Brisbane Bands Part I

I live in Brisbane, Australia. I’m super proud of the diversity of the Brisbane music community. To me it has always been vibrant and a great source of inspiration. As I have so many interviews of great Brisbane bands I thought I’d post them in a series… starting with The Disables, Leopard Street Droogs, SayNothing, The BlackMarket, & Against.

THE DISABLES

Jud, what’s it like to be the only original member left in The Disables?

Jud: As much as the name was there, I don’t really think the band really came The Disables until Pete joined. It had a different feel. It was all people doing part time. Matt was in other bands, everyone was in other bands so it was just a part time thing. We kind of started to take it a bit more seriously.

So, when Pete joined everything fell into place?

Jud: It just happened at a time when we were like ‘Lt’s make this something that we do a bit more seriously’. It was just a part time thing until that point. It was just, put out and cd and play some gigs – there wasn’t any ‘Let’s put some time into it and pay attention to what we’re doing’.

Would you say then that The Disables are a serious band now?

Jud: I’d say we put a lot more time into it. I think we are a serious band these days. We try to be.
Garreth: It depends which night you catch us on.
Jud: Not our last gig, that’s for sure.

Angus (the bass player) has been in the band for a little while now, how is he fitting in? Where did you find him?

Pete: I think he’s fitting in really well.
Judson: Surprise!
Garreth: He’s got glasses and everything! (3 of the bands 4 members wear glasses)
Pete: We couldn’t ask for a better bass player that’s for damn sure.
Judson: As for personality….. (laughs) Angus auditioned. We had a impromptu audition one day at the practice room. We didn’t advertise, we just asked a few people and Angus’ brother worked at the Bottle-o near one of our mates house and he heard about the audition and came along. Basically he was the only one that could play the songs and we went ‘That’s it you’re in the band’. (laughs)

What’s the biggest misconception about, The Disables?

Judson: Pete.
Pete: Yes I am the biggest misconception about The Disables. I don’t know? I don’t really hear a lot of shit anymore. A lot of people used to think we made money.
Garreth: They still do!
Pete: That’s very very wrong. I liked the story about, when Eddie was still in the band (ex-bass player). There was a rumour going around that we made $10,000 doing a tour with the Dropkick Murphys and he (Eddie) was only in the band to support his coke habit.

Do you see The Disables being able to pay the bills in the near future?

Pete: Fuck no! Not off this anyway.

Do you think in this country (Australia) it’s possible?

Judson: I think it is. I think it’s just possible to do it full time in this country, just – if you’re prepared to work really really hard. Even if you put out records yourself or find someone that’s not going to rip you off. You can do it.

Do you think that putting out records yourself is the way to go?

Judson: ‘Cause Australia’s so small and the kind of people that would like our music is such a small amount that, whether you’re with a major label or a smaller label I think it’s not going to make that much of a difference to be honest with who gets to hear it or who wants to buy it. I reckon you can do it but we have no illusions about punk rock and trying to make money out of it. Of course that’s the dream that everybody wants to be able to pay the bills and all that kind of stuff. First and fore mostly we just want to be a good band and hopefully if we are that everything else would take care of it’s self.

Over the past few years The Disables have achieved some huge milestones and played some hugs shows, personally which has been the most memorable for each of you?

Pete: Personally being able to play with on e of my favourite bands is definitely up there – Dropkick Murphys. A lot of our milestones have just been being able to help other bands. We get to play great shows to lots of people and I suppose that is really really good but, they’re not our shows. We’re privileged that we do get to do some of those things but a lot of the bands we play with, I really don’t like. I never have and I never well.
Judson: Name a few!
Garreth: There’s a very small percentage that we even watch.
Pete: That’s true.
Judson: Most bands we support lock us out of the back room and don’t let us go get our gear till after they’ve finished playing and they won’t have watched us play either.
Pete: And they make you set up in front of them and we only get to use a quarter of the stage compared to the full stage because they won’t take their drum kit down. It’s all fun and games.
Judson: The Dropkick shows we did, the ones when they played Livid and we did a Brisbane side show with them, that was just awesome.

I remember seeing you that day and you were very very excited and happy.

Judson: Man…
Garreth: I remember it because Jud was crying.

Everyone laughs

Pete: We all remember what Garreth did…

More laughter – then silence

Judson: That was great because there was no rock star attitudes because there was so many bands playing (at Livid). No one was headlining so no one had an attitude. We got to meet and hang out with other bands we probably wouldn’t have ever got to meet. We did play with a couple of those bands afterwards again and their attitude was completely different, it was like ‘it’s their show and we were just supporting’. They didn’t really want to know us or talk to us or anything like that. Those particular four days and those shows were the high point of my life for sure. That’s what made all the crap before hand and years of fucking about and putting in a lot of work for not a lot of reward, it made it seem all worth while in the end. Since then, I’ve thought ‘I don’t care from this point on it was worth it’. What ever happens now that was still the defining moment of ‘yeah okay this is cool’.

You were just saying how you’ve played with so many big acts, do you have any interesting stories?

Pete: Surprisingly not. From playing with those bands and you think about it and it’s all this big fairy tale, you meet the bands you go hang out back stage and have drinks and booze on with them, but like we said before it doesn’t happen that much. They don’t want to talk to you and lock you out. The best thing would be Livid in Sydney. It was amazing backstage drinking with the Dropkick Murphys, Toe To Toe and Rose Tattoo. I couldn’t think of a better place to be at the time. Interesting stories playing with other bands there’s not that many apart from maybe, Trail Of The Dead trying to beat up Dropkick Murphys. The Dropkick Murphys chased them down to this skate park thing at Livid in the Horden Pavilion.
Garreth: They had their tour manager on the phone.
Jud: The security were asking us to see if we could diffuse the fight. Security were actually from Brisbane and they recognised us as the only people to talk to and they asked us to diffuse the fight. We were like ‘What the? As if we could diffuse a fight between Dropkick Murohys and Trail Of The Dead’. That was pretty funny.

I’ve heard the Dropkicks can be very jock like and macho? Did you get that impression?

Pete: I never got that impression before. I don’t think I’ve bee in a situation to see that though.

You always hear about them brawling, like the one that happened in Brisbane at the Waterloo Hotel.

