Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Joanne Reid talks about her Music Memories

Part Two - MODELS

Growing up in Melbourne and recounting her time around the "Rock 'n' Roll" music scene back in the 1970s and early 80s...

Sitting with Joanne Reid, as we listen to her CD's they range from Dire Straights, Paul Kelly, Elvis Presley's soul collection and pick upon on talking about her times around the music scene with promoter John Lever.

Once John had moved on from his time managing the SPORTS, a distinctive Australian band that hit their heights during 1978 through to the early 80s. Her partner John Lever became was also involved with the MODELS an Australian Rock Band with a post-punk, new wave sound originating in Melbourne.

When they formed, Models were hailed as one of the most innovative and imaginative Australian bands. Their chart-topping run of hits includes I Hear Motion, Big On Love, Barbados and Out Of Mind Out Of Sight. The MODELS were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2010.

“Alongside The Boys Next Door/The Birthday Party, Models were one of the first Melbourne bands to rise out of the ashes of that city’s hothouse punk/new wave explosion of the late 1970s with a clear vision and wider appeal, ” says Ian McFarlane, author of The Encyclopedia Of Australian Rock And Pop.

Models' line-up of Duffield, Freud, Kelly and Price issued the highly regarded The Pleasure of Your Company in October 1983. The album was critically acclaimed and peaked at No. 12, with the single "I Hear Motion" becoming a No. 16 hit. The band supported David Bowie for the Australian leg of his Serious Moonlight Tour in November in support of his album Let's Dance (1983). Kelly and Duffield were invited to sing backing vocals on the INXS album, The Swing.

In early 1985, Models started recording material for their next album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight and was the only No. 1 single on the Australian singles chart for 1985 by an Australian artist.

It was this time that John Lever proposed to Joanne, they were living in Melbourne and John was often off travelling with the Band across to Australia, looking after the torus. Between gigs, John proposed to Joanne. A small intimate wedding and the reception was held in her back yard.

With such a diverse range of friends and colleagues, the wedding as Jo remembers was a party, as you can imagine when the band that played at the reception was the Models. Not long after John and Jo were married they had decided to move house and Jo Camilleri who was then involved with Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons took over the lease.

Joe Camilleri, is a writer of legendary Australian songs such as So Young, Hit And Run, Shape I’m In, Hold On To Me, Harley and Rose, Chained To The Wheel and Never Let Me Go, has given his life to making music in this country. Leader of two of Australia’s most successful bands, Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons and The Black Sorrows, Joe’s music has become part of Australian music culture. Joe was inducted along with other members of the Falcons, into the Australian Recording Industry (ARIA Hall of Fame) in 2007.

The Models went on to perform extensively both locally and interstate, supporting the Ramones, The B-52's, XTC, The Vapors and Midnight Oil on national tours.

The Models also featured on the Australian Made Tour of late 1986 to January 1987 with INXS, Mental as Anything, The Triffids, I'm Talking, The Saints, Divinyls and Jimmy Barnes on the ticket.

Jo had become a fixture on the music scene and remembers heading over to Molly Meldrum house on occasions, Molly who was not immediate a fan of the Models, later calling Models “one of my favourite bands from the Countdown era”

Models early line-up included Andrew Duffield on keyboards, Mark Ferrie on bass guitar, Janis Freidenfelds (a.k.a. Johnny Crash) on drums and percussion, and Sean Kelly on vocals and lead guitar.

NEVER OUT OF STYLE MODELS are

Sean Kelly | Andrew Duffield | Mark Ferrie | Ash Davies

Previous MODELS also included

Ash Wednesday | Buster Stiggs | John Rowell | Graham Scott | James Freud | Barton Price | James Valentine | Roger Mason. Backing singers in the group included Zan Abeyratne and Kate Ceberano (both from I'm Talking) and Canadian-born Wendy Matthews.

Navigate Models 40 year history step by step the tours, the music, the musicians.

Maeve O’Meara – TPOYC Review Sun Herald 15 Jan 1984

MC’s – Austen Tayshus, Rodney Rude Friday January 27th Party Girls Eurogliders Real Life Eurythmics Simple Minds Mondo Rock Saturday January 28th QED Zarsoff Bros The Johny's Kids In The Kitchen Hoodoo Gurus Machinations Sandii And The Sunzets The Models INXS The Pretenders Talking Heads Mental As Anything

Sunday January 29th Drop Bears Deckchairs Overboard Strange Tennants The Expression Dynamic Hepnotics Little Heroes Sunnyboys Jon English & The Foster Bros. Def Leppard The Radiators