Submitted by
Dr Geoff Walden
Mr Percival was not an unamous “yes” for the name of the new band back in 1919 when the group of three and later four year five St Joseph’s Primary School Gayndah was formed. The book and movie Storm Boy had been quite popular in ther recent past and while it was not the most popular choice, it was the only one at the time since the members could not come up with anything for a band name. So the name stuck and has served, and continues to serve, its members quite well over time.
While 2019 was listed above as the starting time for the band, 2018 was the time when the boys started responding to the invitation to actually start a band. My wife and I had moved to Gayndah within the last couple of years and I was interested in continuing my interest in young people and contemporary popular music. It didn’t take long for me to realise that there was a group of very talented young people in Year four at St Joseph’s and some of them seemed interested in learning guitar and continuing that learning into forming a band.
That class was a surpise to me given that there were seven, maybe eight of the twelve boys in the class who had to potential to develop their music skills to a significantly higher level, including one who I considered to be a prodigy. Originally, three boys and later another one, went on to form Mr Percival. They were Donald McGregor, Noah Coulson and Nathan Banks. They were later joined by Angus Parr. Donald was the one who I considered to be a prodigy and his later success in music at a very high level has shown that to be the case.
Because we were still living in our caravan at the time, rehearsals started in Michael Coulson’s shed. Handy for Noah because he just had to walk down the back yard. There was enough equipment in the form of electric guitars, amplifiers and PA system around the place to get things going with the aim of the boys playing on the main stage at the Gayndah Orange Festival later that year.
The line up was as follows:
- Donald McGregor – Lead guitar, fiddle and vocals
- Noah Coulson – Rhythm guitar and vocals
- Nathan Banks – Bass guitar and vocals
They worked hard, without a drummer at this stage and made it on to the stage (at 9am – not a good time for musicians). They were hoping to have one of the adults who played drums in town to come in and support the boys but by the agreed time, he hadn’t turned up. Michael had to go and wake him up and encourage him to get to the stage in time to make things right for Mr Percival.
Mr Percival was on the way, still without a drummer. That didn’t stop them getting some gigs, both at Gayndah’s Gayndah's Orange Hotel Motel, a verue that will feature in the band’s future. The images below were both taken below, one for a 60th birthday celebration and the other on a Friday night.
It didn’t take long for another boy from the class at St Joey’s to decided he wanted to learn to play the drums and join the band. Angus Parr thought it was time for him to join the boys and complet the standard band line up and his first gig was a performance on June 6th, 2019 in the school gymnasium for the assembled school students and staff.
The next gig for Mr Percival was very exciting for the boys because they were paid – their first paid gig. Des Robinson organised for the band to travel to Mount Perry on 27th of July, 2019 to play at a function which was held at the local Showgrounds. Des was pleased to have the boys and their parents there and as can be seen from the photo, they were keen to receive the payment.
The next gig was in Gympie for the AICM ROCKSKOOL Band Showdown, School Age Category. It was held in the AICM venue in Gympie on the 11th of August, 2019. You can note from the photos that Nathan had a broken foot so had to sit down for the whole show. Donald did his thing with both guitar and fiddle and wasw clearly the winner of the best guitarist. The certificate show the boys as runners up was a little misleading. The judges rated them as the best band in the age group and it was clear that they were. However part of the first prize was a gig at the Gympie Muster coming up in a few weeks time. The judges from the Muster rated the school band from somewhere on the sunshine coast as having more stage appeal and so rated them first for the Muster gig. A shame for our boys but that is how it goes.
Watch a video of hte boys playing Somebody LikeYou, Guitar Boogie, Wagon Wheel and Folsom Prison Blues at the AICM Rock Skool Band Showdown 2019
Next gigs for the boys were in September, firstly for their school, performing from the verandah of one of the buildings to the audience one the oval. That was followed by a gig at the Orange and a performance in the grounds, (under cover) of the Gayndah Primary School for a something function ???.
Being in a band like Mr Percival is not all hard work. Here are Nathan and Noah trying to keep up with Something ??? game. Was it on the Switch?
Promotion is very important, even for a primary school band. So the powers that be organised with photographer and high school art teacher Kelly Morgan to put her artistic talents to work and take some interesting photos to be used in promotion, especially for their up coming gig at Burnett Heads, Bundaberg.
