Guitar/Vocals: Tony de Jong
Guitar/Vocals: Fred Bower/Barry Leef
Bass Guitar/Vocals: Pixie Brown
Drums/Vocals: Moose Lang & Numerous others
'The Naturals' band began as 'Beats Incorporated' in 1965. The members were Rodney "Pixie" Brown - bass/vocal, Tony de Jong - guitar/vocal, Fred Bower - guitar/vocal, and a variety of drummers that came and went. The longest serving and principal drummer was John "Moose" Lang (and he delivered at least one vocal performance - 'Mule Skinner Blues' - a "Fendermen" cover).Pixie, Fred and Moose had been with Beats Incorporated in an earlier form at Blenheim/Christchurch before moving to Auckland and reusing their old band's name.
There is no known photograph in existence of The Naturals, but some ephemera remains.Bottom left: Galaxie nightclub newspaper advertisement, the Layabouts share Saturday night with the Naturals.Botton centre: The Naturals guest at Surfside Ballroom, an old movie theatre converted into a dance hall at Milford, Auckland's North Shore. At the time it was run by entrepreneur Joe Wheelhouse.Bottom right: In this ad the Naturals feature prominently - the venue is the Trades Hall Jive Centre in Auckland. Popular NZ singer Dinah Lee was in attendence but she did not perform.
The Naturals also appeared at the Top Twenty Nitespot at least twice and on one occasion their drummer failed to show up so drummer Nooky Stott of the main-act, Larry's Rebels kindly sat in. At a midnight dance at the Oriental Ballroom, the Naturals played the first hour, opening for the Keil Isles (who had probably played at another gig elsewhere, earlier). After the Naturals, Fred Bower gained greater success with the band "Le Frame."
Both Pixie and Fred Bower lived near one another at Te Atatu, Auckland, where they tried to restart their old band by recruiting Tony de Jong on second guitar. Recruiting a permanent and reliable drummer was much harder. Previous drummer with Beats Incorporated, "Moose" Lang was persuaded to also move from Blenheim to Auckland, where he boarded with the de Jong family at Henderson for a while before returning to Christchurch and possibly a girlfriend.
The Naturals band members are shown here as they appeared immediately before or after The Naturals name was chosen - From left: *Tony de Jong, (c1968). *Fred Bower, as he was when he started off with Le Frame (circa 1966/'67). *Pixie Brown, with Steam Packet (c1968). *Moose Lang, with Beats Incorporated, and before moving to Auckland. At the time of the photo, Beats' fourth member was Barry Leef (guitar). The Auckland Star newspaper advert top right announces both Fred's and Pixie's bands, appearing with others, at a Sunday 'all-night-rave' at the Galaxie nightclub, Auckland. Above history Written By Tony de Jong 2022
