Since I’m back in Tasmania I thought I’d better re-acquaint
myself with what the kids are up to down here. I’ve been languishing at the Old
Folks’ home and haven’t been able to make to Hobart to see any shows. So I
picked up this recent local compilation to whet the appetite and get a handle
on a few of the bands around now.
This is a local compilation, made by local people. But you’re all welcome to it. You can read here about the origins of the music, how the songs fit in regard to ‘punk’ and what that might mean in Hobart.
Me, I’m just a willing ear . . .
The quality of each bands’ recording varies quite spectacularly. And in some ways the value of the recording is more telling than the tunes themselves. We get everything from live cuts to bedroom jobs to slicker studio works. It may bespeak much of the bands and individual members. Their methods become as much a part of the song as a drum fill, a botched lyric or a ravaged bassline: all necessary, all equal parts of the whole.
Naked’s “Run At Me” opens proceeding with an apparently aching desire for pain with an added dash of hurt. The front guy moans to run at him and, in no uncertain terms, to fuck him up. It has one of those awkward middle 8’s where half the band forgets that it’s coming: the sound just drops away to a two note line. Then the moaning begins again. Four quick clicks and back to the refrain: driven into your ear like a blunt spike.
Track three, “God v Evil” puts Traitor closer to Napalm Death than Dead Kennedys: caustic metal rather than raucous punk rock. Metal blood runs deep and thick: other cuts from Strictly Business, NowyourefuckeD and Social Death Squad all take elements from hardcore and grind metal and pulverise their chosen songs as far as their bedroom four-tracks will allow.
A jaunty little self-hate rant from This Is A Robbery! has the singer gloating “You are a picture perfect princess/And all I am’s a stupid cunt.” Another dose of self-deprecation taken to its logical, poetic extreme. Could be misconstrued as a lonely broken Tasmanian looking out to the wider world and all its wonder then cutting hisself off at the knees rather than walk into its open arms.
“Forget” by myblackson – song that reminds me most of The Horror. Plenty noisy, plenty amateur, a brevity towards lyric-writing that cuts the song short before the two-minute mark. I could’ve easily enjoyed another couple of them. Minutes. Or tracks. I could easily enjoy another couple of tracks from these guys.
“I Got It”, track eight by Treehouse, coulda been pinched from a mid-80’s Kiwi compilation. The drummer might lose the rest of the band a couple of times but the driving guitar line propels the song towards the steamy cloud-o-sphere.
Pure up-beat pop joy comes courtesy of The Lucky Dips. Melodic, major-keyed – stands out very cheery against the bleaker type tunes. All about lovely love turned dangerous obsession. Well, kinda dangerous but really a whole lot of fun. It’s two minutes of jangly blissness.
Moe Grizzly are allowed a live recording. “Sincere Neighbour” is properly dark and menacing. Reggie leans into the mic and sneers and snarls, pulling raw untuneable notes from his guitar. It’s broke down, down beat; slow and heavy on the brain.
Maybe the compilation captures a moment in time. Maybe some of the players should’ve spent more time with their instruments before committing their songs to tape. Maybe to that they’d tell you to fuck right off. Maybe what matters more down here is to get your ideas down, get your songs out there before that moment goes.
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