iDeA recorded these tracks at the Menai Sessions. Menai was the Sydney suburb where the Thompson family lived at the time.
Darryl, Lyn and their children stayed in a house that Lyn’s parents had acquired in Menai. Vivi, Rod and the Boucher children lived in Penshurst in a church manse. We were well supported by local Churches as the local ‘poor people’. The nun’s sometimes gave us their bakery drop-off of cream cakes, which they didn’t eat.
The four of us in iDeA were full time, rehearsed 3 times a week (mainly in Bill and Narelle Nielson’s lounge), played 3-4 times a week sometimes until 3am and wrote probably 40-50 songs together. We only recorded a sample of the live material so here are nine more.
For the Menai Sessions in 1986, we rented a large mixing desk with FX from Trinity Sound, who were always supportive, and laid down live some songs we had just written. “Turn Up The Tapes” was a single release about that time trying to ride on the coat-tails of a NSW political hacking scandal and recorded at Clive Shakespeare's studio.
We didn’t know, but this was to be our last recording sessions together. The poverty musical lifestyle just became too hard for the families. Doing art is tough.
iDeA was a serious Techno band formed and based in Sydney from 1982-1986. The four artists were Steve Lyne on percussion and vocals, Bill Nielson on keyboards and vocals, Darryl Thompson on guitar synthesizer and vocals, and Rod Boucher as front man vocals.
