AUSTRALIAN music legends The Delltones were told back in 1958 ’don’t give up your day job, this music is not going to last’.
Now 55 years later The Delltones are still touring and will delight audiences in Armidale on Saturday 23 November at the Armidale Ex-Services Memorial Club with their highly polished and energized show.
Today The Delltones are a four-part harmony band. The first half of the show consists of The Delltones well loved classics from their early years like Get A Little Dirt on Your Hands, Come a Little Bit Closer, Hangin’ Five and Gee. The second half of the show consists of songs from their full-blown revival in the mid 80s with songs from their classic Rock ’n roll album Bop Til Ya Drop and Ticked Pink, songs like Get a Job and Papa Oom Mow Mow and Mr Bassman.
The Delltones have been entertaining audiences, playing, celebrating and elevating rock ’n roll for more than 50 years.
The tall bass player Ian ’Peewee’ Wilson, founding member and the most recognisable Delltone, has kept the band alive from the original vocal quartet days to the transformation to a five-piece vocal band in the early 1980s.
This transformation led to the band’s resurgence and the chart topping revival album Bop Til Ya Drop. Today the band has come full circle and has returned to their roots, a four-part harmony band.
The Delltones remain one of the most consistent live entertainers in Australia with arguably the longest performing and recording history for a vocal harmony band with an original member. As long as ’Peewee’ is there, it’s The Delltones.
Australia knew that it loved the Delltones way back in 1958, when the four young lifesavers, Noel Weiderberg, Brian Perkins, Warren Lucas and Ian ’Peewee’ Wilson, appeared gawky, gangly and hopeful at the Bronte Surf Club.
That same year they appeared live in Bob Roger’s studio, the DJ of the time and with mentor Johnny O’Keefe on Australian stadium Lee Gordon ’Big Shows’ as well as the pioneering radio show Rockville Junction and popular television shows.
The long-beloved Delltones have been cited as one of the few real constants in a frantically changing world.
Fifty years on, audiences still scream, audiences still shout, audiences still go away singing the songs, dancing the steps, chanting the goofy chants and looking forward to coming back for another dose as soon as they can. And not just original fans who’ve grown up with the band, all along the way, a new generation of fans kept coming on board.
“I don’t think we’d survive if we only had the old fans,” reasons Peewee. “The band has survived a lot of changes and that’s what makes it attractive to the audience.”
Catch the Delltones at the Armidale Ex-Services Memorial Club on Saturday 23 November at 8pm. Bookings: 6776 0800.
