Pre corporate punk and garage music.......

After coming across the J Files site on Friday and the recent posts about some of the great punk bands (not that trash they label punk today) I thought it would be a good idea to start a new thread.

I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on some of the live performances, classic albums, quotes and anything else about some of the great punk/garage bands they've seen or heard in their lifetime.

To give you an idea of the sorts of bands I'm talking about I've copied a couple of songlists that Richard Kingsmill played on the J files below..........

70'S PUNK PLAYLIST - 13/06/1996

Sex Pistols - "God Save The Queen"
The Saints - "I'm Stranded"
The Victims - "Television Addict"
The Ramones - "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"
The Ramones - "Blitzkrieg Bop"
The Damned - "New Rose"
Thought Criminals - "Fun"
Sex Pistols - "Pretty Vacant"
Dead Kennedys - "Too Drunk To ****"
XL Capris - "My City Of Sydney"
Stiff Little Fingers - "Alternative Ulster"
Radio Birdman - "Burn My Eye"
X - "I Don't Wanna Go Out"
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - "Blank Generation"
X-Ray Spex - "Oh Bondage Up Yous"
The Germs - "Lexicon Devil"
The Clash - "Janie Jones"
The Jam - "In The City"
The Saints - "Wild About You"
The Go-Betweens - "People Say"
Boys Next Door - "Boy Hero"
Bad Religion - "**** Armagedon"
The Exploited - "Punk's Not Dead"
Sex Pistols - "Anarchy In The UK"
Vibrators - "Baby Baby"
Teenage Radio Stars - "I Wanna Be Ya Baby"
The Weirdos - "We Got The Neutron Bomb"
The Stranglers - "No More Heroes"
Boomtown Rats - "Lookin' After No.1"
Suicide Squad - "I Hate School"
Lipstick Killers - "Hindu Gods Of Love"
Generation X - "Your Generation"
Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Hong Kong Garden"
Pere Ubu - "Final Solution"
Television - "See No Evil"
Buzz****s - "Harmony In My Head"
Razar - "Task Force"
Blondie - "Rip Her To Shreads"
Sid Vicious - "My Way"

AUSTRALIAN '80S GARAGE ROCK PLAYLIST

The Hard-Ons - All Set To Go - single - 1987
Radio Birdman - Do The Pop - Radios Appear - 1978
Lipstick Killers - Hindu Gods (Of Love) - single - 1979
The Victims - Television Addict - single - 1978
The Hoodoo Gurus - Dig It Up - Triple J Live At The Wireless - 1983
Screaming Tribesmen - Igloo - single - 1983
Sunnyboys - Love To Rule - Sunnyboys EP - 1981
Scientists - Swampland - single - 1982
The Lime Spiders - Beyond The Fringe - Slave Girl single - 1984
The Celibate Rifles - Wild Desire - single - 1984
Radio Birdman - New Race - Radios Appear - 1978
Exploding White Mice - Burning Red - A Nest Of Vipers EP - 1985
The Bamboos - With Which To Love You - single - 1987
The New Christs - Born Out Of Time - single - 1986
The Lime Spiders - Slave Girl - single - 1984
The Stems - Make You Mine - single - 1985
God - My Pal - single - 1988
Beasts Of Bourbon - Psycho - The Axeman's Jazz - 1984
Decline Of The Reptiles - Don't Look Down - Too Much Armour Not Enough Brains EP - 1986
Eastern Dark - Over Now - Long Live The New Flesh EP - 1986
The Passengers - Face With No Name - single - 1979
The Acid Drops - Surfin' Prostitute Beat - single - 1984
Died Pretty - Stoneage Cinderella - single - 1985
The Trilobites - Venus In Leather - single - 1985
The Hard-Ons - Something About You - Dickcheese - 1988
The Wet Taxis - C'mon - single - 1984
The Kryptonics - Trapped Inside - 69 EP - 1989
Minuteman - Voodoo Slaves - single - 1982
The Moffs - Another Day In The Sun - single - 1985
Psychotic Turnbuckles - Albuquerque (Wild Scenes) - Destroy Dull City EP - 1986
Huxton Creepers - The Murderess - single - 1985


I'm sure you'll agree there are some great bands and songs in the 2 lists above..........


Although I was a little too young to see any bands in the 70's I had the pleasure of going along to Thebby Theatre in Adelaide in the early 80's to see a PIL concert with a few mates.............not exactly a punk band themself but led by 'Johnny Rotten' we thought there'd be a chance they would play some old Sex Pistols tracks..........

We rocked up a couple of hours early to enjoy a few drinks before the show and were stunned to see the park on the corner next to Thebby chockers full of punks and a few skinheads mixed in............it was going to be an interesting night...........

The venue was smart enough to ensure there was no seating downstairs - obviously they remembered what happened when they had seats there at a Madness show earlier in the year................Henley Beach Road ended up with a few.......

I've no re-collection of the name of the band playing first but will never forget their show..........the lead singer was carried onto the stage in a coffin and jumped up during the guitar intro to the first song wearing a leather face mask zipped up like some extreme mental patients used to wear..........

The punks and skins went wild as the drummer stepped forward and threw minced pigs brains over the crowd.............and for some extra fun kicked a pig's head into the crowd which became the object of the pogo dancers in the first 20 odd rows of people..............suffice to say I have little re-collection of the actual music played but it was certainly a sweaty pit of people at the front with the music full on..............

After a couple more beers between bands we settled down for the PIL show.............Johnny came on at his arrogant best and proceeded to abuse the punks and skins who in typical fashion (respect) spat right back at him.............

They played hits off their recent albums including Flowers Of Romance, Rise, Public Image amongst many others in the first 45 minutes before Johhny threw the mike down in the middle of a song and walked off stage with the band following a few minutes later........

Well the crowd went a little wild thinking the show was over when someone walked up on stage, grabbed the mike and said 'If you pricks don't stop spitting it's the end of the show'........which went down like a lead balloon.............

after about 10 minutes the crowd had settled down a little when the lights went out and the curtain at the back of the stage went up and revealed a cyclone mesh fence with what looked like police officers and a couple of police dogs behind the wire.........

