Mixed Relations

Mixed Relations was a reggae rock group formed in Sydney by Bart Willoughby on percussion, lead vocals, guitar and didgeridoo in late 1988.McFarlane, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040809222054/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=535 'No Fixed Address'] entry. Archived from [http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=535 the original] on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 9 April 2017. Willoughby had been a member of No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone and Yothu Yindi. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, felt that Mixed Relations played "an infectious and funky hybrid of reggae, pop, rock and jazz. The band established a solid live reputation." Their debut performance was at the Aboriginal Music Festival, Darwin, in December 1988.{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122265202 | title = Good Times: Rock for the Forests | last = Polglaze | first = Karen | newspaper = The Canberra Times | volume = 63 | issue = 19,587 | date = 25 May 1989 | access-date = 10 April 2017 | page = 23 | via = National Library of Australia }}

In August 1991 the group toured Europe and Canada.{{cite news | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120523183436/http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/1233 | url = http://www.greenleft.org.au/1991/15/1184 | title = Oil war shoots holes in band tour | last = Davies-Cassin | first = Kaarin | work = Green Left Weekly | issue = 15 | archive-date = 23 May 2012 | date = 12 June 1991 | access-date = 9 April 2017 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} Kaarin Davies-Cassin of Green Left Weekly described their sound, which "blends syncopation and counterpoint harmony, weaving traditional Australian rhythms and melodic form with traditional and Western instruments."

In October 1992 Mixed Relations issued their debut extended play, Take It or Leave It, on Red Eye Records. Alongside Willoughby the group included Murray Cook (not the one from the Wiggles) on keyboards and bass guitar (ex-Warumpi Band, Happening Thang), Leroy Cummings on guitar, Alvin Duffin on drums and percussion (ex-Mantaka), Brenda Gifford on saxophone, piano and backing vocals, Alice Haines on vocals and percussion, Vanessa Lucas on bass guitar, violin and backing vocals (ex-Tall Tales & True). They followed with their single, "Aboriginal Woman" (February 1993), and their debut album, Love, appeared in April. The Canberra Times{{'}} Nic Haygarth opined that the album was "a concoction of joyous sounds urban and outback, indigenous and electric, with the spirit of Aboriginal culture at its core."

Willoughby explained his stylistic philosophy to Haygarth, "There are people who came from radio to black and white television, and people who came from black and white television to colour, and there are people born to go from colour to virtual reality. We are the ones that remember the change from black and white to colour. And now you've got no corroboree rock, but a black and white sort of thing. I had to find some way to change from No Fixed Address. Mixed Relations allows me to work with whoever I want and play whatever I want. This style is like the middle where I am."{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127236100 | title = Mixed Relations' love for music has no fixed address | last = Haygarth | first = Nic | newspaper = The Canberra Times | volume = 67 | issue = 21,261 | date = 1 July 1993 | access-date = 10 April 2017 | page = 34 | via = National Library of Australia }}

"Aboriginal Woman", was listed at No. 89 on Triple J's listener's poll: Hottest 100 for 1993.{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141203191610/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history/1993.htm | url = http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history/1993.htm | title = 1993 | History | Triple J Hottest 100 – 2008 | publisher = Triple J (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)) | archive-date = 3 December 2014 | access-date = 10 April 2017 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} In November 1993 Willoughby was presented with the best indigenous performer award at the Australian Music Awards.{{cite news | url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127527293 | title = Top music award goes to Baby Animals | newspaper = The Canberra Times | volume = 68 | issue = 21,411 | date = 28 November 1993 | access-date = 10 April 2017 | page = 2 | via = National Library of Australia }}

Other musicians in Mixed Relations included Megan Briansky on keyboards and vocals, Sharon Carpenter on percussion and vocals, and Suzanne Irvin on keyboards. The group disbanded in 1995 when Willoughby returned to his Pitjantjatjara community as a music teacher. From 1997 he worked as a solo artist and in 2008 he reformed No Fixed Address.{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060104142142/http://www.vibe.com.au/vibe/corporate/celebrity_vibe/showceleb.asp?id=6 | url = http://www.vibe.com.au:80/vibe/corporate/celebrity_vibe/showceleb.asp?id=6 | title = Celebrity Vibe – Bart Willoughby | work = Vibe Australia | archive-date = 4 January 2006 | access-date = 10 April 2017 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}

Alice Haines departed the band in 1992 to play the part of Rosie in the national touring production of Bran Nue Dae.{{cite web | url=https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/general-articles/item/620-bran-nue-dae-part-1 | title=Theatre Heritage Australia - Bran Nue Dae (Part 1) }} She subsequently starred in the film Serenades, in the female lead role of Jila,{{IMDb title|qid=Q127599775|title=Serenades}} her own stage musical show Alice in 2001{{Citation | author1=Haines, Alice | author2=Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre | author3=Perth International Arts Festival | title=Alice |format=catalogue entry | publication-date=2001 | publisher=Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22214475 | access-date=10 May 2024}} and releasing a solo album Matter of Time in 2005.{{cite web | url=https://open.spotify.com/album/7oITQhI12qPxGJkYvzGzp2 | title=Matter of Time | website=Spotify | date=January 2005 }} After the disbandment of Mixed Relations Murray Cook joined Mental As Anything. Selwn Burns played with No Fixed Address, Coloured Stone and Blackfire. Vanessa Lucas was a short-term member of Tall Tales and True. Brenda Gifford, a music teacher, later recalled her time with Mixed Relations, "It was a really great experience, I got to see Australia – urban, regional, remote, traditional. And we got to see a bit of the world."{{cite web | url = https://cass.anu.edu.au/news/news/20170228/mixed-relations-music-composition | title = From Mixed Relations to Music Composition | publisher = ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523110432/https://cass.anu.edu.au/news/news/20170228/mixed-relations-music-composition| archive-date= 23 May 2017 | date = 28 February 2017 | access-date = 10 April 2017 }}

• Love (April 1993)

• Take It or Leave It (October 1992) Red Eye Records

• "Aboriginal Woman" (1993)

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• {{cite book|editor= Bebbington, Warren|title=The Oxford Companion to Australian Music |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-553432-8 }}
• {{Cite encyclopedia | last = McFarlane | first = Ian | author-link = Ian McFarlane | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop | title = Whammo Homepage | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040405231007/http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp | url = http://www.whammo.com.au/index.asp | archive-date = 5 April 2004 | access-date = 3 October 2013 | year = 1999 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = St Leonards, NSW | isbn = 1-86508-072-1 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.

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Category:New South Wales musical groups

Category:Indigenous Australian musical groups