Flies, The

Not to be confused with Ronnie Burns’ Melbourne band of the 1960s, these Flies formed in Sydney in 1984 and shone brightly for a while with superb bright and quirky pop.

They issued a stand-out 4-track EP (Turtle Monster) in October 1985 (which featured a terrific version of the Dr Who theme) and a worthy follow-up single (Lunch) in September 1986, both on the independent Pagan label.

After the band broke up in 1987, Encarnacao – who had been a long-time rock journalist for RAM and the Australian version of Rolling Stone – joined Smelly Tongues (featuring Bill Gibson – ex-Eastern Dark – on bass) while Peter Kelly moved on to Vanilla Chainsaws and eventually The New Christs.

Michael de La Motte
Vocals, guitar
John Encarnacao
Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Peter Marley
Bass, vocals
Peter Kelly
Drums, vocals, trumpet

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