Next minute Johnny and the band were back out on stage and launched into God Save The Queen..........the spitting resumed even heavier than before, the crowd started bouncing as the floor of Thebby shook the hardest I've ever felt........this is what we had come to see............

They then continued to play Pistols songs for the rest of the night including Pretty Vacant, Stepping Stone, EMI, Holidays In The Sun and a few others before ending the show with Anarchy In The UK.........

Sweat pouring off us we exited Thebby and as we walked down the road to the pub where we had parked the car we all commented that it would have been an interesting trip up to Salisbury/Elizabeth on the last train out that night...........


A great concert and something I will never forget..........


So lets hear some of your stories, special albums/songs or anything else you'd like to add about this great era of music..........
...

Born (out of time) in 1975 so never got the chance to see most of these bands. I really enjoy Australian stuff thus am really into the Hard-Ons, Rifles, and other bands not mentioned like the Cosmic Psychos.

Not a huge fan of the English punk scene.I was at a club last night where the DJ played a tribute to Joe Strummer which was pretty cool even though I am not a huge Clash fan. I reckon Blondie is pretty under rated.

Anyway it will be interesting to hear from others.........good thread

#1 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Punks
#2 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Punks
#3 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Girls
#3 1/2 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Who Cares!
#4 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for the New Wave!
#5 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for A Bunch of Bleedin' Idiots
#6 Sniffin' Snow And Other Seasonal Habits For Snowmen!
#7 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Pinheads and Surfers!
#8 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For People Who Think It's Hip To Read the "In" Mag
#9 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits And Anything To Cause And Uproar!
#10 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Deptford Yobs!
#11 Sniffin' Glue And Other Self-Defence Habits
#12 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Around Aug/Sept '77

Those lists contain just about every band I love. I'm a huge fan of the Saints, Birdman, the Eastern Dark, the Sunnyboys and the like. A couple I personally would have added to the 70s list would have been the Dictators, the Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Motorhead and the Real Kids. The Aussie list is pretty much there although bands like the Seminal Rats, the White Elephants, Cosmic Psychos, Bored, the Chosen Few and the Zorros could have been added. I suppose some of the "precursor" bands (the Stooges, the MC5, the New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper) could have also been added but that might be a different story altogether.

There are still bands doing this type of stuff around Melbourne and doing it well. Some names off the top of my head: Hoss, the Naked Eye (plug! plug!), the Mystaken, Dung, Hands of Time, the Specimens

Originally posted by IAMDASH
Born (out of time) in 1975 so never got the chance to see most of these bands. I really enjoy Australian stuff thus am really into the Hard-Ons, Rifles, and other bands not mentioned like the Cosmic Psychos.

Not a huge fan of the English punk scene.I was at a club last night where the DJ played a tribute to Joe Strummer which was pretty cool even though I am not a huge Clash fan. I reckon Blondie is pretty under rated.

Anyway it will be interesting to hear from others.........good thread

Click to expand...

Good to see a reply........I'm hopeful this thread will go on for a while with various peoples experiences about some truly great bands and their music............

I was a little young to enjoy 70's punk at the time but spent plenty of time exploring it in the 80's.........so hence the second song list of Aussie garage music in the 80's was added.........

I highly recommend looking through the J files site - click on the name underlined at the beginning of the first post.


As for the Cosmic Psychos......great band who don't take themselves too seriously which has probably helped them survive for so many years...........who else would release a Best of CD called '15 Years - A Million Beers'

Saw them up here in Darwin a couple of years ago in a small club......great show........I have the song "Thank Your Mother For The Rabbits" regularly playing on the PC........


For those that know nothing about the Psycho's here's a biography of the band I found on the net.......

One of the most notorious Australian pub rock bands, the Cosmic Psychos officially began their journey together in 1985. Living by the rule of thumb that you should drink before you play a show because your friends might drink all of the beer, the Psychos gained a reputation for not caring about money so much as the free alcohol, laughs, and overseas traveling involved with being in a rock band.

Over the course of seven full-length albums, one best-of collection, one EP, 11 singles, and more than five compilation appearances, the group has sang with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, befriended Mudhoney, and supplied beer to Silverchair at Australia's Big Day Out festival.

Bassist Ross Knight was playing in a high school punk band in the late '70s, called Rancid Spam, in Victoria, Australia, located two hours north of Melbourne. In the meantime, guitarist Peter Jones and drummer Bill Walsh were performing together in the Melbourne group Spring Plains with a bassist and vocalist.

After the bass player left in 1982, Walsh and Jones asked their friend Knight for his assistance. Knight and the singer from Rancid Spam had relocated to Melbourne in the early '80s. When they arrived in the city, Walsh was one of the first people who Rancid Spam's singer met at university. The singer introduced Knight to Walsh, and they became fast friends. Knight agreed to join Spring Plains on bass and by 1985, the threesome handed the original singer his walking papers.

After deciding that Knight would take over vocal duties, the group changed its name to the Cosmic Psychos. With the stripped down lineup, the band played their first gig as the Cosmic Psychos at the Stockade pub in Carlonand, Australia, with the Moodists. That same year, Cosmic Psychos recorded their debut EP, Down on the Farm, on a two-track tape machine in their practice space and released it on Australia's Mr. Spaceman Records and Europe's What Goes On label. A live version of the Down on the Farm track "Custom Credit" appeared on a compilation album distributed by European publication Howl! Magazine the following year.

Two years would pass before the Cosmic Psychos would release their first full-length, Cosmic Psychos. Mr. Spaceman released the vinyl version, while Australian label Shagpile had the CD counterpart distributed through Shock Records. A 7" record featuring the song "Lead Me Astray" from the self-titled debut coincided with the full-length release. Lemon Fanzine number 15 featured the band's song "David Lee Roth" on a compilation given away with the zine that same year.

