WHEN you hear a riff from your golden era, it instantly snaps you back to a time and place when you were younger, and life was more fun.
For Cliff Grigg, the original drummer with Spy v Spy when they came together in 1981, he's been living for four decades with those die-hard fans of the band. "So many memories are connected to music," he says.
Grigg joined founding members Craig Bloxom and Michael Weiley in Sydney and was there for the heady start-up days. He did the cover artwork for the band's first album, Harry's Reasons, in 1986 and rode the wave of hits, including Don't Tear It Down, A.O. Mod, Credit Cards, One Of A Kind and Clarity Of Mind.
But Grigg bailed out of the band in the early 1990s. It didn't mean he stopped playing - he played with seven different bands in 1993.
"When I walked away, I did a whole bunch of other things," he says. He also moved to Newcastle, and kept making art, as well as working as a roadie and a lighting technician.
And he kept making music, in his own band and with others, like Voodoo Express, and eventually playing again with Michael Weiley, Spy's legendary lead singer.
"What gives me a kick more than anything, people still keep their [band] T-shirt, the songs and words are part of their lives," he says. "They are so passionate. They've held on to it for so long. Forty years of Spy music... I pinch myself. I'm still here, still doing it."
Despite the death of Michael Weiley (from cancer) and despite COVID restrictions smothering the live music scene, there has been almost an inevitability about Spy v Spy making a comeback.
In the small world of music, and even tighter Newcastle music scene, Grigg found himself playing in Voodoo Express when they opened shows for Weiley's Spy v Spy band. Eventually, Grigg and Weiley were reunited on stage and talk turned to playing together again as a band.
Weiley had even anointed Dean Reynolds as the next frontman for Spys.
"We talked about making new music," Grigg says. "That's why Mike got excited. Making Spy v Spy music, and it was a good idea."
Plans were kicked around for a tour of Brazil, where the band is legendary, and an album.
Then, Weiley died of cancer.
"He passed away within two months and I was left standing there," Grigg says.
Teaming up with Reynolds, guitarist Cameron Hallmen and guitarist Andrew Davis, Grigg found his creative balance again and they started putting something new together.
"It had to come that organic way," Grigg says. "We would jam on chords and a bassline for something that felt good. Then add melody and lyrics. That's the way we did it. It took a long time - six months."
The process was similar to the recipe used by the original Spy v Spy trio. And with Reynolds and Hallmen raised on the band's music, it's not too surprising the final product, a 10-track album, carries the flavour of Spy v Spy music. (Reynolds had a Spy v Spy song played at his wedding, Hallmen learned to play bass by listening to the chords in Spy songs.)
Grigg pronounced the new album would be called New Reasons some time ago, as the perfect response to the band's first album, Harry's Reasons, released in 1986.
Most of the songs come with powerful messages around politics and life in Australia. There's a taste of reggae, some heavier guitar, and a new sound thrown in - Hunter Valley didgeridoo player and artist Johnny Robinson features on a few tracks, including the debut single, Overland.
Michael Weiley's original Telecaster guitar is on board, too, in the hands of Andrew Davis.
Grigg says the band will get even better, and write even better music, when they get into a groove of performing live, which has been hard to do during a pandemic.
It's also been good for him, personally.
"I do a transformation," he says of playing live.
"The 61-year-old becomes a 21-year-old. It's a rock drummer's gig."
