Kim Leith Salmon is an Australian rock musician and songwriter from Perth. He has worked in various groups including The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Kim Salmon and the Business, and Darling Downs. Australian rock musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described Salmon as one of the first Australians to "embrace wholeheartedly the emergent punk phenomenon of the mid-to-late 1970s" with The Scientists. He declared that Beasts of Bourbon were "masters of uncompromising gutbucket blues and hard-edged rock'n'roll". In 2004 Salmon was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall of Fame and in 2007, into the Music Victoria Awards Hall of Fame.
Toys Went Berserk were an Australian post-punk outfit that formed in late 1985. They released two studio albums, The Smiler with a Knife (1989) and Sensory (1990), before disbanding in early 1992. They subsequently reformed in 1998, 2005 and 2016.
The Screaming Tribesmen were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1981 by mainstay Mick Medew on lead vocals and lead guitar. With various line-ups they released three studio albums, Bones and Flowers, Blood Lust (1990) and Formaldehyde (1993), before disbanding in 1998. They reformed in 2011 for performances until June 2012. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described how they, "fashioned a memorable brand of 1960s-inspired pop rock that combined equal parts existential lyric angst, melodic inventiveness and strident guitar riffs."
Lubricated Goat are an Australian noise rock band which originally formed in 1986 by multi-instrumentalist Stu Spasm. They achieved brief notoriety in November 1988 for appearing nude on the ABC TV program Blah Blah Blah, wearing only their instruments and shoes. Mainly influenced by the Stooges and the Birthday Party, they are credited for playing a grimy, confrontational style of rock, which preceded grunge. They have issued five studio albums, Plays the Devil's Music (1987), Paddock of Love (1988), Psychedelicatessen (1990), Forces You Don't Understand (1994) and The Great Old Ones (2003).
Beasts of Bourbon were an Australian blues rock band formed in August 1983, with James Baker on drums, Spencer P. Jones on guitar, Tex Perkins on vocals, Kim Salmon on guitar and Boris Sujdovic on bass guitar. Except for mainstays Jones and Perkins, the line-up changed over time as the group splintered and reformed several times. Their debut album, The Axeman's Jazz was released in July 1984. Their debut single, "Psycho", was a cover version of the Leon Payne original. The group disbanded by mid-1985 and each member pursued other musical projects.
The Johnnys are an Australian pub rock band from Sydney forming in 1982 and still active today that combines country and punk musical styles. Members are Graham Hood, Billy Pommer Jr and Slim Doherty and have included founder, Roddy Ray'da and Spencer P. Jones.
Buffalo was an Australian rock band formed in August 1971 by founding mainstay Dave Tice on lead vocals (ex-Head). Fellow founders, also from Head, were Paul Balbi on drums, John Baxter on guitar, and Peter Wells on bass guitar; together with Alan Milano on lead vocals (ex-Mandala). Milano left after their debut album, Dead Forever..., and Balbi was replaced on drums by Jimmy Economou. Their next two albums, Volcanic Rock and Only Want You for Your Body, were also issued by Vertigo Records. After 1975 line-up changes resulted in a more commercial sound and the group disbanded in March 1977. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane noted that there was "nothing subtle about Buffalo's primal, heavyweight sound, but it was delivered with a great deal of conviction ... combining the dense, heavy riffing ... with the progressive blues chops ... the band certainly captured the arrogant disposition of the times in a bold and thunderous fashion". Alongside Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Blackfeather, Buffalo pioneered Australia's heavy metal, pub rock and psychedelic rock movements. Peter Wells died on 27 March 2006, aged 58.
The Dubrovniks were an Australian rock band which formed in August 1986 as The Adorable Ones. Early in 1987 they changed their name to The Dubrovniks in acknowledgement to the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, which was the birthplace of two founding members, Roddy Radalj, and Boris Sujdovic. Both Radalj and fellow founder James Baker had previously founded Hoodoo Gurus in 1981. All three had earlier associations in the Perth punk scene of the late 1970s. The group issued four albums, before disbanding in 1995.
Douglas John Parkinson was an Australian pop and rock singer. He led the bands Strings and Things/A Sound (1965), the Questions (1966–1968), Doug Parkinson in Focus, Fanny Adams (1970–1971), the Life Organisation (1973), Southern Star Band (1978–1980) and Doug Parkinson Band (1981–1983). Doug Parkinson in Focus's cover version of the Beatles' track "Dear Prudence" peaked at No. 5 on the Go-Set National Top 40. The follow-up single, "Without You" / "Hair" (October), also reached No. 5. Parkinson released solo material and performed in musical theatre productions.
