New Zealander Paddy Beach (ex-Compulsion) took his place on drums. In May 1969, Doug Lavery left The Valentines to join Axiom. The Valentines donned matching frilly orange shirts, flares and beads, worked out a choreographed stage act and began to rival The Zoot (with their `Think Pink' campaign) and New Dream as the most popular bubblegum act of the day. `My Old Man's a Groovy Old Man' was pure bubblegum pop, sugary and vacuous but fun all the same. Vanda and Young's `My Old Man's a Groovy Old Man'/`Ebeneezer' (issued on Valentine's Day, 14 February 1969) took the band into the Top 40 for the first time when it peaked at #12 in Sydney and #23 in Melbourne. At the end of 1968, The Valentines signed a deal with Ron Tudor's June Productions, which then leased the band's next three singles to Philips. Doug Lavery (ex-Andy James Asylum, Running Jumping Standing Still, Doug Parkinson In Focus) replaced original drummer Warwick Findlay as the single appeared. (`Love Makes Sweet Music' on the flip was originally by UK psychedelic band Soft Machine.) Nevertheless, the single failed to chart. `Peculiar Hole in the Sky', with its psychedelic overtones, was the band's most adventurous single to date. Clarion continued to issue The Valentines' singles into 1968: `I Can Hear the Raindrops'/`Why Me?' (February) and Vanda and Young's `Peculiar Hole in the Sky'/`Love Makes Sweet Music' (July). The Valentines had made enough of an impression to move to Melbourne permanently in October 1967. The band flew to Melbourne to compete in the national finals, only to be beaten by The Groop. The singles charted locally and The Valentines won the WA state final of the Hoadley's National Battle of the Sounds. The Clarion label issued the band's debut single, Arthur Alexander's `Every Day I Have to Cry'/`I Can't Dance Without You' (May 1967), followed by Vanda and Young's `She Said'/`To Know You is to Love You' (August). By 1967, The Valentines were Perth's top pop band. The Valentines wore matching suits, and their early repertoire comprised soul covers by Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, plus mod staples by the likes of The Who, the Spencer Davis Group and The Small Faces. Like Adelaide's Twilights, The Valentines were fronted by two lead singers, Scott and Vince Lovegrove. In mid-1966, Scott and Milson joined forces with members of rival band The Winztons to form The Valentines. The tracks were covers of Them's `Gloria', Chuck Berry's `On My Mind' and The Beatles' `Yesterday'. Although The Spektors did not release any records, three tracks were recorded in October 1965 for Perth television show Club 17, and they appeared on a CD EP 'Bon Scott and the Spektors', issued in 1992 by UK label See for Miles. Scott was co-drummer and co-lead singer he and Collins would play half a set each in their respective roles. Scott's first band was Perth (Western Australia) beat group The Spektors, which he formed in 1965 with friends John Collins (vocals, drums), Wyn Milson (guitar) and Brian Gannon (bass). From there, it was just a short leap into the no-bullshit power rock world of AC/DC. With the dawning of the 1970s, the adaptable Scott eschewed the bubblegum pop format in favour of the solid thumping rock and metaphysical progressive stylings of Fraternity. During the 1960s, he had commanded the attention of hordes of hysterical fans as a fluffy, cuddly scream-dream pop idol with The Valentines. When Bon Scott made an impact on the international hard rock market as front-man for the awesome AC/DC, he was already a bona fide Oz Rock veteran. A major drawcard was the double-vocal attack of dynamic front-men Bon Scott and Vince Lovegrove, and within a few weeks of their live debut they were packing in crowds. Playing a mixture of soul, R&B and mod covers, by the start of 1967 they were already Perth's top group. The Valentines formed in Perth in mid-1966, bringing together members of three leading local beat groups: Scott and Milson were from The Spektors, Lovegrove, Ward and Cooksey were from The Winztons, and Findlay was from top WA band Ray Hoff & The Off Beats. These days, of course, they're best known by reference to the fact that one of the singers ended up in a little band called AC/DC - although the enormous interest in them has resulted in many previously unreleased tracks becoming available in recent years. But there was a wild side to the band which was evident in their live performances (and their off-stage carousing). Although they started out a energetic soul/R&B band, their best-known image was associated with the so-called "bubblegum pop" phenomenon of 1968-70. The Perth pop group The Valentines was, for a brief period, one of the most popular bands in the country.
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