The Screaming Abdabs / City Ram Waddy LP out now

Pressing of 500 copies. Limited edition of 100 on pink vinyl, available only from Wallaby Beat - CLICK HERE to order.

The Screaming Abdabs shone brightly but briefly in the early Sydney punk scene, absorbing references from The Glitter Band, John Waters films, late night TV, Australian ‘60s punk and of course the Sex Pistols to create something loud, charismatic and uniquely Australian. Side 1 presents the Abdabs' sole recording, recently unearthed, never before released, and essentially unheard since 1978. Side 2 compiles two raw/rare/remarkable 1979 solo records by Abdabs drummer Richard "City Ram" Waddy. The City Ram Waddy 7" sets a benchmark for primitivism in Australian DIY, while the City Ram And Ja Mystics 12" achieves propulsive Suicide/PiL-like repetition, all the while infused with Waddy's idiosyncratic worldview. Astonishing.

Includes a Spurt! fanzine insert that folds out to a massive newsprint poster with detailed interviews, photos and press clippings.

Available in Australia from Wallaby Beat and record shops around the country (Repressed, Egg, Revolve, Beatdisc, Rocking Horse, Phase 4, Vicious Sloth, Lulu, AG Picks, Round and Round, Clarity etc.).

Mailorder/wholesale in the US through Revolver, Get Hip!, Forced Exposure, and Goner.

Limited quantities available from NAT Records in Japan.

SOLD OUT through Florida's Dying and Ugly Pop - sorry!

Tracklisting:

The Screaming Abdabs
1. So Pretty
2. I'm A Rocker
3. We Don't Wanna
4. It's You
5. Money Not Love
6. Burnin' Up Over Me
7. Surfin' Bird
8. Norbie, Sorta Love Story

City Ram Waddy
1. Walking The Dog / Poem
2. Memphis Tenn. / Poem
3. Double Adaptor
4. Cortez The Killer
5. Get Off My Cloud
6. Under My Thumb

City Ram Waddy - Revelations: EMI Custom Records 1979

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Out now on Wallaby Beat Records - CLICK HERE to order:

The Screaming Abdabs / City Ram Waddy LP (WBRX-2603)
Recently unearthed, previously unreleased 1978 recording by Sydney punks The Screaming Abdabs on side 1, and two raw/rare/remarkable 1979 solo records by Abdabs drummer Richard "City Ram" Waddy on side 2. The City Ram Waddy 7" sets a benchmark for primitivism in Australian DIY, while the City Ram And Ja Mystics 12" achieves propulsive Suicide-like repetition. Astonishing. Pressing of 500 copies, with 100 on pink vinyl. Includes a Spurt fanzine insert that folds out to a massive poster with detailed interviews, photos and press clippings.

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The case of City Ram Waddy is among the most vexing of the Australian punk era. Who was this guy? What on earth was he on about? How does he fit into the grand scheme of Australian DIY? Why can't I find copies of these damn records?

The full Richard "City Ram" Waddy story can be found in a lengthy interview that will accompany our next release, an LP collecting Waddy's two exceedingly rare records from 1979, plus eight previously unreleased tracks by his former punk band, The Screaming Abdabs (the Abdabs' amazing story follows in its own post). In short, Waddy heard the Sex Pistols, ditched his high school blues band, and landed behind the kit with The Screaming Abdabs in early 1978. The Abdabs were done by the end of the year, prompting Waddy to pick up a guitar and launch an improbable campaign at solo punk stardom. The result: two almost non-existent records (EMI Custom pressings of 100), each containing drastic reinterpretations of the classic rock canon rendered unrecognisable by an overloaded cassette recorder mic (the City Ram Waddy 7") and clean, pro-studio minimalism (the City Ram And Ja Mystics 12"). The 7" sets a benchmark for primitivism in Australian punk, its shit-fi murk rivalling that of any DIY home-recording of the era. So reviled was this record that it was deemed unsellable by the only Sydney shop to take consignment copies; those records - up to half of the pressing - were unceremoniously dumped in the bin by a helpful employee (a young Roger Grierson from the Thought Criminals). The follow-up 12", recorded at EMI with Waddy on bass, achieves preconscious moments of sparse, propulsive Suicide-via-Jah-Wobble aggro. A few copies were sold on the streets of Sydney and London, but most were given away to industry contacts who, by and large, filed them in the same place as the aforementioned Sydney record shop.

