The Beginnings

The Wait Formed Auckland New Zealand 1984

Original Line-up: Mike Hammond (bass), Tony Doe (drums, BVs), Rowan Swannack (guitars), Dave Ward, (Vocals).

Hammond formed the nucleus of the band through his old school days contact Doe, who brought Swannack into the band. Doe and Swannack had worked on home recordings with another Hammond contact Tim Housden, Swannack, Housden and Hammond all having contact through the North Shore school Westlake Boys High. Once the nucleus of the band had been established Swannack brought his work colleague Ward into the band. The group started work on a set in mid 1983, with a mix of pop rock covers and originals by Doe.

The band debuted at Devonport's Esplanade Hotel with a well received set. The band's focus of operations was a practice room in Fort Street in Auckland central which they shared with another North Shore orientated band, Beat Soldiers. Managed by Doe, the band began to get some interest on the Auckland live scene, with a series of support gigs. In the meantime Doe and Hammond were also involved in the backing band for a series of demos by Paul Agar.

As The Wait's original repertoire began to grow, the interest of bass player Hammond began to wane, more so after the introduction to the band of John Davidson, an old colleague of Doe's who had fronted Auckland band Sensible Shoes, Davidson brought extra depth to the band with his singing, keyboard playing and guitar skills. It was at this stage Hammond, who wanted to be in a high earning covers band, decided to quit, he was replaced by Keith Taylor, who was also in Sensible Shoes. Shortly after Davidson's arrival, Ward began to have second thoughts about the band's direction and left to form a new group with some of the former Beat Soldiers. Davidson then took over as frontman, while Doe provided the songs.

The band got a break when it was asked to play on the compilation album All Dressed Up And No Place To Play, which highlighted the plight of Auckland's up and coming original bands who were finding it hard to get gigs. The album was recorded at the 8 track LAB studios, then in Fanshawe Street, with Russ Le Roq (better known now as Russell Crowe) producing. It found mixed critical success. It is available on Spotify. A series of demos was also produced at The LAB (That Girl, On Tuesday, 7:36). The band's practice room had to be moved at this point from Fort Street, which was demolished, to St George's Bay Road Parnell.

The band along with Taylor's brother Dave who added extra guitars, then came to the notice of Ode Records, who agreed to release its first EP The Walls. (The Walls, Let Me Be Heard, The Burma Road). This was mostly recorded at the new 16 track LAB studios. The record was generally well received critically, and the track The Burma Road recorded at Doe's Auckland flat using a 4-track machine, got some airplay. The band gigged quite heavily around Auckland, both as a headline act and in support of other NZ groups, to support the record. As the band's material became less pop-rock oriented, it was decided to add a sax player, and Chris Dench joined the line-up.

By this time, Doe was becoming less enamoured with his role behind the drum kit, and about the interpretation of some of his songs. The decision was made to drop Davidson as frontman, with Doe taking over on rythym guitar and lead vocals. A new drummer, Rick Curry, was recruited from Auckland band the Swerve. This line-up played on the next EP, Odd Numbers, (It's Not War, Cold Rain, The Rub, Don't Tell Me) again released by Ode, which featured a darker, rock oriented first side, with a funkier B side. All tracks were recorded at Doe's home studio, with the exception of The Rub, recorded at Radio Hauraki's 16 track Fanshawe Street studio - Doe and Swannack engineered and produced. The critics were less impressed, and the gigs started to dry up. The Odd Numbers EP spelled the end of The Wait, and the members went their separate ways.

In 1988 Doe released a solo album (Not A Machine In Sight), recorded on his 8 track at his home studio called Priority Studios, also on Ode, helped by some of the old Wait members (Swannack, Taylor, Ward and Dench). The album was an anti sequencer cry, but was swallowed in the move to mechanical dance grooves.

In 1991-92 Doe was also involved in the legendary Radio Hauraki staff band Fanny Magnet (Nik Brown vocals, Paul Streekstra guitars, Tom Davidson guitars, Gavin Comber bass, Doe drums, and The Immortals, featuring Swannack on bass.) He then went to Japan in 1993 where he fronted a band of Japanese musicians playing his material called Inaka Rebels. His career then extended to England, and back to NZ, where he has his own 24 track project studio in Christchurch - Strowtown Records, which has so far survived the current series of earthquakes which have devastated the city.

Doe’s latest incarnation is Tony Doe & The Reactions, who released the EP Nature, Trust & Hypocrisy in 2015. (The Nature of Love, How Do You Embrace The Earth, Sob In An Empty Room). The band also played several well received gigs in Christchurch to support the release. Other outlets include Reverb Nation (The Reactions) and Soundcloud as well as Spotify. Swannack is also recording and releasing material through Soundcloud under the name ENMG - Earth Needs More Guitars..