‘That Was Then’, the track that originally offered as a download for ticket buyers of the now cancelled Zoot Australian tour, has been made available officially to all streaming services.
‘That Was Then’ is a brand new Zoot track featuring Rick Springfield on lead vocals and Russell Morris on on the bridge. Russell was going to tour with Zoot as their lead singer in place of his dear friend, the late Darryl Cotton. Darryl died on 27 July 2012.
The Zoot band featured original members Rick Springfield, Beeb Birtles and Rick Brewer. Zoot were planning their first Australian tour in over 50 years when the pandemic hit and the lockdowns meant dates had to be postponed on a few occasions to the point where they were unworkable for Springfield, who was planning his own American tour for around the same time.
The release of ‘That Was Then’ brings the end to the Zoot story. Zoot released their first single ‘You’d Better Get Goin’ Now’ in 1968.
They had four hits in Australia:
1x2x3x4 (no 25, 1968)
Monty and Me (no 36, 1969)
Eleanor Rigby (no 4, 1970)
Evil Child/The Freak (no 27, 1971)
Zoot broke up in 1971. Darryl and Beeb formed Frieze before going their separate ways when Darryl went solo and Beeb formed Mississippi which became Little River Band. Rick Springfield went solo and went onto international success as a pop star and actor. Rick Brewer joined The Ferrets and had a no 2 hit in 1977 with ‘Don’t Fall In Love’.
Decades later Darryl and Russell Morris teamed up with Masters Apprentices’ singer Jim Keays and formed Cotton, Keays and Morris.
In 2011 Cotton, Springfield, Birtles and Brewer reformed for a one-off show on the Rick Springfield & Friends cruise. There is a live album and DVD of that show titled ‘Zoot Live: The Reunion’. Darryl died seven months later before anymore shows were to happen.
In 2018 the anthology ‘Archaeology’ was released with a new recording of ‘Life In A Northern Town’ using previously recorded vocals from a solo version by Darryl Cotton.
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE.com’s newest interviews and special features on YOUTUBE and updated regularly. See things first SUBSCRIBE here: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE
Follow Noise11 on Social Media
You’ll discover music news first following Noise11 on Twitter
Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook
