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Bhagavad Guitars Profile.

Starting Out

The Bhagavad Guitars formed in late 1987 from the basis of JK's high school band "In A Circle". After playing a few gigs in Sydney, mainly as a support to the Crystal Set, they made their first venture into the recording studio ("Fat Boy") under the careful watch of RK. This session produced three songs, enough to get them a deal with Red Eye records (one of these tracks, "the Awakening Earth" appears on the Red Eye compilation "Asides and Besides".)

Foreverglades

After more gigs they went into the studio ( then "Electric Avenue", later bought by SK to become the definitive venue for Karmic Hit Studios) to record their debut EP "Foreverglades" produced by Steve Kilbey. This was released in early 1988 to some critical acclaim and the Bhagavad's garnered a small following and continued gigging. Foreverglades remains a fresh and punchy EP, with standout tracks "Hungerford" and "Just to be Sure" for which they made their first video and received radio exposure. Shortly after the recording bassist Kynan Hughes left the band to concentrate on playing Jazz.

Headland

Later that year, with new bass player Adrian Workman, they recorded their second EP "Headland" which, as SK was overseas touring with the Church, they produced themselves with the studio owner Phil Punch. The band had developed quickly and Headland is a more mature batch of songs, including "We Haven't Arrived" (for which they made their second video) and "See Saw" (later to be remodeled and recorded on the Penny Drops CD "Good Fortunes" as "On a See-Saw with visitors") These two EP's were combined and released as an album "Foreverglades" which was released overseas on Germany's "Normal" label.

Party

After much playing and touring they hooked up with an American manager and set about getting a release in the US. Their management organized a recording with Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, (later to produce Aerosmith and silverchair) to produce a harder rocking sound. The results are debatable. Meanwhile they wrote "I Can Plainly See" which took the fancy of SK who took them in and produced a recording of this track. At this stage SK was in a "drummers are a thing of the past "stage, not conducive to a good session, and the track was not as successful as hoped. These tracks, along with "Filler #1, #2 and #3" formed their "Party" EP. They made a video for the lead track, Party although track 2, "Salt Cellar", was the one picked up by radio.

Overseas Interest

By this time several small companies in the US were showing interest in the Bhagavads and John Kilbey and Jeremy Butterworth headed over to try and seal a deal (a journey chronicled in their unpublished account - "Jaunting: Transglobal, Bifocal Adventures as a Pantomime Pushme-Pullyou'). To this end they were mostly successful and arranged to release their back catalogue on a small label in LA - Restless records.

Introversion

By now, Polygram was buying out Red Eye and the Bhagavad's went in to record their debut album proper. Hauling out of early retirement legendary Australian producer, Tony Cohen (Go-Betweens, Nick Cave, Hunters and Collectors etc.) they blew up various studios in an attempt to create their definitive album 'Introversion'.

Hypnotised

After the shelving of 'Introversion' and the leaving of Adrian Workman, they recorded 'Hypnotised' with Boris Goudonof and new bass player Tony Locke (from Living with Robert). After an understandably lukewarm response to Hypnotised, and a few more tours, the band finally called it quits, only to reform to promote the release of 'Introversion' supporting Jack Frost and the Church for a few gigs. John Kilbey and Jeremy Butterworth soon went back into the studio to record, with Boris Goudonof, four tracks that would end up on the Penny Drops…

INTROVERSION TRACK BY TRACK