David Twohill

David Twohill
David "Bird" TwohillPaul Worstead poster for Mental As Anything 1979 David "Bird" Twohill Paul Worstead poster for Mental As Anything 1979
Background information
Also known as	Wayne DeLisle Wayne "Bird" DeLisle David "Bird" Twohill
Born	21 April 1954 (1954-04-21) (age 57)
Origin	Cooma, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	rock
Occupations	drummer
Instruments	drums
Years active	1976–present
Associated acts	Mental As Anything

David Twohill is a musician formerly with Australian band Mental As Anything who is also known by the pseudonym Wayne DeLisle or as Bird.^[1][2][3]

Early life

Twohill was born in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia on 21 April 1954 as Wayne Delisle. He moved to Sydney in the early 1970s and attended the East Sydney Technical College at Darlinghurst. Here he met, and later auditioned on drums with, fellow students Chris O'Doherty, Martin Murphy and Steve Coburn who were putting a band together. The band would soon be called Mental As Anything and would become well known around Australia and the world. He later changed his name to David Twohill.

Art career

Twohill is not a recognised artist, however he has had works exhibited at various group art exhibitions. He has tended to concentrate on curatorial responsibilities, with exhibitions at Tamworth, Manly and Liverpool under his control.

Mental As Anything

Main article: Mental As Anything

Pseudonym/Nickname

In the early days of the Mentals, the band would often invent pseudonyms for each other that combined an exotic last name with a common Australian first name. The nickname of "Bird" (or "C-Byrd" as it was often written) was bestowed by Reg Mombassa who thought the scavenging seagulls at Bondi Beach reminded him of Twohill. The nickname was immortalised in the Mentals song "Looking For Bird" from the Cats & Dogs album.

2001 Bushfires

Twohill, with his wife Sue, was in the national news on Christmas Day 2001 when their house was lost in bushfires—a benefit gig, Bird's Big Burnout, occurred at Revesby in early 2002 and a four piece Midnight Oil minus Peter Garrett performed.^[4]

References

General

Specific

1. ^ McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Mental as Anything'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865080721. http://web.archive.org/web/20040813100933/www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=483. Retrieved 30 January 2010. 
2. ^ Nimmervoll, Ed. "Mental As Anything". Howlspace. White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd. http://www.howlspace.com.au/en2/mentalasanything/mentalasanything.htm. Retrieved 30 January 2010. 
3. ^ Atkinson, Ann; Linsay Knight, Margaret McPhee (1996). The dictionary of performing arts in Australia. Allen & Unwin. pp. 155–156. ISBN 9781863738989. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ELACebeQEgcC. Retrieved 30 January 2010. 
4. ^ Singer, Jill (13 February 2002). "Episode 1: Welcome to People Dimensions". People Dimensions transcript. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_people/transcripts_2002/s477425.htm. Retrieved 30 January 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Twohill, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 April 1954
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death