Members: Terry Blanchard (guitar, vocals) 1968-1970 Wido Peppinck (vocals, guitar) 1968-1970
The “Pieces of Eight” was a very successful floorshow act in the Perth music scene between 1968 and 1970. Terry and Wido had attended the same high school and had played together in a school band during 1967. In 1968 they set out to specialise in playing floorshows around town.
During its eighteen month existence, the Duo played at some of Perth’s major night entertainment venues of that time (La Riviera, Whisky-a-go-go, Charles Hotel), appeared as guest performers on Channel Nine’s “Today” show (hosted by Tim Connor) [twice], appeared on Telethon (1968, 1969) and were a support act for Kamahl at the Regal Theatre in 1969. The act also gained significant work in the cabaret area often performing two or three separate venues in the one night for different corporate clients.
The floorshow was heavily geared towards the performance of songs made famous by the Everly Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel. Interspersed in the presentation were other songs including popular sing along numbers for audience participation. Notwithstanding that they were teenagers performing for older audiences, comedy also featured in the act. Each floorshow generally commenced with a rendition of the Everly Brother’s song “Bye bye love” which was played on all their television appearances and became a minor “signature” song.
The duo was known for its creative and eye catching uniforms. The shirts were designed by Terry with emphasis on a buckle at the front of the neck, with the colours of the uniforms having immediate impact. They were suitable in the context of the times, but looking back, they were embarrassingly gaudy.
The concert with Kamahl was a highlight of our short career, though he was not particularly friendly. Our part of the show went well and his concert was an enormous success with the audience that had paid to see him.
We were fortunate that in our early career we were supported by people such as Tim Connor of Channel Nine who had organised us being a support act for the Kamahl concert. Tim even talked about a recording contract for a short while, but (as with many promises made to musicians at times), it never came to fruition. We also received strong support from a guy called Pete Watson who had been part of a well known Australian Act MPD Ltd in the mid 1960’s. Pete imparted some of his wisdom and even lent us obscure records to learn. We were saddened to hear some years later that he had passed away tragically through ill health aged only 27.