[7][9] In October 1979 Models first release was a give-away, shared single, "Early Morning Brain (It's Not Quite the Same as Sobriety)" backed with The Boys Next Door's "Scatterbrain".
[9] In July 1980 Models line-up of Duffield with Crash, Ferrie, and Kelly, supported a gig by Ramones in Canberra.
[11] Besides keyboards, including EMS Synthi AKS, Duffield also provided songwriting for six tracks on Models' debut album, Alphabravocharliedeltaechofoxtrotgolf (November 1980).
[12][13] During his absence from the group he scored the soundtrack for the 1982 Ian Pringle feature film, The Plains of Heaven (aka Panic Station).
[7][12][15] Rachael Warren of The Canberra Times caught the show and felt "[a]nother interesting song of the night was Andrew Duffield's 'Beyond Rap'.
[7][9][12] Duffield had already co-written "Barbados" with Freud,[16] which was issued in March 1985 as Models' second single from their next album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, which appeared in August.
[17][19] The Forearm Jolt were a studio ensemble with Duffield on keyboards; Ferrie on bass guitar; Valentine on saxophone; twins sisters Sherine and Zan Abeyratne on vocals; Rozzi Bazzani on vocals; John Fielding on trumpet; Noel Crombie on thumps and bumps; and Andrew Pendlebury on lead guitar.
[18] In 1988 Duffield released his debut solo album, Ten Happy Fingers on his own Retrograde Records label.
[21] In May 1989 Duffield, on keyboards, joined Absent Friends,[22] with former Models bandmates: Kelly on vocals and guitar; and Valentine on saxophone; they were joined by Wendy Matthews on lead vocals (latter day member of Models and Kelly's then-domestic partner);[23] Nicole Ainslie on keyboards and backing vocals; Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar (on loan from INXS);[24] Michael King (ex-Jimmy Barnes Band) on guitar; and John MacKay (Machinations) on drums.
[22][25] By mid-December Absent Friends issued their debut single, "Hallelujah", which Canberra Times' Penelope Layland dismissed as "could quite easily have remained a figment of someone's imagination.
[27] By late 1990 the group toured Europe supporting INXS but Duffield had been replaced by Geoffrey Stapleton (GANGgajang on hiatus) on keyboards.