Ex award winning Rock ‘n’ Rollers turn their talents to writing religious music
In the late 1960’s and ‘70’s Joseph Orifici won “Battle of The Bands”, resulting in numerous national TV appearances and recording contracts. Later with Richard “Tony” Harris and Prohibition they released “Champagne Tickles My Nose” making it into the top 10 ARIA charts.
Now, that influence is evident in Joe & Tony’s hymns, mass settings, sequences and psalms. The pieces have been written in a pop genre to be more modern and interactive with the congregation. The intent is to connect more with the younger generation and hopefully provide more scope for their involvement in the celebration of the Mass.
They have also written a large collection of, let’s say, more classic traditional pieces of music. They have certainly provided varied and diverse thematic compositions, which include a tribute hymn to Saint Mary Mackillop, (Australia’s first saint) and a hymn especially dedicated to children, which they hope will become an anthem for Catholic and indeed all schools around the world.
Mass of the Faithfull is widely used in Western Australia and indeed provided some of the soundtrack to the American documentary “From Moses to Mohammed”.
On the left is Tony Harris, Joe Orifici in the middle and Robin Cox on the right.
The band was called Prohibition.
That was Then.
This is NOW.
Tony Harris 
Joe Orifici