great
memories, and I think they were over, in those
days, over about 10 or 12 million people watching
the show. And we still see vignettes on YouTube
as everything else does. It's not totally lost
so I would suggest if anyone's looking for a
bit of silliness from the group go to YouTube
and put in Seekers and put in Sweet Adeline.
Now we come to the highlight of the evening the
boys will render for you a melodious melody divine
Your fair face be... My fair... His fair face?
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I just think you just came back to when you first
came over, you said it was 35 television appearances.
And of course we've got to remind people that
weren't around at the time, the UK still only
had two TV channels. So that's quite a feat for
a country with two TV channels. Oh, it was. It
was 1964. We were there. I can't remember the
number of channels that were around. We did a
series with Ronnie Carroll, an Irish singer.
I think he had a song called One Dozen Roses,
I'm not 100 % sure. We play him occasionally,
yeah. We're aware of him, yeah. We did a lot
of, as I said, folkie programs out of Edinburgh.
But the BBC absolutely loved the group and we
were invited on as guests in all the sort of
big... The general appearance of the group was
one that they found, you know, commensurate with
the songs that pleased the audience and you've
no doubt about that. I was aware of Judith's
feeling that about herself and she was absolutely
beautiful as a person and to look at her. It
was such a shame that she had those problems
really because she was a lovely girl all round,
you know, you can tell that. Oh, absolutely,
absolutely. As I said a little while ago, while
she worried so much about it all, which was a
bit of a concern, but she worked her way around
the Carnaby Street stuff, and what Judith did,
I mean, Judith, actually Judith created Judith
Durham. I said that to someone the other day
because she was very much her own person. and
created that appearance. Yeah, a natural loveliness
and the lovely look that she had, especially
standing there in the middle of three and six
foot guys. Almost a little bit of their protection
around her. I mean, there was all those things
that... I understand that you did quite a lot
of television in Australia after the Seekers
and I know there was a few it looks like there
was a few a few tours or concerts without Judith
that like and I see this one in this something
happened in the 70s and so on and so forth. And
I think Judith, was it 90? In the 90s she came
back on board. I think she was, survived a very
bad car crash. And I think her husband who'd
been exceedingly ill, I think motor neuron disease,
she'd sort of nursed him right to the end. And
I don't know if it was her spiritual beliefs
or something, but she felt, I read somewhere,
and I think it was her own words, she felt that,
you know, the time was right and perhaps she
owed it to the fans because of the love that
they showed Judith through that difficult time.
I don't know how much of that's correct, but
that's my understanding as to why she then came
back on tour with you three guys again. Yes,
I think you have to believe in a bit of spirituality
here as a relation to the group. And Judith had
a philosophy always. that certain things were
meant to happen in your life and you need to
follow a certain path. And she and her husband
Ron, they were fairly devout followers of actually
an Indian cult which were quite similar to Christianity
really in many ways, where there was an Indian
master and he would take his walk along a certain
path and connect him with the deity which whoever
the deity he was represented as. And all the
way through, she followed her own sort of directions
there, musically as well as personally. When
it came time to... Because of the, yeah, my phone
never stopped ringing from the time we got up.
If you'd get all the time, could we get the Seekers
to do a big Christmas show, or could we not get
the group back together for Big Australia, they
functioned. Could we not get the group? There
was all a constant demand. And we had, we had
one, two, three other girls who joined us from
time to time. Three boys to do some special events,
and it was all us. It wasn't Judith. of course,
was not going to be the same, that it was Seeker's
music, as Seeker's music is performed now by
tribute groups all over the planet. And you know,
the music is the music is the music, that's beautiful
music. And as a result of that, knowing that
our fans were still out there and still wanting
the original man, always. I mean, the letters
kept pouring in, and then when the digital world
hit, you know, we knew that Yeah, there's so
many people out there who really, really, really
would love to see the, you know, the original
group back together. And she picked up on that
through that car crash that she had. And of course,
that was the time when we simply decided that
we really needed, because we're all out of the
planet. Four of us are in different parts of
the world all the time. And we had a dinner,
and we had a dinner together in Melbourne in
1990. It was 19, like, 1991. We decided, we took,
Jupiter's manager was the one who pushed it correctly,
and he said, you've just got to have a reunion
concert, you know? Because we were all still
singing and playing, you know, in other areas
as well, as, you know, singers. And out of that
dinner came the result that we would, we would,
we would get together again. Go back on stage
for a short series of content. Of course that
turns into the next 25 years. Yes, absolutely.
