No Morris Minor
As recently as the other day I called Larry Morris a living legend, because he is, fact. My more esteemed countrywoman and former Prime Minister Helen Clark introduced him as “as a true New Zealand rock icon” she also got it right but since I’m not one to concede too much ground on the basis of public standing, I will say further, that makes him a double barrel shotgun!
Where I come from and in plain english, it means the gun has a lot of fire power and respecting it for that reason alone is a very good start! As I read it, the start of my big bang theory had its beginnings in 1962 when John Williams, Dennis Stott and Harry Leki all school friends decided to form a band. They called themselves the Young Ones. It took a while to get their ‘eye in’ but with the help of Max Merritt (of Max Merritt and the Meteors) they got a gig.
The owner of the Kingsway Booking Agency, Paul King, heard them and was impressed enough to become their manager. Bob McLeod was still the bass player then. King changed their name to the Rebels and added a vocalist named Larry Morris Sturdy aka Larry Morris to the line-up. Larry was from Taumaranui and just out of the navy. The group became known as Larry’s Rebels.
First Demos
By 1964, they got their chance to record their first demos so they cut “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”/”Theme From Dr No” and “Leave Me Be”/”Till I Met You”. Using these demos, King was able to get Philips Records interested. Near the end of 1964 they got a more permanent bass player by the name of Viv McCarthy. Sometime during a target practise session Russell Clark, who was managing Ray Colombus at the time, took over their management and went about finalising the Philips deal.
Deciding on their first single proved difficult and in the end they re-recorded “This Empty Place”. Their debut single in 1965 was “This Empty Place”/”So Much In Love With You”. There were enough copies of this single sold for Philips to release a second one called “Long Ago, Far Away”/”Could This Be Love”. In 1966 Clarke teamed up with entrepreneur Benny Levin to form Impact Records, they used the record label to continue target shooting the band’s recordings into the market.
“I Feel Good”
In 1966, the fifth Larry’s Rebels single fired off a fairytale volley that would last for over three years. The song was “I Feel Good” backed with Watcha Gonna Do About It”. “I Feel Good” was an exploding, crashing organ based classic and charted in the Top Five nationally.
Their first single for 1967 was a remake of “Painter Man” backed with “You’re On My Mind”. It shot up the charts but lyrically got shot down by a gun-toting domestic goddess on the war path! The stoush saw it hammer-locked on the charts at No.6 but by this time the group’s ‘eye’ was well and truly in and they got the support gig on the Herman’s Hermits/Tom Jones tour, followed closely by gigs with the Yardbirds, Walker Brothers, and the Roy Orbison tour. A third tour with the Animals, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich, Paul and Barry Ryan successfully consolidated their national following.
Any good shooting instructor will tell you hitting the bullseye is all in the breathing. I had a great shooting coach for years, Alex Stoddart from Porangahau. Softly spoken, with a warm lived-in, honest-to-goodness face and a smile that could light up a pitch black Waipukurau night sky. He’s your classic ‘gentleman’ coach, patient as hell!
The Larry Morris Band
So it seems to me, as an outsider from the music industry that the subsequent years saw Larry and the band members getting their breathing right and as with most things in life where people grow up and along, in 1982 after stints overseas and back home again, Larry formed the Larry Morris Band, with Mike Walker on piano, Tuhi Timoti on guitar, Mike Walsh on drums and Bruce Kerr on bass. Bruce was later replaced by Chris Gunn.
Ask him and he’ll tell you he’s always had a ‘band of men’ (a reference to the unofficial NZ anthem classic, “Ten Guitars”). “His current band incarnation came about following the passing of Larry’s closest musician friend Tommy Adderley. Larry had been living in Florida at the time.
He asked Bruce Kerr (now of ‘Hotlicks’) to put a band together for him so he could say goodbye to his friend the best way he knew how. “He arrived home with time for two rehearsals before hitting the stage with a band who had never played a show together. He came through with Rob Paterson, Richard Anaru, Ben Gilgen, & Dan Morley, all fine players and excellent musicians. Bruce himself was the second guitar player and he stayed with the band for the first year they were together. It’s been 15 years.”
I think Larry is a bit of a sharp shooter at this ‘ducks in a row’ thing, he shot his back to me faster than you could pluck a digital duck! Addendum to duck lovers – no ducks were harmed in the making of this blog. Here’s how he lined them up:
Penneylane: The name of the most prized NZ vinyl record you have in your collection?
Larry: Here & There LMB
Penneylane: Three NZ songwriters you’d want to get stranded with on the Chatham Islands?
Larry: Tommy Adderley, Dave Dobbyn and Neil Finn.
Penneylane: Two NZ albums you’d never leave the country without?
Larry: Headband and Quincy Conserve
Penneylane: If you could form a ‘Dream Group’ comprised of six NZ recording artists who would you have? N.B. You can’t have more than one member of a known NZ group and you have to have vocal/guitar/drum and keyboard.
Larry: Frank Gibson (Junior Drums), Billy Kristian(Bass), Mal Logan (Keyboards), Billy Laing (Guitar) and Tommy Adderley (Lead Vocals)
Penneylane: All time iconic NZ song that epitomises a generation of unsung NZ creativity aka the ‘one that got away!’
Larry: Blerta, Come Dance All Around The World
Larry Morris and LMB are not simply a blast from the past, they’re a shotgun blast to the future too. The thing I love about legends is that they have fire power that’s irreverent to time frame. Larry and the LMB are on the road right now but if a show down is how you like it, you can get one in his website. Have to warn you tho’ HIS website, HE wins! Tomorrow Mike Chunn (former Split Enz and Citizen Band member) lines up the ducks.
