Led by the highly respected singer/songwriter Dave Dobbyn, DD Smash was one of the most popular New Zealand bands of their era.
Formed in 1981, the group was originally named Dave Dobbyn’s Divers and consisted of guitarist Rob ‘Revox’ Guy, drummer Peter Warren and bassist Lisle Kinney.
After a handful of gigs, they renamed themselves DD Smash and issued their first single, Repetition.
It quickly hit the Top 25 and led to the 1982 release of the LP Cool Bananas which entered the charts at #1.
Kinney left the band after a car accident, and with new bassist Ian Morris, DD Smash resurfaced in 1983 with the hit Outlook For Tuesday.
After the live LP Deep In The Heart of Taxes, Dobbyn fired everyone but Warren, recording The Optimist (1984) with session players.
On 7 December 1984, the band played at a free concert at Aotea Square in Auckland which ended in rioting.
Dobbyn was made the scapegoat of the incident and was tried for inciting the crowd to violence.
The charges were eventually dropped, but in the wake of the trial, DD Smash quietly disintegrated as Dobbyn began focussing more on solo work.
His greatest success came in 1986 when he wrote and recorded the song Slice Of Heaven for the soundtrack of the animated motion picture, Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tail. The single hit #1 on the New Zealand music charts for eight weeks and topped the charts in Australia for four.
Video
You May Also Like
Dropbears Sydney (Australia) band Dropbears formed in Darlinghurst in 1981. In 1982, they released the singles Fun…
Donays, The This 1960s girl group formed in Hamtramck, Michigan, and they recorded the song Devil in His…
Len Bright Combo, The 'Wreckless' Eric Goulden scored a huge hit in 1977 with Whole Wide World which, if anything, simply compounded…
UB40 Making their live debut in a pub in Birmingham in 1979, UB40 was made up of…
Laughing Clowns As co-founder of The Saints, Ed Kuepper was the musical backbone of the group that was…
Iggy Pop Iggy Pop was born James Newell Osterberg in 1947. He adopted the name 'Iggy' after drumming…
Pigbag This mainly instrumental soul/funk sextet formed in Gloucestershire in late 1980 from the remnants of political…
Echo and The Bunnymen The origins of this renowned Liverpool-based band can be traced back to the spring of 1977…
