Many of the pioneers, like The Saints, Sydney band Radio Birdman, and young Perth musician Kim Salmon, were highly influenced by proto-punk sounds from Detroit. A distinct Brisbane punk scene emerged in the 1970s. By 1977, other bands began to form in Sydney, under the influence of Radio Birdman and other local and overseas acts. During the late 1970s, former members of Radio Birdman contributed to several new bands. These bands and other Australian and overseas punk acts were supported by public radio stations. In Melbourne scene, art rock had segued into punk, then evolved into post-punk, typified by the careers of Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard and the little band scene. Another pioneering figure of Australian postpunk was Saints founder Ed Kuepper.
The Saints were one of Australia's first punk bands. The earliest incarnation of the Saints was formed by Ed Kuepper (guitar) and Chris Bailey (vocals) in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. They shared a background in immigrant families (Kuepper's German and Bailey's Irish), and an admiration for high energy 1950s and '60s music, such as the Detroit rock of the Stooges and MC5.[3] During that time, Queensland was under the control of the conservative, authoritarian Country Party democratic government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
During 1974, Radio Birdman formed in Sydney, led by another immigrant, Detroit-born medical student Deniz Tek. They also shared an interest in the Stooges and MC5, albeit with a result arguably more akin to Hard rock than Punk. Their dynamic live shows soon gained a fanatical following at inner city venues. Many art rock bands, like Melbourne's Boys Next Door, formed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey at their school in 1974, later attended gigs by the Saints and Radio Birdman, and would adopt elements of their sounds.[citation needed]
In Adelaide, the first punk band was Black Chrome, which formed in 1975,[4] followed by JAB in 1976. Black Chrome's music attacked Australian apathy, its urban wasteland and its non-existent youth culture. JAB billed themselves as "Synthetic Shock Rock" and were the first Australian punk band to use live synthesisers and tape loop guitar and synthesiser solos. This early iteration of JAB has been described as "an insane electronic evolution of the velvet underground".[5] Adelaide in this period was a staid, conservative, and unreceptive city, and consequently the bands were ignored, feared, and could not secure gigs unless they booked venues themselves without disclosing that they were punk bands.[6][7] Black Chrome's Simon Stretton, who also founded the record label Tomorrow Records, recorded many early punk bands, including JAB, The Chosen Few, Bohdan X, The Accountants, The U-Bombs, The Dagoes, Psychosurgeons, the Lipstick Killers, Riff Raff, and Young Modern, as well as later punk. In some cases, they are the only audio record of the band.[8]
In Perth – a geographically isolated city with social and political similarities to Brisbane – young musicians like Kim Salmon, Dave Faulkner and James Baker were also influenced by the Detroit bands, as well as New Yorkproto-punk figures like Lou Reed and the New York Dolls. Salmon led the Cheap Nasties, and then The Scientists, before embarking on a solo career (and is regarded as a pioneer of grunge). Baker was in a short-lived act called the Geeks, before forming the Victims with Faulkner in 1977. They recorded an acclaimed single, "Television Addict", before breaking up. Baker later joined the Scientists. Faulkner gravitated towards poppier sounds. In 1981, he and Baker founded a successful Retro rock act, the Hoodoo Gurus.[citation needed]
In mid-1976, the Saints recorded and distributed copies of their single "(I'm) Stranded", which met nearly no critical or public response in Australia. In the UK, however,Sounds magazine received a copy, and declared it: "single of this and every week". As a result, the band was signed to a three-album contract with EMI. Later the same year they recorded their first LP, which was also called (I'm) Stranded. Hampered by poor production and the indifference of radio stations, the LP failed commercially. In December the Saints moved to Sydney. Radio Birdman released an EP ("Burn My Eye") and an album (Radios Appear) with better production values, but with similar commercial results to the Saints' endeavours.
1977–80
By 1977, other bands were starting to form in Sydney, under the influence of local and overseas punk acts. The early Sydney punk scene centred around the Sydney inner city suburbs, and the Grand Hotel in Haymarket in particular. Among the first was the Last Words, from Liverpool in Sydney. (They recorded their first single "Animal World/Wondering Why" in 1977.) Other Sydney bands in 1977 included the Hellcats (featuring Ron Peno, later lead singer of the Died Pretty), the Psychosurgeons (later known as Lipstick Killers), Johnny Dole & the Scabs and the Thought Criminals (who featured Steven Phillip, later of Do-Re-Mi and John Hoey, who was also later in Died Pretty).
