Peter Hood The Atlantics

Just 3 months ago Australian rock and roll lost an rock legend with the passing of Drummer and founding member of the iconic Australian rock group the Atlantics Peter Hood aged 78 after an battle with illness in Robina on the Gold Coast which was an great loss for his family as well as the Australian music industry. The Atlantics were formed in 1961 with Bosco Bosanac on Bass, Theo Penglis on Guitar and Eddie Matzenik on guitar which he was replaced by Jim Skiathitis and it would be the line up would be the recording line up that would last until 1970 as well as achieving the success. They began for CBS which their first single was an song called Moon Man written by Peter which went to number 66 in Australia and number 35 in Sydney and then it was the second single Bombora that got the Atlantics launched which was written by Peter and Jim Skiathitis which is an Aboriginal word that means waves over breaking rocks. The story of how song came about was that Peter and Jim were supposed to go to the Royal Easter Show in Sydney but it rained so they stayed home and wrote an song that was to be Bombora. The song went to number 1 in Australia as well as Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and number 5 in Melbourne and was released overseas which it was nominated by American music magazine Cashbox as Record of The Week which it is one of the great Australian rock classics. This was followed up with the Crusher written by Peter and Jim and it went to number 7 in Australia, number 2 in Sydney, number 3 in Brisbane, number 6 in Perth and Adelaide and number 21 in Melbourne. They toured around Australia including Brisbane and the Gold Coast including Birdland November 8th 1963 with Johnny Rebb, Danceland,Toowoomba and Festival Hall and Melbourne . They continued to released instrumentals throughout 1964 and 1965 including War Of The Worlds(number 85 Australia and number 21 Adelaide), Rumble and Run, Teensville (1964), Giant, Peter Gunn and Goldfinger(number 11 Sydney) 1965 and by that time with the emerengence of the British Invasion led by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones the instrumental era faded out. They left CBS and then went to do vocals which they got together with Johnny Rebb an well known Australian rocker back in the 50's which he had hits with the Rebels including Hey Sheriff, Pathway To Paradise and Highway Of Love which they did 2 singles with Johnny in 1964 with A Girl Named Sue and Then I'll Know It's Love and released singles on Festival and Sunshine including Come On (1967) and I'll Put A Spell On You which was number 55 Australia and number 29 Sydney 1966. They had their own production company JRA and record label Ramrod in 1967 as well as besides from Johnny Rebb they worked with Johnny's Brother Russ Kruger and singer Kelly green who is an singer from Perth as well as Colin Cooper and Kenny Shane. The Atlantics came to an end in 1970 and Peter had his own studio called Atlantic Studio. From 1986-88 the Atlantics with Peter, Jim and Bosco along with Brian Burns and Paul Greene and it was then in 1999 the Atlantics got back together on a permanent basis with Martin Cilia which they released 3 albums as well as touring on the Long Way To the Top tour in 2002 as well as support act for the Beach Boys and Chris Issak as well as festivals including Wintersun and well as Cooly Rocks On 2013 which the band came to end after the European tour. I saw the Atlantics live 4 times which the first 3 when Peter was there and the first one was at Kedron Wavell Friday March 1st 2002 which I remember they did one set as well as doing a mixture of their 60's recordings as well as tracks from the album Flight of the Guitar as well as covers including Move It with Bosco on lead vocals and Let There Be Drums and after the show they came out to sign stuff which I bought the CD Flight Of the Surf Guitar but I used my autograph book to get the autographs which Peter was the last one to get the autograph and I remember he commented on my autograph book which had an Aboriginal cover saying You Can't Find These around which was a good compliment. The second was the Long Way To The Top concert at the Brisbane Entertainment Center Tuesday September 10th 2002 which they only did Bombora and the 3rd and last was at the Wintersun Festival Saturday June 11th 2005 at the Nightowl Stage which they did their 60's recordings as well as tracks from the Flight Of The Guitar and the Point Zero albums and after their show I got autographs and photos with the guys including Peter which I remember when I mentioned my name he said Duke of the World . It is sad that Peter Hood has passed away but he has left an great legacy of music with the Atlantics and it remains timeless which sounds great today as it did back then. Peter Hood should be considered one of the great Australian rock drummers as his playing was far different from what other drummers were doing at that time and his drumming on many of the Atlantics are just FANTASTIC including the Crusher and also the Atlantics should be considered an ARIA Hall Of Fame induction for the impact they had done for Australian music as they had an original sound as well as doing their own songs which they were different from Australian acts were doing at that time and Peter and Jim were the main keys of the band along with Bosco and Theo .