The Zimmermen

August 2026

The Zimmermen: Rivers Of Corn

A TRAVEL ADVISORY FROM 1986 (still relevant?) AND MUCH MORE…

Rivers Of Corn – remastered and with bonus tracks – is being released on CD for the first time, and on the usual digital platforms for download and streaming. Recorded over a turbulent ten-month period (during which two members left to join Paul Kelly in Sydney) and originally released in 1986, Rivers Of Corn featured two timeless singles, “Don’t Go To Sydney” and “Ordinary Man”, together with nine further tracks that featured their inimitable jangle. The LP attracted considerable interest from independent music lovers in the US, Spain and Sweden. With three bonus tracks, this release makes for a joyful 40^th anniversary celebration.

August 2025

The Zimmermen: Way Too Casual

EXPLODING FROM A DIM DARK PAST

Half A Cow is pleased to announce the release of Way Too Casual, the second album by the Zimmermen on the usual digital platforms. Recorded and released in 1988 and produced by Lobby Loyde, this album has been unavailable on any format for over thirty years! This edition boasts remastered sound, new artwork and a bonus track (b-side “The Waltz”). The overall sound is surprisingly BIG (it was the 80s after all) with powerful in-your-face guitar (thanks Lobby) and a widescreen ambience thanks to a panoramic mix from Doug Brady.

April 2022

Two live shows from The Zimmermen and one from O’Hara’s Playboys (a short lived band of John Dowler’s from the mid-1990s).

The Zimmermen: Live in Elsternwick, September 1986

Coming about six months after the release of our Rivers Of Corn album, the Elsternwick show featured a generous helping of songs from that album together with a smattering of material that would eventually be released on the next album, two years later. Although the band were all hardened road warriors, we had never played a TV concert before. I remember that the guitarists were freaked out at how softly they were being asked to play by the show’s producer. Nevertheless, turn down they did, and the overall drop in volume contributed to the unusual lightness of sound and clarity of the set. Sole cover: John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night”.

The Zimmermen: Surf Report – Live at St Kilda Beach, April 1988

Two years later and the band that plays an afternoon show at St. Kilda Beach is a substantially different beast. Newly signed to Mushroom, and with a new rhythm section (our original drummer having relocated to Sydney – I know, I know…) we were in the middle of recording our second album with Lobby Loyde. No room for “Don’t Go To Sydney” or “ Ordinary Man” in this set as we concentrated on showcasing the new songs. This is as close to rocking out as the Z’men ever got! Sole cover: Gene Vincent’s “The Day The World Turned Blue”.

O’Hara’s Playboys: Live at Prince’s Pat 1996

O’HP’s came together a few years after the Zimmermen’s demise as an acoustic duo, specifically to support Melbourne comedy legends Danger Lowbrow on a series of live shows at the Prince Patrick Hotel In Collingwood. I can recall performing a version of “Baker Street” with massed kazoos playing that song’s distinctive sax riff. For the last two shows, the Playboys morphed into a band with Jim Gamack, Russell Baricevic and Michaela Burke coming on board. When the comedy shows finished, so did the band…”

– John Dowler