Elsey was mocking southern piety and punk’s egalitarianism, while slyly (and knowingly) referencing John Lennon’s controversial comparison of The Beatles’ popularity with that of Jesus Christ.
Wayne Elsey found the same dynamic as The Stones – sarcy guitar offsider and say-little drummer – in Doublehappys, his next trio with fellow Brockville boys Shayne Carter and John Collie – who released two records before Elsey’s untimely death in 1985.
Jeff Batts was in The Pterodactyls, the Auckland-based indie group who released a one-sided EP on Palmerston North’s Meltdown Records that featured his Stones-ish ‘Born Again’.
Graeme Anderson was spotted in The Adult Mayflies, supporting Straitjacket Fits in Hamilton’s Hillcrest tavern in October 1987.
Alastair Galbraith wrote ‘Starless Road’ as an elegy for the dead Stone and released it on The Rip’s second EP, Stormed Port. He considered his friend Wayne Elsey again in a memoir for Landfall 221 in May 2011 called simply Stones.
Bruce Russell plans to release a live collection of The Stones alongside studio-captured material.
Wayne Elsey - guitar, vocals
Jeff Batts - bass, vocals
Graeme Anderson - drums, vocals