Both records have homemade, photocopied insert sleeves with odd typewritten rants and then-topical local references (we are especially fond of the design credit to Brian Westlake on the 7"). Both records also make bizarre allusions to "conservation of sexual energy" that recall Jack D Ripper from Dr Strangelove, though as you'll read below, the true inspiration was even more astonishing. And both records are amazing, left-field oddness from a genuine iconoclast, the kind of noise from nowhere that makes us foam at the mouth.

What follows is an edited transcript of an interview we conducted with Richard Waddy in early 2015, the full version of which will appear as a fanzine/poster insert in the upcoming LP. Our gratitude to Richard for his enthusiasm and for being the best of sports.

Richard Waddy with The Screaming Abdabs, early 1978 (photo: Stephen Best)

Your solo stuff, the City Ram material, were you doing that at the same time as The Screaming Abdabs?

No, no I wasn't. I wanted just to be a drummer. I joined another couple of heavy punk bands in the inner city after the Abdabs, one was called The Proles, I remember. Like "proletariat", it was very politically oriented, like a very communist sort of band. Political science students. And then I got sacked from that band, they wouldn't even have me! So I really wanted to get some product, but I realised I couldn't work with people due to my attitudes. And I thought, y'know, "Stuff it, I'll become a solo act". And I tried to gig around, but I didn't even own a motor car. I tried to gig around Paddington in Sydney, Oxford Street before Oxford Street was really gay. It was pre-gay, it was more punk, I thought. Anyway, it was too hard, I was making no money. But I got all my money together and went down to EMI and said, "I want to make a single like the other punks". I wanted to stay punk. And they said, "Well, you need a couple of tracks". I think I recorded that original one on like a cassette recorder or something. I can't remember, but it was something like that.

So you basically recorded the first City Ram Waddy single at home?

Um...I think I did. I'm not sure, but I think I did, and that's why with the second record I said, "That was so terrible", so I paid for studio time either at EMI or another almost-as-good studio. But the whole punk thing was DIY for us amateurs, art school students and junk. So what I probably did was recorded on a cassette recorder and brought it in and said, "Can I have a record made please? How much is it?". They said, "A gazillion dollars!". So I gave them the cassette and they said, "Give us your money, kid", print print print, thank you EMI, thank you City Ram!

"CITY RAM WADDY...QUICKLY BECAME AUSTRALIA'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BAND. THEIR UNIQUE ARRANGEMENTS DEVELOPED THE CITY RAM BEAT WHICH IS TAKING THE CONTINENT BY STORM"

There were only a hundred copies of that first record, right?

Absolutely right. That's because I had no money. I didn't know what to do. I had no manager - my managers were all weird, right? There was Ian [Hartley, manager of The Screaming Abdabs] of course, who was one of the straightest shooters of the lot, but I had guys who were managing City Ram who were straight out of the political wing of Long Bay gaol! So it was desperate times, it was desperate to get this political statement out there.

What was the political statement you were making?

Well, I don't know! At the time I think we were in some sort of psychosis as young communists or something! I don't know, anyway the manager, it was all his thing. Well, it wasn't all his thing, but it was like, "Make money out of this, man". And I’m going, "Yeah, okay man", all I can do is, I'm a drummer who's trying to play guitar and sing a song and get some kind of...It was, "Okay okay, we'll make it what we can with what we've got", which wasn't much. Punk!

You did the City Ram And Ja Mystics 12" after that.

Oh yeah. It was sensational, it was a real sensation because it was a media saturation promotion. It went through the magazines internationally, and it went through the pop magazines. It didn't make a hit, but as promotion...lathered upon these kind of promotion and advertising agencies, they were keen to hear more of this weird crap! But not overly keen. Conservatively keen.

[laughter]

"THANKS TO THE PRISONERS WHO WORKED THE UNDERGROUND AND WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE LONG BAY RIOTS. THANKS TO THE HEROIC DRUG SMUGGLERS WHO PRESS ON FOREVER FOR THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM"

And how many copies did you press?

