THE Bee Gees may be considered to be the band of the Gibb brothers, but Australian Vince Melouney was the band’s lead guitarist from 1967 to 1969.
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As part of his Bee Gees Show, Mr Melouney will be visiting Armidale and although he has never played here before, he loves playing for regional areas.
“It is great old rock and roll,” he said. “Country people really love it, which I find surprising but they really love the Bee Gees song and the old classics. You expect [the audience in the country] to like country music, but I have found that is not the case.”
While Mr Melouney plays a lot of Bee Gees songs in his shows, he said he had made them his own by modernising them while still “being honest and maintaining their integrity”.
“Many people don’t even realise they have been changed because I haven’t really altered the melody. But of the people who have noticed, many have said they like them better than the originals,” he said.
Mr Melouney was a founding member and instigator of what became Billy Thorp and the Aztecs, but joined the London-based Bee Gees at the beginning of the band’s international success. Life was full on in the band with massive international tours, TV shows, interviews and performances.
“I was just 21 when I joined the band and it was just crazy,” he said. “Kids today are not as naïve as we were.” He said at the time it was very hard to handle the fame being so young.
“It was wild. There were a lot of people on the road, some real crazy dudes and rock’n’rollers.”
He said despite loving the road, it all eventually got out of hand, prompting him to leave after two years.
After leaving the band he’d had enough of music, but continued to work on the periphery of the industy as a musical director for the New Seekers and worked for John Paul Young.
Following that he went into advertising as a freelance jingle writer, but began playing and touring again 15 years ago.
It was something about live performance always stayed with Mr Melouney, which prompted his move back into music.
“I don’t know what it is but it is absolutely there,” he said. “When you play it is the vibe and audience feel it and you feel it and everyone is just having a great time. Everyone can just forget their problems for a time.”
The Bee Gees Show will take to the stage this Friday at the Armidale Ex-Services Club.
