News were now in a measure of disarray. It would be hard to find a suitable drummer, let alone one with Murphy's empathy and growing expertise. For the time, they carried on with Jon Wilkinson. With all this turmoil, August was a thin month for live work. There were only a few dates at Martini's and Richmond's Kingston Hotel (12th). Effort was put toward finding a drummer - the successful applicant was Rob Grosser, just out of Adelaide punk/rock band Riff Raff, who had migrated to Melbourne and gone bust. He was broken in via News' intensive rehearsal system by September. Gavin remembers Rob as "A good drummer", but it seems he was not ideal.
At the same time, News introduced a second guitarist, Russell
Irvine. It was not exactly 'spur of the moment', as Jarryl particularly
had thought News worked best with two guitars. Russell was recruited
through friends and proved a good choice. He fitted in quickly
and as the band told RAM, he made "Keith Richards look like
a Bay City Roller". In time honoured News tradition, Russell's
surname became 'Urban'. Gavin did have ideas about recruiting
the proles guitarist, but Russell was working well by the new
lineups debut on 9th September at the (in)famous Crystal Ballroom
in St Kilda. They were supported by Highrise Bombers.
The new News had also scored a residency at Martini's on Saturday
afternoons, from mid September into October. September 29th was
a benefit show for Monash Uni and Caulfield institute gay societies.
The Martini's shows were an opportunity to reestablish News on
Melbourne's expanding live scene and that was working. October
looked encouraging - a large feature in that month's National
Student showed that the same enjoyment, optimism and commitment
were still there: "Playing music is one of the greatest joys
of my life, second only to watching Get Smart" [Jarryl].
Russell expounded: "The nihilistic negativity which prevails
in the lyrics and kid destructo guitar riffs of News' music expresses
the angst of the common person in lucid and un-compromised fashion.
It's an opportunity for me to take a stand". Yeah! Still
based at Faraday St, this version of News began to work on new
material, but Jarryl was soon complaining about what he saw as
'average' musicianship in the band. This was directed at Julie
and Russell and the tension rose to the point where Julie quit
News. Although she was back in by November, it appears the rot
had set in.
Ever adventurous, Gavin was still setting up gigs, including one at Pentridge Prison - ' H Division Bash ' indeed! It was not to be, as the authorities got cold feet and cancelled one day before the date. He also put News to work through a semi-independent agency Rainbow. They were a small operation with ties to the Nucleus organisation and very sympathetic to bands that were out of the mainstream. Rainbow handled 'bush' or C& W artists for the most part, but did get News a few worthwhile supports before they went under to the Premier Artists/ Gudinski monopoly. Chris O'Shea was still in the background, doing little or nothing for the band and Gavin was becoming dispirited with the whole situation. Jarryl was no happier and the end of November saw Julie exit again for good. The last gig had been on the 22nd at Matilda's, in the city. Gavin decided to call it a day. The end of an era - but not the end of News!
As Gavin was preparing to vacate Faraday St in December, intelligence reached him that before the band went bust, Jarryl had been setting up (on the sly) a solo career with US producer Kim Fowley. Fowley was then a name, having worked all around the world successfully often enough since the early sixties. He was making a well publicised visit to Melbourne and Sydney looking for bands to produce. Among the flow of hopeful artists was Jarryl, who played Fowley some News material. It seems that at their meeting, Jarryl claimed that he wrote and arranged what Fowley was hearing. Either way, the material went down well and Fowley set Jarryl up with sessions at AAV studios from December into 1979. He recruited a backing band and they were recording as the Lonely Boys. When Gavin heard this much through friends in the business, he was predicably not happy. In the beginning, he had written all Babeez/ News material. He was a skilled and prodigious writer: "Gavin had this pop/ punk vision and his rate of churning out songs was really fast" [John Murphy]. But Jarryl began writing with Gavin and compositions were collaborative from then on: "I'd lay down the parameters, he would work out the hard stuff. He had a much better appreciation of Key & Chordal structure than I did. He knew what I wanted, so between the two of us we managed to perfect it. He wasn't too good with melody, so developed a lot with melody. Towards the end it was all a group effort. Regardless of whose songs they were, the band arranged them and made it happen." [Gavin]. Among the tracks Lonely Boys/ Jarryl cut for Kim Fowley was a version of 'Sweet Dancer A Gogo', featuring Keith Glass and Ross Wilson on backing vocals.