Pete: But that was fair enough. Half the crowd were choking to death on fire extinguisher. I would have ran out the back and bashed the hell out of them and I would have saw them.
Judson: We found out who it was a couple of years later. We actually hang out with the dude that done that.
Pete: Stupid thing to do but deservedly got bashed.

When you guys meet people that you admire do you ever get star struck? Have you ever been ‘OMG I can’t believe I’m meeting this person’?

Judson: Yes! I met Fat Mike a couple of times. He was always a hero of mine from when I was a teenager. I tried not to talk to him too much because I didn’t want him to give me shit. You just don’t want your heroes to give you shit. I got to give him a cd and have a bit of a chat with him. That was cool. It was definitely an odd experience.
Garreth: I’m wishing I never met Dennis from International Noise Conspiracy. That just ruined all aspirations for me.

I’ve had that a few times with bands I’ve interviewed and people I’ve met. It’s such a let down. You have this idea of what you think this person’s like and then it all gets shattered. That’s why I don’t think I ever want to meet Mike Ness ever. As far as I’m concerned I think The Disables are an integral part of the Brisbane scene, how do you all feel about the scene at the moment?

Pete: The scene at the moment is really really healthy. There’s so great bands coming through at the moment. Really good bands too. There were always lots of young bands coming through but, there are really really good bands coming through at the moment.

Such as?

Judson: The Blackmarket.
Garreth: The Clap.
Judson: The Blackmarket stand out. They’re just such good musicians and such good blokes and good song writers.
Pete: Absolutely! And the Ordinary’s.
Garreth: And The Thirdgear Burnouts.

You guys have toured a lot, how do you think Brisbane shapes up in the Aussie punk scene stakes?

Judson: In between Sydney and Melbourne.
Garreth: It is in that way. Sydney lately hasn’t been great. Even bands that have come up here from Sydney have just been blown away by how good they see Brisbane is. They don’t realise that Brisbane has a great scene up here and a great following for punk rock bands.

Like Steppin’ Razor that came up last weekend?

Judson: Yeah. They were totally blown away. They were like ‘I can’t believe you have a scene like that. Everyone was so drunk’.
Pete: I’ve also heard from other bands that have come up and no one even knew who they were but they were like, ‘No one ever dances in Sydney’. They only had ten people at their show but they were like ‘This is th best show we’ve ever played because no one ever dances in Sydney’. That’s amazing.
Judson: Since Last Hammaroids broke up I don’t reckon Sydney has had a good scene. As for Melbourne, I think they’re always more of a working class town so they always have a stronger punk scene.

Do you see much difference between the Melbourne and Brisbane scenes?

Judson: I’ve found Brisbane to not be as clicky.

That’s what I found when I went to Melbourne too.

Judson: My limited experience in Melbourne has been that they have shows which are really specific kinds of shows. It’s either street punk or oi or a hardcore show. It’s all very the same kind of stuff. There’s only a scene of very particular types that will hang out together whereas Brisbane you have such a mixture of bands playing on the one bill and people that go to the shows. I think that we have a healthier lot of bands because you get a mix of someone that’s coming from a different background that has started playing in a band with somebody else from a completely different background and we’ve developed a fairly strong number of bands in Brisbane.

Do you guys see a big divide between the punk and the hardcore community in Brisbane?

Judson: Yes for the first time probably. There’s the whole North Coast Hardcore thing.

What do you think has contributed to the divide?

Garreth: Alcohol or lack of there of.
Pete: That’s a good point. With hardcore it used to be more thrash and grind-core as well.
Judson: It was feral crust hardcore.
Pete: It seems to have gone the whole straightedge way.
Garreth: Pretty boys.
Pete: You wouldn’t catch any of the crusties going to a hardcore show these days. Maybe if they’re going to see Draft Dodger or something – another great band!

Do you think the word ‘punk’ is even relevant today?

Judson: Sure, why not.

Does it mean the same thing to you as it did when you first got into it?

Judson: For me personally, it does. It always meant an ideal of living up to something. I think it’s one of those ideals that is a perfect ideal. I don’t think any one can live up to it. I think it’s one of those Utopian kind of deals. I think it still means the same thing. To some people it may be a fashion, to some it’s a sound, to some it’s an attitude. For you if it still means the same thing then I think it’s relevant. I think you can still have the same passion for it that you might have done when you were a kid even when you’re fifty years old. That’s where I think you notice it in bands if they’ve got that.

Do the rest of you guys feel the same way?

Pete: When I first got into it, the whole ‘punk’ thing about it was that it had a lot to do with acceptance and, maybe it doesn’t exactly mean that any more. I don’t think that
necessarily means that it’s changed at all for me because I don’t feel any different about it at all but possibly people coming in to it may because in Brisbane we do have a little bit of a divide which is a shame.
Judson: I know for the first time though hardcore bands don’t want to be considered punk. They don’t want to have an association with punk.
Garreth: It’s more metal.
Judson: Yeah, they tend to lean towards metal or something they think is completely new and different.

When you’re playing live, what are you thinking about?

Garreth: Don’t drop the sticks!
Pete: That’s what I’m thinking too ‘Garreth, don’t drop the sticks!’

Everyone laughs

Pete: It depends what I’ve taken before.
Garreth: Sometimes when we play in different venues we’ve never been to before, I try to take a mental image of what it looks like and try to remember it, seeing you don’t take photos of it.
Judson: I think I notice looking at the crowd more, specific faces. That’s something I probably didn’t used to do. When you get on stage sometimes you’re just going into muscle memory – you can play the songs with really not having to think about them – you start thinking about where you are on the stage and the people in front of you.

I heard a rumor that you guys rehearse all your on stage moves.

Judson: Our syncronised jumps?
Pete: Exactly. I’d be interested to see what could actually be rehearsed about what we do?
Judson: I don’t think we’ve ever had syncronised jumps.
Pete: I almost fall over every single time we play. I certainly don’t rehearse that.

What’s something people would be surprised to know about The Disables?

Garreth: That we’re not in wheelchairs.

Do you guys get much flack over your name?

Judson: I once got punched out by two disabled guys.

Was that at the Gabba (a now defunct Brisbane venue)?

Judson: Yeah it was out the front of the Gabba.

Everyone laughs.