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Kryptonics were a melodic pop punk band that were active between 1985 and 1992. Kryptonics were contemporaries of notable Perth bands The Stems, The Triffids & The Bamboos, and released a series of 7" singles and 12" vinyl EPs on a number of Australian independent record labels.
James Lawrence Baker is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of various rock and punk rock groups, including the Victims, the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and the Dubrovniks. In 2006 Baker was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame. The following year, Hoodoo Gurus were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Guy Bernard Maddison is an Australian punk and grunge musician. From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a member of noise rock group Lubricated Goat and appeared on their album Paddock of Love. He was a member of Bloodloss (1993–97), a blues-punk band, alongside Mark Arm on vocals. From 2001 Maddison is the bass guitarist of the United States-based grunge band, Mudhoney, and has worked on their studio albums, Since We've Become Translucent (2002), Under a Billion Suns (2006), The Lucky Ones (2008), Vanishing Point (2013), Digital Garbage (2018) and Plastic Eternity (2023).
Guttersnipes were a four-piece punk, pop band, which formed in 1990 by Paul "Brocky" Brockhoff on guitar and vocals, Ian MacKaye on drums, Michael "Macca" McManus on bass guitar and Andrew "Ricey" Rice on guitar and vocals. Soon after MacKaye was replaced by Mark "Hursty" Hurst on drums. They issued an eight-track album, Blurred, in November 1991 via Au-Go-Go Records. The group disbanded in 2001, although they occasionally reformed for additional shows.
"Leilani" is the debut single by Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus when they were called Le Hoodoo Gurus, released on Phantom Records in October 1982. It had been written by all four Gurus: James Baker, Dave Faulkner, Roddy Radalj and Kimble Rendall. Rendall left shortly before its release and, not long after, the band dropped the 'Le' to become Hoodoo Gurus. Le Hoodoo Gurus were noted for having three guitars and no bass player, creating a distinctive, layered sound. This was captured on "Leilani", which told the story of a maiden sacrificed to the gods and an erupting volcano while her true love looked on helplessly. A re-recorded version of the song was later released on Hoodoo Gurus' first album Stoneage Romeos (1984).
"Astute listeners will note the absence of bass guitar in the band... "Leilani" was based on an old 50s movie, Bird of Paradise starring Jeff Chandler..." - Dave Faulkner.
Rodney John "Roddy" Radalj is a Croatian-born Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He has provided guitar, bass guitar and vocals in several influential Australian bands starting with Perth punk bands in the late 1970s before relocating to Sydney to become a founder of the Hoodoo Gurus in 1981 and of Dubrovniks in 1988. Since 1989, as Roddy Ray'Da he has released a number of solo albums, including Guns Girls & Guitars in 2005.
Plays the Devil's Music is the debut studio album by Australian noise rock band Lubricated Goat, released in July 1987 by Black Eye Records.
Stuart Gray, better known by his moniker Stu Spasm, is an Australian musician and composer best recognized as the frontman for the experimental noise rock outfit Lubricated Goat.
Buster Brown was an Australian rock band, which featured vocalist Angry Anderson and drummer Phil Rudd, that was formed in Melbourne in 1973. Their sound was hard rock mixed with blues rock influences. Their first album, Something to Say was produced by Lobby Loyde and released in 1974. Rudd left to join an early version of AC/DC while Anderson continued with new line-ups and eventually disbanded the group in November 1975. Anderson joined Rose Tattoo which later included former Buster Brown bandmates, Geordie Leach on bass guitar and Dallas "Digger" Royall on drums.
"Careless" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Messengers, released in October 1989 as the second single from their 1989 studio album, So Much Water So Close to Home. The song was written by Kelly and co-produced with Scott Litt. The single was released in October 1989 on the Mushroom Records label. It peaked at number 116 on the ARIA singles chart. The song was later covered by Renée Geyer on Difficult Woman (1994), Angie Hart on Women at the Well (2002), and Ozi Batla on Before Too Long (2010).
Bloodloss was an Australian post-punk, grunge band formed in 1982. The original line-up was Martin Bland on drums, Renestair E.J. on guitar and saxophone, Jim Selene on bass guitar, and Sharron Weatherill on lead vocals and guitar. They issued five albums: Human Skin Suit, The Truth Is Marching In (1990), In-a-Gadda-Da-Change (1993), Live My Way and Misty (1996).
