As late as the mid-1980s, you could still see a roughly painted “Dark Ages” on a wall at the top of Weston St, just off Ponsonby Road. The name had a distant menace and somehow you knew they must have been a 1960s band, although in those days information about that musical era in New Zealand was near non-existent.
It turns out that The Dark Ages were a tough R&B band from South Auckland who stacked up a myth that transcends their brief time together. They were a group whose most popular line-up featured Mick Sibley (guitar), Ian Thomson (drums), Darryl Keogh (guitar), Vaughan Stephens (bass) and Clive Coulson (vocals).
Mick Sibley - guitar
Ian Thomson - drums
Darryl Keogh - guitar
Vaughan Stephens - bass
Red Rooster
Action!
A mid-1990s reunion of the surviving Dark Ages at the Hostage To The Beat book launch in Auckland was thwarted when Clive Coulson pulled out because he was unhappy with misinformation in The Dark Ages' entry in the publication. With Mick Sibley also unavailable, Ian Thomson and Red McKelvie roped in former Underdogs and Soul Agents for a Dark Ages appearance in name only.
The single 'Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day' was written by Steve Venet and Tommy Boyce for US garage band The Astronauts in April 1965. It was followed by a more raucous version Sir Raleigh & The Cupons in June that year which seems to have been the version that inspired The Dark Ages (although for some reason it was credited to 'Sandy' on The Dark Ages single). That band was fronted by Dewey Martin, later of Buffalo Springfield. The song would, in 1966, also be recorded by The Monkees.