page_title: Ayers Rock (band)
section_title: Australian music scene
hierarchical_section_title: Ayers Rock (band) / Australian music scene
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian guitarist, Jimmy Doyle live in concert with Ayers Rock
context_page_description: Ayers Rock were an Australian rock band which formed in August 1973. Ray Burton, Mark Kennedy, and Duncan McGuire, members of Leo de Castro and Friends, left to form the eponymous trio of Burton, McGuire & Kennedy. They added a guitarist, Jimmy Doyle, changed their name to Ayers Rock and invited Col Loughnan to join. The group signed with independent label Mushroom Records in December 1973. Burton left the following March, and was replaced by Chris Brown. With live appearances, coverage in print media and word of mouth the group had a high national profile despite little radio airplay, and journalists praised their musicianship, music, and live energy.
  The band's first album, Big Red Rock, received positive reviews and peaked at number 32 on the Australian Kent Music Report album chart. It featured mainstream rock and three longer, instrumental tracks which introduced progressive styles, including jazz fusion. Label owner Michael Gudinski promoted Ayers Rock in Los Angeles and they signed with A&M Records, the first Mushroom Records artists to sign with an international label. The United States release of Big Red Rock in February 1975 was followed by a tour there, later that year.
context_section_description: Ayers Rock were formed in the Australian pop-music scene of the early 1970s, which included artists in a number of genres: mainstream pop (Zoot and Liv Maessen), blues rock (Chain), heavy rock (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs), and boogie (Carson). Bands such as Blackfeather and Madder Lake combined mainstream and progressive rock. Most pop and rock listeners had never heard jazz fusion; when Ayers Rock incorporated the music into their sets, it was rarely performed by fellow Australian artists.
  At that time, the Australian music media expressed frustration that few local musicians were successful overseas. Many artists (such as The Twilights, The Masters Apprentices, The Groop and Axiom) had gone to the United Kingdom with little commercial success, and music papers such as Go-Set regularly addressed the situation. The "third wave" of Australian rock, from 1970 to 1975, saw an increase in pub rock venues in the southern and eastern states.
caption: Jimmy Doyle founding mainstay guitarist of Ayers Rock, 1981.
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