Welcome to the Me 'n' Mine Historical Site.

Compiled by Rob Askew

Me'n'Mine was a little known rock band that performed around Sydney Australia during the heady days of 1966 and 1967. That term "rock band" was uncool at the time, it implied old time rock'n'roll, whereas Me'n'Mine was a "group". For reasons which will be explained below, they were called The Limmericks for the 2nd half of their short career.

From left in the above photo, the members were Patrick McMahon (lead guitar), Paul McCormack (lead vocalist), Jimmy Penson (drums), Rob Askew (bass guitar) and John McMahon (rhythm guitar). Their approximate ages in the photo range from 19 (John) to 16 (Jimmy).

Me'n'Mine was never a band of guitar heroes - Clapton and Hendrix had not yet really hit the scene. Our strong point was our vocal harmony - you can still hear it in the recordings I made starting late 2004.

 

  • Read Eileen's Diary, a week-by-week tale of gigs and goings on in the diary kept by Eileen Bettesworth (now Eileen Lamerton), the Me'n'Mine Fan Club president.
    2009 update - we found Jimmy's sister Helen (see diary).
Email Rob: "rob_a at nextbestthing.com.au"

 

Who were The Limmericks?

During the summer of '66-'67, Me'n'Mine through their manager Kevin Platt, or KJ as we called him as he was KJ Platt, scored a series of weekly gigs at Cabramatta Town Hall supporting name acts that had just appeared on the Billy Thorpe TV show "It's All Happening". Among those acts were Billy Thorpe and the New Aztecs, The Throb (heavy metal precursors), and Him & The Others.

It was a long time ago, and I wasn't an eye witness, but the story goes that John Harrigan, Thorpe's manager and a big time promoter of the time, approached our manager Kevin, and said words to the effect that "The name of your band Me'n'Mine sounds a bit too much like a sendup of my band - Him & The Others. I suggest you find another name for your group or you'll never work in this town again". Yes, I know it's a cliché, but the end result was that Me'n'Mine vanished and was replaced by...

The Limmericks

...but to this day we still think of that whole period as belonging to Me'n'Mine.