The Pleazers were a wild long-haired Australian R&B act, who evolved out of Brisbane’s Johnny & The G Men, then picked up a Kiwi vocal duo – The London Brothers – as frontmen and based themselves in Sydney.
The band was signed by New Zealander Eldred Stebbing of Zodiac Records in 1965.
Their initial single, Last Night, was recorded at the Philips Studio in Sydney but did poorly in Australia.
The group travelled to New Zealand to record their follow-up single – That Lonely Feeling backed with a cover version of Them‘s Gloria – and start work on an album
Early in 1966, Bob London was replaced by English-born vocalist, Shane Hale and the group issued a five-track extended play, A Midnight Rave with the Pleazers.
Their next single was a version of a song by American group The Reflections (of Just Like Romeo and Juliet fame) entitled Like Columbus Did. The Pleazers re-wrote the lyrics to capitalise on the recent breakup of Ray Columbus and The Invaders, who had been huge in New Zealand. With the addition of a few Invaders-style guitar riffs, the song was an instant hit in NZ.
The group’s fourth single Is It Over Baby? b/w Hurtin’ All Over was released in February 1966.
The band released their sole album (Definitely Pleazers) to mixed reviews in 1966 and returned to Australia with Gus Fenwick (ex-Layabouts) replacing bassist Ron Peel and Peter Newing leaving the group to join Running Jumping Standing Still.
Re-emerging in 1967 as a stripped down power pop group with new mod hairstyles and clothes fashioned on the style of The Who, The Pleazers returned to New Zealand for a tour and to record their next single for Zodiac, the Beach Boys song song Here Today, backed by a version of the Small Faces‘ La La Lies.
They then recorded a version of Otis Redding’s Security with the old Coasters song, Three Cool Cats on the B-side.
The Pleazers disbanded in June 1967.
Ron Peel had a number of Australian hits in the 1970s under the pseudonym Rockwell T James.
Peter ‘Bunt’ Newing
Guitar
Denis ‘Speedy’ Gilmore
Drums
Jimmy Cerezo
Guitar
Vince Lipton
Bass
Bob London (Cooper)
Vocals
Bill London (Bacon)
Vocals
Bruce ‘Phantom’ Robinson
Bass, guitar
Ron Peel
Bass
Shane ‘Shagger’ (Kieran) Hales
Vocals
Gus Fenwick
Bass
