A RADIO host and music lover has begun the process of writing a book detailing the iconic Hoadley’s Battle of The Sound, a set of events held across the country in the late 60s and 70s which even included rockers from Broken Hill.
Hoadley’s Chocolates was a confectionary company in Australia founded in 1913; it was famous for its Violet Crumble and Polly Waffle bars, and for organising the largest battle of the bands in the country.
The company held the iconic battle from 1966 until 1972 until it was bought by Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery, and then Nestle in 1988.
Hoadley’s Battle of The Sounds would travel around Australia, holding ‘heats’ in towns like Broken Hill, and offering large and extravagant prizes for winning bands.
For Newcastle-based radio host, uni student and music-obsessed Jack Hodgins, his interest was piqued in the history of the event after hearing stories from the era whilst hosting a radio segment.
“I do a radio show in Newcastle called Vinyl Vibes and I was speaking to a few local musicians in Newcastle because I did a series talking to all the old rockers from the 60s and 70s in my local area,” Mr Hodgins said.
“They kept talking about Hoadley’s Battle of The Sounds, which I hardly knew about.”
After posting on community Facebook pages around the country seeking information from participants in the battles, Mr Hodgins received a document which he claims to be the only other text recording the events, printed on A4 paper and published in 1995.
“There’s only one resource out there at the moment and there’s many, many gaps which made me want to do this project,” he said.
“I’m hoping to get the book out by June next year when the 60th anniversary is.”
Mr Hodgins said he is trying to get the book out in the near-future because of the length of time since the battles, and the ageing interviewees.
“I mean, we’re talking about something that happened almost 60 years ago now; so we’re really in the last timeframe to talk to these people,” he said.
Mr Hodgins said he wants to preserve the history of the infamous event.
“Hoadley’s Battle of The Sounds was pretty much the biggest music competition in Australia, probably the biggest music event of the year from 1966 to 1972 so it has a pretty big significance,” he said.
“People from all over Australia would play in it; I’ve been reading all these old clippings while putting this book together and these local bands would play in front of crowds of 500 to a 1000 teenagers and all they would need to do is just send in a coupon and they’d get to play.
“It engaged bands and gave them a sense of success; if you made it to the grand final and won it, you got a trip to England!”
The competition was facilitated by local radio stations, who received the coupons and organised the bands to play on the day.
“You’d turn up, plug in and away you’d go, and then if you won that heat you’d usually go to a country final,” he said.
“The Broken Hill heat was run by 2BH; radio stations would facilitate this all over the country. I think at one point there were just over 60 stations that were a part of it.”
The winners of the Broken Hill Hoadley’s Battle of The Sounds, which were held at the Broken Hill Town Hall, include The Urchins (1966 and 1967), Mousetrap (1969), and Impulse (1971).
“If you won you got a return trip to England, $1000 cash, a recording contract and four weeks accommodation,” he said.
“It’s crazy because even if you won just the Broken Hill heat you’d get an expenses-paid trip to the Adelaide final and a hundred dollars cash – a hundred dollars in 1966 in today’s money is over a thousand dollars.”
When asked if he thinks Hoadley’s Battle of The Sounds could have a revamp today, Mr Hodgins said he doesn’t think it could happen, despite him wanting it to.
“I’ve been thinking about that too because I think there’s been such a shift,” he said.
“To play in Hoadley’s it was only bands really and there weren’t really solo artists.
“There’s been such a shift since then to solo artists so it would probably be a bit different; you’d probably have to run it a bit differently.
“I’d love to see it happen because I love music and I think anyone who loves music would.
“I think the music obviously has changed. There’s less bands about so I don’t know whether it would happen again.”
Mr Hodgins said finding sponsors in this era would also be difficult.
“It wasn’t only Hoadley’s chocolates that were involved, there was a shipping company, a cruise liner, there were quite a lot of sponsors to make this happen,” he said.
“Probably more money floating around the music scene back then and they still needed like three sponsors with deep pockets to make it happen – imagine how many sponsors you’d need to make it happen now.”
For now, Mr Hodgins is happy writing and researching the past events.
“It’s interesting to me that it hasn’t really been documented much,” he said.
“It was the biggest event of the year and it’s such an important part of our music history in Australia.”
If anyone has additional information regarding the Broken Hill heats, email Mr Hodgins at jackhodgins67@gmail.com.
