Garry Betti
"Tony" Betti
(Drums/Vocals)
"When I was 12 years old, a friend had a pair of drumsticks given to him, and he tried to make them work. Watching him try, I thought: "I can do that!" And, so the journey began. My first band was with some schoolmates in the third form, one of whom had a drum set...so off I went. Talk about cheeky! We played at the Skyline Cabaret and Majestic Ballroom in Wellington, store windows on Friday nights in Lower Hutt, all just 13-14 year-old kids.
"Second band was with some older guys, playing The Shadows, Ventures and Cliff Richard numbers. The next band,'The Travelons', had even better musos, and we played all the youth clubs around Wellington and Hutt Valley, Downtown Club, Empress Ballroom, Ngati Poneke Club, Caltex Lounge, etc. Got married, so joined a little trio with workmates for a while. After returning home from Australia, we moved to Auckland and I drummed with 'Allenborough Park' for a few years, then gave it away in 1973.
"I was motivated to start playing again in 2005, when my son Keri Betti developed into a very good harmonica player and couldn't find a decent drummer. Keri and I formed the original 'Indigo Blue' in 2006 and I've been busy ever since. Last year, 2012, I made contact with Alistair Taylor, a former bass guitarist for Indigo Blue, and asked if he was interested in helping to set up a Shadows tribute band. And, The Shadz was born. After a few false starts and experiments, we finally settled into the ideal lineup - four seasoned musos who had lived and played through 'The Shadows era' and really love perfecting and performing those timeless tunes and capturing "that sound" (very important). We're all big fans of the original Shadows lineup (Marvin, Welch, Harris, Meehan) because of their originality, musical prowess, and their readiness to 'think outside the square' in musical terms. They were very special.
"The icing on the cake for The Shadz has been to score the interest and involvement of iconic NZ singer, Shane, as our 'Sir Cliff'. As a longtime Cliff/Shads aficionado (he even has their autographs and photos taken with them in Sydney, 1961), he's the perfect frontman for us, and with his newly dry-cleaned pink jacket, really looks and sounds the part. Like The Shadows, The Shadz is a stand-alone band with a broad and eclectic showband/danceband repertoire to suit any entertainment situation, event, function, dance or club night with a mix of instrumental and vocal classic hits from the 1950s through to the '80s. We can be contacted at jazzmusic@xtra.co.nz. Or Ph 09 627 1327."
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