Giant Steps

In the 80s I formed a great indie rock band called "Giant Steps" - maybe the best band I ever had the privilege of working with.

Here's a live video of this band, performing my song "Monument" in a local hall. I was lecturing at Southern Cross Uni in those days and used to "borrow" the Uni's outside broadcast bus on weekends. I'd get my students to work the 5 cameras for experience, with sound recorded direct from the mixing desk. My brilliant friend Paul Rainsford Towner would 'vision mix' (in real time - no editing) some of the "Moondance" shows we would put on in local halls.

Like many 'almost' bands, we broke up just on the verge of "making it" - after a huge tour of Sydney, and page two photos in mainstream Sydney papers, we had major labels and publishers flying up to see us.

The clips on this page features:

Lisa Spence, Vocal Barry Ferrier, Guitar Jen Anderson, Violin Gordon Heazelwood, Drums Richard Rummery, keyboards Paul Rainsford Towner, Vision Mix. 

Under the direction of Paul Rainsford Towner they attempted to make a video of member Barry Ferrier's song "Bureaucracy', in one long camera take (no post production or editing), at a specially built set at the Alstonville chicken farm in the mid 80s. This set consisted of 6 separate 'rooms' built in a circle with the camera located at the centre. The camera made three complete passes around the circle and, as it panned, production teams would change the set design of each of these rooms, making for a continous flow of imagery, as the band moved from room to room. The production became a large community event with a large number of local youth volunteering as performers and support staff, creating a festival like atmosphere.

The clip below is a home-grown documentary of the whole ambitious project.