Eleven Eleven - Devastate Me 7" MAC Records J031/S, 1983

Here's a surprise. An Ed Ball-esque mod-pop 7" hailing from Brisbane in 1983. I knew the band and the 7" existed but never picked it up. It took borntobepunched's recent virgin trip to the Sunshine State, and his unjaundiced ear, to open my eyes to this one.  I lived through the Brisbane equivalent to the Paisley Underground  and while it had its moments, it seemed the kicks were harder to find compared to the punk stuff the city is rightly famous for. I was wr-wr-wr-wr-wrong, and it wasn't the only local record I misjudged badly, as we'll find out later in the year.

The hit is the B-side, (Machismo For) What We Need. Sure, the song title is as clumsy as they come, but the tune is great! Starting with guitar stabs, it launches into a critique of materialism over a really good piece of Anglo-pop. That's not to deny the A-side: a plaintive, disaffected love song with gurgling bass lines and clunky solo. We'd prefer power pop to have straight ahead punk guitars but, when it's done well, we'll take this dainty, priggish, tight-laced substitute any day.

So who was Eleven Eleven? We were intrigued too, so we visited the musty Paisley wing of the archives and found a manila folder with some gig flyers and a photo (see below). Turns out there's an Ipswich connection! A while ago, when discussing the Toy Watches, we mentioned The Colours, whose song Blue Shirt is etched in the memories of those who were there. It turns out one of them continued to write great songs in his next band. Stand up Mitchell Kunde, on guitar and vocals. Andrew Palmer on rhythm was also in The Colours. Dale Jones on bass and Scott Austin on drums rounded out the lineup. Eleven Eleven played from 1983 to 1985 before half the band rebranded as The Nasties.

(Machismo For) What We Need [Download]

Devastate Me [Download]

Debut performance: midnight shift at the New Exchange

"What we need is a new hairdresser..."