The Cockroaches

The Cockroaches
	;
Members	Paul Field; John Field; Anthony "Tony" Field; Jeff Fatt; Tony Henry; Peter Mackie;
Active	1979-1994, 2014

The Cockroaches were an Australian pop rock band which achieved reasonable success in the 1980s and 1990s. The band took its name from an obscure nom de plume favored by The Rolling Stones during the 1960s.

The band is today best known as a precursor to the internationally successful children's musical group The Wiggles, with two of The Wiggles, Anthony "Tony" Field and Jeff Fatt, having served as a guitarist and keyboardist for the band respectively. Several other Cockroaches also worked extensively with The Wiggles: lead singer Paul Field served as their manager for much of their career, guitarist John Field wrote much of their material including some of their biggest hits, and drummer Tony Henry played on numerous Wiggles recordings. The Wiggles also reworked several Cockroaches songs for their own albums.

Biography[]

The Field brothers (Paul, John, and Anthony) founded the group in 1979 while attending the Sydney boarding school St. Joseph's College, with other founding members including drummer Tony Henry and saxophonist Joseph Hallion; Hallion would later leave the band in 1985. By August 1981, keyboardist Jeff Fatt joined the band and Phil Robinson had assumed the bassist role, replacing previous bassists Geoff O'Reagan and Bruce Hatfield.

The band regularly played at school dances and pubs and soon began writing their own music, issuing a string of singles on a variety of independent labels. In August 1986, the band signed with Regular Records and released their self-titled debut album in March 1987, which later went platinum in 1988 after selling 700,000 copies. Prior to the album's release, the band released the single "She's the One", which peaked at #7 on the Australian pop charts and became one of the band's most well-known songs.

Peter Mackie replaced Robinson as bassist before the band recorded its second album, 1988's Fingertips. While touring to promote the album, Paul Field's seven month-old daughter Bernadette Marie died from SIDS, which devastated Field and those close to him. The band's third album, 1991's Positive, included a cover of Brenda Lee's "Here Comes the Feeling". The cover was featured on the soundtrack to the Russell Crowe film The Crossing (released the year prior), and the band made a brief appearance in the movie itself performing it, as well as a cover of Jim Lee's "Let's Dance".

In March 1994, the band released what would end up being their final album, St. Patrick's Day 10am. Although they never officially announced a breakup, the group would move on to pursue various other projects: Anthony Field had already formed The Wiggles with Fatt, Murray Cook, and Greg Page and would go on to achieve massive success and acclaim worldwide, while John Field later founded The John Field Band and wrote the musicals Evie & The Birdman and Who Loves Me?. Peter Mackie launched a solo career and independently released several albums, and Tony Henry now runs Avalon Stand Up Paddle, a Standup paddleboarding instructional school. The group reunited in June 2014 to perform two live concerts in Sydney to celebrate their entire catalog being released to digital streaming services.

Discography[]

The Cockroaches (1987)
Fingertips (1988)
Positive (1991)
St. Patrick's Day 10am (1994)
Hey Let's Go! The Best of the Cockroaches (1999)

Wiggles Songs adapted from Cockroaches Songs[]

"Get Ready To Wiggle" (unreleased by the Cockroaches)
"Dorothy the Dinosaur" (from "It's Another Saturday Night")
"The Monkey Dance" (from "Do The Monkey")
"Big Red Car" (from "I'll Come Running Back")
"Ooh It's Captain Feathersword" (from "Lucy Don't Matter")
"Look Both Ways" (from "Dr Richmond")
"In The Wiggles' World" (from "(She Goes) On And On")
"Christmas Around The World" (from "Round the World")
"Caveland" (from "Caveman")
"Bit By Bit (We're Building A Set)" (from "Bit by Bit, Little by Little")
"Sorry Again" (lyrics rewritten for the Wiggles' version)
"I Want To Wear The Jacket" (from "I Wanna Wear The Jacket")
"I've Got My Glasses On!" (from "Lucy Don't Matter")
"Wake Up!" (from "Wait Up")
"You Got The Drop" (unreleased by the Cockroaches)
- The song was initially reworked and recorded as "Do the Flap".
"I Want A Leather Jacket" (from "I Wanna Wear The Jacket")