Mad Not Madness

Mad Not Madness was a Melbourne tribute band to the prominent UK ska act Madness played in and around Melbourne from 1991-93. This band went on to spawn some prominent bands in Australia such as Area7, The Seen and GasKats.

History
Raphael Segal in 1991 had the idea that he wanted to start a tribute band to Madness in Melbourne. The hunt was on to find the correct players to perform in this band. Firstly, Raph was approached by Dugald McNaughton at a scooter rally in Kennett River, Victoria. He introduced himself to Raph and asked if it was true that he was starting a Madness band.

Shortly after this, Raph and Dugald discovered Dan Morrisson who was a notable drummer for his age. Dan was a particularly good find as he only ever practiced drums to Madness and Ska so he was immediately on board.

Then they were on the hunt for someone who could fill the shoes of Chas Smash. Dan came up with a friend that he knew had a bellow for it named Ivan Downey. Ivan was a lanky lad and had a booming shout on him that could stop a truck.

Raph at that stage was working as a DJ in a local retro restaurant/cafe in Albert Park when one afternoon he overheard a conversation of a group of patrons. Brock Lever had just arrived in Australia from the USA and the conversation was on the subject of Ska bands. Raph struck up a conversation with Brock and discovered that he was a bass player from LA and that he was playing Ska in the US previously. Raph asked if he would like to be in this project and Brock jumped at the chance.

Raph and Dugald were at pub called the Lizard Lounge having a discussion on the band when they were approached by one Brett Anstey who ran an independent film company called the "Krypto Bros.". He was interested in what Raph and Dugald were doing as he was making a full length independent feature film called "Ezra Pound - The Axe King". He had a spot unbelievably for a Madness styled band to feature prominently in the film's end scenes. When Raph and Dugald had agreed to do this they stated that they were still short a couple of members and that they were still on the hunt for a guitarist and a saxophone player. Brett said that the fellow playing the starring role in the aforementioned film was actually a guitarist and that he may be interested in joining the band. Charles Thompson although long haired at that stage was to immediately join the project.

The band started rehearsing even without a saxophonist fully believing that they would find one in no time. They advertised and had auditioned many applicants when Dugald remembered that he had a friend that played sax at school. He contacted him and Pete was the last to join and complete the band.

Eight to ten weeks rehearsing and they played their first show at the Bridge Rd Club in suburb of Richmond. This was supposed to be a small afternoon show and was not to advertised much. Raph had a cool idea to market the band as if they had been going for years so they had handed out leaflets prominently displaying the words "We're Back!!" which seemed to fool some of the music press of the day as they rocked up and reviewed the band. That first show was packed and had a great response from the crowd. The costumes, antics, moves and reporte that Ivan and Raph shared on stage was golden and so the crowd went crackers for more. The music press proving that they were in fact fooled by the "we're back!" scheme published an article stating that the band was so much better than they used to be.

Although they played many gigs during their relatively short time such as The Australian Nation Scooter Rally, Chevron gigs as the main act complete with pyro shows and full military uniforms, gigs at small pubs and large. They finally split after only 20 months when Dugald, Charles, Dan and Ivan decided to move on... they created Area 7.

Raph moved to South Australia and is also still in the ska fraternity. Known now as the Rev. Raphael he created ska acts The Seen and Gaskats, both of which toured with Bad Manners, and support the likes of Reel Big Fish, Buck-O-Nine, Hepcat, Mighty Bosstones and other international ska acts. He also is noted for creating the world's first and still largest ska based search engine called Skahoo http://www.skahoo.com.

Brock and Peter went their separate ways and not much is known after this about these two apart from Pete creating a band called The Electric Mayhem (named after the Muppet band).

Guests musicians
* Toby Dargeville - "Tobes" - Trumpet

Production
* Anthony Richardson - "Eddie" - Audio Engineer

Points of Note
* The band played their eighth gig at the Chevron Hotel to over 1500 people. It was a huge night and incidentally the night that Walter Eskdale first approached some of the members about an original band he was creating. "Area 7" was in the minds eye for some even in those early days.

* Raph Segal regularly was called live and on-air by Triple J's Maynard F# Crabbes who would give away tickets to Mad Not Madness' bigger shows.

* Mad Not Madness played the National Scooter Run at Orbost Victoria in 1993 where Raph's Vespa was to seize on the run, be dismantled and then carried back to Melbourne in parts. He was quite upset.

* Mad Not Madness' members each appeared in the independent film "Ezra Pound - The Axe King" in 1992 and were credited in the soundtrack as well.

* Mad Not Madness were one of only two Madness bands in the world to rate a mention in George Marshall biography of Madness called Totally Madness. You can look it up on page 92. The Band was over the moon when this book was published.

* Half the members (Dugald, Charles, Ivan and Dan) went on the create "Area 7" - http://www.area7.com.au.

* Peter went on to create "The Electric Mayhem" in Melbourne.

* Raph Segal went on to create two more notable ska bands, "The Seen", and "GasKats" in South Australia, both of which supported many international ska acts like Bad Manners, Buck-O-Nine, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish and Hepcat and National promoted Acts like "The Porkers" & "Area 7". Both The Seen and Gaskats are currently on ice but will return to play another day very soon.

* Ivan Downey was last sighted in rural Victoria.

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