By 1989, Cosmic Psychos saw their second full-length album, Go the Hack, released in the United States on Sub-Pop Records. Prior to Go the Hack, Americans could only purchase Cosmic Psychos' albums as imports. The album saw its Australian release on Survival Records. The band followed Go the Hack with their first live album, Slave to the Crave, in 1990, which acted as a showcase of material from their first EP and two full-length records. Slave to the Crave was taken from a June 1989 performance at Melbourne venue the Palace.

As 1990 set in, Jones vacated the guitar spot. Ross and Walsh asked their friend and self-taught guitarist, Robbie Watts, to join the fold. Watts said yes and the Cosmic Psychos ventured to Wisconsin to record their third full-length release, Blokes You Can Trust, at producer Butch Vig's Smart Studios. Originally, the band was going to produce the album themselves, with Vig only coming in at the end to mix the final product. However, the dichotomy between Vig and the group was so strong that Vig wound up producing as well.

The end result was what Knight called one of their most enjoyable recordings. Blokes You Can Trust was the first record of the band's Amphetamine Reptile contract. The American-based label was owned by Tom Hazelmeyer, whom the band had met while they were in Europe. Hazelmeyer was a drinking buddy of the band, so they figured his label would be the best to release their material stateside, as well as in Europe. Blokes You Can Trust was finally released in 1991, followed by Amphetamine Reptile's combined re-release of Cosmic Psychos' Down on the Farm EP and Cosmic Psychos LP. The Blokes You Can Trust track "Dead Roo" was released as a single in Australia on the Survival imprint and contained the B-side "Can't Come In" from their debut album.

The group conducted a European tour on which they developed an unusual trademark. After a show in Potsdam, Germany, and after seeing many other rock bands take bows after performances, the Cosmic Psychos decided to alter the tradition by pulling down their pants and mooning the unsuspecting audience. The release of the "Dead Roo" single was followed by the Back to School CD on Survival in 1992, which contained a cut from the Cosmic Psychos and Blokes You Can Trust albums, as well as a cover of L7's "Shove." The latter track was a nod to the Seattle girl band, who'd covered a Cosmic Psychos' song on a 7" EP.

Amphetamine Reptile also had the band contribute a track to its Dope, Guns 'n' ****ing in the Streets compilation. 1993 witnessed a rough spot in the Cosmic Psychos' recording career as they released their fifth full-length CD, Palomino Pizza. The disc featured three cover songs of old Australian pub classics from the likes of Billy Thorpe the Aztechs, Buffalo, and Guitar Overdose. The band criticized themselves because they felt that the CD was a half-hearted effort on their part, but they toured in support of the disc nonetheless.

They played shows in the United States with indie superstars Superchunk and loud rock band the Onyas. Later that year, Cosmic Psychos recorded a split 7" with the band Vertigo. The record, released on Hippy Knight, was a tribute to noise rock group Halo of Flies and featured the Cosmic Psychos playing their own rendition of "Garbage Rock."

Throughout 1994, Knight spent time on his farm in Australia recording various song ideas. By the end of that year, he had amassed 40 riffs on one cassette. The Cosmic Psychos rummaged through the material and came up with what critics considered their strongest album to date. Shock Records paid the band to record the new album, titled Self Totalled, and the group spent one thousand dollars on liquor to get them through the week-long session.

Self Totalled finally saw the light of day in 1995. The record was released on Shagpile and distributed through Shock in Australia, while Amphetamine Reptile handled the U.S. and European releases and distribution. A 7" followed the release and featured two tracks from Self Totalled and one unreleased cut. The single was released in the United States on City Slang and in Australia on Shagpile.

The band played a number of gigs in America and ended their tour in Australia. During this brief excursion, the band was asked to open for Pearl Jam in Sydney. The Cosmic Psychos came by recommendation of Mudhoney's Matt Lukin, who suggested to Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder that he look the Psychos up when they got there.

The audience of 37,000 wound up booing the Psychos' 45-minute set, and the band responded with their bare-bottomed thanks.

The Psychos rounded out their Self Totalled tour by playing at Australia's Big Day Out festival, which featured the Screaming Trees, Hole, Silverchair, Primal Scream, Luscious Jackson, the Offspring, and Ministry.

Later in the year, the magazine Carbon 14 distributed a compilation featuring an extreme heavy metal song called "B.I.T." from the Cosmic Psychos. The track was previously unavailable on any of the Psychos' albums. At the beginning of 1996, Shagpile released a 7" record featuring the Self Totalled track "Whip Me" along with unplugged renditions of Down on the Farm's "Crazy Woman" and Go the Hack's "Lost Cause." The CD version of the 7" featured the "Whip Me" single, "Crazy Woman," and "Lost Cause," as well as two other unplugged songs.

Prior to the releases, the band had never picked up acoustic instruments to record any of its material. Growing tired of the MTV Unplugged shows at the time, the band figured they'd release their own version poking fun at the program's popularity. Along with producer Lindsay Gravina, the band recorded the tracks with a prerecorded audience at Birdland Studios. To the band's surprise, the acoustic numbers received heavy airplay on a large number of Australia's radio stations. A condensed version of the unplugged session was released in the United States on Man's Ruin Records.

Obsessed with Australian meat pies, the Cosmic Psychos finished their seventh full-length album at the start of 1997 and gave into their fascination by titling the record Oh What a Lovely Pie. Before the actual release, Shagpile began sending out a three-song promotional copy. The full-length version came out that summer on Amphetamine Reptile in the United States and Europe. It contained ten songs dealing with everything from dominatrix girlfriends to serial killers. The release was followed by a 24-date tour of Europe with the Melvins. Following the jaunt, the two bands decided to record a split 7" for Gearhead Records. The 1998 release featured the Cosmic Psychos cover of the Sweet's "Some Girls." Gearhead also included the song on their Runnin' on Fumes: The Gearhead Magazine Singles compilation.

