The Angels
Formed in Adelaide in 1974 by Doc Neeson and brothers Rick and John Brewster, The Angels have filled venues around Australia for decades. Their high energy pub rock and best-selling albums paved the way for their induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1998. They still headline music festivals across Australia today.

That’s one version of the band’s story. If you want to delve beneath the headlines, The Angels tells a very different story.

This is largely the Brewster brothers story of The Angels, though it includes quotes from many band members as well. It wasn’t surprising the Brewster brothers would find careers in music. Their grandfather, Hooper Brewster-Jones, was a composer and pianist. Their father, Arthur was also a musician and one-time ABC Director of Classical Music.

It was in 1970 that Ric Brewster (on washboard) and John Brewster (on banjo) first started performing together, in the Moonshine Jug and String Band. They were joined by guitarist Doc Neeson, fresh from the Army and about to start drama studies at Flinders University.

By 1974, the jug band transformed itself into a rock band, with the Brewster brothers moving to guitar and Neeson to bass and vocals. The following year, they toured Australia as Chuck Berry’s backing band, then supported AC/DC in South Australia. AC/DC helped them get signed to Alberts Productions and work with Harry Vanda and George Young in the studio. It provided a masterclass in songwriting and recording for the band. Though not immediately successful, by 1978 their best-selling second album Face to Face was on the charts and they were supporting David Bowie on his first Australian tour.

The band seemed set to follow AC/DC onto the international stage and to speed things up, left Alberts to sign with Epic. Soon things started to unravel. They had to change their name to Angel City for their American tour to avoid confusion with another band. Their equipment truck was stolen in Chicago. Band members were replaced. After two albums, Angel City were dumped by Epic. They then spent a fortune recording another album for MCA that went nowhere. Sex and drugs were impacting relationships and the demands of creativity and the cost of business weighed heavily on members. The book doesn’t hide from the challenges this created. At one point, there were two totally different bands, each with a legitimate claim to the band’s legacy.