The Four Fours (Human Instinct) - Compilation 1963-68

Tauranga’s top rock and roll band of the late 1950s and early 1960s was The Four Fours, who could be found at waterfront haunt the Inferno Coffee Lounge, run by drummer Trevor Spitz. For parents, the Inferno was the fiery pits. But for kids, the flame-walled club was the hottest spot in town. Spitz was an original Four Four, and guitarist-singer Bill Ward an early recruit. Fellow guitarist Dave Hartstone joined soon after with bass player Frank Hay the final recruit…

…With singles out on Allied International Records and Bay of Plenty area fame assured, The Four Fours headed for Auckland in 1964. The move proved to be good timing. The NEBOA (National Entertainment and Ballroom Operators Association) strike stripped the town of performers and The Four Fours soon gained a regular show at Fred McMahon and Dave Henderson’s Platterack in Durham Lane, followed by a permanent Friday night slot at Phil Warren’s Monaco Ballroom, which soon became a Friday and Saturday slot.
It was quite a dash getting from the Monaco Ballroom on Federal Street, the half mile or so to Durham Lane to the Beat Room under the Platterack. They scrambled onto the small stage to play the week’s Top 10 hits (faithfully learnt each week) as DJ Keith Adams counted them down. Then it was upstairs, lugging gear through the descending patrons to play. It was a hectic schedule, practice every day, expanding and refining their sets with material culled from the pre-release singles that Fred Noad received at Allied International.
Ward and Hartstone, the band’s songwriters, penned a big New Zealand hit in 1965 with the instrumental ‘Theme From An Empty Coffee Lounge’. Their third release for new label Zodiac Records was ‘Go Go’, a sinewy R&B rocker about the dancing girls at the Monaco Ballroom that featured new stand-up drummer Maurice Greer, a teenager who was previously in Palmerston North band The Saints. In February 1966, The Four Fours landed the support spot on The Rolling Stones second New Zealand tour.
With London beckoning in August 1966, they played a big farewell concert at the Auckland Town Hall then set sail on the Fairsky to England, en route to becoming The Human Instinct. - audioculture...

trax:
01 Go-Go 02 Don't Print My Memoirs 03 One Track Mind 04 Stingray 05 From the Bottom of My Heart 06 This Time Tomorrow 07 You're My Baby (And Don't You Forget It) 08 Just Because 09 Baby Come Back to Me 10 It's Gonna Rain 11 Theme from an Empty Coffee Lounge 12 Time Slips Away 13 She's Gonna Get Me 14 Everytime 15 Barrow Boy 16 Jungle Cat 17 Moon Blues 18 That Happy Feeling 19 Salenaci 20 Answer Me the Wind 21 Janice 'B.' 22 When I Get Used to You 23 Four Bad Men 24 The Wolf 25 Trucking Blues 26 Hawaii
…served by Gaius…