Soul revival: Ross Lipson in the studio at Matthew Flinders Girls High School.
Andrew Mathieson
OLD muso Ross Lipson walks back into his school office, spots crumbs strewn all over the carpet and picks up the leftovers from a meat pie.
He laughs off the mess after having lunch with good mate Rick McLean who he credits as the mastermind behind lifting Ross’s school band, Sweethearts, from playing just for their parents to being a hit with international audiences instead.
“Yes, he spilled the pie,” Ross says, grinning ear to ear, “but he can do whatever he likes.”
The two have been inseparable since 1995 when Rick identified the right music genre for the Matthew Flinders Girls High School band.
They gradually switched to a fusion of classic soul and Motown after moving away from what Ross describes as “daggy music”.
“It was pretty cheesy but we thought it was pretty good,” he reflects.
“I’d cringe if I was listening to it now.”
The band went on a marketing push that soon had the band of teenagers, some aged just 13, recording their first album.
The first-line up has since all grown up but the Sweethearts’ legacy is a further seven recordings.
“We’d always have fun but we didn’t know where we were heading for the first few years,” Ross recounts.
“Rick made me realise the potential of what we could do but he was also my biggest critic. I hold him responsible for heaps of changes to the band and without Rick it wouldn’t have happened.”
Since its humble beginnings just over two decades ago when Ross and fellow teacher Clive Whistance would jam with students, Sweethearts has become a phenomenon.
The Geelong schoolgirls now play around 50 gigs every year, including several jazz and soul festivals in Europe.
“What we’re doing that differentiates us from other programs is that ours is all authentic learning in the real world,” Ross explains.
“When they play a gig, it’s real – the band’s getting paid.”
The band’s breakthrough came when Geelong gig organiser Jamie McKew invited Sweethearts to Port Fairy Folk Festival in 1996.
They anticipated performing quietly on one of the back stages, not as support to Australian pop star Christine Anu in front of a packed crowd.
“That was brave to put a year nine band on but Jamie backed us in,” Ross smiles.
The Sweethearts concept has since morphed into a certificate music program also for other schools, while the Matthew Flinders outfit now has its own board of directors and eight other support staff.
In fact, the band has become so big that 53-year-old Ross has left his science classroom to concentrate on the music.
“As I always joke, I have the best job in show biz,” he chuckles.
“I get to work with these amazing, motivated kids.”
An Anglesea resident, Ross was formerly a professional airforce band oboist touring nationally and overseas.
Before the airforce he played in the 1970s pub music scene during his days at Melbourne University.
“You could always get a gig – it’s just an unreal scene,” he reminisces.
