Four Fours Line-Up: Trevor Spitz (Drums) Mike Horman (Piano) Robert Smith (Alto Sax) Colin Minifie (Alto Sax) An unusual line-up of sax, piano and drums was what this Tauranga group, formed by Trevor Spitz, looked like in 1958. Realising their limitations, new members were recruited. In 1959 Bill Ward joined as lead guitarist and in 1960, Dave Hartstone as rhythm guitarist. At that stage Mike Horman switched to bass and the sax players moved on. Mike Horman was later replaced by Frank Hay on bass. With this new line-up they played mainly Shadows type music and by 1962 were the top group in the Bay of Plenty area. A recording contract was signed with Allied International and the Four Fours started releasing singles. The first two were released in 1963 and were That Happy Feeling/Janice B and The Wolf/Salenaci. In 1964 they released three more, Barrow Boy/Answer Me The Wind, Everytime/Jungle Cat and Shes Gonna Get Me/Moon Blues. After moving to Auckland, around 1965, they landed full time spots at the Platterack and Monaco nightspots. They wrote most of their own music and ended up recording a strange song called Theme From An Empty Coffee Lounge in 1965. It contains a whistled melody line and has ended up becoming a New Zealand classic. The flipside was Time Slips Away. Two more singles were also released in 1965, Baby Come Back To Me/Its Gonna Rain and Youre My Baby (And Dont Forget It)/Four Bad Men. A switch was then made to the Zodiac label in 1966, with two more singles being produced, This Time Tomorrow/Trucking Blues and From The Bottom Of My Heart/Stingray. The band continued to play locally, while other groups were heading to Australia to try and make it big. Once the Four Fours got a taste of success with hit records and sell out crowds, the lads set their eyes on becoming the first Kiwi group to break into the London scene and decided that England had to be the place to make it big. Trevor Spitz didnt like that idea so in 1966 he left. The band began auditioning for a replacement and came up with drummer Maurice Greer, from the Saints, (not to be confused with the Christchurch Saints from 1962). That group was his own band and Maurice had been experimenting with drum kits from an early age. He had converted his kit to a stand up unit, which he claimed was better for his vocals. But it wasnt only his drumming ability that impressed the Four Fours, it was his ability to harmonise and hit those high notes, the trademark of chart topping bands of the time. The first recording for the group with this line-up was Go Go backed with Dont Print My Memoirs. It became their second biggest hit, and earned them a support spot on the tour by the Rolling Stones and the Searchers in March 1966. It was shortly after this tour that the trip to England eventuated in August, when the group boarded the Fairsky to take up residency and work their way to England. On arriving in England, they changed their name to Human Instinct. One last single was released in New Zealand as the Four Fours in 1967 called One Track Mind/Hawaii. They stayed in England for two years, recording a few singles, without much success. They spent most of the time on the road, but were certainly the most successful New Zealand group to visit the UK in the 60s. On their return home they went through a number of line-up changes, recorded a few more albums and retained residency spots at a number of night clubs, before officially disbanding in the late 70s. For further details, see Human Instinct.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 10:38:26 +0000
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