The Missing Links - Driving You Insane (1999)

Driving You Insane 1965: Before it was fashionable – and long before it was acceptable – a bunch of musical maniacs called the Missing Links were tearing up the stages of Sydney’s inner city with their furious live shows. The length of their hair and manner of dress caused genuine concern among the establishment. Johnny O’Keefe, the so-called ‘wild man of rock & roll’, refused to allow the Missing Links to appear on his TV pop program.

The Missing Links were a band without pretence or compromise. When they were billed as ‘Australia’s wildest group’, it wasn’t the just the usual industry hyperbole or rhetoric – it was a statement of fact. And it’s a fact that still holds true today. They predated punk, hard rock, metal and grunge. If you saw the Missing Links walking down the street today, as they appeared in the mid-60s, you’d think nothing of it; their image hasn’t dated at all. The Links’ brief history is convoluted and confusing – even those involved don’t recall exactly how events unfolded. Originally featuring Peter Anson, Danny Cox, Bob Brady, Dave Boyne and Ronnie Peel, within less than a year the line-up had changed completely to consist of Andy James, Doug Ford, John Jones, Chris Gray, Ian Thomas and Baden Hutchins. All were in their teens.

As wild as the first bunch had been, it was the second line up who would really create the legend with their incredibly innovative sound and untamed stage behaviour. Their live shows were characterised by an auto-destructive performance held together by extended feedback rave-ups to a pounding jungle rhythm. On one occasion the squealing pitch of their guitars caused a mirrored ceiling to shatter and collapse into the audience.

“Before Masters Apprentices I was a musician in Sydney and I was playing in a band called Running Jumping Standing Still and that was a Blues-styled band with R&B influences and Soul and all the types of music that I really liked to do. Before that I was in a band called The Missing Links which were quite a famous band at the time and did a lot of good things in the Blues/Soul style of music. Then I was living just down the road from a bunch of musos who I didn’t know at the time and I got to meet them and I found out they were the Masters Apprentices from Adelaide. After speaking to Jim Keays, the singer in the band, I sort of felt we had something in common.” (Doug Ford interviewed in the Turn Up Your Video documentary 1999)