With its utterly unique tick-tock riffed intro and its perfect amalgam of wilting sarcasm, piston powered grooves and pure pop, ‘Counting The Beat’ shot to No.1 on both sides of the Tasman, hogging the Australian Top 10 for 13 weeks and amassing an extraordinary 100,000-plus sales. Unheard of.
Ian Gilroy - drums
Bass guitarist Bones Hillman had previously played in The Masochists and The Rednecks. ‘Hillman’ came from the make of car he drove. After The Swingers he joined Midnight Oil. He left that group in 2002 and moved back to NZ to work with Dave Dobbyn and the Finn brothers, before moving with his family to Nashville in 2007.
Ian Gilroy was in punk-theatrical outfit The Plague, along with Tim Mahon, Mark Bell and Andrew McLennan. That band later mutated into The Whizz Kids, and then Blam Blam Blam when Gilroy left to join The Crocodiles, and Don McGlashan was his replacement.
While recording Practical Jokers, new drummer Ian Gilroy broke his wrist, necessitating a long delay. This allowed the group to participate in the Starstruck film, which includes several appearances by the band, and served as an introduction to film soundtrack work for Judd.
Counting The Beat was belatedly issued in the USA, but with its dazzling intro snipped off. Not surprisingly, it fizzled.
Their songs were supposedly worked up in jam sessions and credited to the three members, but a closer inspection reveals that many existed in chrysalis form in Judd’s songbook prior to their full realisation.
Practical Jokers was reissued on CD with an extra track in 1997 and renamed Counting The Beat.
The group was purportedly asked to reform for Mushroom’s 25-year celebrations, but Judd refused despite the name of the documentary, Counting The Beat.
Towards the end of The Swingers, Phil Judd decided that he henceforth wanted to be known only as Budd Judd.
Kylie Minogue is reported to have said that Counting The Beat is her all-time favourite song.