March 2019 at the John Power tribute gig at Memo Hall
Tony Faehse.. six decades of music /1960′s lead guitarist in Adelaide & Melbourne with Village Eyes & Music Express /mid 1970′s touring England & Europe lead guitar with Alvin Stardust /late ’70′s-early 80′s lead & rhythm guitar and co-writer with ARIA HALL OF FAME Australian legends JO JO ZEP & THE FALCONS /1990′s writer and guitar for hire in Melbourne / from 2000 on.. writing and producing six all original independent solo albums
Born and raised in Adelaide in the middle of the last century Tony took up guitar aged 13 initially studying classical guitar technique with Lionel Ward, later self teaching the electric lead guitar. First group Village Eyes with classmates at Brighton High School soon got gigs at local dances playing the rhythm & blues made popular by English beat groups.. also soul and psychedelia.. gigging around Adelaide and South Australia. Tony’s older brother Kym also joined the band and eldest brother Michael managed it. A family affair!
Four piece beat group Musick Express already had a following when they asked Tony to join in 1969 before moving to Melbourne in 1970 and releasing the single Jackie’s Thing with B side How does paternity suit you Tony’s first published composition. Extensive gigging and TV appearances throughout Australia followed. Returning to Adelaide in ’71 with a fresh lineup the band were taken to Sydney to provide music for the controversial stage production Oh Calcutta! However the show was banned after its first performance. Australia wasn’t ready for a naked stage show!
Tony and Wendy got married and soon after in March 1973 sailed to Europe, a six week trip on the SS Galileo, inadvertently catching the tail end of the Ocean Liner Travel era. London became their home for the next four years. Unlike Australia at that time there was work for rock musicians with pages of adds for band vacancies in every weeks Melody Maker. Tony’s very first audition was successful, as lead guitar with a splinter group with Atomic Rooster members. Unfortunately that didn’t get off the ground. Next was Stars with Davy Jack and later Peachy Keen and Mirrors. However it was a year long gig as lead guitar in the backing band of glam-rocker Alvin Stardust which turned out to be the big story! Alvin’s first single My Coo Ka Choo had just made number one on the strength of Pirate Radio and to tour he needed to form a band. Tony answered the inevitable add in Melody Maker and got the gig and immediately set out on a 48 date summer tour. Many other gigs all over Great Britain followed as well as tours of Europe and TV including Top of the Pops. At the same time Wendy was working at Barbara Hulanicki’s iconic big BIBA store in Kensington High Street. After a year Alvin’s chart success was in decline and he fell back on the midlands cabaret circuit including the televised The Wheeltapper’s and Shunter’s Club! (See YouTube.. in your game) Not exactly what Tony had in mind so he left and at the end of 1976, reluctant to face a fourth English winter, Tony and Wendy returned home.
Arrival back in Melbourne luckily coincided with a guitarist vacancy in Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons, an established live act already with a successful album to their name and a great fit to Tony’s style and ambitions. In the next five years the writing team of Camilliri, Burstin & Faehse produced two gold albums.. Screaming Targets and Hats Off Step Lively with the evergreen tracks Shape I’m In, Hit & Run and So Young. Regularly appearing on Countdown and other television shows the band toured all over Australia with a world promotional trip in 1980 to the U.S. and Europe. Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons rightly hold their place in Australian rock history, and were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007. In line with the current interest in classic but now vintage Australian music the band continued to do occasional special performances including memorably supporting Elvis Costello for the 2013 Day on the Green tour, just like they did when he first toured Australia in 1980.
After the Falcons disbanded in 1983 Joe Camilleri formed a new band and offered Tony a place in it. However he thought it was time to try new things and instead formed writing partnerships with Scott Carne, Natalie Carne and others while also playing guitar in a multitude of lineups including The Hi-Tones.
After 1996 Tony stepped back from full time music to open mid century design retail shop Retro Active with Wendy. This proved to be a very successful venture with a new lifestyle that by this time was more attractive to Tony than that of touring musician. And after establishing this new business and with no criteria but to create his own music his own way he returned to writing and recording, releasing his first mostly instrumental album Learn to Fly in 2000. With a mixture of instrumentals and songs St Tropez (2004) followed, then Dance With a Flower in Your Hair (2007), If you’re a cat (2010) and Fancy That (2012). All this music his original compositions with some lyrics provided by Diana May Clark.. one of the exceptional Melbourne musicians Tony hired as talent for his recordings. Other regulars include Sarah Liversidge (vocals) George Butrumlis (accordion) Jen Anderson (violin) Steve Hadley (bass) Bruce Haymes (keyboards) Bruce Sandell (Saxophone) Adam Simmons (woodwinds & shakuhachi) Tony Floyd, Dave Folley & John Watson (drums) and many more.. including old compadres Wilbur Wilde & Joe Camilleri. For some years Home & Away used numerous excerpts from Tony’s tracks, licensing being a useful commercial application of his music.
FLOW the first album in 8 years was released on the 28th of August 2020. This was a lockdown project featuring all instrumental tracks. It was well reviewed and supported on independent radio and the independent music press.
All of Tony’s music is available on streaming services SPOTIFY, APPLE music etc with numerous clips on YouTube or downloads on iTunes. CDs are available from this website. The early LEARN TO FLY and ST TROPEZ (as FASH) are available with old stock for free, you just need to pay postage. IF YOU’RE A CAT and FANCY THAT cost $10 plus postage. Unfortunately the CD for FLOW has sold out.
Please contact Tony by email retroactive1@optusnet.com.au for more details or to combine postage.
Over the years since the Falcons days Joe Camilleri has used Tony in the studio. Both he and Jeff Burstin were asked in to play on some tracks for the latest Black Sorrows album. Then Joe asked Tony to sit in with the band for the live recording of more tracks for this new Black Sorrows album, now released as The Way We Do Business.
Tony was well pleased to be working so closely again with his old compadre, loving the opportunity to use his vintage Gibson/Marshall guitar sound again in a band setting. A feature track City of Soul harks back somewhat to the Falcons style and has Tony playing a guitar solo.
Wendy & Tony closed their shop Retro Active and retired from mid century retail in 2023. Tony now has the time to fully develop another passion Art.. namely painting on canvas with acrylics. To see his work go to tonyfaehse_art on Instagram where it is available for sale.
He held his first exhibition August 26-September 7 2025 at SOL Gallery.