In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Tom Austin, drummer of The Royal Teens. The Royal Teens were formed in New Jersey in 1956 with Tom on Drums, Bob Gaudio on piano, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on saxophone. In 1957 Tom and Bob Gaudio were driving down the street in Tom's brand new Ford Fairlane 500 when they saw two girls exit a candy store wearing cut-off shorts. They had just written an instrumental and it needed a name. In that moment Tom coined the term "Short Shorts" and suggest that be the title to the newly written instrumental. Tom wrote lyrics to the song and "Short Shorts" became the bands first single and biggest hit reaching number 3 on the billboard top 100 in 1958. The group went from playing local dances to touring with the likes of Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis. The band continued to make music through the '50s before disbanding in 1960.  The band have in more recent times reformed with Tom being the only original member still touring with the group. 65 years after their formation, in 2021 the band released their latest single Journey Down the Jersey shore. Other then music, Tom has written many books. He co-wrote Charlie Calello's memoir Another Season - A Jersey Boy's Journey with the Four Seasons and Beyond and has written two books on The Riviera, an iconic former New York restaurant, they are called: Bridge To The Riviera & Bill Miller's Riviera.  Tom is also an artist and you can view his paintings on his website.  Jack phoned Tom to discuss his early musical beginnings, his memories of seeing the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. playing at the Riviera, the formation of the Royal Teens, the writing and recording of "Short Shorts", his memories of touring with artists like Buddy Holly and Bill Haley & His Comets, Royal Teens songs such as Big Named Button and Leotards, the disbandment of the band in 1960, the group's work today, how the groups 2021 single Party Down The Jersey Shore came to be and Toms work as an author and artist.  "I said lets call it Short Shorts, he (Bob Gaudio) said 'is that what they call those things?'', I said 'I don't know what they call them but we can call them short shorts'...the word short shorts was non--existent, we coined that word" - Tom Austin on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about how the groups hit 'Short Shorts' came to be Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes The website for Vinyl Vibes.  If you like this content, we'd love to hear from you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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