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Life's A Gamble

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From the late ’70s and all through the ’80s, pubs, clubs, concert halls and festivals right across Australia heaved to the throbbing pulse of Oz rock. Seven nights a week, from the cities to the suburbs, teenagers and young adults splashed their hard-earned cash to get amongst it—buying tickets, records, cassettes, T-shirts and more.

At the forefront of this were The Radiators, originally coming together in Sydney’s west, but made up of five guys who hailed from diverse places and backgrounds. One of the things that set The Rads apart from most of their contemporaries was their use of keyboards—synthesisers in particular—set against a pounding rhythm section and driving guitars. The fingers doing the talking belonged to a country lad who had made his way to Sydney specifically in search of that opportunity—to make records, perform for big crowds, and immerse himself in everything a rock-and-roll lifestyle had to offer a young man. Brendan Callinan spent almost 12 years in The Rads, being barely 19 when he joined in early 1979.

This is the tale of how he got there and what happened when he did. From childhood music lesson trauma and surviving boarding school to his first encounters with pop and rock music, and joining early bands and later bands, Brendan recounts the good, bad and downright strange gigs, the misadventure, the drummers that came and went, the superstar bands they supported, the support bands that became superstars and the people met along the journey.

The Radiators’ story so often gets boiled down to ‘hardworking pub rock band from Sydney’s west’. Brendan’s tale reveals so much more, with a healthy dose of humour and humility.

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From the late ’70s and all through the ’80s, pubs, clubs, concert halls and festivals right across Australia heaved to the throbbing pulse of Oz rock. Seven nights a week, from the cities to the suburbs, teenagers and young adults splashed their hard-earned cash to get amongst it—buying tickets, records, cassettes, T-shirts and more.

At the forefront of this were The Radiators, originally coming together in Sydney’s west, but made up of five guys who hailed from diverse places and backgrounds. One of the things that set The Rads apart from most of their contemporaries was their use of keyboards—synthesisers in particular—set against a pounding rhythm section and driving guitars. The fingers doing the talking belonged to a country lad who had made his way to Sydney specifically in search of that opportunity—to make records, perform for big crowds, and immerse himself in everything a rock-and-roll lifestyle had to offer a young man. Brendan Callinan spent almost 12 years in The Rads, being barely 19 when he joined in early 1979.

This is the tale of how he got there and what happened when he did. From childhood music lesson trauma and surviving boarding school to his first encounters with pop and rock music, and joining early bands and later bands, Brendan recounts the good, bad and downright strange gigs, the misadventure, the drummers that came and went, the superstar bands they supported, the support bands that became superstars and the people met along the journey.

The Radiators’ story so often gets boiled down to ‘hardworking pub rock band from Sydney’s west’. Brendan’s tale reveals so much more, with a healthy dose of humour and humility.

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