JFK and the Cuban Crisis had its origins in the Brisbane southern suburb of Acacia Ridge in the late 1970's. John Kennedy and James Paterson were friends from high school with a common interest in pop music and memberships in the Beatles Fan Club.
They went through a few garage band line ups with names including Barley Rhyme, Mantelpiece and Post Mod before James returned from a period overseas with the proposal of taking their music to the small Brisbane post-punk club scene using the band name JFK and the Cuban Crisis.
With John on vocals and rhythm guitar and James playing lead, the pair formed the core of a band that was to see a number of line ups in Brisbane and later, Sydney. They took inspiration from the Beatles in using their respective talents to co-write a number of the early JFK tunes.
In 1982, after some small success including support spots for the Pretenders and Ian Dury and the Blockheads, they decided to make the move to Sydney in the hope of securing major label interest. A number of false starts later, with a new line-up and a new EP, "Careless Talk Costs Lives", on Waterfront Records, they established themselves on Sydney's inner city indie club scene.
Commercial success, alas, did not follow. And after the inevitable "musical differences", the "Crisis" became a self-fulfilling prophecy. With the release of the album, "The End of the Affair", in 1984, the affair was indeed over. John Kennedy continued his music adventures with his band, John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong. For more info go to:
