[00:00:00] Welcome to Trevor McCormack Music. I'm Chrissy Mack from Radio Northern Beaches and I couldn't be more excited to kick off this musical journey with you. Joining me is my brother, the legendary Trevor McCormack known as Mack, a true storyteller and music enthusiast.
[00:00:18] With each episode, we're peeling back the layers behind the hits, sharing untold stories from artists and exploring what sparks the creativity behind the music that moves us all. Whether you're a diehard music fan or just love discovering new sounds, this is the place where passion meets storytelling.
[00:00:38] So, hit the follow button, share this with your fellow music lovers and leave a review. Your support keeps the vibe alive. Turn up the volume and get ready to be inspired. And let's dive into the world of music together. Let's go! Hi listeners, it's Chrissy Mack and Trevor Mack again on our Saturday chat. Hi Trev, how you doing? Hey everybody, I'm doing fantastic. How about you guys? I hear you have a guest with you today.
[00:01:04] I do. I have an old friend of mine, Natalia, and she's actually been involved with my music as well, which we can have a chat about. I think I wrote a song way back when called Beautiful Woman. I just got this inspiration. I was actually at her house. And I just said, quick, pen and paper. She's looking at me like, what are you crazy? She said, I need a pen and paper. Get a pen and paper.
[00:01:29] And she runs off, grabs a pen and paper. She's down and says, look, just write down what I say. She's looking at me like, what? I said, just write it. Anyway, we had a bit of fun and we wrote Beautiful Woman. And I said, it doesn't matter what order it is. Just as I sing it, you write it and I'll go to the next thing. Then you write that and I'll just keep rattling off these lines and you write them down. Scratch them all down as quick as you can. And we come up with Beautiful Woman. So say hi, Nat. Hi, everyone. Hi, Nat.
[00:01:59] Natalia is up here tonight. She's going to crash up here and hang out. We'll have a bit of a dinner and just chill and maybe play some music as we do. And yeah, talk about some old times and some fun things we used to do with the music and gigs we played. So yeah. Well, tonight is all about old times and songs we knew. Ah, well, old times. How far back can you go?
[00:02:25] So I was born in 63. So I remember first radio stuff we listened to were Tranny Smokey, the band Smokey. I love Smokey. Now, how many hits did they have that were just so catchy? Well, I can run off their hits. We had Living Next Door Without Us, which was 1976.
[00:02:47] Now, how many times have you heard that? Like everywhere I go, I hear that song and the people sing the extra lyrics that they added to it. Yeah. So they actually, later down the track, they actually added Living Next Door to Alice, who the F is Alice. And it went to the top again. It did. As I said, it's just got to have a hook and someone just adds something to it.
[00:03:17] Yeah. Well, it kind of was the audience that yelled out who the F is Alice. Yes. Yeah. And yeah, it's on the YouTube. You can catch it. Then they had If You Think You Know How to Love Me, which was 1975. Don't Play Your Rock and Roll to Me. I love that. I absolutely love that. That was 1975. Okay. Yes, I remember that now. Yes. And I'll Meet You at Midnight, which wasn't as well known, but I loved the song. Their melodies were just amazing.
[00:03:46] And then they had Lay Back in the Arms of Someone, everybody knows that, 1977. Then It's Your Life, 1977. Then Everybody Knows This One, Needles and Pins, 1977. You've got a good memory, girl. And O'Carroll, which was 1978. So they were the main ones. That used to just get me going. I think I had the, I think we must have had it on a record.
[00:04:14] Or I got the record, Later Rock, because I got it in my teens. But I just remember those songs and those guys. Yes, straight off the top of my head. That's the first thing that comes to my mind. Yes, I think they had a few albums. They had Changing All The Time, which was 1975. Then Midnight Cafe, 1976. And Bright Lights and Back Alleys. That was probably the one you had, 1977. And then the Monterex album, which was 1978.
