The Guardian: Acid, blood and police raids: the pioneering drag chaos of Sylvia and the Synthetics
by Lo Carmen
Sylvia and the Synthetics – Australia’s audacious drag provocateurs and underground LGBTQ pioneers – burned brightly and chaotically for the short two years of their reign.
In 1972, Morris Spinetti, the group’s “founding mother”, was performing as a mime artist with Australia’s first female rock star, Wendy Saddington, when the concept was dreamt up with Paul Hock and Denis Norton.
More a loose, amorphous creative collective than an official troupe, there were reportedly as many as 20 bona fide Synthetics and many more peripheral members besides, performing explosive, uninhibited and now legendary shows at packed Sydney venues until 1974.
