The band was formed as Dick Smith And The Dole Q early 1978 by Dave Barrett (vocals), Steve Barrett (RIP 2020) (bass) and Paul “PD” Downes (guitar). With addition of Paul “Frank” Madden (guitar) and Steve “Swifty” Swift (drums) and a change the name to Dick Smith Band they started touring. When the band finished in 1982 they had played more than 1.000 gigs.
Notable about the story of Dick Smith Band is their live sound engineer Paul “Pab” Boothroyd. When he joined the band is was on a mini tour as a trainee auto engineer, mainly to make sure their van would get them to Scotland and back. A world class sound engineer was born Pab would later work for AC/DC and Paul McCartney.
The recordings made by Dick Smith Band was thought to be lost, but thanks to Pab the recordings used on “We Mean It” wee saved as he stored them in an air tight container for 35 years. “we Mean It” was released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first gig played by Dick Smith Band.
Artist: Dick Smith Band
Album: We Mean It
Year: 2018 (expanded reissue 2020)
Label: None (self-released)
Style: Heavy Metal
Format: mp3/320
Tracklist
01 Givin The Game Away 3:13
02 The Tribe 4:17
03 Changing Places 3:07
04 Way Of The World 3:56
05 Cigar Shaped Thing 3:08
06 Shine 5:07
07 Motorway Madness (Live) 5:55 (song cuts out because of tape failure)
08 The Wanderer (Live) 5:22
09 Body Heat 3:37
10 Motorway Madness 4:03
11 The Day (Live) (Bonus Track 2020) 4:08