B-Town represent!!!! As Brisbane hip hoppers the Optimen would say ‘Booooooom Town!’ . As you guys know I have a lot of love for the music and music community of my hometown, Brisbane. Here’s some more ‘back in the day’ interviews for you guys. The following were some of my really early interviews. It’s been such a spin out looking back and seeing how far I’ve come as an interviewer and writer.

I must give a shout out to both Gavin Sawford and Eden Howard who believed in me enough to give me my first real writing gig pretty much straight out of high school. I’ll never forget that first day I went into the Rave office with my zine to show them what I could do and leaving with two tickets to review a concert for them! :)

Thought I’d kick things off with a short clip of a documentary that was made on the Brisbane music community… Brissie love!

Photo of Ben Doran (Knaw’s vocalist) who later went on to form The Fancy Boys.

KNAW (Part I)

Knaw have been slogging it out on the Brisbane scene for the last three years, their style can’t be pigeonholed they truly stand out as something special. Punk rock ethics mixed with fearless experimentation—Knaw are a force to be reckoned with…

…and for several years they were one of the darlings of Brisbane’s punk community but are now sadly defunct. Interviews conducted 1999-2002.

For those who don’t know who Knaw are or what they’re about, give us a run down?

Ben: We are a five-piece-band that plays punk rock, and we have a few different influences. That comes through more now that we’ve got a scratcher who does some sampling and DJ stuff. Ben motions to their newest addition

Ben to Matthew: I often think of your work as a broad Crayola crayon drawings over our vivid patterns.

Matt: That’s beautiful man. I feel so much more part of this group now that I’ve been likened to a crayon. Our songs tend to go on longer than your normal punk rock songs; they have a rock element maybe even a progressive rock element, which I’m not proud to say [laughs].

Do you have anything out?

Ben: A demo tape we did last year and we did a couple of recordings around the place where ever we could get it done for free and then we’d distribute it and sell it at gigs. We’ve just recorded a new bunch of stuff that we’ve recorded for compilations. Matt and I have started up a little record company and we’re putting out a compilation hopefully sometime in the next couple of months.

What do you guys think of the Brisbane music scene in general, what type of bands do you usually play with?

Matt (guitarist): We play with a vast array of bands, for some reason anything from pop to heavy metal. We haven’t really been matched with anything.

With the amount of bands in Brisbane at the moment what makes Knaw stand out from the crowd?

Matt: Interviews in Rave [laughs].
Matthew (scratcher): We’re probably the only ones that listen to Lee-Ann Rimes with the dedication that we do. I have a Teletubbies poster that helps.

Ben: There seems to be a lot of derivate stuff in Brisbane. There’s a definite Brisbane sound that gets marginalised a bit. I’ve never heard ska punk stuff like you hear in Brisbane. Bands that play the Railway never seem to get the big support slots.

Matthew: Just all the syndicated bands. They manage to do it in their own way but it’s remarkably inspired from more popular types of bands that do that stuff.

Ben: I love all the punk bands in Brisbane and everyone is really nice to each other.

Like one big happy family?

Ben: Yeah to an extent.

Matthew: That’s crap! That is so crap!

Ben: If you get chucked into a group and we’re marginalised…

Matt: You’d be the retarded kid.

What’s something about each band member they probably wouldn’t want the rest of the world to know?

Matt: I think we should start with the people that aren’t here first.

Ben: Cameron (drummer) probably wouldn’t like people to know that…

Matthew: He’s a beautiful man. He also wouldn’t want people to know about he’s inflatable sheep collection.

Everyone breaks out in laughter.

Ben: Damian (bass) likes to braid he’s hair before a gig Hanson style’ because it puts him in a fun mood.

Matthew: Matt likes to make jewelery.

Matt: No I don’t.

Matthew: Yes you do your wearing it.

Matt: I’ve made two pieces of jewellery in my life. I don’t love to make jewellery. I love to arrange flowers. Ben likes to work with children.

Ben: I’m a primary school teacher in training at the moment. Matthew is a techno DJ, he’s on the dark side of the force.

Damian finally makes his entrance.

