I decided to do this page to highlight the incredible career of Ted Mulry and those who made up the iconic Ted Mulry Gang - Les Hall, Herman Kovac and Gary Dixon.
So many pages out there with so much incorrect information derived from third party sources without options to be corrected and the incredible work effort and recording legacy from this amazing group of musicians deserves better.
Within this site is a comprehensive:
Personal biography of each member.
Complete Discography with correct release dates.
Almost complete Concert History covering five decades over the three entities involved.
Chart History.
Media clippings and personal and professional photos.
My association with the Ted Mulry Gang began in April 1968 when I saw Velvet Underground at a local dance near my home, in Belmont North, a southern suburb of Newcastle NSW. At the time, I was in my second year as an Apprentice Fitter and Machinist at John Lysaght, and which luckily helped me to miss the Conscription Draft for the war in Vietnam.
I was quickly befriended by Herman and Steve Phillipson and would be at every place they played that my shift roster would allow. I soon began lending a hand to load in and out the small amount of equipment they were using. When the band moved away, firstly to Wollongong, and then Sydney, I would do the arduous drive south every Friday after work and return on Sunday nights, sometimes getting back so late that I slept in the car park at my place of employment only to repeat again most weekends. At the end of 1970 I moved in with the guys at Mona Vale and worked as their full time Roadie. I took over terms on the Transit Van, so that then became my input, and tool of trade. There were several changes in band members over the next two years and I had already traded in the Transit Van and bought a 21 seat bus, so the band could travel in comfort in the front while we had all the gear in the back.
Ted Mulry, who we had supplied backing for on numerous occasions, had recently returned from a five month promotional tour in Europe and after a visit to our house for a rehearsal one afternoon was soon there almost daily. He was not only rehearsing songs for his shows but rehearsing with Velvet as the replacement guitarist after Malcolm Young had departed.
When Velvet called it quits in August 1972 it was a natural progression that Ted just became part of the band and in the first few months we were fulfilling previously booked engagements both in the name of Velvet and Ted Mulry. Soon we had moved into another house with Ted, at Dee Why, closer to the city. Although I was merely the Roadie and Ted had already been a top recording artist, we were a unit where everyone was equal and I became another member of the band.
During 1973 the guys spent more than half the year away on cruises throughout the Pacific Islands and I got a job, back in my trade, to maintain the rent on the house. By 1975 as the band had increased in popularity I set up and funded the operation of the fan club which I maintained through until 1984.
At the end of 1975 we got a second Roadie, as the workload had become too much for me on my own, and by 1977 the guys had entrusted me to a new role of Tour Manager although I still filled in with the four man road crew. Despite crew members constantly changing over the years I was still there until the band went into a voluntary hiatus in August 1986.
In 1989 when they decided to do a few shows to test the water, Herman and Ted asked if I wanted to go so it would be like old times but unfortunately I had a young family and had started my own business so didn't want to risk the instability.
Throughout the 1990s I saw them on rare occasions but still maintained all my memorabilia and other items, from the band that I had emotionally and financially supported and loved so much, from which 90% of the information on this page is derived. I spent a lot of years compiling some of these items and searching out rare audio and video which is on the Ted Mulry Gang You Tube Channel, however quite a lot has to be kept as unlisted so as not to lose them.
Through the years I was honoured, not just to be an equal with Ted, Les, Herman and Gary, but to spend a year and a half with Malcolm Young, while he was developing his craft, so much of which he learnt with us as well as from his brothers George and Alex.
Despite the hard work, there were many funny memories along the way, and all those years in the company of Ted could be nothing but humourous.
With plans to go to England, Velvet Underground had made several attempts to change the name and, in early 1972 while on a summer tour of the NSW North Coast, Malcolm Young who was big on playing cards, had suggested that the name of our card game was way better than the name of the band but most of us broke up in laughter when Herman walked in and said "who'd pay to see a band called Acey Deucey".
Soon after the name was changed to Pony (from the Free song Ride On Pony) but when we failed to leave the country, the name sort of reverted back, mostly we just used Velvet and by mid 1972, Velvet, who were a really good band, had started to splinter.
In 1974 all the guys were groomsmen at my wedding and when the minister was asking "do you Ronald" Ted was nudging me in the ribs saying "It's still not too late".
Constantly in the early years there was confusion with people thinking I was Herman and Herman was me. During the years of all those gruelling tours, we did share a room, and I had been with the band for so long that I suppose it was easy to get us mixed up. For quite sometime when he was approached the first words he'd say "No I'm not Ron".
On one occasion the hotel where we were staying had a Forensic Science Convention and when Herman and I rolled up to reception to pick up the room key we could hear behind us someone say "It looks like the specimens are here".
Anyway I hope you enjoy the contents of this page as much as I enjoyed all those years with one of the most underrated live bands that ever emerged in Australia and whom I will always promote vigorously - TED MULRY GANG
Many more stories are available in the book "It's A Roadie's Job" by Ronald Clayton - The book is available here ->> https://tedmulrygang.com/shop/