After graduating, Bidstrup travelled to Europe. In the mid-1970s Bidstrup was back in Adelaide and joined Red Angel Panic, which variously included Ron Anderson on bass guitar,
Chris Bailey on bass guitar and backing vocals, Jim Cane, Fred Cass, John Freeman on drums and backing vocals, Peter McCormack, Ken Skinner on keyboards, Rob Tillet on lead guitar, and lead vocals and Chris Timms. He also played in other Adelaide bands Taxi (1970s), Pegasus (1970s), and Gotham City (1982).
The Angels Bidstrup (
Buzz Throckman until 1978) joined Adelaide-band
the Angels in August 1976 after the release of their first single "
Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again". He recorded four studio albums with the band,
The Angels (1977),
Face to Face (1978),
No Exit (1979) and
Dark Room (1980). Three of these albums were certified platinum, with two reaching the top ten
Kent Music Report albums chart. In 1980, Bidstrup co-wrote and co-produced the Angels' top ten single, "
No Secrets" with their singer
Bernard "Doc" Neeson. Bidstrup left the Angels in 1981 to focus on screen music production. He worked on
Heatwave (1982),
Starstruck (1982) and
Greetings from Wollongong (1983). The related soundtracks had performances by Australian bands,
the Riptides, the Honeymoon, and the Numbers.
Gang Gajang Bidstrup was a founding member of
Gang Gajang in Sydney in 1984. During 1983 Bailey (bandmate from the Angels), Mark Callaghan from the Riptides, (a band Bidstrup had previously produced) and Kayellen Bee wrote songs and performed on the soundtrack to the
ABC TV series,
Sweet and Sour (1984). Bidstrup was also associate music director for the series. With the addition of Geoffrey Stapleton on keyboards and Robert James on lead guitar in 1985, Gang Gajang released four albums. Their
self titled album includes the track, "
Sounds of Then (This is Australia)". Bidstrup was the music director for the
Quiksilver cult surf film,
Mad Wax, which showcased Gang Gajang's music. They were consequently voted No. 1 band in the world by the World Professional Surfers' Association for 1988/1989. The group were intermittently active for both live performances and recording; they celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2015.
The Party Boys Bidstrup was a founding member of
The Party Boys, an all-star covers band in 1982 featuring Kevin Borich, Paul Christie, Harvey James and James Reyne. Their first live album, ''Live at Several 21st's
, achieved gold sales, and their second album, Greatest Hits of Other People'', featured singer Richard Clapton and Robin Riley in place of Harvey and Reyne. The last recording Bidstrup made with the Party Boys was in 1983 on "No Song Too Sacred", which featured Shirley Strachan on lead vocals.
Other live work He recorded a soundtrack for the film Starstuck with
The Swingers, co-wrote and produced two albums for country band
the Stetsons, recorded a live album as drummer for
Riptides and has played live with many artists including
Catfish, the Suave Fucks, Richard Clapton,
Dave Steel Band and
Jimmy Barnes Band, Australian Crawl and Mondo Rock.
Studio work Bidstrup learned his early engineering and production skills under the mentorship of
Harry Vanda and George Young at Alberts Records, and then with young engineer
Mark Opitz, who co-produced two Angels albums
Face to Face and
No Exit. To date he has produced or co-produced over 50 albums by artists such as
Riptides,
The Party Boys,
Gang Gajang,
The Stetsons,
Dave Steel,
James Blundell,
The Sunnyboys,
Nathan Cavaleri,
Diana Ah Naid and
Jimmy Little and
Leah Purcell. He has played as a session musician on albums by artists such as
Swanee,
Mondo Rock,
Richard Clapton,
Broderick Smith,
Australian Crawl,
Dave Steel,
James Blundell,
Nathan Cavaleri,
Aly Cook,
Johanna Campbell and
Jimmy Barnes ==Awards==