Reels: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Richard Clapton
• Radio Birdman
• Jimmy & the Boys
• Sunnyboys
• Mondo Rock
• The Choirboys
• INXS

• Wreckless Eric
• Bram Tchaikovsky
• Motors
• Nick Lowe
• XTC
• Split Enz
• The Specials

Genre:

Rock Music

Decades Active:

1970's|1980's

Hailing from the town of Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia, the Reels sported a healthy dose of the quirkiness of early British new wave pop and ska revival. Consisting of vocalist David Mason, keyboardist Colin "Polly" Newman (not the lead singer of Wire), guitarist Craig Hooper, bassist Paul Abrahams, and drummer John Bliss, the Reels made a name for themselves in Australia by using backing tapes during concerts, organizing their set lists according to requests gathered before the shows, and touring by train. 1979's The Reels was their only international album; subsequent outings, like 1981's successful Quasimodo's Dream, were released only in Australia. The band switched to MOR pop for 1982's Beautiful, which achieved success through television marketing by the K-Tel label; the style shift also produced a hit with a cover of Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's in Love With You." Eventually reduced to a synth-driven duo of Mason and Newman, the Reels had another Australian hit with a slowed-down cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising," and recorded a farewell effort, Neighbours, in 1988.

- Steve Huey, All Music Guide