Sherbet today:  (left to right) Clive Shakespeare, Garth Porter, Daryl Braithwaite,
Harvey James, Tony Mitchell, Alan Sandow.  (Photo provided by The Frontier
Touring Company)
                     

Keyboard player and major song writer Garth Porter credits the success of Sherbet to the strong leadership of their Manager at the time, Roger Davies.  Davies managed Oliva Newton-John and was responsible for her big 70’s hits such as Physical. He currently manages  artists  such as  Cher, Sade,  Tina Turner,  Janet Jackson, Joe Cocker and Pink. 

“Before I joined the band they couldn’t agree on a name,” Garth recalls. “They put about four names in a hat and they all agreed whatever name came out would be the name of the band, and that was Sherbet.  So someone’s bad joke backfired,” laughs Garth.  “The first thing that I did when I joined the band was to try and get the guys to change the name from Sherbet because I thought it was too lolly.  But they wouldn’t have it.  So we got stuck with it!”

Garth felt that the name Sherbet painted the group into a bit of a corner. “Musically we were always fairly progressive such as the stuff we were writing, recording and producing ourselves like Cassandra, Slipstream, Howzat that wasn’t simple basic music.  It was fairly complex structures, cord sequences and shapes, sounds and harmony that we were experimenting with.  So it was hardly a juvenile process in the creation of the music, and I don’t mean that our fans were juvenile, it was that more thought and effort went into it then the name Sherbet would suggest.”

Playing keyboards and writing music is not the only musical talent Garth has.  Garth’s remarkable ear for sounds became immediately obvious at the beginning of our telephone interview when he accurately described my surroundings as being “in a little small square room.” He explained he could tell by the reverberating sound called standing waves!

Garth’s first memory of music was as a four-year-old who had a fixation on a Burl Ives song.  “I think I even still have the sheet music that my mum went out and bought me and it had my kindergarten name printed on the front,” he reminisces.  Garth’s special love is for the music from the sixties such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, Cream and Eric Clapton, to name a few.

Music runs in Garth’s family, with son Jesse drumming in the band Marching Room (formerly known as Phonograph).  As well as relishing the music of yesteryear, Garth says he still enjoys what today’s artists have to offer, taking his kids to Radiohead and Muse concerts, and being a fan of the late Jeff Buckley.

An acclaimed producer and songwriter, Garth is an eight-time Country Music Association of Australia Producer of  the Year.   He  has  written  and produced  many gold and  platinum albums for artists such as
Troy Cassar-Daley, Sara Storer, Lee Kernaghan as well as James Blundell, who was Garth’s first major artist after Sherbet front-man Daryl Braithwaite.

Garth’s current endeavour is the ‘Sherbet Product’.  “I’m doing a lot of stuff at my studio on the Sherbet Product, after it laid low for twenty to thirty years.  It was in the works before The Countdown Tour offer came, so it was just one of those fortuitous coincidences,” says Garth.

“I spent three years searching for Sherbet videos prior to this point now.  I started hunting for [Sherbet material] around the world a long, long time ago, and gradually accumulated and traced various performances of the band.  I eventually found an incredible amount of stuff.  It takes a long time to get into the nooks and crannies and there are still a lot out there, it’s just that you can’t find it, for example all the appearances we did on Channel 9 such as the Don Lane Show, Graham Kennedy and so on”. 

Recently, Sherbet released Superhits and Howzat CDs and DVDs.  The Superhits DVD has various footage including Sherbet appearing on The Paul Hogan Show. Hogan summed up the popularity and success of the band in one swoop: “Well here is Sherbet performing Slipstream, and it is going to be a big hit because it’s by Sherbet!”

Promoter Michael Gudinski from The Frontier Touring Company initiated the idea of The Countdown Spectacular Tour which was a great success.  Sherbet was among thirty acts that  performed at the event.    Countdown’s host Molly Meldrum, the voice and presence of Gavin Wood, as well as Skyhooks’ Red Symons narrated a special tribute to those performers we have lost.  The Countdown Spectacular Tour began at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on 30 August, 2006 and finished at Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday, 17 September, 2006.  And what a better State to finish the tour for Sherbet since their last ever gig was on Great Keppel Island in 1984.    

Garth remarks how Countdown was so important for Sherbet.  “Countdown went out and filmed live concerts of us, and if they hadn’t  done it, Sherbet  documentation wouldn’t  exist  because  no one else did that sort of thing”. 
 

Photos below of Sherbet performing at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre - The Countdown Spectacular Tour - Sept 06

		Above:  Garth in the 70's performing with Sherbet (screen) compared to Garth performing at The Countdown Spectacular (below the screen).
				Sherbet was one of the main highlights at The Countdown Spectacular Tour - Brisbane (above and below)
Above:  Sherbet at The Countdown Spectacular Tour's last show - Brisbane. Above screen Sherbet in the late 70's compared to below the screen Sherbet as they are today.				The crowd loved Sherbet which was one of the main reason for many, why they bought tickets to the event.
Garth Porter - The Countdown Spectacular Tour (above)
				Sherbet at The Countdown Spectacular Tour's last show - Brisbane. (above)

Garth supports various charities in particular Kids with Cancer .

Article written by Chrissy Layton, AusNotebook Music & Creative (Revised 19/9/06)
(Photos taken by Chrissy Layton unless otherwise stated)
 

Associated article  Countdown Spectacular
                           Marching Room