Throughout 1998, the Cosmic Psychos continued to tour in support of Oh What a Lovely Pie. Their Australian and European shows included supporting act the Onyas. The Cosmic Psychos then darted over to the United States, where they gigged with Gaunt, Mudhoney, and Nashville Pussy.

After a three-month break back in Australia, the Cosmic Psychos returned to the United States in July of 1999. The band teamed up with their old friends the Melvins to promote their split 7". By the end of the year, work also began on a Cosmic Psychos' retrospective LP culling tracks from their last 15 years together.

As the year 2000 reared its head, the Cosmic Psychos released 15 Years -- A Million Beers with the help of Dropkick Records. The band had been kicking the idea around for five years. The double album included rare outtakes, B-sides, and material from their previous records. A European tour with supporting act the Mobile Homos was scheduled to celebrate the Cosmic Psychos' anniversary. Although he was still a member of the band, Watts decided to sit the tour out. Knight and Walsh hired the Raunch Hands' guitarist Mike Mariconda to play the gigs.

~ Stephen Howell, All Music Guide

Originally posted by Rusty Brookes
Those lists contain just about every band I love. I'm a huge fan of the Saints, Birdman, the Eastern Dark, the Sunnyboys and the like. A couple I personally would have added to the 70s list would have been the Dictators, the Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Motorhead and the Real Kids. The Aussie list is pretty much there although bands like the Seminal Rats, the White Elephants, Cosmic Psychos, Bored, the Chosen Few and the Zorros could have been added. I suppose some of the "precursor" bands (the Stooges, the MC5, the New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper) could have also been added but that might be a different story altogether.

There are still bands doing this type of stuff around Melbourne and doing it well. Some names off the top of my head: Hoss, the Naked Eye (plug! plug!), the Mystaken, Dung, Hands of Time, the Specimens

Click to expand...

So any experiences you'd like to share..........concerts, favourite songs albums, anythng........

I'm sure we can all learn a thing or two and find some new bands to listen to compared to the crap they call punk music these days............

Originally posted by Shinboners
#1 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Punks
#2 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Punks
#3 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Girls
#3 1/2 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for Who Cares!
#4 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for the New Wave!
#5 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits for A Bunch of Bleedin' Idiots
#6 Sniffin' Snow And Other Seasonal Habits For Snowmen!
#7 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Pinheads and Surfers!
#8 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For People Who Think It's Hip To Read the "In" Mag
#9 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits And Anything To Cause And Uproar!
#10 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Deptford Yobs!
#11 Sniffin' Glue And Other Self-Defence Habits
#12 Sniffin' Glue And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits For Around Aug/Sept '77

Click to expand...

I'm gathering from what I find this was a fanzine and has now been put together into a book...........

'Sniffin' Glue - The Essential Punk Accessory' by Mark Perry

I may be sounding dramatic, but I wanna go out and hear the sounds that I like every night. I wanna have to choose what gig to go to. We need something happening daily. If we don't get it that way we can forget the whole thing right now." --- Mark Perry was a disillusioned bank clerk from Deptford, South East London, when he wrote those feisty words.

He was also singlehandedly writing and producing a third issue of the seminal punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue, at the time proclaimed to be the "nastiest, healthiest and funniest piece of press in the history of rock'n'roll, and other rock'n'roll habits" by the NME. The title, coined from equal parts Lenny Bruce and The Ramones, ran for a mere twelve months, influencing an entire generation and spawing a hundred imitations.

During its brief existence Sniffin' Glue brilliantly chronicled the birth, rise and demise of punk rock in the UK. Starting with a print run of a mere 50 copies, by Issue 3 the circulation was way into the thousands and already Mark P was declaring its existence too successful, and in true punk spirit encouraged his readers to rip up their copies. As Mark wrote, "I didn't write it for people to read. I wrote it because it was easy to write." ---

Joined in the later issues by young co-writer Danny Baker, sales started to exceed expectations, but Mark P was eager to avoid accusations of becoming part of the established rock press. By Issue 12 he had called it a day, confident to move on in the secure knowledge that Sniffin' Glue had provided a springboard for his own musical aspirations as leader of Alternative TV, while in turn paving the way for Danny's journalistic intentions. ---

Sniffin' Glue's integral part in rock music's colourful history is undisputed and like all good musical traditions, bands and trends alike, has just made a comeback... this time in the form of a bloody great book. Thank you very much! (Terry Rawlings, Editor)

Click to expand...

Sounds like a great book and even more amazing fanzine...........the search begins........

I was really pleased to see "Burning Red" by the Mice of the OZ list. This is my favourite Mice track followed very closely by "Fear(late at night)". I like all that list but would like to add "True Love" by the Marching Girls as an OZ garage classic of the 80's. As far as I can work out only ever available on the long deleted hard to find "Dogs In Space" Soundtrack and the even longer deleted and harder to find Au-Go-Go 45. I couldn't believe it when "Do the Pop" was released and then Raven did a similiar compiliation which practically mirrored it. Don't get me wrong both fantastic compiliations but I was hoping that one or the other would have had "True Love" on it. Also a couple of Adelaide tracks I'd add would be "Don't talk of love" and "Sandra" by the Screaming Believers "Baby you flirt" by the Units and "Ten Years On" by the Dagoes. "Battlesick" by The Mark of Cain would be in the mix as well I just don't know if Jon would like to called a "Garage" band.

To get the concert/gig ball rolling I'd have to say some of my fondest memories of gigs revolve around a sweaty,stuffy Union Hotel on a Saturday Night in the early 80's drinking $1 cans of west end and watching "The Screaming Believers/The Shreds","The Dagoes","The Units" and/or "The Urban Guerillas" .The crowds were weird as most Adelaide punk music lovers tended to dress like suburban bogans in those days, and you also got a few 'meathead' sports stars types in moleskins with a smattering of skinheads and Duran Duran lookalike/wannabes.Now I AM showing my age

Was just doing a search on Marching Girls when I came across this site......

inner city sounds - indie alternative punk rock Australian Music.

