This ‘rock’ album was recorded and mixed in Sydney, Australia in 1990 and mastered and released in Salt Lake City in 1994.

Just prior to the recording of Been there, done that I had been bassist in Sydney band The Sea Monsters. The drummer for the Harry Angel sessions (Adrian Benvenga) had also been a Sea Monster as had lead guitarist Rohan Lewis. In fact Rohan still was a Sea Monster at the time.

The only missing Sea Monster from the sessions was founding member of that band Billy Gruner. The Sea Monsters recorded and released one vinyl record while I was with them. It is called Lost Days and was released on Claudestine Records in 1990. (I still have a copy.)

Also at the sessions were two members of Adrian’s then current band, guitarist Magnus Morris and harmonica player Nick Potts.

There were two more guest guitarists for the sessions: ‘Wolf’ (can’t remember his real name because he very rarely used it - sorry Wolf), and Tom Kazas who also engineered most of the album. Harmonies were taken care of by someone I met at a pub in Newtown, Linda Meynes. We had got talking over a ‘schooner’ (about one pint worth), and I invited her into the sessions. The last guest appearance was by my son Ben Carter (who at the time was nine years old). He sang along with the line, “the children will all pay our debts it seems we always have”, on the song ‘Too Much Too Soon’, (not included here because a later version appears on the Crighkey page).

The album was titled, ‘Been There, Done That!’ because I had left Australia to go ‘walk about’ and decided I wanted to seek out and explore new forms of musical expression. The first cover showed a painting of the young Beethoven, (circa. 1794), because in my humble opinion Beethoven was the first rocker. Beethoven expanded the orchestra of the late 1700’s making a bigger string section with more basses for greater power and momentum. He enlarged the woodwinds for more colour and texture, and employed more brass and percussion for drama and dynamics. He gave the basses lead melody lines instead of just harmonic support. In his seventh symphony he wrote over 100 bars of sostenuto for the basses, causing the critics to proclaim that he had finally gone mad. He used to pound out rhythms on his piano that drove the neighbours bonkers. He occasionally broke piano strings. They say he used to count out his coffee beans to make sure each cup of coffee was the perfect strength. I know how he feels. I’m pretty fussy about my coffee too. Way to go Herr Beethoven.