This week, the LOUIE of the Week honor goes to Ross Wilson for his 1965 recording of LOUIE LOUIE with the Pink Finks.
Here’s a little snippet about Ross from his official biography:
Ross Wilson has come a long way since 1964 when he fronted The Pink Finks, a schoolboy R&B band. In 1965 they recorded ‘Louie Louie’ a bona fide garage record and possibly Australia’s first independent single. The disc charted in Melbourne leading to a record deal & 3 more singles being released, while he was still at school! In 1966 he formed The Party Machine & honed his emerging songwriting skills. The band published a lyric book in 1968 which was seized by the Vice Squad, deemed as obscene, & burned!! It was time to leave home. Ross relocated to England at the invitation of Procession, Australia’s avant-garde rock pioneers. Returning to Australia in late 1969 he formed Sons Of The Vegetal Mother from which a splinter group, Daddy Cool emerged in 1970. Summer 70/71 saw DC take Melbourne by storm via their TF Much Ballroom performances. Appearances at outdoor rock festivals sealed their reputation nationally. In early 1971 Daddy Cool released Australia’s all-time champion #1 Rock Anthem ‘Eagle Rock.’
This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. To find out more about Ross, and see what he’s doing nowadays, by visiting him at RossWilson.com.au.
And this version of LOUIE LOUIE I refer to, can be heard in this YouTube clip. Unfortunately, you can’t really see the band in this video, but I’m hoping SOMEONE has a an old film clip of the band I can license for the documentary…
If you have any film clips of Pink Finks, drop me a line, why don’t cha…?