Erstwhile Raglan muso Sid Limbert may miss the induction into the NZ Music Hall of Fame of his old band the Warratahs next week but reckons he’ll definitely be back in town to play with the Mudsharks line-up on Saturday night during the country & blues festival.
He’d be “shattered” after that gig, Sid told the Chronicle from his Nelson home, so to make it down to Christchurch to the induction a few days later would be a bit of a push. “I’m getting old,” he laughed.
Yes it’s an honour to have been in a band about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he added, but the chance to play again with his Mudsharks mates from the 80s when he lived here – and for a few years ran Bow Street’s fish and chip shop – just can’t be beaten.
Now 76, Sid’s played bass just about all his life. After a chance meeting in 1981, he and longtime local guitarist Dave Maybee – both professional, touring musos at the time – formed the Raglan Mudsharks, playing a unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll cum blues every second Monday night in the front bar of the Harbour View Hotel.
They were variously joined by other musos like local saxophonist Clarry Cresswell, bluesman Midge Marsden, Liam Ryan of The Narcs and Dave McArtney, formerly with Hello Sailor. Electric instruments and sound systems appeared, the band grew – and so too did the ‘Mudshark Monday’ tradition.
They were heady days back then, remembers Dave Maybee. “The town really rocked!”
Sid went back on the road after 13 years in Raglan, doing gigs all over the country. He also toured overseas with various bands and artists including Freddy Fender in the United States.
And of course there were his 14-odd years with the Warratahs, which included touring in Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Although admitting he’s a bit disconnected these days from the Warratahs, Sid’s chuffed at his old band being formally recognised in the awards. He points out though he’s not the first onetime Raglan resident to be so honoured: fellow Mudshark McArtney was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of Hello Sailor back in 2011.
Sid says he is ‘“absolutely looking forward” to returning to Raglan and playing a Mudshark gig once again. He wonders if it may be his swansong … “my goodbye to the whole thing.”
He describes his time in town as a “fantastic memory”. And it got him off the road for a while.
His son, drummer Freddy Limbert, grew up here from the age of four and first played with the Mudsharks at Raglan Golf Club as an eight year old. It was a special night, Sid recalls, when their drummer let them down and by 6pm – after ringing around – a replacement still hadn’t been found.
“I’ll play, Dad,” said Freddy, and so began his initiation into the band. “He was the star of the show,” Sid recalls proudly.
Freddy’s still here, of course, and will also be in Saturday night’s Mudsharks line-up.
by Edith Symes