Judson: there was a handicap guy and a mentally handicapped guy. They got really up me because they said ‘I was supposed to representing them’. I didn’t talk to them for long and then I went back outside and the handicap guy told the mentally handicap guy to punch me. It was really full on. There’s no way you can fight back.

The Disables will be releasing a new cd shortly? When will we see it?

Judson: August 22nd. We’re releasing it through Resist in Sydney.

So you aren’t with Waterfront any more?

Judson: No.

Any reason?

Pete: Not particularly. Waterfront as much as a label, no one really works there any more. It’s an old label. We need some one fresh, someone that is really doing something. Resist is a great label so getting Graham to help us out is a step in the right direction.

How many tracks on the cd? What will it be called?

Judson: We still haven’t worked out what it will be called?
Pete: Eleven tracks.
Judson: There’s a few tracks off the first bootleg thing we did which was virtually a demo we gave away to everybody. The rest all new. We just wanted to catch up with what we’ve done so the next album will be all new stuff. This one is basically everything we’ve done up till this point excluding what was on the Lackey Country cd.

Was the recording process a sober occasion?

Judson: We had a esky of beer in the mixing room the whole time.
Pete: It’s too hard to record if you’re too smashed. It doesn’t come out right, you can’t hear yourself. It’s not a good idea but, it wasn’t completely sober.
Judson: Yeah, not if you’re paying $1,000 a day.
Pete: You don’t want to be fucking it up.

Do you love or loathe recording?

Pete: The end result – love that!The process isn’t always fun.

Do you argue much in the studio?

Judson: No more than normal.

Everyone laughs.

Pete: No more than we do if we’re in the van for twelve hours straight. We’re usually pretty good about the music. It’s usually other things.

When the other things come up, how do you get past that and stay together as a band?

Judson: It’s like a family Bianca! It’s like a family!

Everyone laughs.

Judson: That sounds so naff but I reckon it’s like the same way when you argue with your brother or sister. You get over it within a few minutes. I like to think that we argue that way. I don’t think that we hold grudges with each other, otherwise we couldn’t be in the same room together.
Pete: We’re also good at giving each other shit. You all have to deal with that.

I think that The Disables are one of the biggest underground punk bands in Australia, do you think your style of music could ever crack the mainstream?

Judson: I don’t know? When does emo die in the arse?

Is that even a priority for you guys?

Pete: Absolutely not. I’m mean stranger things have happened. That’s not a priority.
Garreth: It doesn’t affect our song writing.
Judson: You’d have to wait till your style of music was the flavour of the month and then try cracking the mainstream but if you’re going to change the kind of music you play to fit into the mainstream then you’re just fucked to begin with. If you’re just going to try and jump shit onto every kind of fad then you deserve to fail.

When bands do get bigger they’re labeled with the ‘sell out’ tag that comes with the territory of getting bigger, how do you feel about that tag? Have you been labeled with that yet?

Pete: Aw… christ we sold out years ago!
Judson: It was after a few months that someone said ‘sell outs’. I think people are going to call you a sell out no matter what you do. We know what we want to do. If we ever changed what we wanted to do because we thought it was going to make us money then I would be quite happy to go ‘Yeah, we’re fucking sellouts’ but I don’t think there’s any way we’d ever do it.
Pete: I think a lot of people that have said it don’t have a clear idea in their mind what a sell out is?

I’ve heard people comment that ‘You’re arrogant’ Jud, any comment?

Judson: I’m the most humble man in the universe!

What’s in your cd players at the moment?

Pete: SC Trash from Sydney. Great great country punk band.
Judson: Steppin’ Razor.
Garreth: Aw… fuck…
Pete: I’ve never heard of them before? (laughs)
Garreth: I have 3,000 songs in my cd player.
Angus: A bit of jazz and stuff lately but, I listen to everything.
Pete: The Clash never leave my cd player.

Why do you do what you do?

Pete: There’s nothing better to do. It’s the biggest thrill.
Garreth: It’s great fun.
Judson: There’s no better way to spend your twenties than playing in a punk rock band. You have every excuse to be a total drunken idiot.
Pete: We’re going to do that any way, we need an excuse. Punk rock is about getting together with your mates and having a good time.

Leopard Street Droogs, Deputy Dipshit & Toby Market pic courtesy of Toby at: BlackMarket Records

THE LEOPARD STREET DROOGS

In the heart of BlackMarket Headquarters – a lounge room of an East Brisbane home – the walls covered with local punk show flyers, beer bottles strewn over the floor along with various other random items, colourful d.i.y. decor abounds and a bin scrawled with song lyrics overflows with yet more beer bottles – a group of friends hang out: pulling bongs, drinking, heckling each other and laughing while they wait for the show at their local tonight. A collective of tartan, leopard print, safety pins, spikes, mohicans, local punk band pins and homemade patches, tattoos and piercings cover this motley crew. Each present for today’s interview – members of up coming Brisbane street punk band, Leopard Street Droogs, Toby from The BlackMarket and record label of the same name, Justin from The Ordinary’s and members of Deputy Dipshit – fiercely individual but as a whole put forth a front of tight-knit solidarity. The future for punk rock in Brisbane is looking…. errr, colourful.

First things first, who is everyone and what does everyone do?

Jack: (points to each person as he introduces them) That’s Anti-Jack, the singer – that’s Mark or Bubbles, he’s the drummer and he kind of looks like a monkey when he plays the drums – this is Jason ‘Gayson’, he plays the bass and I’m Jack I’m awesome and he’s Justin (The Ordinary’s) he’s from a different band.
Justin: I’m pretty ‘Ordinary’.

Jack: (laughs)
Justin: Yeah, they’re Leopard Street Droogs.

When did it all begin?

Anti-Jack: It started in about…
Jack: Did you want the short version or the long version?
Anti-Jack: …October last year. We played our first show on the 2nd of February at the Indie Temple.
Jack: He knows exactly… we used to be in a band together, Toe Rag and after that stopped happening he (points to Ben from Toe Rag that is sitting to his left on the couch) formed Deputy Dipshit and he (points to Anti-Jack who’s across the room on the other couch) formed Leopard Street Droogs and asked me to be in it. We got the name because Chris the guy from Toerag (vocalist/guitarist) used to live on Leopard Street. That’s the long version.