In fact, in that last tour, yeah, you came to
the UK twice in that last tour, I think. It was
in the 90s and then again when I saw you at the
Brighton Centre last time round. Have you got
anything to ask Athol? Yes, Athol, have the Seekers
ever done a film? Yes, we have. There were three
big TV specials we did in Australia each time
we went back to Australia to tour. We did 65,
66, 67 and 68. We did four return tours down
home and each time we did a television special
and two of those specials were as good as a movie
in a sense. the group of all the songs, and in
the context of the storyline, but not acting
any parts at all, a bit of a narrator, and basically
the story of the group up to that point in time,
and one of them, which is called The Seekers
Down Under, was very much in promotion of The
Seekers Back Home in Australia, and about a dozen
or more amazing parts of the country, and that
was credited. when it was played all around Eastern
Europe, through the UK and Eastern Europe, as
being the biggest promoter of tourism and immigration
to Australia of all time. So that was a wonderful
tribute to the group. I think as a result of
that, when that came out in 1967, as a result
of that, we were named Australians of the Year.
Which was a lovely tribute to the group. In a
plane high above the Pacific, four young people
endeavour to snatch a moment's rest before beginning
yet another concert tour of yet another country.
This time, however, it's home again. For the
seekers, it's Christmas in Australia. Athol Guy,
aged 27, whose foresight launched the group some
five short years ago. Judith Durham aged 24,
whose amazing voice gives the group its unique
sound. Keith Potker aged 26, whose skill with
a 12 -string guitar has played a major part in
the instrumental arrangements of the group. And
Bruce Woodley aged 25, who has established himself
as a composer of promise, having contributed
several songs for the group. Together, they comprise
the most famous group ever to leave Australia.
Now seasoned entertainers having performed in
all the major entertainment centers in the world
They are home again to see their families to
perform and perhaps to remember For Apple guy
his first memory must be of a small coffee lounge
in Melbourne For it was here that the seekers
first realized that they had a sound an identity
We didn't know how good a sound it was, but we
did discover here that people wanted to hear
it We sang only on Monday nights. They were supposed
to be the off nights. A good time to hide a group
away without ruining business. Looking back now,
when you're on top, it's easy to say that it
was all working out for the best. But you know,
it could so easily have been otherwise. I guess
we owe a lot to those people who stopped clinking
their saucers when we started to sing. It's a
funny feeling. You do feel something click inside
when you make good. It's hard to explain, but
the sound of that spontaneous applause, it's
like a sixth sense that says, maybe. I don't
know if we had to start it all over again, whether
I'd have the courage. There was such a long,
long way to go from that time at the treble clef.
But start it did. And the boys are the first
to admit that their luck turned with the arrival
of Judith in the group. By sheer chance, she
took a job at the advertising agency where Athol
worked. My sister had actually told him about
my singing, and at that time the boys were looking
for a girl to join them. However, typical Athel,
he'd promised to hear me but had never got around
to it. Hello, Athel. Hi. Morning, Athel. Good
day, isn't it? Is it? Are these typing those
copies for Mr Payton yet? Yes, there they are.
Oh, good morning. You're new around here. Yes,
I'm Judith Durham. Are you Athel Guy? Yes, Judith
Durham. They weren't supposed to come and hear
you sing sometime. Yes, you were. Well, there's
no one around. Oh, I think you'd better finish
your coffee first. And so the group was complete.
At the age of 14, Judith Durham had ambitions
to be an opera singer, but this was not to be.