[00:04:42] So, yeah, they had quite a few of them. Yeah, well, that's just some of the ones. Like, if I ran off names of people back then, I suppose you'd go Olivia Newton-John and John Denver. Well, when I was little, I was in love with Olivia Newton-John. Everybody was in love with Olivia Newton-John in those days. She was just amazing. Yeah, that's what sort of got me kicked off. And then you got into simple things like, oh, I think way back then, and John stood out. He was like, he's this weird guy.
[00:05:12] But the songs were just one after another. Yeah, they were amazing. And in those days, he dressed up to the hilt with all the huge glasses and the glamour and the glitz. And he was a real showman, wasn't he? He stood out like out of everybody like, wow. But the songs now is, as I got older, I think I hung around a mate of mine when I was 16, 17, 18.
[00:05:37] And his place was just Elton John from the time you opened your eyes in the morning to the time you laid you head back down on the... Okay, so he was a real fan. He just, well, his dad was, I think, and he had reel-to-reel of Elton John on tape. The big reels, you know, the big sound system this guy had was unbelievable. It was a massive, big reel-to-reel music that he had. And he just, Elton John, constantly, which really made me fall in love with all his songs.
[00:06:05] Yeah, well, he was a showman and he had, he was amazing at writing his songs. Yeah, yeah. And do you remember, oh, ELO. Oh, yes, ELO was amazing. Who else? Even now, like, ELO, I will sit down with a set of headphones on and just disappear into their music, which brings me to Pink Floyd. Oh, yes, that was one of my favourites, Pink Floyd. Regging them all.
[00:06:30] But you could listen to their music with a set of headphones on and it was like it was coming from all different places. Yeah. It was everywhere. And you're thinking, it would just totally relax you and you'd hear all these sounds, the way they just come through the headphones and the speakers were just unbelievable. Yeah, they were really well recorded. So, oh, Simple Minds. Forget About Me. I think they used to, it was one I remember.
[00:06:58] How about, oh, Fine Young Cannibals? I think they were the big ones. Oh, my gosh, yes. I had almost forgotten them. Actually, I might pull out some of these songs and play them on my radio show because some of them we haven't heard for a while. She Drives Me Crazy. That was something they played on the radio, oh, lots. She Drives Me Crazy. They still play, these songs are the songs that just, they still come up. They're on the range. Yeah, they never age. No, they never age.
[00:07:25] And then you go, all right, who hasn't got a Bee Gees album? Everybody had a Bee Gees album. Bee Gees, oh, it's just, they've got endless songs. You know, when the Bee Gees came out, I was still quite young. And Uncle Ian, who was only a couple of years older than I am, which was Dad's youngest brother, when I stayed at our grandmother's place, he was still at home. And he would play the Bee Gees constantly. And I'd follow him around like a little puppy dog. You know, I'd listen to all his music.
[00:07:55] He was a real surfy boy on the northern beaches, a real surfer, blonde-headed surfer, worth a real gone surfer boy. Yeah, and it used to annoy the hell of them because I'd follow him around, listen to all his music. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. Oh, you think of Bee Gees, you sing, more than a woman. Yeah. It just, yeah, those boys, they knew how to play music. And from where I live, they're just down the road. Where are they from? They're from Red Clip. That was it, Red Clip. Yeah, so just down the road from me. Who else you got?
[00:08:25] Oh, my gosh. I haven't heard those ones for a while. I'll have to dig out some of those as well. Long Train Run. I don't remember that one. Oh, really? Oh, there you go. So long train run. There's so many good bands. It's just these are the things that I didn't realise when I was young that I was probably absorbing but just didn't understand. It was just that we're just on the road yet. That was a normal thing. We used to sit next door because I wasn't allowed to go far from home as a young fella.
[00:08:53] So I used to always go next door to my neighbour. And we would sit and listen to a transistor radio out in a little cubby house. We had a little tin roof and a few sheets and blankets sort of to, you know, close it in and made a couple of chairs. And we used to sit in there and just laugh and play cards or games and listen to the little transistor radio. And these are the songs that used to play. Kiss, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac. Oh, one of my still... Oh, yes, Fleetwood Mac.