What brought you all together to create music?

Jack: I went to grade two with Jack and he knew those two (points to Mark and Jason).
Anti-Jack: Just because we wanted to start a younger band for people our age.
Jack: After Toerag, there was no Street Punk… your band’s good but you’re shit (directs the comment towards Ben)… laughs

What attracted you to punk rock?

Jack: We all started off somewhere other than punk rock and you just keep looking for something better. I used to listen to Nivarna but… (makes a mocking phutt sound)
Jason: I still listen to Nivarna, they’re cool.
Jack: He’s only sixteen… (rolls his eyes)

I think that’s pretty punk rock to like what you like despite what your friends think!

Jack goes quiet.

Jack: We just worked our way up from rock or metal or ska to punk.

Why street punk, why not emo or melodic punk that’s pretty popular?

Anti-Jack: Because it doesn’t have a good feel to it when you’re playing it.
Jack: We like the speed and we’re not good enough to play slowly. I agree with the idea of not giving a shit about what anyone thinks… especially from Ben who thinks I’m gay.
Ben: Fuck you.
Anti-Jack: We’re not pretty enough that’s why we do street punk.
Jack: We’d call ourselves ‘ugly punx’ but Vicious might sue us.

Everyone laughs

What are you out to achieve if anything?

Anti-Jack: Fun on the weekend.
Jack: I reckon that the band is good enough and has the right ideas that it should be able to get a decent circuit that every now and again it can at least travel to the other major cities in Brisbane…
Anti-Jack: Other major cities in Brisbane? (laughs)
Jack: Fuck off you know what I mean… Fuck you!! I’m a little pissed here (Jack raises his tallie)

Everyone laughs and someone comments ‘He’s only had a quarter of it!’

Jack: We have some songs with no message what so ever like, Bus Driver’s Are Fucking Gay, I Hate Surfer’s… blah blah blah blah blah… but every second song, we’ve got actually has a message.
Anti-Jack: Look (motions to Jack) put your drink down and shut the fuck up!
Toby: There’s nothing for these young bastards to do and they bring it all together so everyone has something to do. That’s what they do.
Jack: We’re sick of people making bullshit judgments (Jack talks over the top of everyone) one song is about how someone said I was a skinhead and they thought Mark shouldn’t join the band so we wrote a song about it.
Mark: Who said I shouldn’t join the band?
Jack: Can we answer the next question? This isn’t going anywhere. This is seriously fucked up, can we have the next one?

You guys have been recording?

Anti-Jack: We have been recording with Toby. We’re working on an EP and we have a song on the compilation (Blackmarketeers Vol.1)
Jack: We’re going to have a six-track mastered… it’s not a demo… it’s an EP and Toby’s going to hook us up with some distribution.

An ice-cream van’s music can be heard outside….

Toby: He stopped out side! You know that ice-cream man stopped outside one time and I asked him if he could stop here every time and he does. Look he stopped outside!

Everyone laughs.

Toby: We never bought anything off him after the first time.

The Droogs recently got back from playing a show in Sydney?

Anti-Jack: We were in Sydney last weekend…
Jack: It’s better to live in Brisbane!
Anti-Jack: We played a gig called Youth United.
Jack: We played with about eleven other bands… well half hip-hop, half bands.
Anti-Jack: Deputy Dipshit from Brisbane played too and a few ska bands and a glam rock band.
Jason: There was an all-girl grunge band that was cool.

Did anything exciting happen on the way to/or in Sydney?

Jack: I was violated three times…

Room erupts in laughter.

Jack: Three times, god damn!
Jason: He likes to talk about it.

Ok, then tell us about it Jack.

Anti-Jack: Go on Jack you bring it up all the time, tell us about it! (encourages Jack)
Jack: Alright, fine! There was a French guy and he went ‘check out the hole in my pants’ and he was sitting in front of me like I am with Toby now (across from each other) and he pulled up his boxers and his nuts fell out of the sides – that was the first violation. The second violation was, I got this girl to show her tits and this six foot guy with long blonde hair kissed me in my open mouth…
Jason: And tounge!
Jack: It may have been tounge I don’t remember I was quite drunk I can’t remember.

Ben yells from the room next door where he is spiking his mohawk: He tounged him?!

Jack: Fuck you Ben! And the third violation was, there was this door that was unlocked a little bit and I thought I’d go inside….

Everyone breaks into laughter again as they’ve heard the story numerous times and knows what’s to come as Jack really does like to talk about it despite his protests…

Jack: … to see who was having sex with who? There were three girls and three guys…
Anti-Jack: He claims this is gayer than being kissed by a guy.
Jack: No being kissed by a guy was worse gay but…
Toby: Not that there is anything wrong with being gay.
Jack: Yes! Thank you Toby. So yeah, there were these people in the room and they wanted to have sex but I wouldn’t go away ’cause I thought it was pretty funny and then two of the guys went ‘oi, helicopter’ and pulled their dicks out and did this twirly thing with them. They did it towards each other and then did it towards me and then started to walk towards me and that’s when I left. Those were the three violations.

How did The Droogs go over in Sydney?

Anti-Jack: We went down alright. There was a good crowd. Half way through our gig a fight broke out…
Jack: And everybody turned around.
Toby: You guys stopped playing to watch it.
Jack: It was the French guy who showed me his balls that got into a fight. He punched someone in the face and everyone stopped paying attention to us. The guy that was met to play before us didn’t come to listen to anyone else and then he came halfway during our set and wanted to do his hip-hop thing and our set got cut short to twenty minutes from forty. The crowd thought we were good.

Do you think punk rock is different in Brisbane to other places in Australia?

Anti-Jack: Oh yeah definitely.

In what way?

Jason: There’s different styles.
Jack: People just couldn’t accept that Mark had a mohawk in Sydney. We got lost the first night we were there in the city and every second person made animals noises at him. I don’t know why?
Toby: They’re just not open minded.
Jack: There was a limit. You could look a little bit different and that was cool but if you went anywhere beyond that everyone just thought you were a wanker.
Mark: Stuff like that happening though makes you go on even stronger.
Jack: We painted my face almost everyday we were there. I do sound gay don’t I? I’m thinking about this from someone else’s point of view.
Jason: Wait till you read it!

