The Australian band Baby Grande surely would’ve been lost to history if not for the work of HoZac Records. The label has unearthed the Baby Grande tapes, which date from the mid 1970s, but weren’t released. The group features future members of the Church, but that’s not the sole reason the material is interesting. Formed during the period when glam was on the way out, but punk wasn’t a thing yet, Baby Grande were a little of both. Their glam/punk songs are really quite good, which makes their impending album of archival recordings something to get excited about.

Baby Grande got going in 1975. Singer Steve Kilbey and drummer Peter Koppes had previously played together in another band, the Precious Little. Baby Grande were based in Canberra, and started playing area clubs, though it was hard to get the attention of attendees, who were mainly there to booze it up. Even a high profile gig opening for AC/DC didn’t result in any new fans. Not helping matters, the group found they had few contemporaries, as most of the other Canberra outfits only did covers, and Baby Grande had no connection to the sharpie movement.
 

 
Koppes eventually switched to second lead guitar and a new drummer was brought aboard, but then Koppes left the band when gigs became few and far between. The remaining four members realized they really only needed one lead guitarist anyway, with Kilbey playing rhythm guitar as needed.
 

 
Despite the fact that they didn’t have much of a following, Baby Grande got their big break, signing with EMI Records. In January 1977, they went into the studio to record what they thought was a demo, but after submitting the tapes to the label, they were dropped. Turns out, the suits were expecting a finished product and were disappointed with the results. It wasn’t long before Baby Grande had broken-up.
 

 
A couple of years later, Kilbey and Koppes reunited and formed the Church.
 

 
HoZac Records drops the album of Baby Grande studio recordings, which is entitled 1975-77, on October 5th. Pre-order your copy here. Dangerous Minds is thrilled to have the premiere of one of the highlights of the record, the exhilarating glam/punk rocker, “Zephyr.” The track was amongst those rejected by EMI for being too raw, but that quality is part of what makes this and other Baby Grande songs so exciting—what do the suits know, anyway?!
 
Listen to Baby Grande, after the jump…

A single for The Church’s 1981 track, ‘The Unguarded Moment.’
 
I don’t think that Australian music television show Countdown could have picked a better backdrop for The Church to perform in front of for one of their most memorable songs—“The Unguarded Moment” from their 1981 album Of Skins and Heart—than a stage rigged with lighting that resembled church-style stained glass. The 35-year-old footage is really quite surreal.
 

A shot of Steve Kilbey on the churchy-looking stage of ‘Countdown’ in 1981.
 

 
In his 2014 autobiography, Something Quite Peculiar, Church vocalist Steve Kilbey, (who also hosted Countdown himself a few times) recalls how that very performace on made such an impact overnight that people were turned away at the door of at their gig the following eveing, as the venue was quickly (and quite unexpectedly) packed to capacity. Kilbey also fondly refers to the early days of The Church’s career as his “halcyon days” thanks to the rather sudden fame the band experienced back in 1981 (as they had only formed the year before). I saw The Church (along with The Psychedelic Furs) last year and can personally vouch that Steve Kilbey’s voice is still as swoon-worthy as it was to my ears back in 1988 when I wore out my cassette copy of Starfish listening to “Under the Milky Way” and “Destination” over and over again. If you missed your chance to see one of the 2015 Church/Furs’ string of gigs, you’re in luck as the two bands are set to embark on a new fifteen-show tour of the US on July 15th, 2016.
 
Keep reading after the jump…

Now here’s a woman.

You know this woman is important because she is a member of Fail Valhalla?