‘It Confused The Hell Out Of Us’: The Story Behind Garry Frost’s Shock 1927 Split

As the ‘80s ended, there was no Australian band bigger than 1927, who scored four Top 20 hits from their multi-platinum debut album, …ish. But in the new episode of podcast A Journey Through Aussie Pop, lead singer Erik Weideman recalled the shock decision by founding member Garry Frost to quit the band just as work was beginning on the follow-up.

Frost had previously been a member of Moving Pictures and had co-written their #1 smash, What About Me?, and had either written or co-written 1927’s singles up until that point, including That’s When I Think Of You and If I Could.

“It confused the hell out of all of us when all this went down because it was kind of out of nowhere,” Weideman said. “It was like, ‘Why do you want to go now? We’re having such a good time and everything’s going really well.’”

Weideman explained that it was Frost who had approached him after the singer performed on Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s talent segment, Red Faces. Frost had been putting 1927 together and convinced Weideman to move from Melbourne to Sydney to front the project. But just as the band were soaring, Frost left with little warning.

“I don’t think things had been going the way he envisaged them going,” Weideman explained. “We really didn’t want it to happen. He was kind of the compass in a way because we were like the kids that had been let loose and were on this wonderful ride, but there was no one to show us any kind of safety barrier if he left.” 

1927 released two more albums after …ish, and while immediate follow-up The Other Side enjoyed healthy sales, working on the band’s self-titled third album was a difficult time for Weideman. 

“That was not a good experience for me,” he admitted. “I think the record is reflective of that because I wasn’t very happy with it at all.”

Listen to A Journey Through Aussie Pop on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and all major podcast platforms or at chartbeats.com.au/aussie.