[00:09:23] Love Fleetwood Mac. Still love... Oh, just... Oh, yeah. Just unbelievable musicians and songwriters and the stuff they put out. Stevie Nicks and Christina. Chee-chee. Yeah. I just love both of them singing. Great stuff. Cold Chisel. Yep. Cold Chisel was big back then too. It was. They used to play in the pubs, from what I heard. People used to see them live at the pub. Yeah. A lot of them played live in pubs. Yeah.
[00:09:52] And like, oh, yeah, mate. That's how they came up. Yeah. Yeah. They were in the pub. And I'm like, what? They're massive. No, no, no, no. They were just pub bands, these guys. So it just... Yeah. It's amazing when you think about how they started to what it is now. We need more pub bands. We need more local bands playing in pubs. Well, we are on the Northern Beaches. We've got a lot of breweries that have popped up now. And so they're taking in the musos and the young bands.
[00:10:22] And we've got quite a few young bands happening around the Northern Beaches. Have you got a brewery scene up there? There actually is. And I think there is a few of them doing that too. That scene now, sort of in North Lakes areas. Yes. I think I played in one once. It was like a battle of the bands. And that was in a brewery. So, yeah. So I'll have to have a bit of a sticky beak again and see how many are actually still doing that. Yeah, because we've got...
[00:10:51] Like, it's a real scene down on the Northern Beaches at the moment, the breweries. Yeah. Okay. Well, that sounds good. Who else can you think of? Okay. Cold Chisel. Cold Chisel. Cold. Cold as Ice. Cold as Ice was a song by... It says Cold as Ice. Foreigner. Oh, okay. Yeah, there's another one I haven't thought of for a long time. There you go. And they had a heap of good songs too. Oh my gosh. You've just given me a whole lot of material for my next radio show. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's get... Oh, I think I can...
[00:11:20] We said Eagles? We said Eagles? Yeah. Actually, on the 28th of November, I've got an Eagles tribute show happening at Manly Legs Club. Oh, really? Yeah. And, like, that music is just... My son has bought me most of my Eagles albums for my birthday or for Christmas. Yeah, that's always.
[00:11:43] I've got the DVDs of them backstage and in pre-concert doing their warm-ups and having all behind them. Yeah, I love the Eagles. The work and how they produce everything before they do their show. But the things they go over and the timings and the, you've got to stop here, start there. And the work they put in, those guys, that's why they're so good. It's just... Oh, I just take my head off to those guys. Yeah. I love their music. Absolutely love it.
[00:12:12] Just the work they put in and then when their shows... Well, what can I say? The shows are just perfect. Yeah. Well, everybody listening, if you're in Sydney, if you're on the northern beaches or even if you're in the western suburbs, look up Manly Leagues Club or northernbeachesentertainment.com.au and we've got the Eagles show happening, the Eagles tribute show, which will be fantastic on the 28th of November at the Sea Eagles home, Manly Leagues Club.
[00:12:42] And I can sing all every... Just about every word to all these songs. Oh, that's the fun about this particular concert. You can sing to your heart's content. You don't have to sit there and listen. You can sing with everything. Yeah. And dance. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So... All right. Who else? Oh, now we're starting to think... It's way back. Show me, show me something. Oh, show me the way. Show me the way. Peter Franton, I think, sung that song.
[00:13:12] Show me. I remember the song. I just don't remember who sang it. A lot of people these days probably go, is that? Yeah, no. I'd just forgotten who'd sung it. Yeah. So... You know how things happen in life and you remember, you attach a song to it? Do any of those have memories with them? Yeah. Well, early, early days of me starting to play guitar was Country Roads.
[00:13:34] Like, that song still today, if I play that anywhere, I will have guys 18 to 25, 30 and up. And I'm talking 18. 18-year-olds sing every word. It's on Denver, yeah. And we used to sit around the campfires. So that brings... As soon as I hear that, that brings me straight back to where we'd sit around campfires, down at Colo River. And people would just come and sit down at other campsites and sit with you.