These bands and other Australian and overseas punk acts were strongly supported by public radio stations, especially 2JJ. Punk bands like the Reals (featuring Ollie Olsen) and the Babeez (later known as the News) were also being formed in Melbourne. In Brisbane, the Survivors (who showed a 1960s influence), the Leftovers (diverse influences), Razar and the Fun Things (Detroit rock) all followed in the wake of the Saints.
After the British punk scene took off in 1977, both the Saints and Radio Birdman moved to the UK. This proved to be disastrous for both bands. Neither of them fit in with, or were inclined to adjust to aspects of the London scene at the time, such the now-established punk fashion in clothes. Radio Birdman were dumped when their record company got into financial difficulty, and soon broke up. Later recordings saw the Saints adopt soul, blues and jazz influences, although their most successful single, "This Perfect Day" – which reached number 34 in the UK singles chart – was typical of the band's musical style. After another acclaimed single, "Know Your Product", and second and third albums failed to make an impression, EMI dropped the Saints. (Kuepper left in 1979 and Bailey began to pursue a more mainstream musical direction.) Last Words later followed their predecessors to the UK and also failed to make a strong impression.
During his time with The Damned, Ward also played bass on cover versions including Motörhead's "Over the Top" (released later under the collective moniker Motordamned), the MC5's "Looking at You" and live, the band played the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" and The Stooges' "I Feel Alright". He toured with the band worldwide, including America in 1979 where they played at Whisky A Go Go, Hollywood, and the Waldorf in San Francisco, significantly influencing the American Hardcore scene. Ward appeared on the live performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in England featuring "Smash It Up", before he was fired from the group due to animosity between him and drummer Rat Scabies. He was replaced by former Eddie and the Hot Rods and UFO (band) bassist Paul Gray.
Speaking of Algy Ward's contribution to the album in an interview with Louder than War online punk rock fanzine, Captain Sensible said "Algy was immense on Machine Gun (Etiquette). The sound was largely based on the thundering bass lines that he delivered, it was a beautiful noise. And then Paul (Gray) came along and was a very fluent and flowing kind of bass player."
On 8 November 1977 the ABC nightly news magazine program "This Day Tonight" broadcast a feature on Australian punk rock, featuring a live recording of Black Chrome at Adelaide University's Union Hall, with commentary and interviews highlighting the largely negative contemporary attitudes to punk rock. The introductory voice over concluded;
″... but if you're wondering if its going to take off in a big way here, its worth remembering that the quiet streets of Adelaide are a long, long way from the streets of London. The message of punk rock is violence and anarchy; and its a message which has got Adelaide radio stations on the defensive.″[165]
In April 1978 Black Chrome released the single "Australia's God" on their own label Tomorrow Records,[166] but despite the band driving around Australia to the few record shops selling punk rock and delivering it to radio stations around the country, it failed to secure airplay and sold in tiny numbers. "Wallaby Beat" in 2011; "It must be said that of all the original 1977 Aussie bands Black Chrome are the one most shrouded in mystery. The single remains unheard (but not unloved) and the facts we can report are scant... so to the record, perhaps the most singular sounding of the first generation Australian punk records with its restrained fuzz, and strange (moaning?) backing vocals. It's in the lyrics where the punch is packed."[167]
Australian chart success eluded all of these bands in the late 1970s. Radio programmers were conservative and unenthusiastic about punk. The above artists who eventually found success either did so overseas, or after a remove of several years in Australia, and/or in different bands.
Melbourne's La Femme were a fascinating meld of late Seventies influences: punk, new wave, glam and hard rock. Their 1978 debut single Chelsea Kids is one of the all-time classic Australian singles and their only LP: La Femme, is arguably one of the best to come out of Melbourne's late 1970s punk/new wave scene (which included Models and the Boys Next Door). It contains many fine examples of the band's confident, swaggering glam-infused punk-metal sound. Lead singer Chane Chane was a charismatic, hyperactive front man, a refreshing personality with a strong audience rapport. Guitarist Brett Walker was a real live flashy guitar hero for the times, coming on like a punk-metal Mick Ronson by pealing off large chunks of dense power riffing when other guitarists were still going plink-plonk. The thuggish rhythm section of Peter Kidd and Graham Schiavello played it mean and hard, providing the relentless, driving beat. La Femme could well have made it into the big league if they’d wanted but swimming against the commercial tide seemed to be their raison d'être. In many ways they were their own worst enemies. An unwillingness to play the pop star game and the serious drug addiction, among other things, perhaps ended up compromising the band's drive. For an inner-city band with so much potential, in the end they really did give it away. They toured constantly, built up a huge support base on the suburban pub circuit, scored several prestigious support gigs, made three appearances on Countdown (one of the first punk/new wave/alternative bands to do so), released one of the great Melbourne punk albums and yet they never rose above being a cult attraction.