You use the weird gay an awful lot?!

Jack: Spell it ghay. That’s how my parents do it.
Jason: It’s ’cause he is gay and that’s all he thinks about.
Jack: By that theory Jack likes to have sex with puss.
Toby: They like to be offensive.

Do you think punk’s shocking anymore?

Jack: No. The thing is a best friend of ours that died, the first proper punk me and Jack ever hung out with called us gay every two or three minutes for about four months (Jack tries to explain his frequent use of the word ‘gay’)
Toby: In an affectionate kind of way.
Jack: Like, ‘fuck you’re gay sit down’ or ‘fuck you’re gay do you want a drink?’ He was the maddest cunt. It doesn’t actually have any reference to gay people.

You were talking before about how in Sydney you guys found people had a hard time accepting you because of the way you look, in general the media/society seem to think of punks in a negative light, that it’s all destructive and rebellious – do you think that’s accurate?

Anti-Jack: To some sort of degree. It is about destruction but it is also about supporting the scene. Your family is your punk scene.
Jack: If someone was trying to beat the crap through Jack for being different we wouldn’t allow that to happen ’cause he’s a good mate and we look out for him.

Your family (friends) is your punk scene is probably one of the best descriptions I’ve heard of ‘the scene’.

Jack: The problem with emo and so-cal all that crap, it’s not actually what they play – see lots of people play music that I consider crap, doesn’t mean they’re shit people it just means they play shit music – they’re just wankers. They don’t give a shit about anyone else but themselves. The one’s I’ve met any way. I’m sure there’s cool ones out there.
Toby: It’s like with anything, there’s wankers out there in everything.
Jason: Like in this room for instance (stares at Jack)

Everyone laughs.

Jack: Well if you don’t want me to talk you talk you fuckwit!(Jack gets offend and his voice goes up a pitch)
Anti-Jack: Calm down cunt. He’s just had one tallie by the way.

The Brisbane scene has become a lot stronger over the last year or so, especially the street punk scene, what do you think has contributed to that?

Jack: It’s short it’s fast you don’t have to be a musical genius to play it you just have to know what you’re talking about. You have to sing about issues that relate to you.

So what would that be?

Jack: The songs I’ve written – I can’t talk for the other guys – we have a song about hating surfer’s. I hate surfer’s. People who surf give me the shits.

Why?

Jack: ‘Cause they’re better than me and they get more girls.

The room goes dead silent, then Jack breaks into laughter, at what is anyone’s guess?

Jack: We write about what we do every day like hanging out. I work at Coles and push trolleys and I pretty much hang out with Anti-Jack and who ever happens to be around.
Anti-Jack: I think you’ve gone off topic Jack.
Jack: That’s why it’s popular because people can relate to it. You listen to homies talking about busting caps in peoples arses and all that, I’ve never even held a gun so that has no real meaning to me. Whereas I’ll listen to Ben sing about how much he hates cops because they bust him for being a useless piece of crap – I understand that because they give me the shits too. Ok, I’ve got nothing else ask someone else something. Why don’t you say something Jason you wrote a few of the songs?

By this point everyone has pretty much forgotten the original question due to Jack’s babbling.

Anti-Jack: It was what are your songs about?
Jack: No it wasn’t! It was…. (Jack speaks over everyone else in the room, again)… why is street punk popular? What do you think Jason?

Jason: I wasn’t a part of the scene a year ago. I just heard about it and went to all ages gigs and there was a band, Toerag. I didn’t know about them but I stole their posters and put them up on my wall because they looked cool.
Jack: Oh how nice Jason just said I looked cool!

No he didn’t he said the posters looked cool.

Jack: Oh the posters… the posters were of us so it’s the same thing.

Everyone laughs….

Jack: I made one of the posters so I’m god damn cool.

Do you think unity is a realistic idea?

Jack: To some extent yes but to much more of an extent no.
Anti-Jack: With unity you’re still going to have feuds.
Toby: It can only go so far.
Anti-Jack: It does work but they’ll be segregated little groups like this person doesn’t like that person.
Jack: Everyone only hears the negatives but we don’t positively refer to anyone really…

Everyone laughs (once gain at Jack) then the room falls silent while everyone looks at each other puzzled over Jack’s comment.

Moving right along, BlackMarket Records is releasing your CD?

Anti-Jack: Toby got his recording studio and set it all up and he decided he’d start something and asked a few of us whether we wanted to be in it and record it. We had already recorded with him but then he started a label and asked if we wanted to be on it.

Do you guys have something you want to add?

Everyone looks at Jack…

Jack: Fuck you!
Anti-Jack: We’re going on a break soon ’cause Jack is going to Germany.
Jack: We will have a new guitarist before we go. I’ll be going for two years. They (the Droogs) won’t stop. I’ll train a new guitarist with all our songs before I go. Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean the rest of the band is.
Jason: I have something to say. I don’t hate emo kids or all these other people Jack was talking about, I take people as they come – I don’t hate them.
Jack: I wish I was so open minded.
Jason: What Jack says it not a representation of the band.
Jack: There has to be one more thing from Mark because he hasn’t said anything. Ask him a question.

Why are you so quiet Mark?

Jack: That’s a shit question we ask him that all the time – ask him something else.
Anti-Jack: I believe the question was directed towards Mark.
Mark: I only say things that are worth saying.

I applaud you, there’s not enough people in the world like that.

Mark: I’m all for unity. I’m not into shit stirring. I like everyone how they are.

Jack you should listen to Mark a lot more!

Everyone agrees and laughs before making their way out of the room to go get some more beer and to get ready for tonight’s show. I turn to Justin – who is a man of few words – from the Ordinary’s to chat with him about what they’re up to?

Boring question first – who does what?

Justin:I’m Justin and I play bass, Jason plays guitar, Steve on second guitar and Matt on drums. He’s the coolest.

Why is Matt the coolest?

Justin: I don’t know? He just is.

Then tell me something interesting about everyone in the band?

Justin: Aww fuck! That’s why we’re called The Ordinary’s. There’s nothing. We are who we are, we’re nuthin’ special. There’s nothing special.
Jack: That’s really harsh.
Justin: We’re only in it for the fun. If we get anything out of it then fuckin’ cool. Apart from that….
Jack: You’re nice!
Justin: There you go, it comes from the man himself (Justin looks at Jack)

What’s the biggest compliment The Ordinary’s have ever got?

