Their most popular song, "Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)", was issued in December 1985 and peaked in the top 40 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
It gained further exposure in Australia ten years later when it was used on TV in a Coca-Cola ad and then for the 1996 Nine Network station ID promotion.
GANGgajang founders, Chris Bailey, Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup, and Mark 'Cal' Callaghan had previously been members of various bands.
[5] In August 1976, Bidstrup joined Adelaide hard rockers, The Angels alongside lead vocalist Doc Neeson.
[1] The band grew out of songwriting and performing sessions that Bailey, Bidstrup, his wife Kayellen Bee and Callaghan undertook for the ABC-TV music-drama series Sweet and Sour (July–August 1984).
[11] To record their debut album, GANGgajang, they enlisted Gordon Sullivan (of Deckchairs Overboard, who had also worked on Sweet and Sour) on lead guitar; Kayellen Bee (a.k.a.
The band gained a solid following around Australia during 1985, aided by support from national radio station, Triple J, and pop music TV series, Countdown.
[1][11] In 1986 GANGgajang members, Callaghan, James and Stapleton performed with The Rock Party, a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse, which included many Australasian musicians, Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner, Tim Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester (all from Crowded House); Andrew Barnum and Lissa Barnum (Vitabeats); Deborah Conway (Do-Re-Mi); Mary Azzopardi (Rockmelons), Michael Barclay, Peter Blakeley, Jenny Morris, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P Jones, Sean Kelly (Models), John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics) and Rick Swinn (The Venetians).
The group released their second album, gangAGAIN, in 1987, after which various members pursued solo projects although the band continued performing irregularly.
[13] The album was released in May 1994 on RooART and spawned three singles, "Hundreds of Languages", "Talk to Me", and "Ordinary World"/"Future Days".
[17] While in Rio de Janeiro they appeared on Brazilian TV's The Seu Boneco Show and met local comedy rock band, Mamonas Assassinas.
In October 2002 they released their fourth studio album, Oceans and Deserts, produced by guitarist Robbie James, which spawned the singles "Nomadsland", "Anodyne Dream" and "Trust", to critical acclaim and extensive airplay across Australia on ABC radio.
Bidstrup managed Australian music personality, Jimmy Little, since the release of Little's 1999 ARIA Award-winning CD The Messenger,[21] and is CEO of Uncle Jimmy Thumbs Up LTD, a charity whose primary aim is to provide health and nutrition education to young Indigenous Australians.
Bailey worked in a variety of music cultures in Sydney and produced an album for singer-songwriter, Dave Debs.
GANGgajang have a following outside Australia and are especially popular in Brazil following their Mad Wax: The Surf Movie soundtrack and three tours.