For people who were there, somewhere between 1975 and 1984, or those who have rediscovered this era of great music. This site contains great Australian indie/alternative vinyl that was either financed by the bands themselves or by some of the ground breaking, risk taking small record businesses of this time.

"Inner City Sound describes the years 1976-1981 of punk/post-punk music in Australia. The Inner City Sound is a distinct movement towards an Australian rock of its own invention and identity." Clinton Walker, from his book of the same name, published by Wild & Woolley Pty Ltd 1982.


The site has a trade section with plenty of hard to get music from this great era..............it also mentions they are looking to start up an Internet Radio station in the near future..........

Internet Radio commencing soon is 'Inner City Sound', a new program featuring all Australian independent & alternative music released between 1975 and 1984. This program comprises all vinyl indie/alternative 7'', 12'' eps, lps and cassettes. Nearly all of this music has not been re-issued onto CD, and may never be.

There will be specials featuring new and current CD re-issues.


Check it out.......I really hope they get this station up and running as I know I'll be tuned in all day...........

Well done, GREAT find!!!!!!!!!
That site will be priceless as you will NEVER see 50% of that stuff on commercially available CDS.
The Adelaide Innocents had a single out on EMI custom "Let's get pi$$ed" and Johhny Cav went onto to play in The Screaming Believers .

Good thread.

Bands like The Saints and Radio Birdman have never got the recognition they deserve in this country, it really is amazing the number of people who've "never heard of" these fine bands. Largely ignored by the 'mainstream', The Saints' debut album (I'm) Stranded is an Australian classic. Stealing a line from the album's sleevenotes: Sir Bob Geldof once obsereved: "Rock music of the 70's was changed by three bands - The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Saints". Hard to disagree.

One of my personal favorite bands, The Celibate Rifles are another example of a great Aussie act generally, unrecognised. Caught 'em live a couple years back, and they still kick some serious butt. The Cosmic Pyschos are also great fun live, apart from their music, their sense of humor and ability to laugh at themselves is infectious.


------------------------------------------------------------
EFC: We Hate You Too

Originally posted by Rusty Brookes
Those lists contain just about every band I love. I'm a huge fan of the Saints, Birdman, the Eastern Dark, the Sunnyboys and the like. A couple I personally would have added to the 70s list would have been the Dictators, the Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Motorhead and the Real Kids. The Aussie list is pretty much there although bands like the Seminal Rats, the White Elephants, Cosmic Psychos, Bored, the Chosen Few and the Zorros could have been added. I suppose some of the "precursor" bands (the Stooges, the MC5, the New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper) could have also been added but that might be a different story altogether.

There are still bands doing this type of stuff around Melbourne and doing it well. Some names off the top of my head: Hoss, the Naked Eye (plug! plug!), the Mystaken, Dung, Hands of Time, the Specimens

Click to expand...

Rusty,

I picked up a Dictators album a few weeks back, largely on the back of what you've said about 'em in many of your posts. The album is a cracker, however, the sleevenotes don't give much away about the band. I know they've been around a few years, but , can yer giz some more info on 'em?

Cheers.


-------------------------------------------------------------
EFC: We Hate You Too

Originally posted by Leaping Lindner
... To get the concert/gig ball rolling I'd have to say some of my fondest memories of gigs revolve around a sweaty,stuffy Union Hotel on a Saturday Night in the early 80's drinking $1 cans of west end and watching "The Screaming Believers/The Shreds","The Dagoes","The Units" and/or "The Urban Guerillas" .The crowds were weird as most Adelaide punk music lovers tended to dress like suburban bogans in those days, and you also got a few 'meathead' sports stars types in moleskins with a smattering of skinheads and Duran Duran lookalike/wannabes.Now I AM showing my age

Click to expand...

YOUR age?

I was around the same scene and I was four or five years older than everyone else.

Would you believe, the Urban Guerillas still exist. They moved to Sydney about the same time as my band, (The Spell ... remember them?) Amazingly I found an Urban Guerillas song on mp3.com.au and sent an email to Ken Stewart, who sent me their 1995 album, "Just A Lifetime" and their more recent single, "Big Brother". I think Ken is the only original member. They're still based in Sydney.

Originally posted by Leaping Lindner
.... The Adelaide Innocents had a single out on EMI custom "Let's get pi$$ed" and Johhny Cav went onto to play in The Screaming Believers .

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"Let's Get ****ed again ... like we did last summer" ... classic.

They also had a song called "Think About Tomorrow Tomorrow".

They later lobbed in Sydney and changed their name to The Noise. Arch la Rizza went on to play in The Saints.

I remember the Sunnyboys and had paint flung at me in art class at school for suggesting they were better than Mi-Sex. I liked them b/c they were cool. Their music was great. Not sure what you mean by corporate, but that band in particular could have been much bigger with corporate help.

I was also a fan of Haircut 100. Their not punk or garage, but I always like to bring them up as I thought they should have been huge for longer and they were unique ......record deal probs killed them off.

<teenybopper>

Why aren't Blink 182 on here???

</teenybopper>

Originally posted by Wally
Rusty,

I picked up a Dictators album a few weeks back, largely on the back of what you've said about 'em in many of your posts. The album is a cracker, however, the sleevenotes don't give much away about the band. I know they've been around a few years, but , can yer giz some more info on 'em?

Cheers.


