The Bamboos were formed in 1984 in the West Australian rural town of
Collie, which is south of Perth. The line-up was Tony Chiallella on drums; Mark Gelmi on bass guitar; Craig Hallsworth on guitar and vocals; and Roger Russell on guitar. By 1985 they had relocated to the capital where Russell was replaced by Greg Hitchcock (ex-The Go-Starts, Graverobbers) on guitar. This line-up recorded three tracks for a 6× extended play box set,
Cooking with George – Mark Too, with Ian Davis producing at
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Studio 621 in Perth. In 1986 Chiallella was replaced by Shakir Pichler (ex-
The Kryptonics) on drums. According to Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane, the group performed "raw guitar trash and country-swamp rock [which] caught the attention of Citadel Records boss John Needham". In September they released a single, "Snuff", on
Citadel. A cassette album,
Rarer Than Rockinghorse Shit, followed on Cleopatra Records in the same year. Another single, "Dead Girl", was succeeded in May next year by a six-track EP,
Born Killer, on Citadel. After two national tours Pichler left to form his own
rockabilly band, The Howlin MoonDoggies who he also managed and produced 3 albums, 2 music videos and appeared on 6 international Rockabilly compilations, and was replaced by
Russell Hopkinson (ex-Vicious Circle). They issued their final single, "With Which to Love You", in October 1987 and then disbanded. During their career The Bamboos supported
Lime Spiders,
Johnny Thunders, The Dammed,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,
The Johnnys,
Hoodoo Gurus,
Violent Femmes and
The Cramps. == Afterwards ==