XL Capris

After hearing eccentric Australian band XL Capris' first single, U.K. producer John Peel was rumored to have said, "If that's what Australia's like, I don't want to go there." 1979's "My City of Sydney" was an unconventional cover of a Tommy Leonetti track used to close the local Channel 7 news broadcast each night. The song received wide local airplay, and a second single, "Skylab," followed in 1979, later appearing on the punk compilation Why March When You Can Riot in 1985. The group's 1980 single "World War 3" managed to crack Australia's Top 100. Their first album, March 1981's Where Is Hank?, spawned the single "Red Bikini Runaway," and their next album, Weeds, was released in October 1981. XL Capris broke up the next year, with former members playing in Hoodoo Gurus, Dragon, and Tracks, writing for the stage and screen, and penning hits for others.