November Mix CDR

herein

October Mix CDR

here

Fuck the White Race

This compilation represents a certain time (1994) and place in Brisbane post-punk's collective cannon. If anything, it's an interesting curio of bands whose tracks don't wholly represent what their music is about. Nonetheless, it exists and that's what's important.

Adjusting things a little from the Brisbane music axis is Venom P Stinger, and even though this group's inclusion is a somewhat puzzling, their live track is a welcome addition. Likewise with fellow Melbournians Thou Gideon...

This (only) CD release from the MALIGNANT label offers some its stable acts - namely Noose, Strontium Dog, Mr Bastard, Grubbage, Slow Loris, Queer and Not From There.

Fuck the White Race also includes the rare mid-period Small World Experience, with an early version of Rounding the Bend featuring Gail Hargreaves on drums. Also representing the SPILL label is the Gatekeepers, with an alternate version of Silence - incorrectly tracked as Waterlogged.

Sadly, MALIGNANT's Monty Blomfield passed away not long after the release of this compilation and his family unjustly destroyed everything to do with the label's back catalogue - including this.

The Malignant Discography in brief...

v/a BURNING THE SUN cassette
THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE - An Unnatural Act cassette
STRONTIUM DOG - The Strontium Dog is Dead cassette
STRONTIUM DOG/NOOSE - Strawberry Rice Cake Man/Down 7"
QUEER - Queer vs Dead C 7" EP
STONTIUM DOG - Another Noise in a Different Kitchen cassette
NOT FROM THERE - Valid to 06/95 CD
SLOW LORIS - Strip Mining cassette
INVISIBLE EMPIRE - Jeezly Fishcakes cassette
MR BASTARD - Buggering with Bernard cassette
v/a FUCK THE WHITE RACE CD

September Mix CDR

The Gatekeepers

Indoors
Ogre
Silence

Peter Jetnikoff - vocals, guitar
Greg Wadley - bass
Ian Wadley - drums

Another one of Brisbane's phantoms, the Gatekeepers. This band began around 1983, containing various former members of the Pits, the Swirl and the Dum Dums. Around this time, they released an 11 track cassette, Cosmic Street - of which two of its tracks appeared in the 1984 cassette compilation Leaving Home for the Party on the Roof.

The early line-up featured Greg Gilbert (aka Des Johnson) on drums, and Margo Hoyt on keyboard in addition to Peter Jetnikoff and Greg Wadley.

Fast forward to Melbourne in 1988, and the Gatekeepers exist as solely as a recording venture, releasing Indoors/Ogre/Silence in that year and a single Saturday/In This House in 1990. In addition to the cassette album and vinyl releases, the Gatekeepers appear on various SPILL cassette and CD compilations (Happy Still from SPILL Compilation One is a must-hear) well into the mid part of the decade, as well as a track on the Brisbane-based Malignant label collection Fuck the White Race from 1994.

This single was released on HWS (somewhat of a precursor to SPILL, who also provided a catalogue number to the first self-titled EP by Small World Experience.

In addition to the Gatekeepers, Peter Jetnikoff and Greg Wadley recorded many cassettes and CDs as the culture-jamming group, New Waver. Their lossy story can be found here.

Greg's brother Ian has played in a host of bands since the early 1980s, and his story can be seen over here.

Curiosity Shop

Judge and Jury
Scene of the Shame

Pat Ridgewell - vocals, guitar, organ
Noel Mengel - bass, vocals
with
Greg Wadley - drums

In Brisbane during the early 1980s, there was this slew of bands bursting forth onto the scene; from the bands who played at the Queen's Hotel in 1978, to the bands of the Silver Dollar in 1980, the 279 Club of 1981 and the Atcherly of 1982 and so on. Just as venues opened as quickly as they had closed in this golden era of Brisbane music (1978-1982), bands exploded and imploded at a rapid rate. During this time, the Go-Betweens released two albums recorded outside of town, Xero did a 12" 6-track mini LP, while other bands got as far as a cassette or a couple of singles. Some never made it outside of the Ann St practice rooms.

