Christine Amphlett 1959 - 2013

 On a cold night in 1981 at the Bayswater Hotel in Sydney’s King Cross. we shot a music scene for our film GOING DOWN. Henk Johannes was acting in the film, playing the part of a musician. He was in a band at the time and suggested we should use his band. They were unsigned but had a few good songs. The band was THE DIVINYLS. That night a young Chrissie Amphlett blew us all away with a voice and performance not easily forgotten. At this stage, Chrissie hadn’t yet developed her schoolgirl persona , but she had a mix of power and vulnerability that was entrancing. We shot “Boys In Town” and “Science Fiction” both of which became top ten hits when the band eventually signed with a record company.  

The sequence was a winner and our film was nearly finished when Pat Lovell the producer of Monkey Grip rang to inform us that she would sue us if we included the footage in our film as she was using them in her film and had a contract! Being young and naïve and instead of telling her tostuff off we cut the scene and at our own cost reshot the whole thing with another band.

These images were captured by photographer Robert McFarlane and are a lovely insight into who Christine Amphlett was. Her recent death is a sad moment for Australian music. She’ll be sorely missed.