Seminal Adelaide pop band Zoot releases compilation album to mark group’s 50th anniversary

The seminal Adelaide pop group Zoot have a new compilation album and a new song, featuring the vocals of much-loved departed member Darryl Cotton. Nathan Davies reports.

The track has been released to mark Zoot’s 50th anniversary.

Listen carefully to Zoot’s new single, a cover of the eighties classic Life in a Northern Town, and you’ll hear a blast from Adelaide’s rock past.

There, along with the voices of Beeb Birtles and Rick Springfield, is the unmistakeable tone of the late Darryl Cotton.

Cotton died of cancer six years ago, but thanks to the wonders of the studio he’s able to appear on the track that’s been released to mark the 50th Anniversary of the seminal pop band.

Speaking on the phone from Bend, Oregon, where he’d just celebrated a white Christmas with his daughter and grandchildren, Birtles said finding a way to have Cotton’s voice on the song felt special to him and the rest of the group.

“The way Life in a Northern Town came about was miraculous,” the former Plympton High School student says.

Beeb Birtles

“Both Rick and Darryl had recorded versions of that song, independently from each other.

“When we found out that Darryl had recorded a version we chased down the engineer that worked on it, and we were able to life Darryl’s vocal and slot it in on Rick’s version,

“Then Rick sent me the files and asked me to sing the third verse and add my high harmonies to the chorus. It’s such a great thing — Darryl died six years ago, yet we have a new Zoot single out with everybody on it. It’s very special.”

Zoot began life as Down the Line, formed by Dutch immigrant Birtles and his school friend John D’Arcy.

The band soon found success, but the name didn’t go down well with a young, up-and-coming promoter called Bernard “Doc” Neeson, who was yet to find fame as the dynamic frontman of The Angels. “It was Doc and his friend Alan Howell who suggested changing our name,” Birtles recalls.

“When Down the Line became popular in the Christies Beach area we were approached by Doc and his friend Alan — who were promoting dances in the northern area — and they said, ‘We think you guys have a lot of potential, but we really don’t like your name’.
“It was Doc who said, ‘Why don’t you change your name to something like Zoot, a word that doesn’t really mean anything?’

ZOOT - LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN

“We opposed it at first, but I think they were right though.” Zoot quickly outgrew their hometown, and moved to Melbourne where they had a huge hit with a heavy version of The Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. Inspired by bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, who were beginning to make a mark at the end of the sixties, Zoot turned their amps to 11 and recorded a cover that many believe surpassed the original. Legend has it the John Lennon himself may have felt the same way.

“Just recently I heard that John Lennon once made a comment along the lines of, ‘We should have recorded Eleanor Rigby the way they did’,” Birtles laughs.

“I’m not sure where the quote came from — maybe from one of the many books written about him — but it was just so raw and in your face that it had a huge impact.” Birtles will be a highlight of the summer’s Grand Cenral classic rock Fringe line-up, which has also locked in performances by Ross Wilson and The 1965 Masters Apprentices.

The now Nashville-based singer can’t wait to bring his show featuring the music of his three main bands — Zoot, Missisippi and Little River Band — back to his old home town. “I just have the fondest memories of growing up in Adelaide,” he says.

“It was so great … catching the bus into the city and going to clubs like the Beat Basement and seeing the bands that were around during those days. It just blew me away.”

Beeb Birtles play The Grand Central, Angas St, on February 22. Tickets at adelaidefringe.com.au
Zoot’s Archaeology, featuring Life in a Northern Town, is out now through EMI

WHO ARE THEY

RICK SPRINGFIELD

Moved to the US after Zoot and had a massive worldwide pop hit with his song Jessie’s Girl. Also an actor, Sydney-born Springfield has appeared on everything from Battlestar Galactica to CHiPS, but is best know for his role as Dr Noah Drake in long-running soap General Hospital.

DARRYL COTTON

Grew up in Christies Beach. After Zoot, Cotton had a successful career as a singer, television presenter and actor, appearing on TV in The Young Doctors and on stage in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He died in 2012.

BEEB BIRTLES

Went on to play in Mississippi, which morphed into Little River Band, one of the most popular Australian bands of all time and one of only a handful to ever truly crack the US market.

RICK BREWER

Went on to join The Ferrets and play on the Oz rock classic Don’t Fall In Love.