Six decades after he co-founded one of Australia’s most celebrated bands, The Easybeats, Harry Vanda has released his first single.
Devil Loose is a catchy song that captures the state of the world today. Co-written before the pandemic by Vanda with the Divinyls’ Mark McEntee and recorded in Vanda’s Sydney studio, it is a prescient commentary on the state of the world, from social unrest to corrupt politicians.
It is a remarkable achievement for a musician who, at almost 80 years of age, is clearly still engaged and active in both the music industry and the world around him, many years after he co-wrote the timeless classics Love is in the Air and Friday On My Mind.
“I wrote Devil Loose a while ago while watching the state of world affairs. I had a feeling things are not what they should be and Devil Loose became like a social commentary,” Vanda says from his studio. “I didn’t set out to write it that way, but the lyrics just came together.”
In addition to the single, Vanda has recorded a podcast with music journalist Bernard Zuel, with episode one available now.
Devil Loose: The Life and Music of Harry Vanda marks another first for Vanda. In the three-part podcast, the customarily reserved musician talks candidly – about his background, from the early days of The Easybeats in the 1960s, through to the remarkable success he and Easybeats co-founder George Young enjoyed in the 1970s-80s at Alberts. Vanda and Young would become one of the most celebrated songwriting and production duos in Australian history, shaping the sound of AC/DC, Stevie Wright, John Paul Young, and their own project Flash and the Pan.
“Harry Vanda isn’t just part of Australian music, Harry Vanda is one big reason why we have Australian music,” says Zuel.
The podcast begins with the story behind The Easybeats’ formation in 1964, when Dutch immigrant Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg became Harry Vanda in a bid to fit into his new home at Villawood migrant hostel in Sydney. A keen electric guitarist who had begun his own band, The Starfighters, in The Hague, Vanda recalls wandering around the hostel with his guitar slung around his neck in the hope of attracting other musicians. It worked and – in between regular race-driven fights – Vanda met Young and future Easybeats frontman Stevie Wright, and the band was formed.
(From left): Songwriting and production duo extraordinaire George Young and Harry Vanda in the Alberts studio with Ted Albert, 1977.
As we know today, The Easybeats would go on to become one of Australia’s most successful bands in the 1960s, with seven top 10 Australian hits including #1 singles Sorry and Friday On My Mind (both 1966) and plenty more besides, which Zuel explored in depth with Vanda. In 2001, Friday would be voted the greatest Australian song of all time; while The Easybeats would in 2005 become the first band to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Released on October 6, episode two goes beyond The Easybeats’ years – difficult times in London when Vanda and Young were attempting to make a living as jobbing musicians and songwriters, before Albert Productions chief, Ted Albert, invited them to return home to Australia to join his production house in Sydney.
And so began their next incarnation as Alberts’ astonishingly successful in-house songwriting and production team, Vanda and Young. During the 1970s they would produce six AC/DC albums, including It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) (1976) and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976); in addition to writing and producing the ground-breaking three-part song Evie (1974) for Stevie Wright, and the enduring hit Love Is In the Air for John Paul Young in 1977. Vanda and Young would also be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame (1988).
Guest interviewees on the podcast include musicians Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), You Am I frontman Tim Rogers, Men At Work’s Colin Hay and John Paul Young, among others.
The final episode, released on October 13, delves into the new single Devil Loose and the journey behind Vanda’s decision to release a single in his own right, eight years after the death of his songwriting partner George Young in 2017. Friend, musician and Devil Loose co-writer Mark McEntee joins the podcast to share his insights into the music-making process.
“One of the things that was really clear on the demo of the song is the energy, the drive,” Vanda says. “It’s there from the start, it’s not something that was added on later.”
Part one of the three-part podcast Devil Loose: The Life and Music of Harry Vanda is available now on your favourite podcast platform. Episode two will be released on October 6 followed by the final episode on October 13.
