If you liked your music loud, heavy and raunchy with a bit of glam thrown in during the 1970s, and remember the heady Countdown days, chances are you encountered Melbourne band Taste.
Previously known as Cloud Nine, the original drummer was Virgil Donati, who went on to a stellar career and is today considered one of the world’s finest. Ken Murdoch (guitar/vocals), Joey Amenta (guitar) and Michael Tortoni (bass) were the other band members.
Their first single, Tickle Your Fancy, came from an album of the same name, but their biggest hit was Boys Will be Boys, which Queen used as their warm-up anthem before every show during their A Night at the Opera tour.
Taste had four top 10 hits in all and two of their three albums reached top 20.
They had shared the stage with Queen, Suzi Quatro, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel, and seemed destined to go on to bigger things, but for various reasons it never happened and they disbanded.
But according to bassist Michael Tortoni, Taste never really went away – the passion for the music never left, and four decades on from their heyday, with the three original members now in their 50s and 60s, Taste has released a new album, Life on Earth.
“I put a couple of songs down in my home studio and one sounded very Taste-like, very heavy and theatrical, so I sent it to Joey and Michael and asked them what they thought,” Ken Murdoch said.
The response was unanimous and a sign of the creative explosion that ensued was that the song never made the final cut.
“The songs poured out of me – some took a few months to write but I knew where (the album) was going. It has a theme – it deals with a lot of history and it deals with what a turbulent world we live in.”
At one end of the spectrum is the melodic, metal thunder of the video single I am God – at the other a tender ballad of mortality, Is it Just a Dream.
The rage of Fatal Shore was inspired by horrific events in modern Australia and Blood brings it closer to home with a glam-tinted celebration of the ties that secure friendship against the odds of time.
The I am God video is an apocalyptic and futuristic clip, with explosive vocals, stark guitar harmonies and head-banging solos all informed by the band’s combined experience in the hard rock and jazz worlds.
The band is touring Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney before a Melbourne gig at Richmond’s Corner Hotel on July 16.
“It’s a pretty full on show that shows off the chemistry of the band, who’ve played together nearly all their lives,” Murdoch said. “It’s pretty musically complex, heavy and evokes some mighty vocals and guitar solos.”
Watch the I am God video
Tickets for Taste’s Corner Hotel gig – www.ticketscout.com.au
