Phil Jones and the Unknown Blues - 1966 - If I Had A Ticket

If I Had A Ticket/Comin' Home Baby/Sit Down Servant/300lb Of Joy


Chris Brown and Dave Rowlands had attended Heathcote High School in southern Sydney. They formed The Unknown Blues Band in 1965. Phil Jones joined in 1966, whereupon they billed themselves as Phil Jones and The Unknown Blues. They developed a sound initially influenced by Delta Blues, but quickly found that an electric, Chicago blues sound was more popular. In 1966-7, they obtained a Friday and Saturday night residency at Beethoven's.

In early 1967, the band signed to the Festival Records subsidiary Sunshine and scored a strong local hit with a bluesy cover of the traditional song "If I Had a Ticket". At Beethoven's in 1967 they were checked out by the visiting Yardbirds, with the band meeting Jimmy Page.

With the success of their single, the band toured in Brisbane and Melbourne.

After disbanding in 1968, Phil Jones issued 2 solo singles before moving to England and becoming involved in the progressive/underground rock scene in the Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove area of London. Jones adopted the name Shiva Shankar Jones and joined Quintessence. After leaving them in 1971, Jones joined Kala, along with Chris Brown and David Bentley of Python Lee Jackson.

Brown returned to Australia to become the leader of jazz-rock fusionists Ayers Rock.

Mal Capewell played with many prominent Australian bands throughout the 1970s.

The band reformed briefly in 2011 to play at the Byron Bay Blues Festival and several other gigs. Jones' son Krishna played guitar in this line-up.