CRISTON BARKER is a thirty five year veteran of the Australian and International music scene. His first band TRAIN was formed in Melbourne toward the end of 1968. It was, at the time the hot spot for Australian bands. His second band “ASH” was formed in 1969, the second incarnation included LITTLE RIVER BAND drummer and founding member “Derek Pellicci. ASH recorded two singles, “Avignon” a top 10 Hit penned by Criston and “Midnight Witch” composed by Doug Ford ex THE MASTERS APPRENTICES” (recently inducted into Australia’s ,“Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.
During the early 70s Criston toured with numerous well known bands including ex LOTUS members Warick Wilks (organ) and Kim Dawson on Guitar), appearing regularly on the “Whisky a Go Go, Chequers” circuit in Sydney. It was during this time that they were introduced to Leith Corbett, originally a bass player ex HEART & SOUL and DAVE MILLER SET. Leith had mastered the guitar style of their then hero Jimi Hendrix and were invited to a two day beer and marijuana fueled jamm session at a house somewhere in Turramurra along with Tim Partridge on Bass. On day three they entered a battle of the bands competition which they won by blowing the other contestants off stage. An excited journalist present at the performance insisted on writing a piece for The Sydney Morning Herald and asked what the band was called, the boys came up with ARTHUR & THE ARGONAUTS. The band soon made the move to Melbourne in 1972 where they changed their name to ISLAND. Here the bands popularity grew quickly, the highlight being a performance at the legendary Sunbury music festival. The band although popular was short lived. Derick joined the Melbourne based Mississippi which later morphed into the LITTLE RIVER BAND and Criston reverted to doing front of house mixing for the now legendary STRANGERS.
In 1975 he formed FREEWAY, resulting in the very popular “Riding High” album, co-writing all ten tracks with Steve Welch. He then joined alternative cult band SIDEWINDER and later toured with the new HUSH. In 1979 Criston joined Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell in AIR SUPPLY touring extensively for twelve months prior to recording the multi-platinum internationally acclaimed Grammy nominated album, “LOST IN LOVE” which realised 5 top ten singles in the American charts in the first twelve months of release.
During this time he was approached by the comedic team from "DR POO" featuring the comedic genius of Lance Curtis and Geoff Kelso, stars of a popular parody of the legendary DR WHO TV series, aired on the then newly created alternative ABC Triple J radio, to compose and produce a mini album to be titled, "DR POO and the Psychic Koalas", "The Universe Is Big" the album contained five songs which have since gained cult status. The album featured guitar legend Dennis Wilson ex KHAVAS JUTE. After leaving AIR SUPPLY Criston then formed APOLLO BAY and although they did record 4 unreleased tracks they did tour with international acts like Elton John and Joan Armatrading. Moving back to Melbourne he then recorded his own self titled album, SIDE BY SIDE, securing the talents of numerous top musicians including, David Herschfelder, on keyboards, (two-time, “Acadamy Award Nominee”) and Steve Housden, (Ex Guitarist) LITTLE RIVER BAND”.
Wanting to spend more time recording he set about designing a purpose built state of the art recording studio in Melbourne known as POWERPLANT with his brother Adrian. Many of Australia’s top musicians and bands recorded there including THE HUXTON CREEPERS, JOE CAMILLERI, DIVINYLS, WA WA NEE, BIG PIG, JOHN SWAN (Swanny) DRAGON and Michael Hutchence, to name just a few. The original version of Pat Benetar's massive hit, “All Fired Up”, penned by Keryn Tolhurst of ex DINGOES fame was also recorded at this time by Criston at Powerplant.
Criston has composed, performed, produced video clips, has written entertainment editorial for magazines, newspapers and has produced & engineered several albums and documentaries. In 1995 he produced a music/entertainment television program, “Entertainment weekly” for the Prime 7 Network in Queensland and has more recently completed a brand new album containing 14 originals songs titled “SEVENTH HEAVEN ”, and has also composed a five track CD for organ donor awareness titled, “When Angels Call”.
Hi Criston, Welcome on Board! Hope you'll enjoy the Hep C Shows! Cheers from me & Pete. Keep up the Awesome work! Lizzzy Asylum TV Production www.myspace.com/asylumtv www.myspace.com/zilius
HI CRISTON,BY THE LOOKS OF YOUR SITE YOU HAVE BEEN A VERY BUSY MAN.AWSOME SONGS ON YOUR PLAYER AS WELL.THANKS FOR THE FRIENDSHIP AND HAVE A ROCKIN WEEKEND.....SCOTT