Okay, probably about a hundred again. Possibly, yeah. Because I took them to England, and I distributed them again, not trying to sell them this time, but just using them as promotional material.

Wow, you weren't actually selling them?

No, because there was no money in it. I didn't have the sales team, or the advertising, or the distribution to make a go of it. I needed some more money. I wanted to go to India, and I wanted to go to Europe, and I needed some bread to buy a share in a commune or something. I'd grown up a little bit.

[laughter]

One thing I've always wondered about is the spiel on the cover of the 12" that says, "City Ram the mystic rocker from Adelaide...". What was that about?

I was born in Adelaide. It was kind of like a little salute to where I was born, 'cause they weren't getting much product out there in the punk world, and I thought, as my mind must have worked in those days, "Oh, instead of being another Sydney band, if they don't like me I'll see if Adelaide does". Well, they didn't like me either! But you can see the marketing ideas. Trying to get some spin-off, and some kudos in lieu of cash, and getting record contracts and all that normal straight sort of mainstream ambition of every guitar kook in the world.

So your aim with the City Ram records really was just to get a record deal?

Exactly. I was trying to get a hit record just like Johnny Rotten. But I knew I didn't want to be like Johnny Rotten, I wanted to be a competitor to the Sex Pistols or any of them, and make money!

City Ram Waddy, late 1978
(photo: Bruce Tindale)

What was the reason that you recorded covers, rather than your own compositions?

Well, really I'm not much of a poet. I studied short story writing later to try to get the gift of the pen, but I had no talent. And these cats had written these okay songs, fairly easy to play, and I thought, "They're okay tracks, quite catchy", and I put my own little City Punk spin on them.

You certainly made those songs your own.

Yeah, and that's the best I could do as a product, really.

But you do have your own little lyrical turns in there, like the poems about celibacy on the first single, and the allusions to "conservation of sexual energy" on Double Adaptor [a reworking of Dropout Boogie by Captain Beefheart]. What's that all about?

That was sort of like trying to market the yoga experience through a punk format. Like, that basic essence of yoga 101 through a punk marketing format. And that's how I was going to be a millionaire.

[laughter]

After the City Ram 12", you headed overseas again.

Yeah, that's right. I took samples to the UK to try and crack it there. It's a hard market to crack, the UK. I had some limited smiles, but mostly rejections, as usual. Virgin Records were rather sweet, one or two others, but no real interest. You're the only people to ever show a deeper interest!

[laughter]

How long did you stay in the UK?

A year in the UK, a very, very, very hard year in the UK. I couldn't get a gig, I couldn't get an amplifier, I couldn't crack it at all. I got one night as a guest DJ at the Electric Ballroom with The Beat, I think, when they were just starting out. They were great, ska. Everyone was a skinhead at that time down there. The skinheads took over and they virtually adopted me, put me on a direction, a more professional, conservative direction. But still groovy, man. So I continued in the vein of music, but not so much bizarreness, more Anglo. More European, more straight rock or something.

Did you do any recording while you were there?

Nah, by then I was broke. I had to be liberated by Mum and Dad, back to Australia.

And did you continue the City Ram thing back in Sydney?

No, I went into rehab for like three years. I couldn't do anything, I didn't want to know about music. I had the classic rock and roll breakdown. And it took about ten years to come back. And I couldn't crack the scene because by then I had a reputation as a flake, or worse. I was really sick and I needed some money, so I actually became a gardener for about eight years, and then I went up north and lived in a hippie commune in about 1991. I also played football, rugby, and I wanted to play first grade but I only played fourth grade. So you see, I was on a health kick. No punk, no music!

[laughter]

One last obvious question. The name City Ram – where does it come from and what does it mean?

Well, there was a chant, one of those yoga chants, and the two words sounded like "City Ram". They weren't, it was "Sita Ram", about this god and his wife getting it on. I didn't want to get on the wrong foot with the Hindus, so I changed the words a little bit and made them more aggressive, which was probably in retrospect a very negative movement. But I'm tarred and feathered with it at the moment, and I'll probably be stuck with it for my working life.

