About SNAKEHEADS band by Andrea Black
Monday March 15th, 2021 marks the one year anniversary of the untimely death of Pete Lusty, founding director of Ivy League Records and Winterman & Goldstein Management. In celebration of Pete’s extraordinary life, Ivy League Records are proud to release the debut single by Snakeheads, a posthumously named garage band partnership between Pete and his lifelong friend and collaborator, James Roden. The song entitled, ‘Shit I Don’t Have Time For’ features Andrew Swayze from A.Swayze and the Ghosts on lead vocals.
Canberra. Mid-1980s. Two 12-year-old toughies (one tall, one short) met on the rough, hot bitumen of Belconnen High during a time when punks, skins and mods ruled the streets. Their shared bond? Music stolen from their older siblings’ record collection. The Jam. The Clash. Sham 69. Stiff Little Fingers. Blitz. The Damned. Sex Pistols. Buzzcocks. Lusty and Roden were always in cahoots as part of a larger music obsessed group.
They started a band in high school called The Smart, afterwards while at ANU studying together, they formed The Morticians playing to parties and sometimes packed rooms of 1000 punters before moving to Sydney. It was there, in 1996, that they formed The John Reed Club with Cameron Emerson-Elliot and Richard Weinman (and later Shane Melder). The John Reed Club again played parties and eventually played to sold out rooms in Sydney, and a 3-song seven-inch single came out (Ivy League’s first ever release) before the band signed to EMI released one EP and broke up. They split up too soon, a huge source of regret for both.
Later, in the 2000s when James formed The City Lights, Pete played one gig with the band, but managing The Vines, and later Jet and Empire of the Sun as well as running Ivy League Records meant Pete needed to relocate to the US and UK. Meanwhile, as well as working for Winterman & Goldstein, James and his band successfully toured Australia and an underground cult following in Spain.
Sydney. 2014. Both back in the same city and eager to return to their roots, older and wiser, Lusty and Roden started jamming together every Monday night (“turning the worst night of the week, into the best”), playing only ‘70s English punk and a bit of US hardcore. “We only wanted to play what we loved at 15 years old, with no pressure and no point,” says James. “In a way we were finishing what we started with The John Reed Club, the thinking was ‘let’s make the songs great, the world doesn’t need any more half thought out songs’, so we really obsessed about them. Every detail was discussed - bar by bar. We thought we had cracked the code. Keep making songs and recording until they were good.”
They worked on hundreds of ideas. Then, friend, musician and producer Wayne Connolly helped them hone their repertoire to around 14 demos before Lusty and Roden recorded the first batch of 7 of them in February 2019 at the Harry Vanda (Easybeats)-owned Hercules Street Studios, Surry Hills with Harry Roden (James’s brother and ex-City Light) on bass and mutual friend (and another ex-City Light) Kit Warhurst from Rocket Science on drums.
“Looking back, and given how many years this went on for, I think we just enjoyed the process more than the end; this time we had the experience and time to do it right,” says James. “Or we thought we had time.”
In early 2019 Pete complained of back problems, which he attributed to moving amps in his home studio, plus there was the added tiredness that comes with having a baby - his and wife, Georgia’s second child.
Then in June 2019 came the crushing diagnosis: stage 4 Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma and co-existent Double Hit High Grade B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Pete fought hard, and was given the all-clear after 44 days of intensive chemotherapy, however the celebration of remission was short lived and by November 2019 it came back, harder. A final roll of the dice was offered in the form of immunotherapy treatment (‘T-cell transfusion’) in the US. Always courageous, Pete summoned a reservoir of stamina, remaining resolute and positive while facing the challenge. His family and close friends, including James, Andy Cassell and Andy Kelly, travelled to Boston, USA to be by his side for the T-Cell treatment in January 2020.
Pete got very sick, very fast. Despite the T-Cells going in on March 6th his decline was too rapid.
On March 15th, 2020, as the entire world was entering into the unprecedented pandemic lockdown, Peter James Lusty - maverick, radical thinker, true original – quietly slipped into the shadows in a Boston hospital. For so many people – friends, family, bands he helped constantly, “the grief and the silence is always present” and for someone who actively shunned the limelight and yet achieved so much, it’s a cruel blow that a memorial service celebrating his life is yet to be held. The unending absence began. Music has always been cathartic and now it was traumatic. With Wayne, Kit and Harry, behind him, James began the journey of going through the recordings. Ivy League wanted to help and celebrate the life of its co-founder.
The first single to be released from the recordings is ‘Shit I Don’t Have Time For’. Ivy League’s Andy Cassell suggested Andrew Swayze from A. Swayze and the Ghosts sing the lead vocal. AS&TG were one of the last bands Pete signed to Ivy League Records and epitomised the music, style, and attitude that shaped his life since his early days in the suburbs with James.
Remember that feeling when you’re 15 and drop the needle on your new favourite record? It’s that same energy and passion that is encapsulated in Snakeheads’ debut single. Even the name Snakeheads is a nod to what they might have called their band as teenagers and a reference to Pete’s piercing ‘snake-eyes’. It’s also an audible testament to two best friends (and each other’s best men at their weddings) who both drew inspiration from and championed each other for life. A tangible celebration of their essence. They had each other. In cahoots till the end.