Ticket


Psychedelic blues-rock reached its global peak in the late 60s and early 70s, defined by virtuosic bands like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. New Zealand had its psychedelic rockers too, and none more accomplished or acclaimed than Ticket.

But the four members of Ticket did not start out as psych-rockers. Paul Woolright grew up in the state housing suburb of Mt. Roskill, Auckland. As a boy he took piano lessons, but was more interested in plucking tunes on a neighbour’s acoustic guitar. By 1965 Beatlemania had struck, he had finished school and been kicked out of home for refusing to cut his hair.

Trevor Tombleson at Christchurch Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Ticket received early designs from Holden including a stack of amplifiers and speaker boxes providing 400 watts for Eddie Hansen and another 400 for Paul Woolright. The orange-covered stack for Ticket quickly proved popular but also impractical as the burnt orange turned black from daily use.
Photo credit: Gordon Spittle Collection
Ticket - Bad Things In This World Make The Nice Things Nicer
Eddie Hansen at Aubrey's, Christchurch 1970
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Eddie Hansen at Aubrey's, Christchurch 1970
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Ticket in 1972
The second album, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, was recorded in Australia for manager Robert Raymond's Downunder label and released late in 1972
Billy Williams with Ticket at Christchurch Town Hall, June 1975
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
In the Auckland Domain, 1972 - Trevor Tombleson, Ricky Ball, Paul Woolright in the back, Eddie Hansen kneeling
Ticket outside the Auckland Museum, 1972: Paul Woolright, Eddie Hansen, Trevor Tombleson and Ricky Ball
Eddie Hansen with Ticket at Christchurch Town Hall in 1975
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Paul Woolright and Trevor Tombleson
Ticket - People Going Nowhere on GTK (1972)
Eddie Hansen, Christchurch Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Ricky Ball at Aubrey's 1970
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Ticket - Gypsy Eyes Pt1 on GTK
Trevor Tombleson at Aubrey's Nightclub, Christchurch, 1970
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Ticket's debut album Awake, recorded for Ode Records and released in 1972. The album would also become the first New Zealand record released on the famed US Atlantic label.
Eddie Hansen and Trevor Tombleson at the Powerstation, Auckland, November 2011
Ticket outside the Auckland Museum, 1972: Paul Woolright, Eddie Hansen, Trevor Tombleson and Ricky Ball
Paul Woolright at Aubrey's, Christchurch 1970
Photo credit: Photo by Kevin Hill
Eddie Hansen, Trevor Tombleson, Ricky Ball, Paul Woolright
Ricky Ball and Eddie Hansen
Paul Woolright, Trevor Tombleson, Ricky Ball and Eddie Hansen, 1972
Country High
Ticket - Gypsy Eyes Pt2 on GTK
The original Ticket at Auckland's Powerstation, November 2011
Trivia:

Ticket reformed in November 2011 for gigs at Auckland's Powerstation with Hello Sailor and Dragon

Labels:

Ode


Downunder Records


Aztec Music


Atlantic

Members:

Paul Woolright - bass

Eddie Hansen - guitar

Ricky Ball - drums

Trevor Tombleson - vocals, percussion

Glen Absolum - drums

Billy Williams - bass

Steve Gunn - vocals

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