It's a great name.

Yeah, yeah. I think it's right up there with Megadeth!

[hysterical laughter]


Walking The Dog / Poem
(from City Ram Waddy 7" Revelation/EMI Custom PRS-2610 1979)


Double Adaptor
(from City Ram And Ja Mystics - Project X 12" Revelation/EMI Custom PRS-2674 1979)

Some copies have the words "PRISONERS", "LONG BAY RIOTS" and "DRUG SMUGGLERS" redacted by hand

Clint Small - Crack In The Wall and On The Fourth Floor 7"s Au Go Go ANDA-2 and 5, 1979 and 1980

Clint(on) Small was a contemporary of Rowland S. Howard and Au Go Go label chief Bruce Milne at the Swinburne Community School. His first named band, apart from the various freeform jam bands that played at the school, was Tootho and the Ring Of Confidence, shortened to TATROC, in 1975, with Howard on sax and Graeme Pitt of Champagne Edge on bass. You can see photos in the extras on the DVD of Autoluminescent.

After that Small remained a somewhat mysterious figure. We don't think we've ever seen anything written about him contemporaneous with his early records, which seems strange given his connections with the Melbourne punk mainstream, such as it was.

The facts are thus thin on the ground and are deduced from the record covers. Small played in an early lineup of the Little Murders, he's on their second 7". His own first 7" from 1979 is a great record: high energy, tough riffing, good solos and impassioned vocals. Clint plays guitar and sings and Wallaby Beat favourite Jarryl Wirth (News, Lonely Boys, etc.) is on bass and guitar - his classic guitar sound can be heard on Wyvern Parsons, Where Are You?, which also sounds like it could be a News song. Mark Graeber plays drums.

There's two sleeves for this one, both feeding off Milne's taste for 3-D postcards - he used to ask people to send them to him in the early shop mail order catalogues. The horse sleeve seems to turn up less then the camels sleeve, althought we're told there's equal numbers of both.

Crack In The Wall [Download]


Have You Got The Feeling? [Download]


Wyvern Parsons, Where Are You? [Download]


The same lineup put out a second 7" in 1980. It's a slightly more relaxed affair but still worthwhile. The A-side, On The Fourth Floor, is most similar to the previous record, but really only cuts loose for about ten seconds at the end. Daeng sounds like an outtake from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. After that Small's next release was the Steel 12" from 1983 - it starts moving in a more hard rock direction and suffers from Jarryl Wirth's non-involvement. There were more self-released records through the eighties, which we've never investigated.

On The Fourth Floor [Download]


Daeng [Download]


(I'm) Hep Up To Here [Download]

Clint Small: "Photography by Wyvern (Yes, We Found Him!) Parsons"

It Never Ends: The Numbers and The Riptides - Sunset Strip 7" Able AB-003 and AB-004, 1978, 1979

One of the finest Australian records of the punk era is this 'un, Sunset Strip by The Numbers. There seems to be some latter day criticism by wooden ears that this is too poppy or sixties influenced. Those critics should take off the dunce cap and listen again - the pace is definitively 1978, the vocals disaffected, and the band smashing into each other in a completely endearing fashion. If you were born on Mars and haven't heard it you'll know straight away it's from Brisbane courtesy of the handclap solo - all the Briso bands feature 'em. Since this is an it-never-ends feature we're duty bound to point out the film like card the boys used for the sleeve and the miniscule chance of finding one without ringwear at this late stage. After a few decades we found the one above which had been stored separate to the record. It still shows a visible scratch though, ugh.

At some point word filtered in from down south about another Numbers and the band decided to change their name. This was not a major problem as they had already used and discarded The Grudge and Neon Steal (rumours persist of recordings from this version of the band). The Riptides were born. The Numbers single had been taken to Melbourne and Sydney by Robert Vickers and had been well received, so first point of business was to reissue the record under the new name.  

