Tamam Shud

Formed in 1967 from earlier groups that had built a devoted audience along Australia’s New South Wales coast, Tamam Shud was fronted by Lindsay Bjerre on vocals and guitar, with Peter Barron on bass, Dannie Davidson on drums, and Alex ‘Zac’ Zytnik on guitar completing the original lineup. The quartet positioned itself as a progressive blues concert act celebrated for extended instrumental passages. Early acceptance came from the expanding psychedelic and drug culture, after which support quickly broadened to include surfers and college audiences alike. Both of the band’s initial studio releases earned recognition for their forward-thinking and exploratory character. On the second album, Goolutionites And The Real People, the luminous guitar contributions of teenage addition Tim Gaze (b. 8 August 1953, Australia) stood out. In 1971 the roster expanded further with Nigel Macara on drums, Larry Duryea (b. Larry Taylor) on congas, and Richard Lockwood on saxophone and flute, yet the group disbanded the next year.

Bjerre pursued a modest solo path that yielded the hit single ‘She Taught Me How To Love Again’ plus two lightweight albums issued in the late 1970s. Gaze traveled to the UK with Kahvas Jute, then joined former Tamam Shud drummer Nigel Macara in Ariel. In the mid-1990s Bjerre, Barron, Gaze, and Macara reactivated the Tamam Shud name for live dates and a fresh studio album. The identical configuration reassembled in 2002 for an additional tour.