Justin: We’re nice!

What’s the worst?

Justin: We sound like shit… or we’re fuckin’ crap. Ummm, worst compliment? We sound like The Thirdgear Burnouts.

Jack chokes on his beer laughing and Justin – who I might add is incredibly stoned at this point – cracks up.

Then how would you say you sound?

Justin: I don’t know? I guess we’re in the punk… um… we’re good there we go. Ask everyone else I don’t know how to class my own band?
Toby: They’re very sing-a-long. It’s catchy but it’s still raw.

(jokingly) And it’s not like The Thirdgear Burnouts?

Justin: Yeah, even though they’re a good band, we’re not like The Thirdgear Burnouts… don’t print that or mention anything about them in the magazine or I’ll get a slappin’ (note: Justin grew up with and used to be in a band with Morgan and Darren from Thirdgears)

So how’d you get it all together then?

Justin: Jason used to play in a band he played guitar and I had a bass but didn’t know how to play it…

Do you know how to play it now?

Justin: I know how to make it sound like I kind of do. I’m getting better. I keep it very simple so I can jump around and have as much fun as I can.

What inspires you guys?

Justin: Beatin’ off.

Jack laughs

Then what motivates you?

Justin: I like listening to music and then to be able to play it is just as good if not better. To go to the pub on Friday night and play some music and hang out with all the other people that play music that’s pretty cool. Just to go somewhere on a Friday night instead of sitting there listening to the jukebox, you and your friend are the jukebox. It’s all about the whole scene thing and blah blah blah…

Then what do you get from the scene?

Justin: Fun… nah, we don’t get that… I see the scene as just a whole bunch of friends hanging out playing music.

What’s an Ordinary live show like, ‘ordinary’?

Justin: Yep… we’ve had that comment before. We like to think we’re good…

And nice?

Justin: Yep, nice. We’re loud. We’re not as fast as The Droogs. We like crowd participation. I get everything out of playing live. It’s good to be up there expressing what’s happening in your life.

So what do you think about on stage does your mind ever wander?

Justin: No, never. It’s on the music or getting a drink between the music when you’re thirsty or on the people giving you shit and having a good time. You just want people to have a good time.

You have a release coming out on BlackMarket Records too?

Justin: Yeah, a self-titled. I’m not sure how many tracks will be on it. It’s got five at the moment it could have more but will probably have less.

Anything interesting happen during recording?

Justin: Nah, we came we went.

Is your recording true to your live sound?

Justin: It’s pretty much just us cleaned up. It’s pretty, whereas it’s not that pretty on stage. It’s nice.

For more on the above bands: http://www.myspace.com/bmrecs

SAY NOTHING

What do each of you bring to the band?

Steve: I know this is going to sound wanky but, I do think I bring the raw emotion…

Everyone cracks up laughing.

Steve: …that courses through my veins.
Josh: Yeah none of the rest of us have emotions Steve.
Steve: You guys have emotion but mine’s much like…
Marcus: But none of us cut our wrists, ours is inferior to yours.
Steve: …mine is like coal left in the earth’s crust for millions of years – diamond like.
Marcus: Diamond like?

Everyone laughs

Dimitri: You’re an untapped source of emotion.
Steve: I sing and I feel my lyrics are passionate, Dimitri does offer some lyrics…
Dimitri: Some?
Steve: Yeah some! The one’s that I do are very passionate and they’re about me and the things that affect me but I also see them affecting other people. Lyrically I feel I bring passion and honesty.
Josh: I bring a bit of an old school rock n roll vibe to the band, that’s what I’m into. A few licks here and there. I’m all about the more rockin’ numbers.
Dimitri:You bring attitude!
Marcus: I think I bring, playing bass I started and and have always been into punk rock and then later hardcore, the way I was brought up as a musician was with different sort of influences that you might expect from this sort of thing. I bring a culmination of a lot of different stuff.
Dimitri: Like the Spice Girls!
Marcus: My first bass teacher was a funk bass player so she taught me to play that. Then I went through blues and then got into rock stuff. So I bring a little bit of all that.

Then what about Dimitri?

Dimitri: Let’s see what everyone has to say about that?
Steve: Content-wise he brings the metallic riffs that he cut his teeth upon. He is a creative force in our band. He’s creative energy is helpful.
Josh: He brings the more melodic licks and the metally kind of stuff we have in our songs.
Marcus: He’s a very technical player I feel as well. He’s a very passionate young greek man as well.
Josh: He brings the Mediterranean passion.
Marcus: He also gives everyone a kick in the arse.
Dimitri: I’d like to say what I think I bring to the band content-wise…
Steve: Have we got half an hour?
Dimitri: … is a big hand in the writing.

What shared sensibilities bought you all together to create music?

Josh: A sense of playing straight up rockin’ tunes that are really good fun to get into and really good fun to play and listen to.
Marcus: We’re also just really good friends and hang out all the time.
Josh: We all have very different musical tastes but we all have a common love of punk rock.
Dimitri: We all have different places we came from like Steve’s techno and Josh’s confederate surf rock.

You have a demo out, is there anything else you’re releasing soon?

Josh: We have some plans to start pre-production on our next release. We’re writing for that at the moment.
Marcus: Yeah we’re just writing.
Steve: We haven’t released our demo yet. It’s yet to be pressed. We’ve got everything happening but we’ve just been a bit hesitant in releasing it.
Marcus: Hopefully fairly soon.
Josh: To be honest it hasn’t been released yet because we’re all working hard to get the money together to get it pressed.
Dimitri: We’re not one of those bands that sit on the couch all day and plays we all have day jobs. That makes it hard to get some of the shit done we need to get done.
Steve: I’m eager to do something by mid to end of next year that will be a true indication of our band.

What do you guys think of the whole North Coast Hardcore (NCHC) thing?