The Quick and the Dead, who played in Perth during 1979–81, pioneered a sound closely related to Oi!. They attracted media attention resulting from the behaviour of some fans, including violence and the use of Nazi regalia. Some Brisbane punk rock bands prolonged their unique punk direction from the Seventies, that was in part due to Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's continued use of the Queensland Police against perceived threats to the government.
The Boys Next Door, renamed the Birthday Party in 1980 and featuring Nick Cave, were pioneers in incorporating "darker" elements into their image, with connections to the genres of gothic rock, horror punk and deathrock. Other prominent examples included Brisbane bands Vampire Lovers and Mystery of Sixes.
From Brunswick emerged the smooth distorted sound of the Zorros with their single from Missing Link records "Too Young" reaching Number 3 in Radio RRR charts. The Zorros would play hard and fast and pack out many venues.
Punk revival since 1991
By the early 1990s, the success of grunge music, American punk veterans and revivalists, as well as local bands like the Hybernators, the Speed Demons, the Meanies, Frenzal Rhomb, and Screamfeeder led to the formation of punk-influenced bands such as the Living End, Jebediah, Bodyjar, 28 Days, Dreamkillers, Four Zero One Four, Align, Tiltmeter and Guttersnipes. Punk revival scenes began in various cities around Australia.
In Melbourne, punk has seen a resurgence in recent years. Along with straight up punk bands like Dixon Cider, Scrayfish, the Half Pints, Let's Jump Ship and the Flying Rats forming, there have also been the emergence of folk punk bands like Gentleman's Riot, Mutiny and Catgut Mary and skate punk bands such as Bombs Are Falling and Postscript . The reforming of many earlier punk bands from the 1980s (such as Bastard Squad and Depression) has also been prominent. The Late 2000s has also seen a resurgence in street punk across the Australian east coast with bands like No Idea (VIC), the Scam(QLD), the Lost Cause (QLD), Deputy Dipshit (QLD), the Worst (VIC), Stay Down (TAS), Wot Rot (VIC) and many more leaving their mark.
In Adelaide, primarily driven by a resurgence of interest driven by the internet, the publication of early punk discographies, and requests to play from venues and contemporary punk bands, Black Chrome reformed in 2010.[13] They have since appeared on several contemporary live punk compilation albums,[14] and from 2018 commenced releasing new material.[15]
Vans Warped Tour successfully returned to Australia in 2013 after an 11-year hiatus,[16] however many DIY grass roots events stepped up to fill the gap.
Publications, stores, and other resources
DNA was a fanzine created by Harry Butler in Adelaide in 1979, and was edited and mostly written by him.[17] Published by EC Productions, it continued to cover local punk, alternative, and underground bands. In the 1980s it began to release cassettes, made locally by amateurs, of the music presented in the magazine, and later started distributing other fanzines and music releases from around Australia. In the early 1990s, EC Productions co-owned Thrash Grind Grunge music store[18] at 276 Morphett Street, Adelaide.[19] It then started producing music by local bands on CD, using a CD burner, and around 1999 released its first vinyl record. EC Productions also sold new and secondhand music in all formats, as well as music-related books and magazines, and was part of a cooperative of researchers who documented contemporary Australian and New Zealand music. It is unclear whether the business continues to operate,[18] but the last issue of DNA available on their website was published in 2019.[17] Issue 36 (1984) is available free to read online, via Yumpu.[20]
Another notable fanzine focused on punk was the Melbourne-based Regression (1982–1984), created by Zol Szacsuri and Alby Brovedani of the band Vicious Circle. There were many others, with names such as Aliens Mutants Senseless Violence, Consumer Junk, Decline, End Result, Family Slaughterhouse, Invictus Pax, Obituary, Portobello Market, Resistant Harmony, Stone the Flamin' Crows, The Rage, and Work Consume Die.[21]
The Society of Australian Punk (SOAP) is a non-profit organisation based in Melbourne, whose listed first purpose is: "To represent, showcase, promote and celebrate the research and preservation of Australian punk subculture".[22] Its website contains links to many resources, including publications of all kinds, film and video, other websites, radio programs, and exhibitions.[23]
Radio Birdman is an Australian punk rock band formed by Deniz Tek and Rob Younger in Sydney in 1974. Classic Rock magazine has described them as 'Australia’s first and most influential punk band'.
