Simon Binks
Encyclopedia
Simon John Binks is an Australian rock music
ian who was a guitar
ist and singer-songwriter
for Australian Crawl
from founding in 1978 to disbanding in 1986.
suburb of Mount Eliza
on the outskirts of Melbourne and educated at The Peninsula School
.
Spiff Rouch was a band formed in 1976, it included Binks and fellow locals James Reyne
, Bill McDonough, Guy McDonough
, Paul Williams, and Robert Walker. By early 1978, Spiff Rouch had separated and Australian Crawl was formed with Binks (lead guitar
), Reyne (lead vocals, piano
, harmonica
), and Williams (bass guitar
), they were joined by James Reyne's younger brother David Reyne
(drums
) and schoolmate Brad Robinson
(rhythm guitar
, backing vocals).
performed their first live gig in October 1978. Bill McDonough (drums) replaced David Reyne within the first year.
Binks wrote or co-wrote four tracks for Australian Crawl's 1980 debut album The Boys Light Up
as well as guitar
s (lead
, slide
, acoustic
) and vocals
. Bill's brother, Guy McDonough (guitars, singer-songwriting) joined Australian Crawl later that year. For their second album Sirocco
in 1981, Binks supplied two tracks, and guitar work; the third album, Sons of Beaches
in 1982, had Binks providing guitars but no songwriting credits.
Drummer Bill McDonough left early in 1983, the Crawl recorded an EP
Semantics
with Graham Bidstrup
on drums. Of the four tracks, Binks wrote "White Limbo" which was also the B-side of the European single release "Reckless
". Mountain climber
, Lincoln Hall
, quotes lyrics from Binks' song in his book, White Limbo: The first Australian climb of Mt Everest (1985). The EP Semantics charted on the Australian Singles Charts to reach #1 and consequently some sources list "Reckless" as a #1 single. After the EP, John Watson replaced Bidstrup as drummer.
Phalanx
released late in 1983 was a live album
which saw Binks and sound engineer
Ross Cockle as producers
. Australian Crawl toured England supporting Duran Duran
in late 1983 but they returned to Australia with Guy McDonough seriously ill and subsequently dying in June 1984. During recording sessions for Between a Rock and a Hard Place Binks resigned, he was replaced by session musicians on guitar and by Simon Hussey (ex Cats Under Pressure) who provided keyboards
and songwriting. Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive and had less chart success than previous albums; to recoup his investment, Binks returned to the band for their final national tour, recorded in the live album The Final Wave
, which was released in 1986.
in 1988. He signed with Blue Pie Productions, in July 2004 but didn't produce any recorded materials and subsequently left.
An injury in a 1995 car crash at a North Sydney
Council roadworks left Binks slightly brain-damaged with some sensory loss and restriction of finer movements of his right hand, which had prevented him from regaining the high level of skill he had previously shown. A court in 2006 awarded him $330,253 in damages, down from an estimated $750,000 because lawyers for North Sydney Council provided evidence that Binks was speeding and over the legal alcohol limit. Binks later disputed the alcohol reading as belonging to another driver and stated the remuneration mostly went to his lawyers. During the court case media also reported that he fell out with Crawl co-founder James Reyne
after claiming to have written "The Boys Light Up
", one of Australian Crawl's early hits. Binks denied this also, claiming that although he wrote the introductory musical theme from "The Boys Light Up" such work was not usually credited, and that the basic chords and lyrics were written by Reyne. After an appeal by the Council, in September 2007, the amount Binks was awarded was reduced to $304,750.
s most of his life and had been prescribed injections of pethidine
by his doctor to combat the pain. Evidence from the court cases reported that Binks was due to separate from his wife Sharon in 2006. He lives with his daughter, Elizabeth, and continues to perform and write music.
for full list or for a quick link to albums and singles use infobox below. Studio albums with Binks:
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
ian who was a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
for Australian Crawl
Australian Crawl
Australian Crawl were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne , Brad Robinson , Paul Williams , Simon Binks and David Reyne in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough...
from founding in 1978 to disbanding in 1986.
Early career
Binks was raised in the Mornington PeninsulaMornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
suburb of Mount Eliza
Mount Eliza, Victoria
Mount Eliza is an outer suburb south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
on the outskirts of Melbourne and educated at The Peninsula School
The Peninsula School
The Peninsula School is an independent, co-educational, Anglican, day and boarding school, located in Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia.Founded in 1961, the school is set on the large hilly green fields overlooking Port Phillip Bay in the Mornington Peninsula and is a member of the Associated...
.
Spiff Rouch was a band formed in 1976, it included Binks and fellow locals James Reyne
James Reyne
James Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
, Bill McDonough, Guy McDonough
Guy McDonough
Guy Gillis McDonough was an Australian rock musician best known for rhythm guitar and singer-songwriter with the iconic band Australian Crawl. He provided rhythm guitar and lead vocals on two of their well-known songs, "Oh No Not You Again" and "Errol"...
, Paul Williams, and Robert Walker. By early 1978, Spiff Rouch had separated and Australian Crawl was formed with Binks (lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
), Reyne (lead vocals, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
), and Williams (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), they were joined by James Reyne's younger brother David Reyne
David Reyne
David Nicholas Reyne is an Australian actor, musician and television presenter. He was educated at The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza.-Music career:...
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
) and schoolmate Brad Robinson
Brad Robinson (Australian musician)
Bradford Leigh "Brad" Robinson ) was a rock musician best known as lead and rhythm guitarist with the 1980s band Australian Crawl. Robinson had a later career as a manager for musicians and sports personalities.-Early years:...
(rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, backing vocals).
Australian Crawl
Australian CrawlAustralian Crawl
Australian Crawl were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne , Brad Robinson , Paul Williams , Simon Binks and David Reyne in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough...
performed their first live gig in October 1978. Bill McDonough (drums) replaced David Reyne within the first year.
Binks wrote or co-wrote four tracks for Australian Crawl's 1980 debut album The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People"...
as well as guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s (lead
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, slide
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, acoustic
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
) and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
. Bill's brother, Guy McDonough (guitars, singer-songwriting) joined Australian Crawl later that year. For their second album Sirocco
Sirocco (album)
Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1...
in 1981, Binks supplied two tracks, and guitar work; the third album, Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches
Sons of Beaches is the third album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl and their second #1 in the Australian albums charts...
in 1982, had Binks providing guitars but no songwriting credits.
Drummer Bill McDonough left early in 1983, the Crawl recorded an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Semantics
Semantics (album)
Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
with Graham Bidstrup
Graham Bidstrup
Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup is an Australian musician, songwriter, music producer and artist manager. He has been a member of The Angels, The Party Boys and Gang Gajang. He has managed Jimmy Little, Nathan Cavaleri and Diana Ah Naid. He is part of the management team for the Jimmy Little Foundation.-The...
on drums. Of the four tracks, Binks wrote "White Limbo" which was also the B-side of the European single release "Reckless
Reckless (Australian Crawl song)
"Reckless" was a 1983 song from the EP Semantics by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The song showed a change in the line up of the band as drummer Bill McDonough was temporarily replaced by Graham Bidstrup...
". Mountain climber
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
, Lincoln Hall
Lincoln Hall (climber)
Lincoln Hall is a veteran Australian mountain climber and author. Hall is the author of White Limbo, the story of the first Australian team to climb Mount Everest. While others in the team made it to the top, Hall was forced to turn back close to the summit due to illness...
, quotes lyrics from Binks' song in his book, White Limbo: The first Australian climb of Mt Everest (1985). The EP Semantics charted on the Australian Singles Charts to reach #1 and consequently some sources list "Reckless" as a #1 single. After the EP, John Watson replaced Bidstrup as drummer.