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EFC: We Hate You Too

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Ahh, one of my favourite topics. The Dictators formed in New York early 1974. Heavily influenced by the MC5, the Stooges, the Who, the Beach Boys, Chocolate Watch Band and Black Sabbath (how's that for a mix) they recorded one of the first true punk albums in 1975, Go Girl Crazy. The Ramones were huge fans of the Dictators and they did colloborate together later in the 80s. The Dictators tended to be out of sync with the arty side of New York Punk but found steadfast allies in the "f*ck art, let's rock" side of things (The Ramones, The Heartbreakers, The Dead Boys). Commercial success eluded the 'tators as their management/producers Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman tended to concentrate on their mega selling crypto metal wierdo group Blue Oyster Cult (incidently one of my all time favourite bands). They were considered too metal for the punk crowd and too punk for the metal crowd. They released three albums in the 70s: "Go Girl Crazy", "Manifest Destiny" and "Blood Brothers". The band stopped playing but did get together on occasions to play live gigs one of which is documented on the CD, "F*ck em if they can't take a joke". The band got together in 2001 to record the fantastic "DFFD-New York, New York" album. Live reviews have gushed about how great the band are (having seen them this year I can attest to their greatness). The band are proudly Jewish and one of the funniest lyrically. Lead singer Handsome **** Manitoba (the self described King of Men) is one of the best front men since Iggy Pop or Rob Tyner. The band produced members of many groups including Manowar, Twisted Sister, Shakin Street and the Fleshtones. The band are still going strong today when all of their contemparies have passed by the wayside. The Dicatators are true rock n roll survivors.

Ta Rusty,

"DFFD - New York, New York" is the album i picked up. Definitely on the lookout for anything else i can find of this great group.


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EFC: We Hate You Too

Originally posted by knuckles
I remember the Sunnyboys and had paint flung at me in art class at school for suggesting they were better than Mi-Sex. I liked them b/c they were cool. Their music was great. Not sure what you mean by corporate, but that band in particular could have been much bigger with corporate help.

I was also a fan of Haircut 100. Their not punk or garage, but I always like to bring them up as I thought they should have been huge for longer and they were unique ......record deal probs killed them off.

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Your post basically covers what I meant by corporate (or pre corporate to be precise) punk and garage music..........bands that usually didn't get the support or airplay they deserved.

The Sunnyboys were a great band.........

I know from my own experiences growing up in Adelaide and regularly seeing bands that used to blow me away yet rarely (if at all) were heard of on commercial radio - thank god for the original MMM and 5UV.

From the list of bands at the 'inner sounds' site not too many made it 'commercially' yet at the same time provided plenty of enjoyment to those that followed the live music scene.......

Australian independent / alternative music library from 1975 to 1984.

Sound recordings Wrom:
AC/DC, Agents, Allniters, Apartments, Assassins, Bastinados, Birthday Party, Black Chrome, Bleeding Hearts, Bodysnatchers, Box Of Fish, Boys Next Door, Cartoons, Nick Cave, Celibate Rifles, Church, Club Of Rome, Crackajacks, Credits, Crime & the City Solution, Dagoes, Dead Can Dance, Derek & the Wrecks, Died Pretty, Division 4, Do Re Mi, Dorian Gray, Drop Bears, Dynamic Hepnotics, 88's, The End, Equal Local, The Eyes, Fast Cars, Flaming Hands, Flowers, Flying Calvittos, 4 Gods, Frontier Scouts, Fun Things, Go-Betweens, Goats, Helicopters, Henchmen, Hitmen, Hoi Polloi, Hoodoo Gurus, Hugo Klang, Humans, Hunters & Collectors, Infidels, INXS, Johnny Demon & the Devils, Just Urbain, Paul Kelly, Kelpies, Kicks, La Femme, Last Words, Laughing Clowns, Leftovers, Lighthouse Keepers, Lime Spiders, Lipstick Killers, Little Murders, Machinations, Madroom, The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Manikins, Marching Girls, Mansons, Mental As Anything, Metronomes, Midnight Oil, Minuteman, Models, Moodists, Mystery Of 6's, Nasty Nigel & the Teenage Hellcats, Naught Rhythms, Nauts, New Christs, New Race, News, Numbers, Nuvo Bloc, Orphans, Outline, Paradox, Particles, The Passengers, Pel Mel, Angie Pepper, Perdition, Plays With Marionettes, Popular Mechanics, Positive Hatred, Press, Primitive Calculators, Products, Progression Cult, Proles, Public Execution, Quick & The Dead, Radio Birdman, Razor Gang, Relatives, Riptides, Rockets, Rocks, Rejex, Sacred Cowboys, Saints, Sardine v, Scapa Flow, Scattered Order, Scientists, Screaming Tribesmen, Section Urbain, Sekret Sekret, Seems Twice, Sekret Sekret, Severed Heads, Sharks, Sheiks, Shy Impostors, Singles, Skunks, Skyhooks, Slug****ers, Clint Small, Soggy Porridge, SPK, Spare Change, Split Enz, Sports, Sputniks, Strange Tenants, Sunday Painters, Sunnyboys, Super K, Surfside 6, Survivors, Systematics, Tactics, Tame Omearas, Tch Tch Tch, Thorburn, Thought Criminals, Toy Love, Trans 262, Triffids, Tuff Monks, TV Jones, Two Way Garden, Units, Upsets, Vacant Lot, Vacant Rooms, Via Venuto, Victims, Visitors, Voigt/465, Henry Vyhnal, Dave Warner's From the Suburbs, Wet Taxis, Whirlywirld, Wild West, Wreckery, X, Xero, XL Capris, X-ray-Z, Young Identities, Young Modern, Z-Cars, Zorros.

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You'll also see they are after information on bands in this era for a poposed CD compilation............

Dig it Up - Australian Power Pop 1978-90

As it's name suggests'Dig It Up' is a proposed double CD anthology that highlights the power pop gems released by Australian bands during the post punk, new wave period of the late seventies, right up until the end of the eighties.

The two Australian independent labels behind this project are Zip Records and Tomboy Records. Both labels are run by individuals who have long standing involvements in the Australian independent scene, with both labels having been extremely active in the last 12 months. Zip Records in particular has released 4 full length albums and 3 EPs of local power pop acts in the last 12 months, and Tomboy Records was involved in the release of the companion CD to the Lost Weekend Pop Festival held last October in Sydney.

As to why 'Dig It Up' is being compiled? The answer is simple, there were so many astonishing records released by Australian bands, high on youth and buzzing with energy around this time that have all but disappeared from Australiaís musical landscape. Itís high time that the record was set straight!

