POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

Marc Rondeau was interested in the music and lifestyle of the 1950s from a young age. 'I instantly liked the music my mother had on 45 [inch vinyl] which included Elvis [Presley], Eddie Cochrane, Bill Haley, Jean Vincent, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and for some reason I instantly took a liking to that style of music. It was 1974 and I was ten years of age.....So from there I grew into a teenager still liking that style of music and then discovered this fantastic scene of '50s Rock and Roll or Rockabilly.... one thing led to another and I basically got involved [in the scene] from about 1980'. Initially he hung out with the Teddy Boys 'they were the equivalent of the Skinheads of the '50s. They were the tough kids, liked to drink, liked to party hard......liked to get into trouble and would always wear draped jackets, drain pipe pants and brothel creeper shoes and hang around the city usually getting into some sort of trouble. As I grew older I tended to get involved more on the Rockabilly side of things where the clothes were very American style - box jackets, gabardine jackets, peg pants, shirts that were original 1950s style, bowling style shirts, but also leather jackets.' The Rockabilly lifestyle embraced music, clothes, hair, interior design, partner dancing, cars and bikes and anything that was associated with the 1950s. While there are obvious connections with mid century America, Marc Rondeau suggests the scene in Sydney was particularly influenced by the scene in Britain. 'Really it started in London, a lot of guys and girls who would travel overseas would come back and bring that style with them and it grew from there'. Marc Rondeau observed that each decade since the 1950s has had its own interpretation of '50s style. '80s rockabilly I like to call "80s-50s". In the 80s being the 80s was little bit more out there. The shoulder pads were a bit bigger, the colours were a bit brighter and that was just a reflection of the 1980s.' 'The outfit of mine is basically denim with a cut-off jacket over the top and some blue suede shoes. Now during the day a lot of the Teddy Boys used to just wear denim. It was easy, it was cool looking and it was practical. You didn't have to worry too much about it getting dirty or looking after it. Night-time was a different thing - at night you always wore your draped jacket and your good clothes.' 'This outfit was my "street wear". The little zip pocket at the top of the jacket is where I kept a flick knife just in case! It has been covered in beer and blood many times and has been rolled on the dirt a few times also. Most people got to know who you were with your particular uniform and this was mine during the day. One late night in Kings Cross we all were at a club called Orwell's and these Belgian ships crew were in town and chatting up our girls. So it was on we thought. They left and we thought we had won the night. We rolled out of Orwell's at about 5 am and started to walk up Victoria Street when these guys had been waiting all night for us. We got hammered. I remember waking up on the ground with my mate running up the street after them. Broken nose, smashed face and a busted ego. Can't win em' all! ' Marc Rondeau bought many of his clothes at opportunity shops such as St Vincent de Paul, Saturday markets at Paddington and Surry Hills and vintage clothing stores around inner city Sydney that specialised in American style clothing such as El Rancho Deluxe, and Worn Out West. Shoes were found in specialist shoe stores dealing in 'cult stuff or underground type of shoe shops in Darlinghurst or the inner city.' There were also shops like Skin Deep which used to sell '50s style jackets and clothing. 'A lot of the rockers would go in there and buy some really great threads through those shops.' The Crystal Palace Arcade in George Street Sydney (until it was demolished in 1982) contained a number of shops catering to the subculture crowd. Skin Deep, Anthem Records and The Badge Shop were all located in this arcade before it closed. Marc Rondeau recalls 'As time went on though a lot of these shops closed and we would try and have a holiday overseas and in particular go to London.' Areas such as Kensington and Camden markets, and the Kings Road in Chelsea were sources for rockabilly clothing. Others would travel to the USA 'and buy vintage clothes basically off the rack. There were still a lot of shops over there in the '80s that had old, original, unworn 1950s clothes.' Marc Rondeau purchased the homemade shirt for about $35 from the then wife of Graham Hood, the bass player of the Johnnys. The La Rocka cut off jacket he bought from Skin Deep while it was still in the Crystal Palace Arcade. He recalled that he paid about $130 'a fortune at the time. My pay was $210 a week!' Skin Deep bought the La Rocka label from Johnson's the Modern Outfitters, a 'rock and roll' shop in the Kings Road in London that carried its own label La Rocka as well as specialising in vintage clothing. The shop was particularly popular with the alternative music scene and many famous English and American musicians and singers shopped there. Many of the badges on the cut off jacket were bought at the Badge Shop in the Crystal Palace Arcade. Some were from overseas trips and others were gifts from friends. Marc Rondeau bought both his Levis denim jacket and jeans from Paddington markets in Sydney. 'The jeans are not just Levis. They are vintage Levis......as close to the 1950s 501s as I could find at the time.' He paid about $35 for the jacket and $30 for the jeans. They were the first vintage Levis style he bought. They were later replaced with vintage 'big E' Levis from the 1950s-1960s as Rondeau got more into the scene and acquired more genuine vintage 1950s clothing. The Doc Martens blue suede shoes came from Shellys shoes in London. 'I bought them mail order from London and they cost a fortune with postage'. Shellys shoes, like clothes from Johnsons the modern outfitters were very fashionable in the 1980s and were the destination to get the latest fashionable footwear. Rondeau recalled the string tie 'was given to me by an original [English] Teddy Boy, Ken Kilbey. He had two front page covers on Time magazine [The Sunday Times colour supplement] during the '80s and interviews on Teddy Boys. We met while I was in London on a holiday and we stayed in touch for a long time. The tie was quite important to me as was his friendship.' The belt was given to Marc Rondeau by a friend and 'the belt buckle was stolen'. Many Australian cities had a distinct Rockabilly scene, with their own regional differences but the scene was small enough that people knew each other. Sydney in particular, Melbourne as well and Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth to a lesser extent. Rondeau recalled that when bands toured, '….it was a great time to get out and go and hear some new music…. It's another way of meeting and getting involved in the scene that you're into but in another state. It gives you somewhere to go - if you decide to go for a holiday down in Melbourne, you'll know a couple of people down there or a couple of people in Brisbane. It gives you a link there straight away. It's like your own little club… where we can make contact with people and get a bed, get a place to go, get clothes, go shopping and have contacts….' The regional differences expressed themselves musically as well as in dress. Rondeau remembers 'in Melbourne in the 80s all the rocking guys would wear moccasins. In Sydney we seemed to be a little more fashion conscious whereas in Melbourne they were a little more music conscious. So they had all the great music, and the great records and the great bands. But Sydney seemed to have the great fashion, and we'd go down to Melbourne and we'd look at these guys wearing their moccasins and just couldn't quite understand. But the same time our bands might not have been as clean and as authentic as the Melbourne bands were.' Marc Rondeau still considers himself a rocker and is very involved within the Rockabilly scene. This outfit was originally displayed in the Rockabilly subcultural section in the Powerhouse Museum's exhibition 'The 80s are Back', 2009-2011. Rebecca Bower, Assistant Curator, Australian History and Society, May 2013 References: Interview with Marc Rondeau, 2009, 2013 Cordell, Michael, "Wild animals, white trash and the Milky Bar Kids", Weekend Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday June 7, 1984 Greenburg, Jennifer, 'The rockabillies', Center Books on American Places, Chicago, USA. 2009 Polhemus, Ted, 'Street Style: from sidewalk to catwalk', Thames and Hudson, London, England, 1994