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John began his performance career playing folk music and singing with a university choir in Melbourne and since then he has sampled just about every musical and performance style there is, from punk rock to straight theatre, before settling into the eclectic mix that characterizes Dingo's Breakfast's performances.
John moved to Perth in 1979 to join "The Mucky Duck Bush Band", a W.A. legendary folk band, where he met Roger Montgomery.
He spent three years as the band's sound engineer before leaving "The Duck" to form "Ten Pound Tourist" and get back to performing (although many claim that, even as a 'roadie' he never stopped).
In 1985 John and Roger combined for a special project - "Event One" - which grew into the eclectic folk-fusuion band "Australian Bite". They recorded one album together (in those days it was vinyl) called "The Pilbara Connection", songs, poems and yarns from the North-West collected by Roger as part of the "Art in Working Life" project.
The 'songs and poems' format appealed to both John and Roger so, along with Toby and Dave Ralph, "Dingo's Breakfast Oz Music and Poetry Band" was born.
Over the years the band has had remarkably few lineup changes. The member reckon that this is manly because they were all mates before they became a band. (They already knew how to put up with each other's quirks and foibles)
John's early choral experience is used to great effect in the act when they are designing the vocal harmonies for which the band is so well known. As a result of his technical work, John is also keenly interested in working on the arrangements that the band perform.
As well as being a "lifelong" bass player, John has recently added poetry recitation and Irish Bouzouki to his repertoir.
© 2010
Created by TwoBob Productions