The Dagoes came together in Adelaide (South Australia) early in 1978, originally as Daryl Breakaway and The Niggers.
They appeared on two independent cassette releases that same year, Live At The Marryatville and An Evening With The Dagoes. Both were recorded live.
Building a considerable following around Adelaide (and billing themselves as The ‘Legendary’ Dagoes), the group recorded a 3-track EP, The Dagoes Sell Soul in February 1980, which included a cover version of We Sell Soul, a song by Roky Erickson’s pre-13th Floor Elevators band The Spades.
Doug Thomas financed the EP’s release for his newly formed Greasy Pop label.
For most of 1980 The Dagoes comprised Dick Dago (real name Richard Cant) on vocals, Tony Rome (real name Neil Perryman) on guitar, “Frankie” (Doug) Thomas on guitar, Lou Ouiji (Ian List) on bass, Johnny Tomato (real name Beau Kostyszyn) on keyboards, Turk Nancarrow (Geoff Short) on drums, and Lilly Pointless (Lucy Potter) and Arna Terrazzo (Arna Eyers-White) on backing vocals.
Gino Earthquake (Nigel Sweeting) replaced List on bass and that lineup recorded the double single It’s You and Rollin’ On. Phantom Records in Sydney reissued two tracks from the B-sides (Ten Years On and Somehow) on a single in August 1981.
Cant and Sweeting left in late 1981 and the lineup of Rome, Thomas, Tomato, Nancarrow, Dean Martin (real name James Tizard) on bass and Di Palma (vocals) released the single Daunting in August 1982.
Geoff Pin (real name Geoff Simpson) replaced Martin on bass, but the band broke up at the end of 1982. Members of the group recorded and performed as The Assassins and The Spikes.
In 1984, Tony Rome, Richard Cant and Johnny Tomato re-formed The Dagoes with Peter Roth (guitar), Phil Hannaford (bass) and Andrew Griffiths (drums).
That lineup was short-lived but did record the single Heartbeat for Greasy Pop in August 1984.
The Dagoes reformed with Doug Thomas in 1988 for a series of 10th-anniversary shows. In 1990 Greasy Pop issued the single Vatican Stomp/I Can Do What I Want, and in 1994 Ian List and Neil Perryman compiled all The Dagoes’ material on the CD collection Hot & Tasty Supreme.
Di Palma
Vocals
Dick Dago (Richard Cant)
Vocals
Tony Rome (Neil Perryman)
Guitar
Frankie (Doug) Thomas
Guitar
Spiro Aggro (Ian Reedy)
Guitar
Johnny Tomato (Beau Kostyszyn)
Keyboards, drums
Otis (Quentin Lynne)
Bass
Dean Martin (James Tizard)
Bass
Lou Ouiji (Ian List)
Bass
Gino Earthquake (Nigel Sweeting)
Bass
Geoff Pin (Geoff Simpson)
Bass
Turk Nancarrow (Geoff Short)
Drums
Lilly Pointless (Lucy Potter)
Backing vocals
Gina Maria Dago (Cathy Fargher)
Backing vocals
Arna Terrazzo (Arna Eyers-White)
Backing vocals
Peter Roth
Guitar
Phil Hannaford
Bass
Andrew Griffiths
Drums