[00:14:02] And if they had any musical instrument, they'd bring it with a guitar, a banjo, a violin, a harmonica. And that's where we all sort of learnt off each other to play things and different music and listen to some different music. It was a beautiful place to just chill out and get away. But that's just it. See, that's what the young people don't understand they're missing out on. Those sort of things where we got together and played music and really enjoyed music,
[00:14:32] and music that we liked and that we developed ourselves, the camaraderie in that sort of a situation was immense. Oh, yeah. It's something... And, I mean, people sit around a campfire now in the backyard and that sort of thing. If I do that here, the neighbours will come over. That's a good thing. And they all sit around and we just, yeah, laugh and it's... You don't need technology.
[00:15:02] No. Technology sort of kills the brain. If someone pulls a phone out, I go put it away. It's just... Yeah. Music is everything. It's your soul. It's your fresh air. It's your companion. It gives you friends. See? Yeah. It develops your senses and gives you a bit of common sense as well. You look at the stars. You look up. You look around. You know, different songs, like you say, different things.
[00:15:32] ELO, I suppose, Bring Me Down reminds me of ice skating. They used to play a lot of songs because we used to speed skate. We were very good ice skaters as kids. So things like that. They played all that good music, which really probably embedded it even deeper then. Which reminded me. Didn't you run the Narrabeen Skate Rink? Yeah. For a little while, yeah. Tell us a bit about that. People would be interested in that because a lot of the young kids now wouldn't even know
[00:16:00] that there was an ice rink here. Oh, is it gone now? Is it? Yeah. Ah. It's a big Woolworths store now, I think. Oh, that's a bugger. Because that was great. Oh, mate. Ice rink and the beach. What more could you want? Exactly. So tell us a little bit about that. Well, that. I started, I used to ice skate every weekend, all weekend. I used to ice skate as much as I could through the week of the night. So you'd come out from work and you'd go ice skating.
[00:16:28] So to the point of then I learnt and they taught me how to relay the ice. We would, so it all started actually, we used to help. We'd be skating around the rink and it'd be like a middle of summer and the ice would start melting. So we'd have to squeegee the water off. Okay. So we started helping out and then you'd come in early and before the light got it opened, they'd go, oh yeah, come in, Trev. You know, they don't know who you are. You knew the people that ran it.
[00:16:54] And then, yeah, if you were keen enough, they'd teach you how to use the Zamboni, how to relay the water over top and then just freeze over and then you'd have a really beautiful top surface for the ice. So I did that for years because I was there all, I lived there. That was my home. That was actually, I had nowhere else to go. You know, I'd sit in a little unit next to my brother, Mark, and it was like, no, I just want to go to the ice room. That's where I just want to be there. I want to skate around. Even if I was there by myself before anyone had come in, I would skate around for hours
[00:17:25] just by myself. I just loved it. And they played all the music while you were skating. And the music, yeah, it just, you had your jukebox. If they, you had people playing music from upstairs where they just play for different things for the general public or they play games. Then you had the speed skating, which we did, and barrel jumping, we used to do. And they'd have all the great, great, really upbeat songs of that time. And it was, it was great fun.
[00:17:52] So I went from that to, they said to me one day, well, you do such a good job and you know everything here. There's a position in Narrowback. Would you like to go in there and actually manage it? And I thought, well, I had nothing else to do. And I went, manage an ice room? How much skating could I do? Yeah, sure, I'll do that. So I did that for quite, for a while. Yeah. And the same thing, I had to get the ice all done. I had to make sure all the boots were all put back away and I did everything.
[00:18:22] I used to set all the skates up ready for them to come in and have them, you know, they all had to be in racks and in sizes. So I had to put them all away and tidy up the place, clean up. You'd sweep all the floors and empty the bins. You'd lay the fresh coat of water, if you could say, over the top with the machine or you'd cut it back, depending on what you had to do, scrape it back. Then you'd just lay the water over the top and within that day, the session that's going
[00:18:51] to start, that top surface has frozen over and it's just beautiful, flat ice. And then I'd run in and into the counter and then I'd charge them all to get in and then I'd run over to the shop and serve drinks and bits and pieces and I'd be everywhere. So it was really popular back in those days, wasn't it? Oh, yeah. It was great. It was hugely popular. And all the schools. The schools in Narrowmane used to come to the ice rink to skate, have a school skating session.
