Leaving On A Jet Plane EP

out 10th April 2026

The lead-off track is John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, taken from Neo-Magics album Yes! We Have Bananas, which is sung by Tandarra Rothman (her debut lead vocal!).

The other four songs are the last of the recordings which began in 2018 and were completed in 2026. “You Kept Me Waiting” was originally recorded by Dave Edmunds for the Stardust movie in 1974. “Damage”, written by Tim Rogers and appeared on You Am I’s Dress Me Slowly in 2001. It is my favourite You Am I song and I’d always wanted to do a version of this in the Gloomchasers – but that never happened – so here is my ‘electric bluegrass’ version which includes a Peruvian panpipe. “Problem Child” is my all-time favourite AC/DC song and, lastly, I just had to do a version of the world’s most covered song, “Yesterday” by the Beatles, also done in an electric bluegrass fashion.

The only song from these 2018 recordings that hasn’t been released was a cover of Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”, where I tried to do it like the Velvet’s “Ferry boat Bill” but it was a bit of a fail.

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Yes! We Have Bananas LP

100 copies on black vinyl

1. Keep You with Mine (Love Positions)
2. Ghost Ships (The Saints)
3. Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)
4. Acid Tongue (Jenny Lewis)
5. Come Back Again (Daddy Cool)
6. (I’m) Stranded (The Saints)
7. I Love You (Steve Miller Band)
8. Le Freak (Chic)
9. Shake It Off (Taylor Swift)
10. Pump Up the Jam (Techtronic)
11. Groove is in the Heart (Deee-lite)
12. Red Sleeping Beauty (McCarthy)
13. Kiss and Say Goodbye (The Manhattans)

Neo-Magics played at an art school party on Saturday 2nd November 1985 at a share house in Dryandra Street, O’Connor (an inner-city suburb of Canberra). They played a whole bunch of Velvet Underground covers and possibly “Hang On Sloopy” or “Louie Louie” or maybe neither. Forty odd years later, I get permission from one of the other band members (Lindsay, the original Plunderers drummer) to keep the flame alive. A dozen songs are chosen to get the Neo-Magic stamp.

My favourite album of cover songs is Pin Ups by David Bowie, which is like a concept album because Bowie does Ziggy-style versions of songs that were around when he started playing in Swinging London in the mid-60s. I wanted to do an album of covers that tried to keep a similar 60s/Velvets vibe throughout but my song choice is all over the shop – old faves and some more ‘recent’. I also really loved Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Kicking Against the Pricks album of covers, but when I went to the shelf to have a listen, I realised I must have sold it a few years ago! Silly me.

Despite “Keep You with Mine” being on an album I put out with Robyn St Clare from the Hummingbirds in 1989, this recording of her song is the first and only time I have ever played this song (Robyn recorded the Love Positions original version by herself).

The version of “Leaving in A Jet Plane”, which features my wife Tandarra with her debut lead vocals, was inspired by a 1990 b-side by Californian band Downy Mildew, where they blended “Leaving On A Jet Plane” with Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning” into one gorgeous song. Listen to Downy Mildew’s song here on YouTube!

The Plunderers always wanted to add The Manhattans 1976 smash hit “Kiss and Say Goodbye” to our live set but we could never work out how to tackle (or remember the words!) to the spoken intro to the song. How about just not doing it?

Apart from the well-known songs (Daddy Cool, Saints, Taylor Swift, Deee-Lite) there are also covers of some of my favourite songs by Jenny Lewis, Steve Miller Band and McCarthy (featuring Tim Gane, who went on to form Stereolab). All the drum tracks (and most of the bass and some guitars and all of “Come Back Again”) were recorded in 2018 and I finished all the songs in the first half of 2025.

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January 2026

“Tricks is pumping, look out now the crowd is jumping”

“Pump Up The Jam” featuring vocals by Tandarra Rothman. Recorded by Nic Dalton at the Nook 2018-2025. Written by Manuela Kamosi and Thomas De-Quincey and originally recorded by Technotronic in 1990.

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June 2025

Neo-Magics cover of Chic’s “Le Freak” done in a back-from-the-grave kind of fashion. Written by Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards. Recorded by Nic Dalton in the Nook 2018-2025.

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April 2025

Neo-Magics release a cover of “Shiny” from the Moana movie.

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February 2025

Neo-Magics are back with a cover of The Manhattans 1976 smash hit “Kiss and Say Goodbye”. Nic’s previous band the Plunderers always wanted to add this to their live set but could never work out how to tackle (or remember the words!) to the spoken intro to the song. How about just not doing it?

“Kiss and Say Goodbye” written by Winfred Lovett. Recorded by Nic Dalton at the Nook 2018-2025 and mastered by William Bowden. Out on Bandcamp and the streamers on 21st February 2025.