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As
            children, human beings are carefree. They are imaginative, expressive
            and creative -untainted by the pressures of the world. Then as
            they grow older, they are burdened with responsibility and the
            desire for wealth and position and so, they stray from their
            childhood values and qualities.
            Artists are often seen as 'bent' or 'way-out' people, but
            in fact, they are merely people more in-touch with the imagination
            and creativity that they developed as children. Barry Harvey
            is such a person. He is an artist, a musician; and in every aspect
            of his life, he always will be.

            
Barry "Little Goose" Harvey has
            a rare and contagious disease - he has music in his blood. Born
            1950 in Brisbane, he grew up in Wynnum and expressed an interest
            in music from an early age - beginning to play the drums at seven.
            His father, who was not a musician, insisted that if Barry was
            to play, he would have to learn to read music and so, young Barry
            had formal drum lessons for about one year. In this year and
            over the few years to come, he became a fluent reader of music
            and a competent player, and by the age of eleven he was playing
            professional, paid, show gigs in pubs and clubs with much older,
            touring musicians. Barry reasons: "I was one of the luckiest
            people in the world; I knew what I wanted to do for the rest
            of my life at eight".

            
By the time, he had turned eight, Barry had gotten
            a taste for jazz music and at age 10, he first heard John Coltrane.
            who would become one of the biggest musical influences in his
            life. Barry "wanted jazz", he longed for it and for
            the years to follow, unaided by any teachers, he transcribed
            and studied jazz records - beginning his lifelong journey into
            the art of improvisation, an art which he still explores and
            develops today: "I think the word jazz means enjoy. Jazz
            is a chance to say something worthwhile".

            
It wasn't until The Beatles came in that
            Barry joined a rock 'n' roll band, preferring to focus on jazz
            and drum technique instead: "I didn't like rock music till
            I played it." At the age of 14, Barry joined The Titans,
            his first band. Then, in late 1964, he left to play in Thursday's
            Children. Recalling his first live gig with the group, a
            show at the Black Thirteen, in Inala in 1964, Barry simply recounts
            it as "scary". However,
            this certainly did not discourage Barry and the band, who by
            1965 had a resident gig at The Red Orb, playing six nights and
            two afternoons a week until 1967.

            
By 1967, Barry's love of music had become
            an obsession and at the young age of 17, he packed his drumsticks
            and moved to Melbourne with Thursday's Children - for "the
            vibe of the place" and because "the music scene was
            so full on". This move was to shape the rest of his music
            career. After a brief stint and tour of Australia with The
            Wild Cherries, Barry joined Jeff Crozier, a psychedelic
            magician and played drum solos to the magic and pyrotechnics.
            "It was crazy: the best gig I've ever had," he recalls.

            
Rick and the
            Goose

            
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