[00:19:19] It's such a shame we don't have it anymore. And they're not hard to keep either. It's a case of refrigeration. That's it. Yeah, that would be costly though. Yeah, I don't think it's that bad. They used to make good money. Yeah, well, it's such a shame we lost it. It was really sad when it closed. It was so good. Yeah, yeah. But that's, yeah, that's how, all that reminds me of those songs that remind me of, yeah, places where I work.
[00:19:46] And it's, whether it's sitting with a girlfriend in your first car with your pee plates on and you'd always have the music play. It'd be a song, you know, my first kiss. It's, you know, the first drive-in. It all, it's music. Music was around. And it was always radio, music on the radio. Yeah, it was always radio. Oh, we had cassettes. We used to make our own cassettes and put our own songs on it. They were the days, weren't they? Yeah.
[00:20:11] And remember when you had your favourite cassette and all of a sudden it would get caught and get ruined. Yeah. And you'd have to go and record them all again. We used to get the pencil, we'd get them out. If you could get it out in one piece, you could probably. Oh, yeah, rewind it with the pencil and that, yeah. And hope it wasn't crushed too much to go through and not get stuck again.
[00:20:37] But if it got caught up really badly, well, you know, it tore and that was the end of that and you'd have to go and do it all over again. But. Oh, well, a woman. Yeah. Oh, damn. They were the fun days. Yeah. Now it's all podcast and tech stuff. Yes. Well. And Spotify.
[00:21:03] Body, vinyls, go to vinyls, get a nice stereo record player and go back vinyls. I tell you what, vinyls have come back so much and a lot of the latest bands that are going through are starting to do vinyls now because people are now, again, like we used to, are coveting to actually owning things. Yeah. And so, and the vinyls have come back. I mean, they're a lot more costly than they were in our days.
[00:21:32] But yeah, they're all bringing back vinyls. Because you've got something in your hands that's yours. That's right. And it's, it's, and you place it there and you put the needle down gently and you, and the sound is so different to what you get on these podcasts and Spotify's and so forth. It's, it's an amazingly crisp and wonderful sound on a, on a vinyl. It is. It's, it's great.
[00:22:00] And it's, it's like, if you haven't got a vinyl record player, go and find one. Just, just try some records. Pick a couple of them. I'll tell you a story. My, my grandson, Max, who was a couple of years back, started to get into vinyls. And he told me a couple of artists that he liked. And because I asked him what he would like for Christmas or his birthday, I can't remember now. Anyway, we went down to the shop and we bought, I bought him a couple of vinyls.
[00:22:28] But prior to that, he, he'd said to me he liked vinyls. And so I said to him, well, I've got a vinyl collection here. I haven't played for a while because I've got my vinyls. And he said, oh, it's a shame we haven't got something to play him on. I said, haven't we? So I pulled out my, my record player and he's like, oh, wow, man. You know, and then, then suddenly became very groovy. And so we spent the night that night playing on my old vinyls.
[00:22:56] And then the next day we went down and we bought a couple of vinyls that he really liked and we brought them back and played them. And so, yeah, the kids, even a couple of years back, were starting to really get into the vinyls. They're expensive these days. They're secondhand record stores that you can pick up stuff. So, yeah. Yeah, but not so much the new bands. The new bands, no. That's the new stuff. Yeah, but I did take him down to the secondhand record shop and showed him how to, you know,
[00:23:25] how we used to fly through all the different records and spend hours just going through, looking for things that we might like. And you could actually put headphones, you could go into a record booth. And put headphones on and listen to them. Yes, I remember. I remember that. Yes, and that was fun. Oh, now I've got the age. Yeah, no. Well, you know, you can't. Well, I don't know if you can do that anymore. You can't do it down at the little record shop in DY.
