525. Doug Anthony All Stars / Icon. 1990. 4/5

The Doug Anthony All Stars, named in parody after Doug Anthony who had been the leader of the Country Party and also been Deputy Prime Minister in the Fraser Government, first came together in 1984, busking in the streets of Canberra. Richard Fidler had been playing guitar when he met Tim Ferguson, both of whom were attending university. Ferguson joined Fidler for an impromptu and energetic version of “Wild Thing”, a performance that filled the coffers from the passing parade. They decided to begin performing together, and along with another friend Robert Piper formed the group. After a year Piper left due to his increasing commitments, something that has led him to a career with the United Nations and roles in coordinating the peace processes of the middle east and in occupied Palestine. In his place, fellow performer Paul McDermott was brought into the group.
The All Stars were a comedy parody group, creating songs of humour with a dark edge to them. With McDermott’s drafting into the group, the material became edgier, with Fidler suggesting he changed the group’s dynamic. They moved to Melbourne following their success in winning the top award at the Adelaide Fringer Festival in 1986, in the hope of saving enough money to make an assault on the holy grail, the Edinburgh Fringe festival. They found that Melbourne audiences were initially not responsive to their show, something that began to draw a reaction from the group on stage. Ferguson and McDermott in particular began to adopt more abusive characters as their stage personas, while Fidler remained the happy and unaware character, which led to Fidler’s character being the butt of jokes from the other two. This growing part of the act, along with the biting tales being incorporated into their songs, gave the group their unique style, and on reaching the Edinburgh Fringe in 1987, they played to sold out crowds. This led to further success in the UK and being nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award the following year at the Edinburgh Fringe. With great success in the UK and having toured Canada and the US and Germany as well, they returned as conquering heroes to Australia in 1988, where they were met with... silence. In fact, things were so bad that they had to revert back to busking on the streets to make ends meet.
This all changed the following year in 1989, when they were invited to appear on a new comedy show on the ABC called “The Big Gig”, a live hour of comedy every Tuesday night that featured the best standup comedians and groups in Australia. The Doug Anthony All Stars appeared each week – indeed, they were on every episode of the show for its first three years. Their abrasive candour on stage, combined with their hilarious original songs and amazing voices were a huge hit. Accompanied only by Fidler’s acoustic guitar, the three combined their excellent voices to create comedy and music that was the highlight of each week of the show.
With so much material now built up, the group decided to release an album of the songs they had written. It was to be a test of their popularity both in Australia and abroad. Their subject matter could be biting yet humorous, and there was always the chance that they would offend groups on a large scale. But it was also possible that they could find an even wider fan base with the project. Thus came the album “DAAS Icon”, and the next phase of the band’s career.