Damian: Greetings and Salutations.

Where’d the name Knaw come from?

Matthew: It’s ‘wank’ spelt backwards.

Do you have any amusing stories that you’d like to share?

Damian: When I had to defend my house against my crazy steroid driven cousin, it was kind of a band gathering and all. I drank a bottle of rum and my cousin went crazy and started bashing up the house and I sprayed a fire extinguisher in his face and we had a fight.

Ben: On Boxing Day at Beer Stock the rest of the band played tripping—my mum and dad were there!

Matthew: It was probably our best gig.

Matt: That night a guy beat me up ‘cause I had white laces in my boots. He came up to me and said ‘why you got white laces?’ and I said ‘They’re from my Con’s they’re the only ones that fit! I needed to wear some shoes!’ Then everything was okay until I was walking out with my amp and your [Ben’s] mum yapping in my ear while I’m tripping. This guy again came up to me and said, ‘I’m gonna fucking kill you.’

Ben: Beer Stock is a wonderful thing.

Part II

What’s Knaw been up to since last we talked?

Ben: We’ve gone from having a blueish CD promo copy of our last recording to having a proper CD we had done at Oracle.

What’s the difference between your new CD Problems Of Sexual Conduct: Three Kinds Of Friendship and the last one?

Damian: It’s got more varied elements than the other one; it has a different feel to it. There’s more scratching in it, the other one didn’t really have any. Matt (the DJ) was in the band but we didn’t really let him do anything on the first one. We had to cut him back a little on this one too, if we left it to him the CD would have been scratching with us in the background.

Ben: He would of given us an Emerson Lake and Palmer feel which wouldn’t of been good at all.

Is it hard for a band like you guys to incorporate a DJ live?

Damian: It depends how much drugs he’s had.

Matt: We kind of judge by other people’s reactions ‘cause we can’t really hear it, I know I can’t ever hear it anyway.

Ben: When it fucks up it fucks up! But when it’s good it’s better than being without him.

Do you think this new CD represents Knaw better now than the last CD?

Matt: Yeah, I think it’s another re-direction.

Ben: This CD is more of a transition CD that’s the stuff we wrote after we did the last CD and started playing a lot of that shit.

Damian: Everyone understands it better.

Can you tell me about the recording process?

Matt: It took two days with a man and his dogs. We went to this place under this guys house, we went inside for two days it didn’t really feel like we were doing anything but in the end it was done…I’ m not going to talk anymore ‘cause I always do this shit….

Ben: Matt’s narrative stretch is so all encompassing that he brings together the universe and correlates it into a single metaphor that really says a lot without really saying anything. He’s a genius sometimes.

Why should people check it out?

Matt: Because we have five hundred of them.

KNAW (Part III)

Congratulations guys, you won The Zed Project! How was that?

MATT: I don’t really know, for me it was just very unexpected.

BEN: It was good, we hadn’t really thought about entering any band competitions for a while, ‘cause really they’re just a load of shit. But we thought if 4ZZZ had something to do with it, it might be more open to different ideas then just like the normal Rock Awards, that let the most commercially appealing band win—which I doubt we really were. It was very unexpected. On the night I was there the quality of bands were great The Giants Of Science were excellent.

Okay, so for those who don’t know what did your prize include?

MATT: We won to play at the 4ZZZ 25th Anniversary gigs. We did one last night and the other today’s been cancelled—I think one of the guy’s from Regurgitator is sick. Five days recording at Sunshine studios, 1000 CD’s released by Phantom Records and distribution nationally.

So where do you guys go from here, world domination perhaps?

MATT: [laughs] No, we’re just going to ride out the rest of the year and prepare for this recording. It kind of caught us unaware, especially because we’re not paying for it! When you pay for it you know exactly what you’re going to do.

BEN: We have to really get some songs together first. Because we’ve been playing so much this year we haven’t really had an opportunity to write a lot.

Any ideas of what songs are going on the CD yet?

MATT: Oh yeah, we’ve got a couple of new different sort of songs that are in the same vein of things we’ve been doing. Half of it hasn’t been written yet.