[00:23:56] But I'm not sure if they allow you to do that sort of thing now because most of it's digital anyway. So bringing back these records, I don't know whether you're allowed to do it or not. Somewhere to just sit through all the different albums and they're all alphabetically set out and you go looking for something you really liked and then, oh, that's the album I want, you know, and you'd save up to buy it. Exactly. Exactly. Click it on Spotify and all, you know, Apple Music.
[00:24:24] Yeah, but you can't own it that way, you know, and it's a different sound. Like, it's compressed. It's not the real sound. And people that haven't heard the real sound don't know what they're missing. You should have. So anybody who's got a record player, pull it out, get your albums out, sit around with the family, and say, let's have a record night. Yeah, get to Mum and Dad. If you haven't got them yourself, see if your Mum and Dad's still got theirs and play some of their records and, yeah, have a listen and... Watch Mum and Dad dance around the land.
[00:24:54] Exactly. And hear the difference. Although a lot of our records now, they've been... Some people didn't realise that you shouldn't lay them on top of each other. You should stand them side by side. You might have to wipe them off a little bit, the dust, and there might be a bit of crackle. But that's vintage, okay? And vintage is cool. If you've got a warped record, you put it between two pieces of glass and light in the sun for about an hour. Not too long, though, because it does melt. Well, not too long, but just to flatten it out.
[00:25:25] Remember how we used to have... You could buy the little velvet brushes that you went over the record with to take any dust off it before you put it on the needle? Yeah, you got them for a CD, these two. Yeah, as well. So... Lighten them up, yep. Yeah, now we are sounding really old. The good old days. That's it. Get into those old bands, and I'll send you a list of these, Chris, and you can play all these songs I mentioned, all these bands,
[00:25:54] and you will have a ball because it is just you go, wow. I know, but I haven't pulled them out for so long. And I'm thinking, well, I have a show, Rockin' 50s, Swingin' 60s, which is a two-hour show. And I said to the boss at the radio station today when we were doing a radio workshop, I said, I want to change my show. I thought about a name, and I'm still thinking about names,
[00:26:22] but I came up, first of all, with Vinyl to Virtual. Oh, yes. You like that? I like that. Because that covers the 50s through to now. Not yet. And instead of just playing the 50s and 60s, which I've done to death, and there's thousands of songs that I could do, but our radio station plays 40s, 50s. We've got one of our presenters that does the 80s,
[00:26:47] but we don't do 90s, and we don't do 70s, and we don't do 2000 through. Oh, that's not true. And I said to you, if I rename it and rebrand it as Vinyl to Virtual, then I can play anything and everything, and I can do segments and throwbacks to eras and have a lot more fun with the music and do these sorts of things that I haven't played for so long. Ah, good. That's fantastic. Would be a lot of fun.
[00:27:18] That'll be a lot of fun. And the ones I named were 60s, 70s, 80s. All those bands pushed even through into the 90s and kept going. Well, Smokey has its unique sound. It's like... That's why I like them, because there was nobody else that sounded anything like them at all. Yeah. They had a unique sound, and they just kept pumping out these songs
[00:27:45] that you just couldn't not like. Yeah. They were really great-sounding songs. Like, it was voices, which I loved. You know that. Yeah. All these voices singing together, it was just beautiful. They're the melodies. Yeah. Anyway, we've been chatting on forever and ever, and we've sort of gone over time. So I might say to you, I've had fun with this chat and brought back a lot of memories. Well, let's do it again.
[00:28:14] Let's get into some of these songs, and we'll get you to play them on the radio, and we'll have a bit of a talk about, yeah, some more about these and where we were and what we were doing. All right. I'm going to say goodnight. Goodnight, Natalia. She's waving. Don't tell anybody, but she's sipping on a wine whilst nibbling very quietly on some dickies and dip. Good on you. All right. I'll say goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight.
[00:28:42] Now, don't forget to check out Trevor McCormack's YouTube, and you can also go to Trevor McCormack Music for any podcasts that you might have missed. So don't forget to follow and share.