There is a growing interest amongst rock and roll fans worldwide in the music that was unleashed during the late 70ís punk and new wave period. Unlike elsewhere however, in Australia the good times continued well into the 80s, where a particular tough, rock and roll sound developed. In fact, this year has seen the release of two excellent compilations by Shock and Raven Records respectively that captured the punk and garage side of the scene.

With the 'Dig It Up' compilation we intend to highlight the power pop side to this important Australian rock and roll explosion. The proposed double CD format gives us plenty of scope to include both the celebrated bands of the era like 'The Scientists', 'Hoodoo Gurus', 'The Riptides' & 'Little Murders' along with the acts such as 'Young Modern', 'The Manikins' and 'The Numbers' who sadly seem to have disappeared from the the musical landscape and into the ether. The compilation will also have an companying booklet featuring extensive liner notes and as many archival photographs as we can cram in.

As you can tell, both label's are excited by the prospect of documenting and archiving an important part of Australia's rock and roll heritage. We already have access to a considerable amount of material from this era, but there is still many artists and recordings that we are trying to locate.

If you've received this letter, it's because we hope that you'll be interested in this project enough to lend a hand with information, contacts, press clippings, photos or even old recordings.

Digital technology can do wonders with old recordings, and Screensound Australia (the old National Film and Sound Archives in Canberra) has offered to archive and restore any old master tapes or rare vinyl from that period.

We are interested in hearing from anybody who was either in or has infomation of the following bands, or any bands that have slipped through even our memories that would be suitable!

Young Modern (Adelaide), Innocents (Adelaide, not the Tassie ones), Manikins (Perth), The Boys (Perth), Silent Type (Perth), Rockets (Perth), The Numbers (Sydney), The Singles (Sydney), British Jets (Sydney), Riptides (Brisbane), Marching Girls (Melbourne), Leftovers (Bendigo/Melbourne), Artic Circles (Melbourne), Inner Sleeves (Melbourne), The Zimmerman (Melbourne), The Clones (Sydney). Serious Young Insects (Melbourne). Cracked Jaffas (Melbourne). The Tripps (Sydney), The Works.

We've already received comfirmation of involvement from the following bands.

Chevelles (Perth), Spliffs (Brisbane), Happy Hate Me Nots (Sydney), Marigolds (Perth),Stems (Perth), Someloves (Perth), Rainyard (Perth), Summer Suns (Perth), Bo-Wevils (Melbourne), Trilobites (Sydney), Beathoven (Tas), Kryptonics (Perth), Little Murders (Melbourne), Neptunes (Perth).


Please contact us:

Ian Underwood (Tomboy Records)
Email: mediaforge@optushome.com.au
www.tomboyrecords.com.au

David Hughes-Owen (Zip Records)
Email: zip@wiredcity.com.au
www.ziprecords.com

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The name Division 4 from the above list brings back lots of memories and in particular many Christmas eve's spent at the Findon Hotel or Top of Taps in Adelaide where they played many shows. Basically a fun cover band who took the mickey out of many songs - all members were involved in other bands around the place except the lead singer who was a teacher at the time.

Guitarist/Song Writer Stuart Day went on to play for a few radio friendly bands like FAB, Spank You Very Much and many others (pop, rock, funk, punk, folk, blues and reggae) and is still involved in various projects today..........

My favourite song of theirs was a version of the Brady Bunch theme called 'A Bunch of Cu***' - just replace 'The Brady Bunch' with these words in the chorus below..........

That's the way we became the Brady Bunch,
The Brady Bunch.
That's the way we became the Brady Bunch.


A couple of other unique (ie. not top 40 crap) cover bands who also did a few originals that I enjoyed over the years were.........

Almost Human - from where Rob Riley (Rose Tattoo and The Gems) emerged. I was too young to see them when they first came out but they reformed a few times over the years to play shows at the Ko Klub in the city............

Waldo's Wallpaper Band - a 3 piece band (probably should have been 2 piece as at times the bass guitarist appeared to be just a prop) I used to stumble across in the very early hours of the morning in the front bar of the old Century Hotel in Hindley St..........can still remember the packed bar screaming the word's to 'Stepping Stone'.............


Some great posts coming in now..........

Saw Division 4 at the Findon a number of times as well. Amusing.

A mate of mine was in a band that supported Almost Human once at the Findon. My ears nearly bled. Not sure they were that good - seemed a little Spinal Tap.

Out of that list, The Triffids were my favourite. Pity it was still the beer barn era. A couple of others I saw were Lime Spiders and Do Re Mi. Just after that era was another favourite of mine, Huxton Creepers.

Originally posted by McAlmanac
Saw Division 4 at the Findon a number of times as well. Amusing.

A mate of mine was in a band that supported Almost Human once at the Findon. My ears nearly bled. Not sure they were that good - seemed a little Spinal Tap.

Out of that list, The Triffids were my favourite. Pity it was still the beer barn era. A couple of others I saw were Lime Spiders and Do Re Mi. Just after that era was another favourite of mine, Huxton Creepers.

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Used to love the Findon back in the old days - it helped being a 5 min walk home past Pizza Villa on the way............

Never saw Almost Human the first time round but they played a bit when 'Rockin' Rob Riley and The Gems were playing at places like the Ko Klub and Lockleys Hotel in the late 80's and early 90's...........the Spinal Tap reference is very apt from what I saw of them...........

As for Beer Barns.........sounds like a great description of the Bridgeway Hotel back then.........

Ahhh, the memories. Perhaps just a little bit before my time, but for ten years from the saints there seemed to be a golden age in Aussie music, where bands were simply left to do what they want. Especially remember Shower scene from Psychos, Venom P Stinger, any Fred Negro band.

Which reminds me, when I first heard the Hives, I thought it was some old Saints track that I had forgotten.

Get to hear some of these bands from time to time still on RRR and if that site mentioned earlier gets going, that would be fantastic.

I've really enjoyed this thread particularly the first post, I didn't even know you got skinheads in Australia

As a lot of the emphasis is on Australian music & dreamkillers in particular is from Adelaide i wondered if anyone remembers Adelaide band Sin Dog Jelly Roll & if so could you give me your opinions, they were about in the mid 90s.

