December the band appeared at a one-day festival at Waikino. Headlining acts included the Country Flyers, Rockinghorse, and Ragnarok. Also present were the up-and-coming Hello Sailor. Th' Dudes were so impressed with them that they became fanatical fans and even started modelling themselves on them. What they liked was the way Hello Sailor came across as being cocky, self-assured, dripping with talent, and with just a touch of decadence.

By 1977 there was enough interest in Th' Dudes for Kevin Lane to offer them the job of replacing Street Talk as regulars at the Windsor Castle, Auckland's Primo rock venue. Th' Dudes had been greatly influenced by the blues style of Street Talk, even covering one or two of their songs later on.

Lez White replaced Peter Coleman on bassin the middle of 1978. At that stage they were playing regularly at all the key Auckland venues, including the Windsor Castle, Globe, Gluepot and the Island Of Real. They became one of the Island Of Real's most popular bands and in July 1978, its owner, Charley Gray became their manager. He told the band, "if you want to be treated like stars, you have to behave like stars". It was an attitude that backfired on both Charley and the Th' Dudes, and in adopting this stance they were sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

When Hello Sailor left for the USA in August 1978, Gray was determined to make Th' Dudes the #1 group around. Their insistence on star treatment was getting bizarre. When they played support