Posted: 7 May 2008, 4:59pmSubject: RIP James 'JOCK' Paull
Masked and understated virtuoso of the guitar, from classical to indie-rock legends TISM
JAMES "JOCK" PAULL, MUSICIAN
1-7-1957 — 9-4-2008
JAMES Paull, who was known to his friends as Jock, and to a legion of music fans across the country as the lead guitarist of the pseudonym-adopting, masked indie-rock legends TISM, has died at the Austin Hospital after a 15-month battle with lung cancer. He was 50.
A prodigiously talented musician, yet warm, understated and ego-free, Paull was a calming influence in the midst of the coruscating life of one of Australia's most original, iconoclastic performance acts.
TISM, an acronym of This Is Serious Mum, was well-known for lampooning the industry in which it was in.
Over the years its members adopted such stage names as Ron Hitler-Barassi (vocals), Humphrey B. Flaubert (vocals and drums), Les Miserables (vocals), John St Peenis (saxophone), Eugene de la Hot-Croix Bun, Leake Van Vlalen, Jock Cheese (bass guitar) and Tokin Blackman (lead guitar and otherwise known as Jock Paull).
Flaubert said they wore masks or balaclavas on stage because they wanted to "circumvent the cult of personality that is inherent in rock music, by choosing to remain anonymous …"
Paull was born in Blackburn and educated at Xavier College and St Patrick's College, Ballarat, and then studied composition at Melbourne State College. Awarded an Australia Council scholarship in 1984, he studied classical guitar at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam from August 1984 to July 1985.
Paull joined TISM in 1992 — 10 years after the group was formed by Melbourne University friends — and his fine guitar playing and songwriting became an integral part of the group's ground-breaking music and outlandish performance-art concerts. He was part of TISM's most successful period, which took them to what once would have been an unthinkable ascent to the top 10 in album charts.
During his 16 years with TISM, the group made five albums, with the third, Machiavelli and the Four Seasons, reaching the top 10 in 1995. (The band's other success came with its debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of Renaissance in 1988, before Paull was a member.)
His talents were not confined to the punked-up pop of TISM. His mastery of the classical guitar meant he could add haunting, folkish accompaniment to the music of other singers such as Astrid Munday. He also enjoyed a quietly satisfying career playing Chicago blues as the front man of his own band, Blind Lemon Chicken. Even within TISM he pushed the boundaries, scoring and conducting a fully realised madrigal piece that was unceremoniously tacked on to the end of an album — unlisted and unlauded.
Paull didn't care for footy or cricket — his passion was music; he barracked for Eric Clapton.
He is survived by his partner, Matty, and their daughter Ella.
[video: www.youtube.com]
[video: www.youtube.com]
JAMES "JOCK" PAULL, MUSICIAN
1-7-1957 — 9-4-2008
JAMES Paull, who was known to his friends as Jock, and to a legion of music fans across the country as the lead guitarist of the pseudonym-adopting, masked indie-rock legends TISM, has died at the Austin Hospital after a 15-month battle with lung cancer. He was 50.
A prodigiously talented musician, yet warm, understated and ego-free, Paull was a calming influence in the midst of the coruscating life of one of Australia's most original, iconoclastic performance acts.
TISM, an acronym of This Is Serious Mum, was well-known for lampooning the industry in which it was in.
Over the years its members adopted such stage names as Ron Hitler-Barassi (vocals), Humphrey B. Flaubert (vocals and drums), Les Miserables (vocals), John St Peenis (saxophone), Eugene de la Hot-Croix Bun, Leake Van Vlalen, Jock Cheese (bass guitar) and Tokin Blackman (lead guitar and otherwise known as Jock Paull).
Flaubert said they wore masks or balaclavas on stage because they wanted to "circumvent the cult of personality that is inherent in rock music, by choosing to remain anonymous …"
Paull was born in Blackburn and educated at Xavier College and St Patrick's College, Ballarat, and then studied composition at Melbourne State College. Awarded an Australia Council scholarship in 1984, he studied classical guitar at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam from August 1984 to July 1985.
Paull joined TISM in 1992 — 10 years after the group was formed by Melbourne University friends — and his fine guitar playing and songwriting became an integral part of the group's ground-breaking music and outlandish performance-art concerts. He was part of TISM's most successful period, which took them to what once would have been an unthinkable ascent to the top 10 in album charts.
During his 16 years with TISM, the group made five albums, with the third, Machiavelli and the Four Seasons, reaching the top 10 in 1995. (The band's other success came with its debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of Renaissance in 1988, before Paull was a member.)
His talents were not confined to the punked-up pop of TISM. His mastery of the classical guitar meant he could add haunting, folkish accompaniment to the music of other singers such as Astrid Munday. He also enjoyed a quietly satisfying career playing Chicago blues as the front man of his own band, Blind Lemon Chicken. Even within TISM he pushed the boundaries, scoring and conducting a fully realised madrigal piece that was unceremoniously tacked on to the end of an album — unlisted and unlauded.
Paull didn't care for footy or cricket — his passion was music; he barracked for Eric Clapton.
He is survived by his partner, Matty, and their daughter Ella.
[video: www.youtube.com]
[video: www.youtube.com]
Munkee Snaps
"Anything you can't get out of a bottle of vodka, you don't need."..........
- Ava Gardner......
"Anything you can't get out of a bottle of vodka, you don't need."..........
- Ava Gardner......
