Cold Chisel

Cold Chisel are an Australian rock group from Adelaide, formed in 1973. Their line-up includes Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss, Steve Prestwich, Phil Small and Don Walker. They work across hard rock, pop rock, pub rock and rock and roll, and are closely associated with the Australian pub rock scene.

Early years and style

The band begins as a heavy metal act called Orange, built around keyboard player Don Walker and original bassist Les Kascmarek. After Kascmarek leaves in 1975, Walker becomes the main creative writer in the group. Cold Chisel develop a hard rock core but show considerable range, with songs that move between hard-driving rock, ballads, pop-influenced love songs and sharper social observations.

Songwriting and key songs

Walker's writing sits at the centre of the band's identity, while Ian Moss contributes guitar and vocals and Jimmy Barnes provides the band’s lead vocal style. Their repertoire includes major Australian songs such as “Khe Sanh”, “Bow River”, “Flame Trees” and “Saturday Night”. It also includes the ballad “Choir Girl”, the love song “My Baby”, the political attack “Star Hotel”, and “Misfits”, which appears as the B-side to “My Baby”. “Star Hotel” responds to a riot at a Newcastle pub and targets the late-1970s government of Malcolm Fraser. “Misfits” is about homeless children in the suburbs around Sydney. “Khe Sanh” remains one of the best-known Australian songs, and the band’s music stays in regular rotation on rock radio.

Career and legacy

Cold Chisel build a reputation as a hard-living and forceful live band, supported by a particularly devoted audience. Their success is concentrated mainly in Australia, where they become one of the most popular and successful groups of the 1970s and 1980s. They are also the only Australian band to sell more records after breaking up than before. The single “Never Before”, from the East album, is the first record played on air when 2JJJ (Triple Jay) moves from AM to FM in 1980.

Break-up and later events

By 1983 the band reaches the peak of its Australian career, but tensions and touring pressures lead to disintegration, and an unsuccessful attempt to break into the US market adds to the strain. Barnes later addresses that experience in “You Got Nothing I Want” from Circus Animals. Steve Prestwich, who is often in conflict with Barnes, leaves and is replaced by Ray Arnott, formerly of Spectrum. Cold Chisel announce a split in 1984 and stage farewell concerts, with Prestwich returning for the tour. Barnes loses his voice before the Sydney shows and those concerts are rescheduled. The final performance is filmed for the concert documentary The Last Stand, which remains the best-selling concert film by any single Australian act. The group later announces a series of concerts in 2011.