Making up is hard to do?
Johnny Vanguard/Underlife reunion rumours abound ...
Matthew Byron, 27th August 2015 (Originally published in Rolling Stain)
Despite the highly public bust-up, the bizarre love triangle, the acrimonious seven year legal wrangle and the separate albums and tours, rumours that infamous Aussie rockers Johnny Vanguard and Spencer Davis Lees are set to end their feud and reform Underlife in its most successful incarnation are gathering pace.
As recently as one year ago, the idea of a Vanguard/Underlife reunion seemed as unlikely as British sporting success at the Olympics. Underlife were on the road touring the acoustic version of their album Speedway Sweetheart, while Vanguard was playing to sold-out arenas in the USA, supporting Rod Stewart. “I could not play with Johnny Vanguard again” stated Lees in Rolling Stain, repeating claims he had made ever since their brawl at the ARIAs in 1992.
However, according to the Underlife Facebook page, they “have spent the last few weeks in dialogue about reforming the band and have rehearsed with the line-up that found such fame with Feathers and Tar". Furthermore, a spokesperson for Epic Media refused to deny recent speculation that Vanguard and Lees had discussed with their legal team the possibility of performing once again as Underlife. He also declined to comment on whether the two have been working together on new material.
So why the apparent change of heart? Something must have gone very wrong, or very right.
Ever since the boy from Charters Towers, Jonathon Miles Van Guardia, came down to Sydney to join Lees’ self-styled ‘last gang in town’ the relationship between the pair has been the driving force behind the band. Yet while records fell in the charts, there was talk of resentment from Lees over Vanguard having taken ‘his’ place in the limelight. The first cracks showing in Lees’ mysterious, and to this day unexplained, absence from promotional material for their last album.
Vanguard’s affair with Jo Beth Jo was said at the time to have damaged Spencer more deeply than he ever let on. Could it be that the end of the affair for Johnny and Jo Beth forced Vanguard to face some home truths and draw him back into the crucible that first fired his talent?
The answer might be much simpler, that they are patching up or at least putting aside their differences for the megabucks on offer. Even if so, they won’t be the last, but the best rock ’n’ roll is born of conflict and competition. Johnny and Spencer know this all too well and have maybe now accepted that they are part of a gang, a band of brothers that need each other. That Johnny Vanguard needs Underlife just as much as Underlife needs Johnny Vanguard.
The signs are that the pair have had all the time they need to clear away what they started in the aftermath of the breakup (with the solo projects), and to get over and learn lessons from the fallout in their personal lives. Vanguard had fallen, Underlife had floundered but together they can find redemption in what was before.
As things stand, the new Underlife could surface with material and tour dates before the end of the year — however, no definitive plans are set (although all the online speculation has Underlife reforming for a headline set at Bluesfest, or maybe even, the ARIAs?). Could it happen? Anything's possible. Will it happen? To date, nobody in the band is suggesting that it will, although Johnny has been on Facebook lately with the following, “If we’re gonna play we’re just gonna play, the media will find out after the fact”.
Watch this space.
Matthew Byron, 27th August 2015 (Originally published in Rolling Stain)
Despite the highly public bust-up, the bizarre love triangle, the acrimonious seven year legal wrangle and the separate albums and tours, rumours that infamous Aussie rockers Johnny Vanguard and Spencer Davis Lees are set to end their feud and reform Underlife in its most successful incarnation are gathering pace.
As recently as one year ago, the idea of a Vanguard/Underlife reunion seemed as unlikely as British sporting success at the Olympics. Underlife were on the road touring the acoustic version of their album Speedway Sweetheart, while Vanguard was playing to sold-out arenas in the USA, supporting Rod Stewart. “I could not play with Johnny Vanguard again” stated Lees in Rolling Stain, repeating claims he had made ever since their brawl at the ARIAs in 1992.
However, according to the Underlife Facebook page, they “have spent the last few weeks in dialogue about reforming the band and have rehearsed with the line-up that found such fame with Feathers and Tar". Furthermore, a spokesperson for Epic Media refused to deny recent speculation that Vanguard and Lees had discussed with their legal team the possibility of performing once again as Underlife. He also declined to comment on whether the two have been working together on new material.
So why the apparent change of heart? Something must have gone very wrong, or very right.
Ever since the boy from Charters Towers, Jonathon Miles Van Guardia, came down to Sydney to join Lees’ self-styled ‘last gang in town’ the relationship between the pair has been the driving force behind the band. Yet while records fell in the charts, there was talk of resentment from Lees over Vanguard having taken ‘his’ place in the limelight. The first cracks showing in Lees’ mysterious, and to this day unexplained, absence from promotional material for their last album.
Vanguard’s affair with Jo Beth Jo was said at the time to have damaged Spencer more deeply than he ever let on. Could it be that the end of the affair for Johnny and Jo Beth forced Vanguard to face some home truths and draw him back into the crucible that first fired his talent?
The answer might be much simpler, that they are patching up or at least putting aside their differences for the megabucks on offer. Even if so, they won’t be the last, but the best rock ’n’ roll is born of conflict and competition. Johnny and Spencer know this all too well and have maybe now accepted that they are part of a gang, a band of brothers that need each other. That Johnny Vanguard needs Underlife just as much as Underlife needs Johnny Vanguard.
The signs are that the pair have had all the time they need to clear away what they started in the aftermath of the breakup (with the solo projects), and to get over and learn lessons from the fallout in their personal lives. Vanguard had fallen, Underlife had floundered but together they can find redemption in what was before.
As things stand, the new Underlife could surface with material and tour dates before the end of the year — however, no definitive plans are set (although all the online speculation has Underlife reforming for a headline set at Bluesfest, or maybe even, the ARIAs?). Could it happen? Anything's possible. Will it happen? To date, nobody in the band is suggesting that it will, although Johnny has been on Facebook lately with the following, “If we’re gonna play we’re just gonna play, the media will find out after the fact”.
Watch this space.
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