The Saints were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. Founded by singer-songwriter Chris Bailey, drummer Ivor Hay, and guitarist-songwriter Ed Kuepper, they originally employed fast tempos, raucous vocals and a "buzzsaw" guitar sound that helped initiate punk rock in Australia and identified them with the greater international movement.
Australian indie rock is part of the overall flow of Australian rock history but has a distinct history somewhat separate from mainstream rock in Australia, largely from the end of the punk rock era onwards.
Edmund "Ed" Kuepper is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints in 1973, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns and the grunge-like The Aints!. He has also recorded over a dozen albums as a solo artist using a variety of backing bands. His highest charting solo album, Honey Steel's Gold, appeared in November 1991 and reached No. 28 on the ARIA Albums Chart. His other top 50 albums are Black Ticket Day, Serene Machine and Character Assassination. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 he won Best Independent Release for Black Ticket Day and won the same category in 1994 for Serene Machine.
The Mark of Cain are an alternative metal band from Adelaide, South Australia. Their style has been likened to that of Helmet and Rollins Band, yet this band pre-dates both groups and was influenced by the early work of Joy Division, Big Black and United States hardcore groups. The Mark of Cain were formed in mid-1984 by brothers, John (guitar) and Kim Scott, with Rod Archer on vocals and Gavin Atkinson playing drums. Before long, Archer had left the group and John Scott took on the lead vocal role and the group has remained a trio ever since. The Scotts have been the core of the band which has featured 10 different drummers. Since January 2001, former Helmet member John Stanier has been their drummer; he is also concurrently with Tomahawk and Battles. The self appointed guru of Australian music, Ian McFarlane, described the group's sound as "Gloomy, monotonous vocals and bleak slabs of metallic guitar did battle over a lurching rhythm section to arrive at a harsh sound." Such erroneous attempts to label the band did not hold true and reflect the consistent efforts of Australia's mainstream 'rock' journalists to put down artists they did not understand. In so far as it is relevant, style wise TMOC were a fusion of Joy Division and Killing Joke, with chorus laced guitar chords played over heavy driving bass and drum rythms in which influence of avant guard bands like Suicide and the'post punk' of Big Black and the Jesus Lizard can be heard. As the band matured a rythmic synchronicity that was more a characteristic of metal crossover bands that came later like Fudge Tunnel and Tool. This however distracts from the fact they were heavy, fast and precise and the definitive bands of the time, like Nirvana were none of those things.
The New Christs are an Australian garage rock band formed in 1980 by founding mainstay, Rob Younger, on lead vocals. Younger was the lead singer for punk rockers, Radio Birdman, and in other hard rock groups, New Race, Bad Music, the Other Side, Nanker Phelge, and Deep Reduction. The New Christs line-up since 2011 is Younger with Jim Dickson on bass guitar, Dave Kettley on guitar, Paul Larsen on drums and Brent Williams on guitar and keyboards. Over their career the group have issued five studio albums, Distemper (1989), Lower Yourself (1997), We Got This! (2002), Gloria (2009) and Incantations (2014). Three former members have died: Stevie Plunder in January 1996, Mark Wilkinson in December 2012 and Christian Houllemare in June 2014.
Ian McFarlane is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017.
Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock, and Aussie rock, has a rich history, rooted in an appreciation of various rock genres originating in the United States and Britain, and to a lesser extent, in continental Europe and Africa. Australian rock has also contributed to the development of some of these genres, as well as having its own unique Australiana sound with pub rock and its Indigenous music.
Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977–1991 is a book about the Australian independent music scene from 1979 until 1991, as written by author and music journalist Clinton Walker. The books follows two decades of music, from punk, rock, alternative sound to garage-rock and grunge and integrates various first-person accounts from Walker's perspective as well as drawing upon interviews with artists during that time to illustrate the cultural history of Australian sound.
Laughing Clowns, sometimes written as The Laughing Clowns, were a post-punk band formed in Sydney in 1979. In five years, the band released three LPs, three EPs, and various singles and compilations. Laughing Clowns' sound is free jazz, bluegrass and krautrock influenced. The band formed to accommodate Ed Kuepper's growing interest in expanding brass-driven elements he had brought to The Saints' third album, Prehistoric Sounds, and by adopting flattened fifth notes in a rock and roll setting while using a modern jazz styled band line-up.
