By NOEL MURPHY
GLAM ROCK’S glory days of big heels, makeup, leather and high volume are alive and well thanks to Geelong musical institution The Glitter Gang.
By day the band’s members are steady middle-aged citizens beavering away in IT, marketing and labs.
But since 1992 they’ve been hitting local stages as other-wordly rock gods Barry Glitter, Stevie Knievel, Bobby Dazzler, Mickey Blitz and Marsha Brady in a welter of spacesuits, flares, brutish open chests and 747-wing collars.
The band will again reprise the hits of ’70s icons like The Sweet, KISS, ELO, Skyhooks, Status Quo, ABBA, Sherbert, Hot Chocolate and Gary Glitter on Sunday at Geelong’s inaugural Motor City Music Festival.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” admits frontman Barry Glitter, also known as Grant Whiteside.
“I don’t think glam rock takes itself too seriously at all even though there’s some fantastic music and musicians.
“Really, it’s all about having fun. It’s a bit of theatre.”
Whiteside said the timeless appeal of glam rock had earned The Glitter Gang a new generation of followers in their 20s.
“Lots of them have been brought up on mum and dad’s music – they know every word of the songs.”
The band has been a popular regular at the Barwon Club hotel for over two decades but otherwise maintains a relatively low profile, playing just the odd other weekend gig and depending on the members’ mums to repair their costumes.
Whiteside promised “a bit of eye-candy for the cougars” at the festival.
Other punters are advised to attend for the music.