This is an album of its age, and there would be those people out there that believe that this album could not be recorded in 2025. If that is the case, then it would be a sad day for comedy cynicism and parody. The Doug Anthony All Stars are not afraid of making fun and pointing the funny bone at political and religious establishments, nor should they be. Some have said in the past that they find the group childish and unfunny, that their material takes cheap shots and is disrespectful to the institutions it is aimed at. These people are the ones who have no sense of humour, and are unable to laugh at clearly comedic outpourings on what they consider serious topics. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but whether that opinion should be able to suffocate another's is a different matter entirely.
The band’s first foray into their quest of defining all religion comes from the opening track “Commies for Christ”, which also acts as an introduction of the three personas of the band. Once through that we take a trip combining the communist regime and the DAAS boys view of their version of God, beautifully expressed in comedic ways. This is just the first of many songs on the album that address god and his many religions. “Krshna” is just a terrific song, with wonderful parodying of the religion but while coming from a position where they are speaking in a positive way about it, from the point of view of a new convert. Some of my favourite lines are in this track, including, “And I’ll pray all night to Krishna, cos he’s a damn good listener, and he never ever ever answers back”, and, “and when Irish eyes are trying to make the Pommie’s pay, we’ll get krishna and his shotgun to join the IRA”. This line got this song and album banned in the UK on its release, though it was soon overturned in court.
On the other hand, “Little Gospel Song” is precisely that, a beautiful song that would not be out of place in a gospel church, with only Richard’s acoustic guitar accompanying Paul’s lead vocal and the backing from Tim and Richard. Songs like this prove that their talents as performers are real and not put on, that they could write and perform material that is not comedic or politically charged. “Go to Church” rides at the other end of the spectrum with the band’s slightly overblown thoughts on where the church has headed in those years with the increased advent of the televangelists and their less than moralist conventions.
And yet despite this, there are plenty of other songs here that have no connotations of that at all. “My Baby’s Gone to Jail”, replete with horns section to fill out the song, tells the story of a girlfriend who has been carted off to jail for any number of incidents, all listed in the song’s lyrics. “Jack” is an almost gospel piece, created only by the three vocals of the band, beautifully combined to tell the story of Jack the coal miner, and the weight on the shoulders of his craft. It is another example of the talents of the three and the differing styles they use in their songs throughout. “Change the Blades” does the same but in a rollicking fashion, talking of the burden and sorrow faced with the elements and changing factors in one’s life, again bringing the horns in to push a sound that you wouldn’t expect with the lyrical aspects of the song. “Shang-a-Lang" is a politically motivated song fused in racism, and uses a passage from Martin Luther King in the middle of the song to highlight the pointedness of what they are implying. Tim takes lead vocal on this song and really nails it home. On the other hand they also have the song called “Dead Elvis”, where they sing about performing a dance called the Dead Elvis. It radiates with their comedic talent with lines such as “You don't move your arms And you don't move your legs You just do the do the dead Elvis, You don't grind your pelvis It's the dance of the dead C'mon and do the, do the dead Elvis”. This moves into the wonderful “I Want to Spill the Blood of a Hippy” which was released as a single. Channelling the sound of the 60’s psychedelic songs, Tim takes on lead vocals again to give the movement and those trying to revive the time a spray, the violent overtones of the song apparently not pleasing some groups out in the world. However, it is the comedy tones that should override this and which make it such an entertaining song and performance.
“Rat” mimics “Little Gospel Song” in that it is just a beautiful combining of vocals over backing keyboards, once again in a gospel fashion. This is then followed by the wonderfully laconic and traditional one-up-manship storytelling of broad lic nic, with tall tales becoming taller as the song progresses. Sung with a touch of the Scottish about it, this again rates as one of the best songs on the album, and the most singable lyrics, my favourites being “Well, I severed my leg to win a One-legged race, And when I won I stitched it Right back into place. I fought Mohammed Ali, I've seduced Mata Hari, I've even worn a sari When I impersonated Gandhi. And I dare any man here To call me a liar, But I swear I've seen Ezekiel, I swear I've seen Isaiah, Toasting marshmallows in Beelzebub's fire”
“2x” is an instrumental that then leads into “Motorcycle St Sebastian”, another rollicking ride led by Paul’s vocals. The final track on the album is the second single, “Bottle”, a really perfect tale about an alcoholic and his battle with the bottle, his love and desire for the drink though he knows it will kill him. It’s another example of a track that has not comedy, no agenda, but just a beautiful song on a touching and pertinent subject, where the Doug Anthony All Stars again showcase their talents on another level.

When “The Big Gig” started on ABC TV on Tuesday evenings in 1989, it became a must watch. It was an entertainment show that showcased the best up and coming Australian stand up comedians, comedy groups and music. It introduced me to so many brilliant acts, many of which I then went to see in their own live shows, such as Glynn Nicholas (whose brilliant stage show ‘Kissing Frogs’ is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen), the Empty Pockets (of whom Matt Parkinson was one half of the duo, who went on to win Sale of the Century and is now Goliath on The Chase Australia), Jean Kittson, Anthony Ackroyd and so many others. But the one who really stood out was the weekly appearance of the Doug Anthony All Stars. They were anarchic, out of control, belligerent... but above all brilliant and funny. They blew up the stage every week, and all of this was AFTER they had already made a huge splash overseas at the Edinburgh Fringe. Amazing.
When this album was announced and released, I grabbed it immediately. In the long run, I was hoping that all of the songs they had played on The Big Gig would be on here so I could enjoy them all over again. And for the most part, they were. And yes, it is most definitely the comedy songs that I bought it for. “Commies for Christ”, “Krshna”, “Dead Elvis”, “I Want to Spill the Blood of a Hippy”, “Go to Church”, “Broad Lic Nic”. They all jump off the CD and out of the speakers. But as you listen to the album, you gain an appreciation for their talents with songs like “Jack”, “Little Gospel Song” and “Bottle”.
I’ve had this album on again for the last week and it has been fantastic singing along to all of these songs again. They are better to watch the band performing them as a part of their act because that is in their best element, but this album has never disappointed whenever I put it on.
DAAS parted ways in 1994, ostensibly for all three members to go and do their own projects. It wasn’t until an interview in 2010 that Tim Ferguson revealed they had parted because he was unable to do the physical side of the comedy their act required. It wasn’t until two years after they split that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which he still lives with today. In the end, their ending did allow the furious fire and focus of their material in that short space of time to remain relevant even to today.