The reason that I ask is that I met the bass player a couple of years ago here in London & we've become good mates, he's back in Adelaide now & I'm interested in what his band was like(they don't exist anymore-I think they imploded).

A good friend of mine (guitarist in my band Naked Eye-man, I've got some good plugs in this thread) is putting together a CD-Rom-Compilation called Alternative Animals. Its focus is Australian Independent Music from 1976-1980. Featured bands include the Saints, Radio Birdman, Boys Next Door, the Scientists, the Sunnyboys, Lipstick Killers, Leftovers. He has interviewed members of these bands including some of the more well known figures (Nick Cave, Dave Faulkner, Ed Keupper etc), as well as some of the true underground bands (Chosen Few, Mannikans). The CD-rom is going to include live footage of the bands, interviews and film clips. It will also come with an audio CD of previously unreleased material. Amazingly, he received some government funding to get the project off the ground.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/02/1030953434428.html

Nothing wrong with some plugs for a band........any MP3's we can download to see what we think of your band..........

Certainly sounds like a must have CD-Rom for people that grew up in that era or want to reflect on one of the great times of the live music scene in Australia.........


For those that are lazy I've posted the full article below........

The star who Nicked Australia's punk legacy

By Lucinda Strahan - September 3 2002

Somebody's grandmother dressed in a lemon-yellow cardigan sits quietly sipping a cup of tea in the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery cafeteria, watching sallow-eyed Nick Cave circa 1997, at his piano explaining, cigar in hand, to the makers of the Dutch documentary, The Good Son, "love is a very sacred thing I long for, and yearn for".

In the gallery's entrance foyer, a chronology of band posters neatly traces Cave's career from The Boys Next Door to the Boatman's Call. A fortysomething dad with a toddler on his hip peers into a glass cabinet where one of Cave's personal notebooks lies open, lyrics scrawled on one page and a photo of Cave on stage on the other, with "paris" scribbled above it, is stamped in German "Okt 89".

"You can be criticised for canonising a person by doing an exhibition on them," says Rodney James, curator of Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery's recent exhibition Nick Cave - The Good Son.

"People say, 'why Nick, why not one of the other guys?' and it's obvious - because you just wouldn't get all this stuff with one of the other guys."

Like the Sex Pistols stealing punk from the New York underground by splashing it across newspapers around the world, Melbourne's punk legacy has been largely pinned on Cave. By the time Nick Cave and the Birthday Party had left Melbourne for London in 1979, the scene that propelled them had been buzzing for at least two years. Places such as The Tiger Lounge in Richmond, St Kilda's Bananas, and the Crystal Ballroom, which opened in 1978 were at the centre of a thriving scene.


"I think we quickly had our own thing," says Scott Anderson, writer and co-producer of Alternative Animals, an interactive documentary on Australian punk from 1976 to 1979.

"With Nick, because he's huge, people are trying to equate that back to 1978, and saying he is so incredibly important because of what he is now.

My documentary is about the scene and, I mean, he was in it, but he didn't create it."

Anderson began making Alternative Animals in 1999 after reading Please Kill Me, which traces the history of the New York punk scene through hundreds of interviews.

Inspired by the way the book cut through the myth surrounding the period's history, Anderson decided to make an Australian version and release it on CD-ROM. It will be available at record stores in early 2003.

"There just seemed to be a lot of myth-making going on, more and more and it was getting ridiculous," he says. "I just talked to at least one person from each band and got it from the horse's mouth."

For the Melbourne chapter of Anderson's project, which showed at the Melbourne International Film Festival and will be included in next year's festival as a linear documentary, he tracked down former members of a multitude of bands.

Jarryl Wirth from seminal act the Babeez and later News, describes Melbourne's first culture-jam, where the band publicised their first "meeting" and then turned up to play to a bunch of confused activists.

Jeff Rule, a PBS-FM announcer, describes his time as manager of The Negatives, one of Michael Gudinski's pre-Mushroom, Suicide label acts. "It was a loose term," he says. "The first thing the Negs did when they asked me to be their manager was give me a T-shirt saying 'the Negatives manager sucks'."

Would-be-punks Teenage Radio Stars, featuring a young Sean Kelly and James Freud (later The Models), is profiled through live photographs and archival footage features an interview with a very young Cave and Roland Howard.

Also interviewed are Ian Cunningham, bass player for The Chosen Few, Shane Shane from "real punks" La Femme, Bohdan from JAB, and Tch Tch Tch's Philip Brophy.

"Everyone at the punk concerts, at the first pathetic gigs of different kinds of bands and stuff, we were all arty-farts," Brophy says in the documentary. "We weren't great rebels of anything. Some people might have called The Boys Next Door punk, but to me they were just art-school students."

Chris McAuliffe, director of the Ian Potter Museum of Contemporary Art, coins the atmosphere in Melbourne during the punk years as a certain "Melbourne mood" that has become a distinctive part of local culture.

"I think the bands were very style-conscious, but equally there was an element of self-mockery in there as well. So they were prepared to be quite pretentious, but equally prepared to deflate that a little and I think that's a very distinctive Melbourne kind of irony. To declare your belief in something and then undercut it at the same time."

The Australian punk movement was also significant internationally, McAuliffe says, pointing out many recent lists of top punk records, commemorating the Sex Pistols' 25th anniversary, list Stranded, by Brisbane band The Saints.

"It is important to remember globally, the significance of punk was how local it was," he says. "You didn't talk about English punk, you talked about the London scene, the Manchester scene, the Leeds scene and the same in Australia. Melbourne punk was different from Sydney punk, which was very different from Brisbane and Adelaide punk. Part of it was just this breaking it down into local cultures rather than national cultures. In a perverse way, that's where Australian punk joined the rest of the world, by being so determinedly local."

Alternative Animals will be shown at next year's Melbourne International Film Festival.



Let us know when it's released as I doubt it will make it to the music shops up here.........