Col Meredith

Col Meredith (born Colin Meredith Germano, 12 February 1961 in Newport Beach, California, USA) is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter for Australian rock bands Bourbon Street and The Feramones under the surname name Germano, and Late for Woodstock under the surname of Meredith, which he adopted professionally in 1995 after Bourbon Street’s first official breakup.
Col’s music career began as a journalist in his teens and he later became editor and publisher of Happening Magazine (1980 to 1983).
As a journalist, he worked closely with Frank Zappa, Ozzy Osbourne, George Thorogood, Jerry-Lee Lewis, Mick Taylor and others in the music industry. During this period, he wrote songs and performed with guitarist Alex Peck in Orange County, CA.
At age 22, he left the publishing business and moved to Coolangatta, Qld, Australia where he met Paul Rye, Peter Worrell and Simon Dundon to form The Blest in 1983. The band cut its teeth in country Queensland over the next few years. In 1987, a line-up change saw the group morph into hard rock band Bourbon Street.
Based in Byron Bay, NSW, Bourbon Street, with Simon Dundon, Lenny Patch and Horace Bevan, released their debut single on vinyl in 1987 thru Merovee Music. Eyes the Size of Stars, written by Germano, charted in the top-10 locally but never found popularity outside the Northern Rivers area. A full length album followed in 1988 called Stronger Than Dirt. While the album spawned no radio hits, it eventually sold more than 10,000 copies and its first track, their cover of Neil Young’s Powder Finger, inspired a Brisbane band of Bourbon Street devotees to adopt the title as their band’s namesake.
Another two albums (Live By Night - 1990; and Time Flies - 1992) would be released before Bourbon Street first officially broke up in 1993. A series of often ill-fated reunions followed from 1996 onward. In 2007, Bourbon Street released their fourth album, aptly titled Band for Life and coproduced by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug. The promotional tour for the album lasted just four shows before the group disbanded permanently on 27 February 2007.
Early life
Born in Newport Beach, California in 1961, Col was raised, alongside two older brothers, in the Orange County suburb of Tustin. His mother, who’d migrated from London, taught him to play piano as a young child and he began composing melodic tunes at an early age. His older brothers influenced him with their chosen music genres, which included a blend of Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Neil Young from his oldest brother, and Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, David Bowie and Jethro Tull from his closest sibling.
Colin attended Foothill High School until year 11 when he transferred to Hillview High and graduated a year early in 1978. He began writing his own music at age 16.
After graduating from Hillview, Col studied journalism and small business management. After two semesters in College, he dropped out of school and began living on a beach in South Laguna, California. After 2 years of surfing and sleeping on the beach, Col landed an apartment above Thousand Steps Beach and a job with Happening Publications as a journalist and advertising rep.
A year later, he became co-editor and publisher with Robert Fitzpatrick as the magazine expanded its circulation to 50,000 a month. He, Fitzpatrick and Lynn Theel later co-hosted a cable television format of Happening Orange County, which focused on sports and entertainment in the Orange County area.
Sighting disinterest and a resistance to the environmental changes occurring in California (Colin was actively involved in programmes that lobbied against excessive land development), he left California in March 1983 for Australia.
Music career
The Flukes/The Blest - 1983 to 1987
In 1983, Colin formed The Flukes with Paul Rye, Peter Worrell and Debbie Worrell. Guitarist Simon Dundon joined the band in 1984. When bassist Debbie Worrell left the band suddenly in 1985, Dundon converted to bass.
In January 1987, Worrell and Rye were replaced by Horace Bevan and Lenny Patch, and the band became Bourbon Street. Immediate success on the local circuit saw the band expand its boundaries to Sydney and they quickly became the most popular live act in New South Wales.
Six years of touring and recording in Australia and the US left a mark in the Australian music industry with nearly 2000 live shows and three independently-released albums. They had two minor hits with Germano-penned songs “Eyes the Size of Stars” in 1987 and “Time Flies” in 1992.
The band officially broke up in late 1993, and Col returned to America to work for a national first aid and safety company. Upon returning to Australia in 1995, Bourbon Street regrouped for several uneventful reunion tours.
In 1998, anxious to distance himself from the lures of Bourbon Street, Col began playing under his aka, (Meredith is his middle name), and formed a new cover band - Late for Woodstock. The group toured steadily throughout Queensland and New South Wales for the better part of seven years. When the band took a break in 2005, Bourbon Street reformed to record the critically acclaimed LP “Banned for Life”, co-produced by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug. The band broke up permanently just four days into the promotional tour.
Cover bands
Late for Woodstock - Formed in 1998 with Paul Martin, Rick Pool and Tony Bell. The group is a tribute show to the 60s and 70s and has never released any recorded material. The band won an award in the 2001 Entertainer of the Year Awards for best live act. In 2009, Grant Byrne replaced Rick Pool on bass and the group continues to function into 2011.
