67 Special

In 1994, Ash Santilla and Gavin Campbell met at high school in their hometown of Benalla, Victoria, and became good friends sharing their passion for rock music. Their first band was called Naybious, named after Gavin's sister Lauren's one-eyed doll. Lead vocalist Santilla and lead guitarist Campbell met multi-instrumentalist Louis Macklin at a school camp, and he became the band's keyboardist and percussionist. Progress of the band stalled for some time, until 2001 when Santilla and Campbell found each other again in Melbourne and began writing again. Soon, drummer Ben Dexter joined after coming to know the group through his brother, and bass guitarist Bryan Dochstader joined the group after noticing the group unloading gear in a supermarket car-park and asking them, "Do you guys need a bass player?" The band couldn't decide on a name for several months until Dexter rang Santilla and asked him, "What's the model of your car?" "HR," Santilla replied. "What year?" "'67." "67 Special?" "Yeah." 67 Special did a six-month residency at the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda to critical acclaim, and in 2003 signed with Festival Mushroom Records.