Dimitri: We’re a part of NCHC. I’m pretty sure everyone in the band likes it. I know I do. I think that NC is great. There’s negative and positive things for anything, whether it be Byron Bay Hardcore or New York Hardcore. NC has great people and great bands just helping each other out. I think it’s been a little harder for us because put of all the bands on NCHC we’re probably the softest.
Josh: The least hardcore.
Dimitri: We wouldn’t call ourselves a hardcore band at all. The common misconception is that NCHC is all about hardcore bands.
Marcus: We are a hardcore influenced band.
Steve: I’d like to say that I think musically NCHC has been pretty good in bringing so many bands together and creating the scene that’s going on now. It’s been a real cohesive force. People hear different things and people have their own perspectives n it like that it’s machified and that there’s some nasty stuff going on but from my personal experience playing in a band and going to the shows, my personal experiences have been 99% positive. I think NCHC is great for the creation of a scene.
Josh: The most important thing about it is that it gives us the opportunity to help other bands out and to get the help we need from the other bands. It gets everyone moving faster. Every band is a better band for the help that they give and they receive. It’s mutual support.
Dimitri: It’s a big reciprocal support group. Like there’s a NCHC trailer that’s used for bands to go on tour. Everyone can use it.

What’s one of the stupidest things that’s ever happened at one of your shows?

Marcus: Probably that guy fight dancing with a beer bottle in his hand in Bundy.
Josh: He had two rum bottles.
Steve: What else would you drink if you were in Bundaberg?
Dimitri: Another thing that was pretty funny in a previous incantation of ourselves, we had the power go out during a set. It was half way through and everyone was like ‘ what the fuck?’ we go down and we’re hanging out with these big burly sound guys and they’re smoking their cigarettes going ‘yeah mate just hit it there’ no one knew what th fuck was going on.
Josh: we had to break into the power box with a crow bar.
Marcus: The door was locked so we had to rip it off so we could get into the power box.

Saynothing have played with some big bands like Unwritten Law and Pulley. What’s that all been like?

Josh: It was awesome. I thought it would be quite intimidating but I really had a fantastic time especially at the Unwritten Law and Midtown one. The guys were really cool. We were blown away by how many people were there. Pulley was great too except for the forces of nature that was against us – the huge downpour that trapped us on the Coast until four in the morning.
Marcus: Except I had to drive a van full of drunk idiots back during torrential downpour. The road was feet deep in water.
Dimitri: The ship of fools was reborn.

Were the guys from Unwritten Law and Pulley what you expected them to be?

Dimitri: Scott Russo was everything I expected him to be. He was a fucking jerk. He pegged a bottle of water at Pulley’s drummer and it smashed on the ground in front of me and then it sprayed all over me and then he screamed ‘fuck you’ and gave someone the finger, I don’t know if it was me or not, and then he slammed the door to their backstage area.
Josh: One day when I’m a famous rock star I hope to be just like him!
Marcus: The Midtown guys were awesome. They came out drinking with us afterwards.
Josh: They even gave us some advice about how to relate to the crowd. They talked about cultivating a sense of disdain and antagonism with the crowd.
Marcus: Unwritten Law were all rock star’s except for Pat Kim, he’s the man. Everyone except Pat Kim hid in their dressing room but he actually came out a said ‘hello’ to everyone.
Dimitri: Pulley were so cool. They don’t treat you any different whether you’re a band playing with them or a fan.

What are some bands you would really love to play with?

Dimitri: I would say Strung Out and Bodyjar.
Marcus: It’s not possible anymore but I’d say Glassjaw.
Steve: Ridiculous dream bands I’d like to play with, Cursive – we wouldn’t really match in style but I’d really like to play with a band that’s just so (makes a er type noise) unloads everything and that just throws down so beautifully. A more realistic band would be Taking Back Sunday.
Marcus: Or Barbara Streisand.
Josh: I’d like to play with Social Distortion or the Supersuckers – someone that’s just having a big rock n roll party.

Everyone has an indulgence so I wanted to ask, what’s everyone’s biggest indulgence?

Everyone laughs

Josh: You don’t want to start off with this one Steve?
Steve: I’m thinking about going for a dick joke with this. No, I think my biggest indulgence at the moment is beer and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. I get up and just play it all day.
Josh: My biggest indulgence is probably cigarettes because I smoke so many of the bastards that it’s driving me broke. Other then that my biggest indulgence is sleep because I hardly ever have a chance to get any these days.
Marcus: I’m definitely going to have to go with sleep because I sleep an inhumanly amount. Dimitri calls me ‘Sleepy McSpud’. Whenever he calls me I’m asleep. I sleep a lot.
Dimitri: What an exciting bunch of guys you all sleep!
Josh: Rock n roll. Cocaine.
Dimitri: Cocaine off hookers legs! My biggest self-indulgence right now would be self pity.

Everyone laughs

Josh: Is that code for touching yourself improperly?
Steve: And crying afterwards.

More laughter

Dimitri: I’m not going to even say anything about little goats winking at me. No, probably playing guitar in my room and smoking cigarettes and I’ve been drinking a fuckin’ shitload lately.
Josh: You never used to drink enough before.
Dimitri: That’s what break ups do to you. They turn you into an alcoholic and then you’re fat and you’re no good to no one.

What the band’s biggest strength and weakness?

Josh: Our biggest strength is how much we’re all good mates. If we’re not playing or rehearsing we’re hanging out together and drinking…

Or sleeping?

Steve: We slumber party and we spoon!
Josh: And have pillow fights. The other thing I’d say that’s a big strength is how diverse the music we listen to is. When we’re trying to come up with a tune, there’s a whole lot of different shit coming in.
Dimitri: It often causes a conflict. It gets really tense in there especially between me and Josh.
Josh: We then just pack up the bill’ and it’s all good.
Dimitri: The guys are trying to get me to indulge in anger management. They want me to start smoking billy’s – I don’t do drugs at all – they want me to start smoking the choung because they reckon it’ll help me with not being so high strung.
Steve: Anyway, I think that one of our weakness’ is that sometimes I don’t think we maintain the intensity that I know we have. Sometimes we put things on the back burner and let it cool off.
Dimitri: I think another strength is that since we’ve started we’ve progressed in our music and that we haven’t stagnated or we haven’t followed trends. I think growth in music is a good thing.

Last question, where are saynothing headed?

