THEY'VE been mates since school and started playing music together more than 40 years ago.
Initially known as The Buzzards, now Chess Brothers, the trio have written a song detailing the Stockton community's fight to save its beach from crippling erosion.
The band includes Steve Rounsley on vocals and bass, Peter Ramsey on drums and Ian Taggart on guitar.
Who took the sand away? was written as an entry in the 2022 Stockton Community Art Competition that sought entries about the beach.
Dr Taggart, a member of the Stockton Community Group, said the song laments the "communities angst over the massive, and unchecked, loss of sand at Stockton over the past 100 years".
"Given that coastal engineers tell us this has been caused by a deepened entrance channel, from eight to over 22 metres, and breakwaters that block the natural re-supply of sand, we think that environmental harm has occurred in the pursuit of revenue," he said.
"Both the channel and breakwaters are NSW state owned and constructed by the then NSW Public Works.
"Hence we ask 'who' took the sand away and not 'what'. As Novocastrians we now wonder what legacy we are leaving for our children if we the people say and do nothing. There are solutions."
This song was written as an entry into the 2022 Stockton Community Art Competition that sought entries with a theme of Stockton Beach.
Who took the sand away? is available on YouTube.
The band thanked Sawtooth Studios and AlphaSierra and Justin Martin for supplying the video footage.
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