THE NAKED CITY – HAWKESBURY GOTHIC WITH THE MBK!

The 1960s were an exciting time for any young person looking to play music and finding that inspiration in something like the American blues tradition. Warren Nunn and Chris Piper were a couple of friends living in Christchurch, New Zealand who had just discovered the likes of Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson in their local import record shop. Their appetite had been whetted and after finding a Tony “Little Sun” Glover book on blues harmonica they soon sought out artists like Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf and Little Walter. When their records were not readily available at home they jammed some NZ pound notes into an envelope and sent an order off to Chess Records in Chicago.

Chess dutifully obliged and the vinyl they received in the mail shaped the band that was to be known as The Mangrove Boogie Kings. The name itself was a reference to Mangrove Creek in the wilds of Sydney’s Hawkesbury River, where after relocating to Australia, Warren and Chris joined Rex Kelaher and Bruce Atkinson to form MBK.

The band soon began gigging around Sydney in the late 1970s, inspired by artists such as Paul Butterfield, The Animals, Chuck Berry and of course all of the great Chess roster. From the very beginning, the Boogie Kings had a well-earned reputation as a somewhat wild bunch of lads – not only on stage but certainly elsewhere. Frontman Warren Nunn is reluctant to detail most of the ‘episodes’ in print but does recall plenty of pub brawls and wild nights up the ‘creek’. And then there was the infamous incident when Rex from the band decided to take playful pot-shots with a lever-action Winchester 30.30 at a group of tow truck drivers at Barrack Motors burger stand in Oxford Street. The firearm had been borrowed from a nearby drug dealer.

Nobody was killed or injured or even charged by the police. Rex is still very much a force in the band although Chris Piper is no longer with us. Whilst Warren went on to form another band, The Model Husbands during the 1980s, MBK laid dormant although not entirely forsaken. Slim Dusty actually wrote a song about them after Chris Piper went on the road with him as a roadie and regaled him with some of the band’s numerous stories.

The rebirth came in 2008 when Warren put together a scratch band for his son’s 40th birthday party at the Bat & Ball Hotel with Peter Doyle, Dave Twohill and Mark Cornwall seconded to join the lineup. Since then the group has proved a real drawcard on the Sydney music scene with their combination of classic MBK tunes, lots of new material and some great original songs. Warren now lives in the Northern Territory but his enthusiasm for the combo sees him jumping on a plane to Sydney whenever they have a gig here.

As part of the Sedition Festival, the Cell Block Theatre at East Sydney will host Riot In Cell Block ‘79 on Saturday, September 28 – a musical homage to Sydney in the late 70s and early 80s with The Mangrove Boogie Kings, Dog Trumpet and Uncle Bob’s Band. DJ and MC Jay Katz will spin the platters and launch an incredible display of big-screen visuals from the era.

Tickets available at: www.eventbrite.com.au