Coloured Balls

Hard Rock/Blues band from 1972 - 1974

Biography
America had Hendrix, Britain had Clapton, Beck and Page, and Australia had John Baslington Lyde, aka Lobby Loyde, the most uncompromising axe man in either hemisphere. By 1972, he was already a 10-year veteran of the Aussie live scene, and formed The Coloured Balls as ‘a revenge band’ against the musical establishment. The result was a visceral rock, loosely akin to The Groundhogs or Jeff Beck Group, with songs, vocals and attitude that can only be described as a remarkable forerunner to the British punk/pop of the Buzzcocks, Clash and Pistols. Indeed, predating Sham 69’s similar experience, the Balls were crushed within three years by self-fulfilling press outrage over supposed skinhead violence at their gigs. After that, Loyde went to England, roadied for punk bands and found them mining exactly the same seam, only now the time was right. Packed with rare singles, unreleased gems and the awesome 16-minute 1973 Sunbury Festival performance of GOD, it is testament to the legend, and ripe for rediscovery.