Brett Garsed was born in rural Victoria, Australia and began playing guitar at age 12 after hearing Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore play “Speed King'. After about a month of initial lessons he continued to teach himself and formed a band comprised of his two cousins and a mutual friend and began playing live.

In July 1985, Brett was featured in Guitar Player magazine’s “Spotlight” column, which was devoted to exposing new talent to the rest of the world. This encouraged Brett to give up his job as a licensed plumber and pursue a career as a professional musician, prompting him to send demo tapes to as many record companies and management companies as he could find. “I wasn’t looking for a record deal. I just wanted to get into a good band.” One of the tapes was heard by Ross Fraser of the Wheatley Organization, which led to an audition for a short tour by Australian superstar John Farnham. Farnham, at this time still a member of the Little River Band, was planning a...