His size, commanding presence and gravely voice earned him the nickname "The Bear", and he led an ever-changing line-up of Levi Smith's Clefs from 1967 to 1972.
[1] The group provided a training ground for young musicians, including later members of: Tully, Fraternity, Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly (SCRA) and Mighty Mouse.
[1][6] Thompson had played in the second incarnation of Tony Worsley & the Fabulous Blue Jays and the Vince Maloney Sect and went on to join the formative "heavy" version of the Aztecs with Lobby Loyde (where he was, coincidentally, replaced by Matthews).
[9][10] McAskill and Jurd were joined in Levi Smith's Clefs by John Bissett on organ, Tony Buettel on drums (ex-Bay City Union) and Bruce Howe on bass guitar.
[1] They toured Australia and recorded the group's sole album, Empty Monkey, released in March 1970 on Jimmie Stewart's Sweet Peach label.
[1][6] They took up residency at Chequers nightclub, playing six nights a week for twelve months, and specialised in tracks by Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago and Joe Cocker.
Under the name Barrie McAskill's Levi Smith's Clefs, the band issued two more singles, their version of Ten Years After's "Love Like a Man" (September 1970), and "Gonna Get a Seizure" (April 1971).
The released a four-track split extended play, Best of Whisky A-Go-Go on the short-lived Chart label, which was shared with two tracks by local band, Autumn.
[1][6] Dunlop, Kelly and Kenny became the core of jazz-rock group, Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly (SCRA), when they left Levi Smith's Clefs in mid-1971.
Elliott was later replaced by Les Stacpool, and McAskill added Ian Clyne on keyboards (ex-the Loved Ones, Ram Jam Big Band).
By October 1972 it had changed again, with Clyne, McAskill and Murphy joined by Mal Capewell on saxophone and flute (ex-Dr Kandy's Third Eye, Dada, Company Caine), Russell Smith on trumpet and vocals (ex-Ram Jam Big Band).
[1] Shortly after Capewell, Clyne, Harvey, Manning, Murphy and Sullivan all left to form Mighty Mouse, which subsequently led to a reformation of Chain.
Another member, electronic musician Steve Dunstan (ex-18th Century Quartet) had provided the opening and closing 'computer noises' for Company Caine's 1971 album, A Product of a Broken Reality.
In late 1977 he formed Barrie McAskill's God's Warriors & the Amazons with Geoff Spooner on guitar, Paul Johnston, then Lee 'Fred' Cass on drums, Bob Fortescue on bass.
[1] According to McFarlane, Barrie McAskill, "is one of Aussie rock's great survivors, first and foremost a dedicated music fan, a champion of soul, R&B and jazz, a band lead par excellence, and at the heart of the matter he is the Levi Smith's Clefs.