By 1983, the Go-Betweens had well and truly skipped town. The Pits (after a serious amount of shows in 1982) imploded. As so did Xero. The Dum Dums moved to Sydney to only break up shortly after, and Antic Frantic bettered that by heading off to London. Punk in Brisbane moved away from the '77 English model, and leaned more towards American Hardcore influences.

On the other side of the coin, Indie Pop's flag was being waved by the likes of Tangled Shoelaces, This Five Minutes and the newly formed Pits expatriates, the Gatekeepers. Adding to this small list of like-minded bands were Curiosity Shop.

Unlike the aforementioned, Curiosity Shop hailed from Toowoomba...

Whether or not this band is indicative of the Toowoomba Sound is anyone's guess. What's true is Curiosity Shop's lone 45rpm single from 1984 Judge and Jury/Scene of the Shame is a superb slice of indie pop, left abandoned by blogging music scholars until now.

Curiosity Shop were on the Cubbyhouse imprint. This label (created by archivist, film-maker, sound recordist and all-round DIY pop genius Peter Macpherson) also released numerous titles by the Pits, Tangled Shoelaces and This Five Minutes. And Cubbyhouse was also a fanzine running from 1982-84 - much like the life of the label.

The two notable members of this Toowoomba band are Pat Ridgewell and Noel Mengel. Ridgewell around this time played as an adjunct member of This Five Minutes, who by 1986 had mutated into Dog Fish Cat Bird. By the late 80s he played guitar in the Holy Ghosts, and from there he formed his own songwriting vehicle, Small World Experience - who still exist to this day, albeit hermetically. Noel Mengel on the other hand is now the senior music editor for the Courier Mail.

I found this single by chance in 1995, just after I had discovered Small World Experience. I have not seen it since.

XERO 4ZZZfm Live to Air at the Cement Box

Love and Anarchy
Behind the Chagall
24D Pelaco
Every Kiddy Gets a Prize
Crazy Eddie
Photo Tattoo
Just a Night at Another Party
Blue Lagoon
3 Squared
The Girls

Irena Luckus - voice, keyboard, guitar
John Willsteed - voice, keyboard, guitar, bass
Steven Pritchard - drums

This CD-R was originally released on the Ten of Cups label in the late 1990s. Apparently I was the only person who ever put an order in for this.

This 4ZZZfm live to air from July 1982 at the University of Queensland's Cement Box theatre sees Xero in one of their many line-ups which Brisbane post-punk outfit had from 1978 to 1983.

John Willsteed and Steven Pritchard from the Cement Box show. Photo by Peter Macpherson

Hated by certain scenes, and adored by others, Xero were one of the few bands who survived and played on through the swift changes of trends which Brisbane endured during the post-punk years (1978-'83). Xero (initially spelled as Zero, then Xiro among many others!) has a long and winding history, involving at least a baker's dozen worth of line-up changes and half as many styles. [More on that in another post on early Zero]

This set sees Xero play through a selection of originals mostly written from 1981 onward, with the oldest song in this set being 3 Squared, performed during their 1979/80 line-up which featured guitarist/vocalist Michael O'Connell, formerly of the Apartments and future Go-Between Lindy Morrison. Blue Lagoon was a song which later appeared in Willsteed's post Xero/ZIP outfit, Machines That Walk.

This particular line-up of Luckus, Willsteed and Pritchard first played in August 1981 in support of the Cure at the request of Robert Smith. Steven Pritchard formerly played with the Swell Guys among many other bands.

The band left behind two cassette EPs, Half the Profits and Religious Wars, and a 6 track 12"mini-LP Lust in the Dust. They also appeared on Fast Forward issue 006. Unofficially, there was a cassette floating about in the early 80s called What Xero Don't Know Won't Hurt Them Tape! featuring sessions from the two cassette EPs, and a single track cassette with their cover of Supernaut's I Like it Both Ways - Xero's submission to 4zzz's Tribute to Australian Rock.

In terms of the digital age, two tracks from Lust in the Dust appear on the essential Chapter Music release Can't Stop It! and 4ZZZfm's 25th anniversary compilation, Behind the Banana Curtain. Both of which at the time of writing are out of print.