BEN: We’ve got three or four songs, I’d like to write another five or six so we have some to choose from when we go to record.

Do you have any titles or themes for the CD in the works yet?

BEN: I really wanted to call it Behold My Collection, but that’s just a wanky idea I had. I don’t know if that will go through or not. I want to have photo’s of strange people that have bug collections pinned to their walls, nerdy record collectors and stuff like that.

Tell me a little more about the 4ZZZ birthday bash you guys played, how was the crowd?

MATT: We played at 6:30pm so not a whole heap of people were there, but the people that were, were up the front which was good.

I noticed in one of the street presses lately there’s been a few letters written in commenting that 4ZZZ doesn’t really help the local scene, your part of the local scene what do you think? Do you think that’s a valid statement?

BEN: For people that are going to complain that’s a valid complaint. But why should 4ZZZ help these people when they’re not willing to promote themselves. It’s the best medium. 4ZZZ are willing to help people it just seems that people are always complaining what a bad job they’re doing without putting in any effort themselves and without volunteering themselves and trying to change something. It’s all pretty stupid.

You have to tell me about Skull Fest you recently played at The Gabba, I heard it was great?

MATT: Skull Fest was damn good I have to say. The all ages show was a little bit of a disappointment though; there was hardly anyone there that was under age. Maybe the bands were just a little intimidating for them. It was well attended though. The quality of bands were really good, I actually wanted to come back for the second show.

BEN: It was just unbelievable. It was probably the best show I’ve been to at the Gabba for this year. B.A Baracus played the best set I’ve ever seen them play. All the bands really got into the idea of a show that was really put on for all the right reasons. It was such a diverse range of bands that were all just there to have a good time.

Photo: Chris from The Quickening the band that Nob would later become.

NOB

CHRIS: We are a three piece band who is three and a half inches long. No… we really write fast music that I’d like to consider original but it’s hard to be original these days. We’ve been together for maybe three years in various forms; we kicked one member out under certain circumstances which shan’t be mentioned for his own reasons. We’re just all friends who met in high school and decided to start a band.

Nob have a new CD out Making the Maladjusted, it seems your style has changed since your last CD Awol?

I like to think so, it’s less poppier. Everyone goes through fazes with listening to music, you go through different styles of music you tend to enjoy and really get into. There was a stage where I was a very pop punk orientated person—that was what I was into when I was fifteen or sixteen when I started the band. I enjoyed it at the time but I’ve moved on now. Punk pop is definitely not my thing anymore.

You’re just a product of your influences. You take all the things you like all the different bands like reggae or hip hop and all this other type of stuff and I fuse it together. We put it all together and we hopefully come up with something that’s original and fresh. I stopped singing about girls… there’s more important things to be spoken about than girls. When it comes to personal issues people can deal with it in their own time it doesn’t have to put it into a public format when there are things that need people’s attention …equal rights and stuff! I know its all cliché but its true there is more important stuff to talk about then who you got with at what party last weekend, it’s irrelevant in the scheme of things so why talk about it?

So tell me more about this CD your launching?

We recorded it at the Dirty Room which is Martin Lee’s studio. I did it there ‘cause Godnose put out Odessa and I just loved the sound of it. It was warm and dirty. Modern punk recordings are so cleanly produced. I wanted a dirty sound so we went to the Dirty Room. We’re really happy with it. We’d loved to release it in a proper format but we’re just going to keep it d.i.y.

BLOWHARD

How did you get into punk rock Rollo?

As a teenager I had a BMX bike. After a night out in a park with my mates at the bloody Mt Gravatt Showgrounds drinking and that, I met a bloke that said he had some Redline V bars to sell for my pushie. So I went around he’s house the next morning. His big brother had this Sex Pistols record on and it hit me as a music that I could immediately identify with and I just got into it from then. I’ve always listened to 4ZZZ and all the local bands and I found out how easy it was to start a local band. I started a band and decided that that was what I wanted to do with my life.

What keeps you motivated, why are you still around in the scene today?