She became interested in traditional jazz and
gospel singing, and this early experience played
an important part in establishing the seeker's
sound. The jazz influence is still a strong element
in their performance today. Supporting the show
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Chatterbox You're listening to Nick Prince and
Sue Earl on Chatterbox UK. What a great answer
though. The Seeker's Down Under I'm aware of
because there's plenty of that on YouTube and
I'm sure that's the one where you're running
around in very old cars, a bit like the old Brighton
run. I'm trying to get to watch it in the correct
order because it doesn't appear on YouTube in
the right order. I'm trying to find all these
bits. That brings us sort of to the more recent
time. First of all, I don't know if it's a difficult
question or not, but it's something I've always
wondered. What was the feeling after the Seekers
when Keith started the new Seekers? Were you
not happy or what was the feeling at the time?
You've seen what happens there, the depths of
our friendship, because we would never want to
sue any one of us for any actions that we didn't
agree with. And it wasn't, in a sense, anything
that we deliberated about. I mean, the bottom
line was... And he actually sent me a telegram
at the time, the old -fashioned telegram. I was
back in Australia, I was doing some television
back in Australia, and he asked me if I wanted
to come on because he was going to form a new
group. And I declined again, not knowing what
the name of the group was going to be. And I
suppose, you know, in retrospect, we should have
probably said, look, hang on, I'll check. Certainly,
you know, you go ahead. I was in the bottom line
once they came out with a couple of fantastic
hit records. And so the musicality and the connection
and having the two girls in there was the right
move. And they were a very commercial poppy group.
And a quick recognition there, I suppose. I guess
a lot of old Seekers, original Seekers fans may
have taken exception. One of those passing moments
where we just let it go through to the keeper
OK, we've got to the present day. Obviously,
a very sad due to this passing. I mean, we had
people in our chat room in tears. The next day,
the Saturday, I just announced it on the Seekers
Facebook groups. So the listeners that normally
come for the Seekers anniversary, the Seekers
events that I do, that they'd all be listening.
In fact, it was only four weeks after the...
Yeah, I did one in July. I did one on Judith's
birthday. And then, of course, you passed away
late summer, September, was it? Yeah. Now, you
know, people were just so grief stricken, they'd
lost somebody special to them. Now, I heard a
lovely story. I think it was you talking on Aussie
Telly or something, Athol, where I think Judith
went to She was in a hospice or something right
at that last day, last few hours. Now I understand
that the three of you, from wherever you were,
the three boys, all phoned or made contact or
she could hear your voices at least. I mean that
is one wonderful, lovely, heartwarming thing.
It really is. That touches me so much. Well,
yeah, well, it was, you know, just a game, one
of those, yeah, moments. We sort of take steps
in again, right, at a critical point of time.
And fortunately, thank goodness, you know, we
just had that last opportunity, uh, because Beverly,
her sister, was with us. And they're one of our
helpers. And they managed to contact, you know,
each of us individually, which was wonderful.
We just had that chance to say, personally, our
goodbyes. And she could hear us again. And they
acknowledge that, which we knew when she wasn't
able to talk. The passing moments, you remember
for the rest of your life, and you hope that
others can share that sort of experience. And
I come back to that spirituality again, where
it's not religion, I don't mean that at all.
I mean that other relevance that others, that
bubble below that, the meaning of what you, You
know, life's all about a bit of fate. And I think,
you know, the powers that be, the deities that
are there somewhere, decided that it was really
the right thing in the time for us to just join
together one more time. It's amazing. And having
a philosophical about it, it was just a lovely
moment. And pleasing, you know, for the four
of us and the bond that we did have, especially
after the years that we'd had together. I mean,
her memorial service was absolutely wonderful.
There's a state cabinet down here. She's a one
-off, and we miss her with a chance that we used
to have regularly. And she had been doing well
for a long time. But she was still barreling
away. She was still writing. He helped me edit
a biography of mine that might come out. I'm
not sure whether it would come out or not. We're
doing a bit of editing for the secret stories.
