The Angels: Am I ever gonna see this rock mystery solved? (original) (raw)
This was published 10 years ago
By Candice Barnes
May 13, 2014 — 4.02pm
It’s an enduring piece of Aussie rock folklore – who started the f-bomb heavy chant associated with The Angel's Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?
Founding member Rick Brewster said the band first heard the crude call and response at a Mount Isa gig in 1983.
The Angels
“The crowd called us back for a third encore but we were scratching our heads about what to play,” Brewster said.
“We hadn’t played Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again for years because we kind of got sick of playing it, so we went out and played it and the whole crowd screamed ‘no way, get f----d, f--k off!”
The Angels
The lead guitarist said the band was bemused and played the song the next night in Cairns “to see what would happen”.
“It was the same thing, it had travelled country-wide by then but we didn’t know it,” he said.
“I guess it all happened in discos without our knowledge and because we were playing we never went out to discos.”
In the late 2000s the band tried to find out how the iconic chant came about, but didn’t come any closer solving the mystery.
“I don’t think it will ever be solved because too many people put their hand up and said ‘I started it’ and we don’t believe any of it,” said founding member Rick Brewster.
“We just think it’s funny, it’s the bush telegraph really. The whole country was doing it and then we found when we went overseas the people in America were doing it too.”
The Angels are now celebrating 40 years in the industry and are about to embark on a nationwide tour.
“I mean there are certain songs we have to play or we’ll be crucified and we’re used to that,” said Brewster.
“We love to play songs off the new album but we realise that people want to hear songs they know. It’s a bit like a wedding, something old, something new.”
The band has also just released a two volume greatest hits album, featuring a number of previously unheard recordings.
“There was one bootleg recording a fan gave us years ago but I didn’t hear it until a few months ago, a whole show recorded in the United States in 1980,” said Brewster.
“We had done a medley which neither John [Brewster] nor I can remember playing and it’s a good take.
“We’re almost certain it was Chris Bailey’s idea, our sadly departed bass player, as he was always going on about how we should be playing a medley.”
The Angels’ 40th anniversary tour kicks off in Victoria on May 30. Ticket information is available on the band’s website.
WA dates
July 31 - Newport Hotel, Fremantle
August 1- Wintersun Hotel, Bluff Point
August 2 - Charles Hotel, North Perth
August 3 - Ravenswood Hotel, Ravenswood