Because I’m having a fucking good time! It’s great, I just come back from a month in the snow with my band. It’s amazingly good and then I come to work and make enough money to feed my family and pay the rent and I’m doing what I want to do. I’m not stuck in a warehouse ’cause I got no other qualifications other than carrying heavy boxes around. Being 37 and working in a night club mixing bands you love to see has to be better than carrying heavy boxes around a warehouse.

So do you think the Brisbane punk/live music scene is healthy at the moment?

Yeah Brisbane’s always had a super healthy punk scene.

But don’t most people think Melbourne or Sydney is where it’s at?

They’re good people but they’re a different breed of people if you know what I mean? There as friendly as friendly can be but they seem preoccupied with their own image and everything else.

So do you think the scene is getting bigger and it’s just a matter of time before people start to take notice that Brisbane has great punk bands and a great scene too?

I think it’s’ the same size everywhere. In Melbourne there’s heaps of punk rockers and in Sydney there’s heaps of punk rockers I don’t think it’ll get bigger I don’t really think that it’s changed much in size. It’s just a music and lifestyle that people enjoy I suppose.

What album changed your life?

Never Mind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols.

Does punk still mean the same thing to you now as opposed to when you first got into it?

Yeah but not exactly. The idea of the shock value of it has departed. The idea of its message and its political benefits, just its underlying message, of real soul and emotion; its truth not manufactured punk rock. You can get manufactured and there is manufactured punk rock but you can sort through that bullshit pretty quick. Anything with emotion and soul is good. I get into bloody Madonna as well and I like Blondie and old jazz. Anything that sounds real I enjoy.

I know you probably don’t want to be bias but what are your favourite bands in the Brisbane scene at the moment?

SixFtHick, Deranged; I like Strange Stains; I like the Badnitz—they’re fantastic but I wouldn’t really put them in the punk rock category. I love the Flying Chimneys but they’re definitely not punk rock. I like heaps of bands for different reasons I suppose.

So where are Blowhard heading, what do you want to achieve with them?

I’d love to be able to get shitloads of money and entertain people, you know. It’s good to be able to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think. It’s just good to entertain people to get them to forget about reality for a while.

GAZOONGA ATTACK

Gazoonga Attack is a breath of fresh air in the Brisbane punk scene. They’re all-girl, they’re punk rock, and they’ve got attitude and heart, most of all they’re something different. I caught up with their bassist and sometimes singer Elea Attack.

Stacy (the band’s original vocalist) left, why? I heard there was a bit of tension?

Tension? Who told you that? We didn’t have a scrag fight or anything! Stacy’s gone to Melbourne to do a course in fashion design. There’s no tension, it just comes down to our priorities being different ‘cause we want to do different things with our lives. Stacy wants to be a designer. That’s what she wants to do; she designs cool clothes and wants to open a shop. Whereas I want to be a rock n roll-er. It’s that simple.

So Gazoonga Attack will carry on without her?

Fuck yeah! We’re going to carry on ‘cause we still want to rock out! We just won’t have Stacy to hide behind anymore! It’ll change the way we look, having us guitar-bearing chicks singing instead of a front person. And we’ll obviously sound a little different. These aren’t changes that will be for better or worse, it’ll just be slightly different.

You played your last show with Stacy at Zed Nation, what was that experience like for you?

Uuhhhmmm… I wasn’t really thinking about it like that too much. I wasn’t like ‘Oh my god this is the last show ever with Stacy, oh my god how emotional…’ I was more thinking like, ‘If ever there’s a reason to rock out, this is it!

Where’d you get the name Gazoonga Attack?

I was just saying stupid stuff at the pub one night, with good old Mikey from Sausage Chopper. He wanted to use me for a reference for a film and TV course he was applying for because I made a film with Mikey a few years ago. He’s doing the course now actually. Nothing to do with me because I said if the film and TV people call me up I’m going to make up stuff to make him sound like a devo likem, ‘Yeah I worked on a film with Mikey once. It was called Mikey And The Gazoonga Attack.’ Gazoonga being Mike’s favourite word for boobs. Then I was like, ‘Hey, I should call my band Gazoonga Attack.’ Mikey was like, ‘Man, if you name your band Gazoonga Attack, you can play with Sausage Chopper any day!”