Napoleon Goes Solo

Napoleon Goes Solo is one of Adelaide’s most successful bands from the late 1980s. They performed from 1987 until 1991, recording three albums, touring Australia and being finalists in the 1990 National Battle of the Bands.

The catalyst for the band formation was the return to Adelaide of guitarist Neville Hill after a two-year stint playing the lucrative Queensland cover band circuit.  Deciding to take a serious approach to songwriting, Neville invested in a home 8-track studio and began compiling instrumental pieces. 

Following several songwriting partnerships, Neville met singer Chris Goodall who had been touring and recording with bands, Plan-B and The Great Wall.  Chris and Neville shared similar musical tastes and an interest in creating original music influenced by UK bands such as Simple Minds, U2, and The Cure.  Several demo recordings were made and encouraged by their efforts, they decided to form a band. The band name ‘Napoleon Goes Solo’ was chosen by Neville as a homage to one of his favourite childhood movie characters, Napoleon Solo, from the TV series The Man From Uncle.

By late 1987 the initial band line-up also included drummer Jon Bowles (ex-Art of Parties), bassist Mark Warren (ex-Egypt), and keyboard/guitarist Peter Rex.  Following some initial performance success, Peter decided to leave the band. To fill the vacant keyboard position, Chris reached out to Adelaide keyboard session player Antony Hubmayer (No Cause For Alarm and Serious Moonlighters) who joined in early 1988.