Draft:Rickstar Downunder



Rickstar Downunder is a rock guitarist from Perth, Western Australia. He first picked up a guitar at the age of ten, but found correspondence lessons too difficult and stopped learning until at the age of seventeen, a friend rekindled his interest in guitar by suggesting that they have guitar lessons. This was at the height of the worldwide band explosion led by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Rickstar joined his first band, Ezra Pound, at the age of twenty-one, with virtuoso drummer Jim Stewart. The band had many line-up changes until Ezra Pound caused a stir in the Australian music press (Go-Set music magazine) when they did their first gig, supporting Australian guitar legend Dennis James who at one time played in the Stevie Wright Band. Rickstar's playing has always been characterized by his lightning fast playing and wild guitar solos. After playing in many minor Perth bands, such as Euroclydon and Stratosphere, Rickstar finally found his niche when he was asked to play Angus in the famous concept band, AB/CD. It was the members of AB/CD who dubbed Rick "Rickstar" after a gig when he did his death defying table-top run as a finale to his Angus style guitar solo. AB/CD reached their zenith when they were the headline act at the opening of Perth's internationally famous rock festival, Bindoon Rock, in 1994. Rickstar then moved overseas and became known for playing with Thailand's legendary "King of Guitar", Lam Morrison. Since then he has concentrated on writing and producing his own music and during the Covid-19 lockdown era he recorded the amazing "Lockdown Rehearsals" and "The AB/CD Rehearsals" videos. Rickstar has always played Gibson and Fender guitars exclusively. His favourite is a 1968 cherry red Gibson SG, which he bought new at the old Musgroves Music Store, Perth, in 1969. Coincidentally, Angus Young chose a similar 70s walnut Gibson SG when he began with AC/DC. One of Rickstar's biggest claims to fame is that he has been on stage with AC/DC at a couple of their huge sell-out concerts.