The Feramones - Formed in 2002 by session guitarist Alan Limbrick and 10cc guitarist Rick Fenn. The original singer, Ray Burton, was replaced by Col under the sir name of Germano in late 2002, and the original drummer, Mark Kennedy, was replaced in 2003 by Rick Lloyd. The line-up, which includes Greg Lyon on bass and Cliff Richards’ former musical director Alan Park on keys, has remained unchanged since then. The band continues to be a seasonal icon in the Byron Bay area where The Feramones perform their brand of covers every summer.
The Stereotypes - Formed in 2010 with Steve Badger on guitar, Simon Dundon on bass and Tony Bell on drums. The band plays mainly on the Gold Coast of Queensland and covers a variety of artists from the early sixties to mid-nineties.
Blues Plantation - Formed in April 2011 for the soul purpose of indulging in strictly blues material, the band features Canned Heat’s James T. on guitar, vocals and harmonica, bassist Craig Scott (aka Toke), drummer/pianist Mick Buckley (Radiators, Hi Home I’m Honey) with Col on guitar, harmonica and vocals.
Solo venture (2010)
In late 2010, Col started working on a debut solo album. Produced by Geoff Wright, the 45-minute LP features a collection of Germano-penned originals that span four decades of writing. While Bourbon Street's style was clearly hard rock, Meredith’s solo music is generally described as a mixture of blues, country and acoustic folk.
Entitled Rooftop Therapy, the album was recorded with analogue equipment on ½-inch tape to reflect the warm sound of music recorded in the 70s. The songwriting and old-school recording techniques capture a moderated rock style leaving no doubt that Col’s passion for hard rock has been replaced by a more relaxed approach to music. The genre has been described as Coastal Country, coined by the inaugural Ballina Coastal Country Music Festival in October this year.
Released under his aka Col Meredith, the album features performances from a variety of musicians that have worked with Col in his 30-year career. While Geoff Wright makes numerous contributions on guitar, Hammond, backing vocals, bass and drums, other musicians include Kevin Borich on guitar, Alan Park on piano and keys, Dave Sandford on Sax and piano, Anthony Branagan on flute, Lenny Patch and Rex Carter on drums, Simon Dundon (aka Simon de Avalon) and Grant Byrne on bass, and a host of backing vocalists, including Craig Scott, Sophie Treloar, Kathryn Jones, Clancy Walker, Ozzy Osbourne, Alex Peck, Alex Warrack and Bill Lis.
Ozzy Osbourne’s appearance on the album is courtesy of Happening Publications, Inc. from a 1981 recording of Col interviewing Ozzy for the magazine.
The album features 11 songs, all written or co-written by Col over the course of many years. The oldest track, Women, Waves and Weed, dates back to 1978 when Col was just 17, and the most recently written songs, Daily Bread and Hippies and Puppies, were composed during the production of the album.
Rooftop Therapy was recorded on a 16-track ½-inch tape machine, giving it a distinctly non-digital flavour.
Style, technique, and influences
Meredith has been described as having a strong and versatile vocal range. His voice has often been compared to Robert Plant, Neil Young, Jim Morrison, Bon Scott and John Fogerty. As a guitarist, Col is a strong rhythm player and enhances the engine room of the live bands he plays with. His solos, which are very rare on recordings, are said to have a distinctly Keith Richards flavour.
An avid record collector in his youth, Col listened intently to the 45rpm singles of the very early 70s. His fascination with the Rolling Stones began in the mid-70s and he became a self-confessed Stones loyalist during most of his formative years.
In his late twenties, he discovered the blues artists that influenced 60s and 70s pop music, delving deeply into Robert Johnson, Son House, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and the like.
When Bourbon Street disbanded permanently in 2007, Col weeded out most of the hard rock from his live repertoire. In its place grew a steadier flow of warmer melodies and softer rhythms, leaving room for occasional indulgences in Zeppelinesque hard rock.
As an original artist, his sound and songwriting embrace the essence of 60s and 70s pop without remorse. Traces of Bob Dylan, John Fogarty, Neil Young and the like complement the soundscape through many instrumental, vocal and lyrical portholes.
Associations
Throughout the years, Col has sung lead vocals for many of the world’s great guitar players, including Joe Walsh, Skunk Baxter, Ian Moss, Mark Lizotte, Phil Emmanual and Kevin Borich. He has the uncanny ability to live up to the demands of a hard-working, versatile and energetic lead vocalist while remaining a supportive band member.
Discography
* 1987 - "Eyes the Size of Stars", 45rpm single - Bourbon Street
* 1988 - Stronger than Dirt, LP - Bourbon Street
* 1990 - Live by Night, LP - Bourbon Street
* 1992 - "Time Flies", single - Bourbon Street
* 1992 - Time Flies, LP - Bourbon Street
* 2007 - Banned for Life, LP - Bourbon Street
* 2011 - Rooftop Therapy, LP - Col Meredith

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