Biography

Over 40 musicians have been a member of Chain, one of Australia's premier blues bands that has been going strong for over three decades. Formed from the remnants of Perth band the Beaten Tracks in 1968, the Chain were named by singer Wendy Saddington after the classic soul track "Chain of Fools." Saddington soon left and the band released one of Australia's first progressive blues singles, "Show Me Home," in 1969. Soon after, the Chain shortened their moniker to Chain. In June 1970, Chain recorded the classic live album, Live Chain, at Caesar's Palace discotheque, and along with other Australian acts like Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Carson, and the Adderley Smith Blues Band, were considered at the forefront of the Australian blues movement. Signing a new deal with Infinity, the blues subsidiary of Festival, Chain released the single "Black and Blue," which reached number ten on the national charts in May 1971. The classic album Toward the Blues peaked at number six in 1971 and is considered one of Australia's greatest blues albums. The follow-up single, "Judgement," established Chain as the nation's leading progressive blues band. Chain Live Again was released in October 1972 and Chain went on to appear at the first Sunbury Festival in January 1972. In 1973, the band singed with the new Mushroom label and issued the Two of a Kind album. Chain's rotating lineup broke up in 1974 and Mushroom issued the retrospective History of Chain album. Six years later, interest in Chain was still strong and they played at the Mushroom Evolution Concert in January 1982 to celebrate Mushroom's tenth anniversary. They re-formed permanently in 1983 and released Child of the Street in October 1985. Their next album, Australian Rhythm and Blues, was released in April 1988, followed by Blue Metal in May 1990. Several members undertook a tour of Australia in 1991 as Blues Power, while another member, Matt Taylor, toured as Matt Taylor's Chain, who released the album Walls 2 McGoo (Trouble in the Wind) in 1992. The original Chain again undertook a national tour in 1995. ~ Brendan Swift, Rovi