(I'm) Stranded is the debut album by Australian punk rock group The Saints which was released by EMI on 21 February 1977. Their debut single, "(I'm) Stranded", was issued ahead of the album in September 1976, which Sounds magazine's reviewer, Jonh Ingham, declared was the "Single of this and every week". "Erotic Neurotic" was the second single, which was released in May 1977 and the group relocated to the United Kingdom.
Deniz Tek is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman. He has played in many of the underground rock bands of the 1970s, including Australian bands The Visitors and New Race, but is most known for exerting his burning Detroit-style guitar influence over the punk rock genre in Australia.
Prehistoric Sounds is the third album by the Australian punk rock group The Saints, released in 1978 via Harvest. This was the final album to feature founding lead guitarist, Ed Kuepper, who left the band shortly after its release. In October 2010, the album was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums with their debut, (I'm) Stranded, at No. 20.
Burn My Eye was the debut EP recorded by Sydney punk rock band Radio Birdman, in October 1976. It was a low-budget EP recorded at Trafalgar Studios, Sydney and released on the studio's own Trafalgar label after the band had been rejected by many other labels. Part of the reason that many labels were reluctant to sign the band was because of their unconventional sound, which was quite different from the music then popular in the Australian rock scene during the 1970s.
"(I'm) Stranded" is the debut single released by Australian punk rock band the Saints. Issued in September 1976, it has been cited as "one of the iconic singles of the era", and pre-dated vinyl debuts by contemporary punk acts such as the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Clash. In 2001, it was voted among the Top 30 Australian Songs of all time by APRA.
Brisbane punk rock had its main impact between 1975 and 1984 as part of the overall punk rock scene in Australia. According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, the Queensland capital provided "some of the most anarchistic bands" of that era whilst it was "arguably the most conservative city" in the country. The development of the local punk movement differed from other cities because of its relative geographic isolation from other similar trends. The Brisbane scene also received a greater scrutiny by local police where early punk bands formed as "an obvious backlash to an oppressed society". This generated antagonistic and individualistic groups or "snot" driven punk bands.
Exploding White Mice were an Australian punk-pop band from Adelaide which formed in 1983 with Paul Gilchrist on vocals, Andy MacQueen on bass guitar, Gerry Barrett on guitar, Craig Rodda on drums and Giles Barrow on rhythm guitar. In 1984 Barrett was replaced by Jeff Stephens on guitar – later also on lead vocals. In 1985 Rodda was replaced on drums by David Bunney. The group released four studio albums, Brute Force and Ignorance, Exploding White Mice (1990), Collateral Damage (1992) and We Walk Alone (1994). The band toured Europe twice before disbanding in April 1999.
John Willsteed is an Australian musician and sound designer. As a musician, he is best known as a member of the Brisbane band The Go-Betweens, in which he played bass guitar from 1987 to 1989, most notably on the album 16 Lovers Lane. As a sound designer he won Australian Film Institute awards for his work on The Beat Manifesto (1996), Vietnam Nurses and Rare Chicken Rescue (2008). He is an adjunct senior lecturer in Music at Queensland University of Technology.
The Crystal Ballroom was a music venue that opened in 1978 in St Kilda, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Located within the George Hotel at 125 Fitzroy Street, it quickly became the epicentre of Melbourne's post-punk scene, launching the careers of The Birthday Party, Dead Can Dance and other local groups, as well as hosting international acts, including The Cure, New Order and The Fall.
Black Chrome is an Australian punk band from Adelaide, South Australia, believed to be the first punk band in the city. Formed in 1975 by Simon Stretton, Simon Dillon, and Andrew Griffiths, they were ignored by radio presenters, but released the single "Australia's God/We Are Tomorrow" on Stretton's label Tomorrow Records in 1978. The Internet revived interest in the band around 2000, and they became regarded as a cult band. They reformed in 2010 and as of December 2024 continue to play punk. They released the album Age of Rage in 2018. Stretton had a career as a judge before retiring in May 2024.
↑ Pioneers of Punk - Live At The Ed Castle (2014), Tomorrow Records - MA7203 - Vinyl and CD, 18 October 2014, DNA Fanzine Gig!!! Hotel Metro Adelaide, 25 January 2020 Live!!! (2021) - Tomorrow records - Vinyl and CD, 25 March 2021.
↑ Age Of Rage (2018), Album, Tomorrow Records - vinyl and CD, 31 August 2018. Hard Times Party (2021), EP, Tomorrow Records - 10" vinyl and CD, 1 January 2021. Singles - The Storm (2020), Scared White Man (2020).
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