Phalanx
Phalanx (album)
Phalanx is the first live album released by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. It was recorded live at concerts at Bombay Rock Gold Coast, Queensland and at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in October, 1983, during the 'Semantics' tour. The album was initially released on vinyl in...
released late in 1983 was a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
which saw Binks and sound engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
Ross Cockle as producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Australian Crawl toured England supporting Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
in late 1983 but they returned to Australia with Guy McDonough seriously ill and subsequently dying in June 1984. During recording sessions for Between a Rock and a Hard Place Binks resigned, he was replaced by session musicians on guitar and by Simon Hussey (ex Cats Under Pressure) who provided keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and songwriting. Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive and had less chart success than previous albums; to recoup his investment, Binks returned to the band for their final national tour, recorded in the live album The Final Wave
The Final Wave
The Final Wave is the second live album released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It is a recording of the band's final Melbourne concert on 27 January 1986. The album reached #16 on the Australian album charts upon its release....
, which was released in 1986.
Later career
Binks played guitar in the Broderick Smith BandBroderick Smith
Broderick Smith aka Brod Smith is an Australian singer-songwriter, harmonica, guitar and banjo player. He was a member of 1970s bands Carson and The Dingoes, 1980s Broderick Smith's Big Combo and performed solo...
in 1988. He signed with Blue Pie Productions, in July 2004 but didn't produce any recorded materials and subsequently left.
An injury in a 1995 car crash at a North Sydney
North Sydney, New South Wales
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...
Council roadworks left Binks slightly brain-damaged with some sensory loss and restriction of finer movements of his right hand, which had prevented him from regaining the high level of skill he had previously shown. A court in 2006 awarded him $330,253 in damages, down from an estimated $750,000 because lawyers for North Sydney Council provided evidence that Binks was speeding and over the legal alcohol limit. Binks later disputed the alcohol reading as belonging to another driver and stated the remuneration mostly went to his lawyers. During the court case media also reported that he fell out with Crawl co-founder James Reyne
James Reyne
James Reyne is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work.. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist...
after claiming to have written "The Boys Light Up
The Boys Light Up (song)
"The Boys Light Up" is the second single and title track released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album The Boys Light Up . The song was written by lead singer James Reyne, but sung by Simon Binks!!...
", one of Australian Crawl's early hits. Binks denied this also, claiming that although he wrote the introductory musical theme from "The Boys Light Up" such work was not usually credited, and that the basic chords and lyrics were written by Reyne. After an appeal by the Council, in September 2007, the amount Binks was awarded was reduced to $304,750.
Personal life
By November 1993 Binks was married and they had a child. During his court case v North Sydney Council, evidence was presented that he suffered from migraineMigraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
s most of his life and had been prescribed injections of pethidine
Pethidine
Pethidine or meperidine Pethidine (INN) or meperidine (USAN) Pethidine (INN) or meperidine (USAN) (commonly referred to as Demerol but also referred to as: isonipecaine; lidol; pethanol; piridosal; Algil; Alodan; Centralgin; Dispadol; Dolantin; Mialgin (in Indonesia); Petidin Dolargan (in Poland);...
by his doctor to combat the pain. Evidence from the court cases reported that Binks was due to separate from his wife Sharon in 2006. He lives with his daughter, Elizabeth, and continues to perform and write music.
Discography
- Spiff Rouch (1976–1978)
- no known recorded output
- Australian Crawl (1978–1984)
for full list or for a quick link to albums and singles use infobox below. Studio albums with Binks:
-
- The Boys Light UpThe Boys Light UpThe Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People"...
(1980) - SiroccoSirocco (album)Sirocco is the second album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl. It was released in July 1981 and on 3 August, it topped the Australian charts where it remained for six weeks, the band's first of two albums to hit #1...
(1981) - Sons of BeachesSons of BeachesSons of Beaches is the third album from Australian rock band Australian Crawl and their second #1 in the Australian albums charts...
(1982) - SemanticsSemantics (album)Semantics was a 1983 EP by iconic Australian surf rock band Australian Crawl. The album marked a change in the line-up of the band as Bill McDonough was replaced first by Graham Bidstrup to record the EP...
(1983 EP, 1984 LP)
- The Boys Light Up
- Broderick Smith Band (1988)