We wanted all the facts to be correct. So we
had quite a few nights on the phone together
in the weeks beforehand as well. And that whole
story of you three mentioned, it meant a lot
to me. personally as well because I lost my father
last year and he couldn't talk the last sort
of day could he and stuff like that and you know
it's yeah it helps it really helps and it meant
a lot to a lot of the fans because of course
they I mean I have these long emails and of course
they point their heart out to me knowing how
much I love the group and things and it's helped
a lot of people as well just the fact that you
three managed to do that that was amazing but
it really was. Athel Guy and Friends, that's
a little thing you're doing in Australia. Tell
us a bit about them. I've been doing lots of
public speaking along the way. I converted a
little mini documentary on the group with a lot
of videos. I converted that into a nice live
show with a couple of pals of mine. My husband
and wife's duo and another... One of our former
pop stars in Australia is what I call Buddy England.
And Buddy had been over to the UK back in the
60s as well. He was part of the transfer there.
I had the offer. We have a lot of beautiful regional
painters scattered all around Australia. There's
about 100 of them. And yeah, not too similar
to the regional painters you've got over there
in the UK. And I was just offered. a lot of dates,
but one stage of the game has a tour which I
picked up on, and I said, well I'm not going
to put a one man mini doco, and I asked my mates
if they'd like to join me. So we put in live,
you know, seven or eight of the songs into the
visuals, so it's a combination of some of the
live songs with a video background of a group
that we can sing and then some of the live stuff.
like the NME pole winners award concerts, and
some of the other TV shows that we've done, including
The Farewell. And we've also paid tribute to
the other three girls that we've had join the
group from time to time for some of those big
events when Judith wasn't with us, but they were
always wanting A -seekers, you know, song on
their agenda, these various things. And they
just naturally fell into that sort of pattern.
And good musicians, lovely musicians, good singers.
And we had a lot of fun, you know, those sort
of sidelined things that went on for quite a
few years actually. And I still get calls to
book the group, but I'm not going there anymore
at the moment. I've retired from that time. OK.
Arthur, one very quick question, and I mean a
quick one, is there any more sort of tapes? looming
with Judith's voice, you know, that could perhaps
have your voices and your backing on them. Is
there anything else you're aware of? No, we've
had three different releases through Universal
Music called Hidden Treasures. That's stuff that
we've found in filing cabinets and in garages,
you know, videos and tapes. when we went there,
and that was that we did a direct telecast first
time by satellite back to Australia, of the Australia
Day event there, and that was just sitting in
a little case in a follow -up cabinet, and other
concert versions that had never been put on,
onto a DVD. Just a stack of other stuff, and
I think that we worked a couple of sessions with
our music director sort of looking forward to
it. He thinks there were some other demos that
Judith may have put down some years ago, probably
about the same time she did Carry Me. So he's
got a feeling that he also has a feeling that
the tapes might have disintegrated. There may
not be anything left, but we'll keep looking.
we can only hope fingers crossed and just thank
you so much for your time it means a lot to us
and you know it really does and also to our listeners
Apple thank you so much sir have a good weekend
Thank you very much. As you know tonight is our
last concert together and I'm afraid this next
song is our last song together. And I guess at
a time like this there are a lot of things that
you could probably say but I think that really
there are only two things and that is from all
of us very very sincerely thank you thank you
very very much and goodbye because I'm afraid
tonight The carnival really is over. things.
you've been listening to the 100th edition of
the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick
and today our special guest was Athol Guy of
The Seekers. If you're interested in becoming
a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast
or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome
to submit songs, books or whatever it is you
do and send us a CV, synopsis or press release.
However, we receive several thousand such press
releases every week, and it's impossible to reply
to each one individually. Why not email us or
leave a comment, because we'd love to know what
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Sue, myself, Nick, and Twinkle the Tuxedo Cat.
Thank you very much for your company and we look
forward to welcoming you again next time for
another Chatterbox Redux podcast. In the meantime,
take care, we thank you for your company, and
we catch you then. Bye bye. This is Nick and
Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to
know about musical attainment Oh yeah Chatterbox