The Cherokees (Aust. Band) (Official Thread)

[CP/M User]

This is thread to correct all the hiccups from the previous Offical Thread for The Cherokees. In a sense this Thread is about the Aussie group "The Cherokees", there is a U.S. Band called "The Cherokees" as well, however I thought that would be better as another Thread so people know who their dealing with. So what I have done is gone through all the old information which was relevant about the Australian band and stick it in here:

The Cherokees at Allmusic

Aussie 60s group which I thought did a really incredible version of "Minnie The Moocher"! It seems to be the standout song for me here, though I found all this other stuff which sounds so different for The Cherokees!





Yvonne Barrett & The Cherokees doing a song called "Off & Running" I believe - never ever heard this one before, though it must have been a popular Beat Song in the 60s.


Richie Unterberger - All Music Gude overview of The Cherokees (Aust Group) Quoted:

Biography
Named after a popular ice cream of the time, the Cherokees were formed in 1961 from the remnants of Johnny Chester's backing band the Chessmen and began playing Shadows-styled music around Melbourne, Australia.

Signing with W&G Records, the Cherokees released two singles and the rare Here Come the Cherokees album in 1965. They began playing pop reminiscent of the Beatles and moved to the short-lived Go! label. Several of their singles made the Top 40 in Melbourne. By 1967, the Cherokees were playing swing-styled music and several more singles again made the Melbourne Top 40. An album followed, Oh Monah!, but with the collapse of Go!, the band was left without a deal. Despite releasing one more single on Festival records and supporting the Monkees during their tour of Australia in October 1968, the Cherokees broke up at the end of the year. ~ Brendan Swift, All Music Guide

Here Come The Cherokees ~The 33 tracks jammed onto this single-disc Cherokees retrospective almost form a wide-lens snapshot of the changes undergone by Aussie rock (and, in similar senses, rock around the globe) from the early to late '60s. Although this only covers releases from 1964-1968 (with an unissued cover of the Rivieras' "Little Donna" thrown in), stylistically it encompasses everything from early-'60s style surf music to British Invasion, garage rock, vaudevillian rock (a 1967 cover of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher"), and good-time psychedelic pop.

The common ground is both musical competence and, to be harsh, a lack of originality, though nothing's lousy, and some of it's good. Most of the first third of the disc might as well have been the work of an entirely different band than the British Invasion-inspired one that had a few Australian hits in the mid-'60s, since it's almost wholly given over to surf instrumentals in the style of the Shadows and, occasionally, Tornados. Those tracks are OK but lack the spark that made the Shadows, Tornados, and for that matter the Atlantics (the best Australian '60s surf band) so identifiable from other instrumental groups of the period (though "Thundercloud," the best of them, certainly sounds like the Atlantics in its threatening high-pitched gallop). The same could be said of the material after the band had switched approaches almost entirely and adopted vocals, mixing fair but unremarkable covers of the likes of Manfred Mann, the Beau Brummels ("That's If You Want Me To," actually one of their biggest hits), and Curtis Mayfield with some reasonable original material in the garage-British Invasion-pop mold. There are some decent early British Invasion imitations ("Only If You Care," "Stop This Misery") and garage pop outings (the stomping but tinny-sounding "The Thought of You," "Ain't Gonna Cry No More," and "Just Can't Cry Anymore"), and the group were able harmony singers. Still, unless you're a real deep collector of '60s sounds, it's a struggle to come up with a reason why you should get this when there are so many more similarly styled but more exciting reissues of Australian '60s rock out there. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Some discussions took place in the original thread by one Freyberger who lives in a Retirement Village with Brian Barker who was with The Cherokees, however some incorrect comments about the band which attracted another member from The Cherokees in the form of Billy Dale to correct, this was what he posted:

Hi,I have just registered on this site as i was sent the stories about the Cherokees.I get abit upset about all the missleading stories i find online.
To start with My name is Billy Dale an i started playing guitar in the late 50's with the Jaywoods later taken over by Johnny Chester and renamed the Chessmen.After a couple of years the band was getting a bit big with at times three guitarists,Johny wanted to downsize the band and sugested i start an instramental groupe saying he would help me get it started and we could play at the same venues as the Chessmen, and that blowes the story that the Cherokees were started from the remanents of the Chessmen.
As for the name Cherokees i seen it on a poster in a milkbar in Bell St Preston and registered it the next day at the Titles office in Melbourne.
As for Freyberger wanting to put the record strait made me laugh i had forgotten about Brian Barker who at the time lived a few street away from me in Bulleen but had never met him untill we were booked to do two nights at the Bayveiw Hotel in Burnie Tas and needed another back up vocalist.He practised with us once befor we flew to Burnie and he sang a few numbers on the Sat and Sunday and that was the last i seen of him,As for him being the first lead singer with the Cherokees is a JOKE,The lineup when we first played was Myself Billy Dale Lead Guitar and Leader,Barrie King rhythm Guitar and Vocals,Barrie Windley on drums and David Thompson on Bass.
I hope this cleares up some of the missleading stories that have been posted online by persons that have not researched the stories they have posted.
Regards AussieCherokeeOne William[Billy] Dale Bowen Qld

Hope this clarifies things!

 

[METALPRIEST]

I think this is going to clear up the confusion!! Nice OP CP/M

 

[wogglegoggle]

Off Website of Our Kinda Country

BARKER - BRIAN
Brian began singing when he was 11 , he is proficient in Bass , Lead guitar , Violin , Keyboard , Banjo , and as a Vocalist .
Brian began his country music with Tex Baines Australian Hillbilly band . He has been with many organisations and bands including the Cherokees , New Country Blue and backs artists at Gateway Tavern open mic for the Mildura Festival . brian has played at many significant venues including the Preston town Hall .He has backed many artists such as Olivia Newton John , Pat Carrol , Roy Orbison , winifred Atwell , the great Jonny O'Keefe and Frank Ifield . In a varied career Brian has performed on cruise ships . Brian has had Jack Perry of Zig and Zag fame as his agent and performed at too many venues to mention here . Brian is currently part of the Bairnsdale Country Music Club backing band and attends all the local country music clubs . He travels to Mildura and Tamworth every Festival . Brian is a valued member of Our Kinda Country Music Club .

 

[CP/M User]

Off Website of Our Kinda Country

BARKER - BRIAN
Brian began singing when he was 11 , he is proficient in Bass , Lead guitar , Violin , Keyboard , Banjo , and as a Vocalist .
Brian began his country music with Tex Baines Australian Hillbilly band . He has been with many organisations and bands including the Cherokees , New Country Blue and backs artists at Gateway Tavern open mic for the Mildura Festival . brian has played at many significant venues including the Preston town Hall .He has backed many artists such as Olivia Newton John , Pat Carrol , Roy Orbison , winifred Atwell , the great Jonny O'Keefe and Frank Ifield . In a varied career Brian has performed on cruise ships . Brian has had Jack Perry of Zig and Zag fame as his agent and performed at too many venues to mention here . Brian is currently part of the Bairnsdale Country Music Club backing band and attends all the local country music clubs . He travels to Mildura and Tamworth every Festival . Brian is a valued member of Our Kinda Country Music Club .

Thanks for clarifying this. I don't know a lot about Brian Barker, but it sounds like the Cherokees employed as a sessions musician to do some Live gigs.

 

[macdog]

They were a great band but have not been served well in the reissues stakes. I'd like to see a definitive Best Of.

 

[CP/M User]

They were a great band but have not been served well in the reissues stakes. I'd like to see a definitive Best Of.

There's a few Aussie groups / performers from the 60s which are like that. One of the bands I was going to hunt down for was The Allusions, which had one album. The day I was going to check out this Vinyl store to see if they had that album, I went to JB HI-FI first and found The Allusions Anthology on CD which had all the Tracks from their Album all scrambled through the CD, but was still able to program it back to the original track sequence and was quite happy with the album.