Josh: Short term goal for me is that I want to go on tour, fairly extensively around Australia. I want to see a bit of the country. I want to go on a road trip with these guys and play shows and expose more people to our music. Long term, I’d like us to get enough money and time together to really work on putting out a great full length record.
Steve: As unoriginal as it sounds, I want to get some good shit that is really representative of us out to people. I want to play more shows. I’d also like to have people come see us not just because we’re the band supporting but people that really enjoy our music.
Marcus: Yeah definitely to establish a loyal fan base and go on tour and play shows.
Dimitri: Basically I think what everyone is saying is that, we want to rule the Downunderverse and then spread to other continents. I’d like to see it go as far as we could possibly take it.

http://www.myspace.com/saynothing

THE BLACKMARKET

Something For Everyone

TOBY MARKET and his band THE BLACK MARKET have become a fixture in Brisbane’s punk scene. Whether it’s spending time playing in their band or other music projects, organizing shows, recording acts, touring interstate bands, running a record label or screen printing merch one thing is for sure – The Black Market do what they do with passion, for the simple love of it and the desire to contribute something positive to the world through their music. Alongside bands like The Disables, The Clap and Mouthguard,The Black Market are helping build a bigger, better, brighter punk community.

I’m sitting on a backyard porch in suburban Brisbane. Beside me is Black Market front man and more often than not spokesperson, Toby. The larger than life tattooed and pierced punk rocker is in good spirits. The band have been hard at work on the road touring in support of latest album, To All Corners Of The Globe, the long awaited follow up to the 2005 released, Subtle As A Brick. “North Queensland was a lovely experience,” says Toby of the latest round of touring his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I love the people of North Queensland. I got my drink spiked which was great!” He starts to laugh before adding, “No… the people there – the kids – were good. There were large crowds.”

2006 saw the trio mobilize, hitting Sydney and Melbourne. “Sydney is very good. Sydney has a very good local scene with lots of good bands,” Toby explains. “Melbourne has a big scene with not so many good local bands.” Listening to Toby speak of his observations of neighbouring city scenes and his comparisons of each, I get the impression he may be quite bias towards our own scene – or as he and I prefer to call it community – here in Brisbane.

“Brisbane is by far the best town in Australia hands down!” he exclaims my assumption proving correct. “All the bands are diverse, everyone knows each other and at shows it’s very welcoming,” he expresses his view as to why the Brisbane community is currently thriving. “At a lot of shows in Melbourne or Sydney you feel like you have to earn the respect of people for them to talk to you. Brisbane’s just like, someone walks into a room and they either spill a drink on you or buy you one. It’s a very different experience. It’s a good community.”

Toby tells that when The Black Market started out he and his fellow band mates didn’t know anyone in the scene. “It was just a few friends. Now all of the friends have started bands and we’ve created our own community,” he says.

Speaking on the new album which has a reoccurring theme of ‘injustice’ Toby is quick to point out, “We’re a constantly evolving band. It sounds different to Subtle… though we are the same band and it has the same energy. The album is about, why would humans do things to other humans to the point where the world is where it is right now? There’s no real reason for any of it when you actually think about it. Why everyone wants to fight with their brothers is beyond us.”

http://www.myspace.com/theblackmarketband

Photo courtesy of Against

AGAINST

Where’s The Revolution Gone?

“Hardcore gave me the chance to be who I want to be. It taught me not to conform and that anyone can be anything,” AGAINST front man GREG APPLEBY talks honestly with BIANCA about their new album and the hardcore scene.

When we last talked you were telling me about the new album. You used the words ‘pure hatred’ to describe it. Can you elaborate on that?

I guess most of the drive for the songs is some form of hate: hatred for the bands around me, hatred for the people in the scene, hatred for the way hardcore gets watered down, hatred for chumps in shit bands acting like they are special and above everybody else. These sort of things are what drive Against lyrically and musically. These things don’t keep us up at night but I like to let people know how we feel. Andy (guitarist) is probably the angriest person I have ever met and you can tell the way he writes all the music. That guy is an evil genius!

To be in a band and not stand for anything is pathetic. We have a lot of fun in this band and thats the main reason we tour and play but if you’ve got nothing to say then you ain’t a hardcore band and you don’t need to exist.

Your new album is called Loyalty and Betrayal, what does ‘loyalty’ mean to you?

Loyalty to me means being true to a cause whether its what you believe as a person, the music you write or just about anything that makes a person. The title, Loyalty and Betrayal refers to us as a band being honest with what we do and how we won’t change or dumb anything down to get famous or well known. In this day and age we are surrounded by mediocre metal-core bands and hardcore bands copying sounds with no knowledge of the history and feeling behind it. It feels good to never regret anything we have ever done as a band

Punk/hc legend Roger Miret guests on Kill Or Be Killed. How did that hook up come about? What did it mean to you having Roger on the album? I know you’re a big Agnostic Front fan.

On the Agnostic Front tour Roger asked if we had anything new coming out. I showed the guys the preproduction. They all liked it and Roger said that if we had got in contact with him he would have done some vocals on it. When we got to Melbourne I asked the crew at the Art House if we could do some vocals up stairs in the studio. There were a few lines I left off the song because they didn’t work when I did ‘em. Roger did ‘em and it came out awesome! To have someone like that sing on your record is a pretty amazing feeling.

A lot of the lyrics on the album seem to paint a pretty bleak picture of the world. When writing for the album did you stop to think, ‘what can I do to try to contribute to making the world a better place?’

No not at all. As far as I’m concerned the world is a pretty shitty place. If I’m going to contribute anything to anyone through Against – musically or lyrically – I hope that we can make people stronger to deal with the world. No one can change the world and to think they they can is naive. We just gotta get in shape for the battle ahead.

In the album liner notes you say ‘fuck all you dead shit cunts that use hardcore as a stepping stone for your shit gay bands to get rich and famous’ what was it that prompted you to write that?

That one is pretty self explanatory. People see all these bands like Fall Out Boy getting big and everyone thinks they can do it. They figure ‘our sound isn’t that different’ so they change themselves and use the hardcore scene for that first leg up knowing that the majority of hardcore kids are morons and are spoon fed more garbage that the idiots out there listening to Triple M.

Over the years Against have gained many admirers and also critics, what do you have to say to the haters?

Ahh fuck ya! We are unbreakable, so hate away!

http://www.myspace.com/againsthc