Professor Ratbaggy

Infobox musical artist
Name = Professor Ratbaggy


Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre = Dub reggae, Funk and R&B
Years_active = 1999–present
Label = EMI Australia
URL =
Current_members = Steve Hadley
Bruce Haymes
Paul Kelly
Peter Luscombe
Past_members =

Professor Ratbaggy is a sometime four-piece band based in Melbourne, Australia. Sometimes thought of as a side-project of iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, [cite web |title=1997 ARIA Hall of Fame |url=http://www.ariaawards.com.au/history-by-year.php?year=1997 |publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) |accessdate=2007-11-11 ] the band is in fact its own entity: Kelly is one of the four members (song writing generally shared).cite web |title=Australasian Performing Right Association |publisher=APRA |url=http://www.apra.com.au/site/public/searchworksresult.stm |accessdate=2007-10-27 ]

The band's name is derived from the 1960s Australian TV character "Professor Ratbaggy", who was a bumbling but kind-hearted scientist, a comical character, performed by Ernie Carroll on GTV-9 on Melbourne television.

Steve Hadley, Bruce Haymes and Peter Luscombe would frequently play as The Casuals, as well as being members of Kelly's regular band.cite web |title=Australian Rock Database |publisher=Magnus Holmgren |url=http://hem.passagen.se/honga/aussie.html |accessdate=2007-10-27 ]

Professor Ratbaggy's songs are often instrumental and purely groove-based with reggae, dub and funk influences.

Professor Ratbaggy members and Shane O'Mara provided the original music for "Lantana" (2001) and are featured on the EMI soundtrack of the same name. [cite web |title="Lantana" (2001) entry at Internet Movie Database |publisher=IMDb |url=http://imdb.com/title/tt0259393/fullcredits#cast |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] ] [cite web |title="Lantana" (2001) soundtrack |publisher=Australian Music Online |url=http://www.amo.org.au/release.asp?id=4726 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] The band's song, "Love Letter" (from their self-titled 1999 album) was used on ABC-TV series "Fireflies" (2004) together with songs by Paul Kelly (alone and with other bands) and by other artists. [cite web |title="Fireflies" (2004) entry at National Film and Sound Archive |publisher=NFSA |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Organisation%3A%22%2FOrganisation%2Fkey%2F68385-1%22;querytype=;rec=2;resCount=10 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ]

With Kelly often busy with his solo career and work in film and TV composition, Professor Ratbaggy's live shows have all but ceased and their recorded output remains low; this is not to say that the concept has died and there remains a strong possibility of further playing and/or recording.

Personnel

* Steve Hadley – bass, backing vocals
* Bruce Haymes – keyboards, organ, backing vocals
* Paul Kelly – guitar, vocals
* Peter Luscombe – drums

Discography

EP

* "Coma" – 1999 [cite web |title="Coma" EP entry at NFSA |publisher=NFSA |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Organisation%3A%22%2FOrganisation%2Fkey%2F68385-1%22;querytype=;rec=1;resCount=10 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ]

Track listing

# "Coma" (Wicked Beat version)
# "Coma" (album version)
# "Oh, Death" (FF5 version)
# "White Trash" (album version)

Albums

* "Professor Ratbaggy" – October 1999
* "Lantana" (soundtrack) – September 2001

References