(cast) Mandy Anna Gare The Band Sophie Gare, Lucky Oceans, Nikki Ainslie and Val Drummer Music Jan Preston Original Music Composed and Performed by Jan Preston Produced and Recorded by Mark Tinson Assisted by Louise Pollack Reel Time Studios, Sydney with David Skeet, Tim Powles Greg Thorne, Brien McVernon Song 'On The Edge Of Time' J. Preston by permission M.M.A. Song 'Doomsday' by Dickson & Covay, Renleigh Music (by permission) Produced by Lucky Oceans Northlake Studios, Perth Composer Jan Preston has an active website here which contains this short CV: Jan Prestonʼs earliest musical memories were of singalongs at the piano with one Aunt playing boogie/stride piano and another on violin. All the Prestons sang and played some instrument, even if it was only eggbeater or tea chest bass. Jan was born in the South Island of NZ, studied classical piano and singing from an early age, and always loved performing live. After completing a music degree, she joined the infamous Red Mole Theatre troup in Wellington, toured NZ with Spilt Enz, and was musical director for the legendary and enormously popular Red Mole Cabaret shows in Wellington. At this time she was asked by Sam Neil (then a film director) to write music for a documentary he was making, and Jan has been composing for films ever since.
In the late 1970ʼs she moved briefly to New York where she heard many of the great rʼnb piano players, came back to NZ and formed the rock/reggae band Coup DʼEtat whoʼs song Doctor I Like Your Medicine was a no 1 hit., and then moved on to Sydney where she has lived since1980. Jan is a fulltime composer, songwriter, and piano player who has specialized in mastering the piano boogie tradition, thus becoming known as Australiaʼs queen of boogie piano. She has played many music festivals in Australia, NZ and Europe, composed and performed music for silent films, and continues to write film scores for NZ and Australian drama and documentary. Jan has won 3 Awards for Best Film Score, and 2 for Best Australian Female Blues Artist. Jan has a 19 year old son and her sister, Gaylene, is a well known NZ filmmaker. Her website provides these details of her composing for film, here: Jan Preston is one of Australiaʼs leading film composers. Her piano composition was used for 6 years as the theme to the iconic ABC TV series, Australian Story. She composed the soundtrack for all five Australian Dynasties Series on ABC TV, the 4 part drama series Bastard Boys, 6 feature films including Home By Christmas, and hundred of documentaries and documentary series for well known award winning film makers such as Tom Zubrycki, Ray Quint, Judy Rymer, and Gaylene Preston. Jan has recently completed music for Tom Zubryckiʼs latest feature documentary The Hungry Tide. Jan has also composed and performed the music for more than 20 silent movies for the Sydney Film Festival, MCA, NFSA and the NZ Film Festival. ʻI find the process of adding music to the sound effects and dialogue of a film endlessly fascinating and totally obsessive. The musical layers possible from the underscore can change the emotional impact and the meaning of the film to the viewer, and I love the way every film score I compose emerges from the world of the film.ʼ (Below: Jan Preston)
Followers of the ABC will note that one of the songs used in the film was produced by Western Australian composer, performer, and Radio National Daily Planet host Lucky Oceans, and he also appears in youthful guise in the band alongside the Gare sisters. Oceans arrived in Fremantle in Western Australia in 1980 when he decided to settle in his wife's home town. Oceans has a wiki here. (Below: Lucky Oceans)
(Below: Lucky Oceans front left clutching a 1990s Grammy in his Asleep at the Wheel days) The Gare sisters, who appear in the film, were well known in the 1980s, as the lead players in the pop orientated band The Jam Tarts. (Below: The Jam Tarts early in their career)
(Below: a story on The Jam Tarts in The Age 27th October 1989)