Band Biographies
Cass Elliott | David Plunkett | Phil Dwyer | Reidar Jorgensen | Noel Annett
Cassandra Elliot
Vocals/Violin/Guitar/Percussion
Cass is one of Canberra’s freshest musical talents. She has been performing in music groups from a very young age, bringing a complementary sound and some sass to the band – she also brings the average age of the band waaaay down!
Don’t let her sweet stage demeanour fool you - self-confessed lover of angry rock chick music and hater of acronyms (wtf?! This is Canberra, I know!!), she brings the same gutsy energy to her vocals and violin playing.
Cass draws inspiration from an eclectic mix of her favourite music – everything from Joni Mitchell to The Grates!
David Plunkett
Vocals/Guitars/Mandolin
David was turned on to guitar playing by the introduction to Cat Stevens’ “Longer Boats” from the Tea for the Tillerman album. Something about the sound of those finger-picked acoustic guitars made him decide he wanted to be able to play that way too. That was in 1974 and he’s been playing guitar off and on ever since. One day David might learn how to play “Longer Boats”.
Apart from a short stint with a High School type band in the 1970s (preposterously named “Priapus”), Big Idea is the first band David’s been in. Waiting this long has given him the musical maturity that only comes with arthritis.
Phil Dwyer
Guitars/Keyboard/Banjo/Vocals
Phil comes from a musical family that includes a former star of musical comedy and light opera, one or two extraordinary guitarists and a ukulele virtuoso. Phil himself has been playing any object that can be strummed, plucked or picked since his teens. His musical career includes jamming in a traditional folk duo in the ‘70s, getting married and having children in the ‘80s, recording his own take on Beatles songs in the ‘90s (now sadly lost) and playing in a country-influenced (perhaps unintentionally) rock band in the ‘00s. He also played with the Tuggeranong Ukulele Gang through most of 2011 before joining Big Idea in 2012.
Musical influences are too numerous to list, too diverse to credit and largely irrelevant in any case. Phil will play any song on anything to hand, just to see how it sounds.
Reidar Jorgensen
Drums/Percussion/Vocals/Mandolin
Reidar started drumming in the early 70's, playing on the legendary Perth pub circuit. Moving to Sydney in 1976, he formed a heavy rock
band, playing songs by the likes of Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. He and the band headed back to Perth in 1979 and spent that year playing
all over WA. He frequently reminisces about his five years as a full time musician (the dole was much easier to get then).
After moving to Canberra in the 80's, Reidar spent some time playing pubs in a covers band, but grew tired of packing up his drum kit at 4
am, so he cashed it all in and built up a home studio where he recorded hundreds of song segments and at least 2 or 3 complete songs (often
staying up until 4am).
Into the 90's and 00's, Reidar played bass for a couple of jam bands and in 2006 formed and played guitar in The DayTrippers, a Beatles tribute
band. Following this, he surrendered to the inevitable and got back to his first musical obsession - drumming.
Reidar is thrilled to be able to throw his experience into a big pot, shake it around and pour it into Big Idea.
Noel Annett
Bass Guitar/Vocals
Noel started playing bass guitar in Melbourne in 1963 and in the period 1964 to 1968 played city & country based gigs with the ‘The Defenders’, ‘The Travellers’ and ‘The Mind Excursion’. This last Melbourne band, formed from the 1960s Adelaide ‘Beatles’ imitation group, ‘The Flies’ played mainly Yardbirds and Georgie Fame & Blueflames covers.
In 1968 Noel moved to Canberra and left the band scene for several years to concentrate on family and career. In the 1980s Noel was drawn back to music performance, linking up with a former drummer with Canberra 70s band ‘ Second Movement’ to play with the local 4 piece bands ‘Silhouette’ and ‘The 1053 Band’. In the 1990s, Silhouette became a Shadow’s/Cliff Richard revival band (‘Out of the Shadows’) playing at Canberra taverns, with emphasis on recreating/covering Cliff and the Shadows 1960s hits.
Noel has also played as bassist/vocalist with popular local pub rock group ‘Little Rock’ and more recently, the pop covers group ‘Solid Gold’, playing at mainstream club venues and private functions in the area.
We've also learned a lot from our previous band members.