"Bananas" at Hot Lava

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 294, 11 July 1989, Page 7 (Supplement)

"Bananas" at Hot Lava

For those of you who love to dance and party, Rock Me Bananas hits Hot Lava this Thursdav & Fridav niehts.

Billy Williams, bass guitarist in numerous top New Zealand bands, has resurfaced in the new Auckland -based band Rock Me Bananas. After an extended stay overseas both in Australia and Europe performing with a variety of international acts and spending time as a studio musician, Billy has decided to put it all back together where he started. From the early days playing with local legends Harvey Mann and Eddie Hansen in Space Farm and Ticket, to an offer from Robert Raymond to join the Keef Hartley Band on London, Billy has truly been through the rock and roll machine. After finishing with Keef Hartley there came work in London with a band Slipstream which had Phil Collins occasionally sitting in on percussion. Finding visas increasingly hard to come by, Billy moved back to Sydney forming Monsoon with ex-Dragon guitarist Ray Goodwin and Trevor Tombleson the former Ticket vocalist who had travelled with Bill on

his European sojourn. The next couple of years saw the band touring with fellow kiwis Split Enz, Dragon and Hello Sailor. Next up was King Cobra a band formed with Eddie Quansah who had been playing flugel horn and percussion with Osibisa and Mark Stewart ex-Slip-stream drummer which played with Australian Tours of Hot Chocolate and Eddie Grant. Finally after a period in the band Koo de Tah featuring Tina Cross, Billy spent a couple of years where he preferred the less hectic side of music in studio work allowing him time to venture into the art world of print and design. But the stage has beckoned once again in the form of Rock Me Bananas with Eddie Pausma and Peter Timperley on guitars and vocals, Kerry Grimshaw on vocals and percussion and Kerry Fraser on vocals and drums. "The standard of musicians has remained excellent and it's great to see the crowds still love to dance and party."