By TANIA PHILLIPS
ALEX Smith and the boys from Moving Pictures can’t wait to get back to Twin Towns.
“We use to get up there and sometimes we would do a whole week,” he said while visiting friends at Mullumbimby late last week.
“We’d play at night and go to the beach during the day – it was a tough job,” he laughed.
So it was little surprise that when the promoter called the band to ask if they wanted to do a some more shows (after their successful return during the 30 Years of Innocence Tour in 2011). Twin Towns was always going to be on the list.
Smith said the band was just enjoying playing together – whether they turn it into something more permanent remains to be seen but you never know.
However there is one obstacle with Smith being based in the London. Fittingly for someone best-known for singing “What About Me?” he now works with children with special needs – introducing music into their lives.
“I have been living in London for 20 years,” he said.
“I love it – my wife and children are there. I love it, it is such an exciting place to live. After the band finished I spent a couple of years travelling around the world and I went to London for six weeks – 20 years later I’m still there.”
Forming in Sydney in 1980, it didn’t take long for Moving Pictures to make their mark on the local scene with a strong reputation as pub rock act with R ‘n’ B influences; the band was in demand packing out venues night after night with legendary live sets that quickly garnered both industry and audience interest.
Their debut single, Bustin’ Loose, was their first foray into the charts, but it would be the anthemic follow-up single, What About Me? that really solidified Moving Pictures’ place in Australian music history.
The single reached No. 1 in Australia, staying on the top of the ARIA Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks and taking out the “Best Single” Award at 1982’s Countdown Awards. The track also proved popular stateside reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Singles chart and making it into Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 list for 1983 at No. 88.
Days of Innocence also spawned the hit Sweet Cherie and the band soon followed up this success with the album Matinee.
The sophomore album also proved popular reaching an impressive 16 on the ARIA Album chart and featuring the hits Winners and Back to the Streets. 1984 saw Moving Pictures popularity soar even higher with the track Never featuring in the cult movie “Footloose”, and subsequently on the soundtrack, as the backdrop to an epic Kevin Bacon dance solo.
It’s been 33 years since Moving Pictures first hit the road together, and lead singer and founding member Alex Smith said: “We all had a blast on the 30 Years of Innocence shows in 2011 and can’t wait to get out on the road again in August!”
Who: MOVING PICTURES
Where: Twin Towns
When: Friday 9 August 8.30pm
Interested: Tickets $43