There's been much supposition over the years as to whether this version is re-recorded, remixed or simply remastered. Starting with the easy ones even the tinniest of tinnitus affected ears can hear the recording is the same. Remastered is a yes - The Numbers has a DB matrix scratch indicating Don Bartley at Studio 301 in Sydney. He captured the energy well. The Riptides version is an EMI Custom pressing plant job - new plates and a softer mastering job. Which leaves remixed. After some intense A/B-ing plus study of the waveforms we're gonna say yes. You can compare below but at the very least the hi-hats are way more prominent on the Numbers version. Mark Callaghan explained in Andrew Stafford's Pig City:

The main difference with the remix was we turned off Dennis’ hi-hat microphone, because at that stage he didn’t realise you were supposed to clamp the hat down when you did a drum roll, so you have the cymbals spilling out over everything!

Once again the band went with easily scratched glossy stock and even with 2000 pressed finding one without ringwear is a frustrating exercise. Bomp took 300 copies so our American readers should be well placed. Ours above still has the slightest hint, ugh. After the band moved to Sydney the last few copies were sold through stores there with the stamped sleeve below, a nice piece of it-never-ends to end with.

Well not quite - don't neglect the two b-side tracks! 

Sunset Strip [Download]


Magic Castle [Download]


Rules Of Love [Download]


Sunset Strip (Riptides) [Download]



In case you haven't seen it - the video. Handclaps at 2:26.

The Lonely Boys (and The Breakers)

Two weeks ago we covered the excellent News flexidisc that featured Sweet Dancer Au Go-Go, and many moons ago we looked briefly at Kim Fowley's visit to Australia. Today we tie them together with the tale of Jarryl Circus's flirtation with the animal god of the streets, via the Lonely Boys.

Prior to News' initial breakup, Circus had made his way to the Melbourne Hilton to play some tracks for Fowley. The News website takes up the story:

As Gavin was preparing to vacate Faraday St in December, intelligence reached him that before the band went bust, Jarryl had been setting up (on the sly) a solo career with US producer Kim Fowley. Fowley was then a name, having worked all around the world, successfully often enough, since the early sixties. He was making a well publicised visit to Melbourne and Sydney looking for bands to produce. Among the flow of hopeful artists was Jarryl, who played Fowley some News material. The material went down well and Fowley set Jarryl up with sessions at AAV studios from December into 1979. He recruited a backing band and they were recording as the Lonely Boys.

The backing band was centred around Jim Manzie, who had had considerable local success in the mid-seventies in Ol' 55, a fairly weak fifties revival act.  Manzie played bass and recruited Ol' 55 drummer Geoff Peterkin, kiwi session muso Martin Fisher on keyboards, and Scott Douglas on rhythm guitar. Circus, back under his real name Wirth, sings and plays guitar. The sessions, which Inner City Sound says were actually at Armstrong's, yielded four songs which appeared over the next eighteen months on various Fowley sponsored compilations.

The first tracks to appear were in August 1979 on the Vampires From Outer Space LP (USA Bomp 4005 1979). The LP also had a release in the UK (London SH-Z 8543) and in Germany (Line LLP5013) featuring the garish cover at the top of the post. Fowley raves in the liner notes:

Underworld rumors led me to the Lonely Boys in darkest Melbourne, Australia. The bold diplomat, Jarryl Worth, on "Phantom Poster Man", screams of the new falcons, the subhumans demanding their place in the race. Vegetable Minds who have heard this slice of life decree "It's Got Industrial Action".

Whatever. The tracks, the above mentioned Phantom Poster Man (more likely a tribute to the ubiquitous street poster company) and Ugly Girl, bleat the Oz rock past of the band over anything Wirth might have brought from News. Fowley sneaks a co-writing credit on both.

Phantom Poster Man [Download]


Ugly Girl [Download]

Where Is The Sun was the next to get a guernsey, on the Waves (An Anthology Of New Music Vol 2) LP (USA Bomp 4008, also Germany Line LLP5063,  and Canada Bomb 124) in 1980. This song is a bit better, sounding like it was recorded in the wee early hours of darkest Melbourne. In fact this was recorded the night that the News' Faraday St home/base/recording studio was fire-bombed (January 3, 1979). Once again Fowley's liners are hysterical. Potted highlights include that the band started as an "anti-disco group", "their code is alienation plus radiation, the expectation of desperation. They're in control of their rock 'n' roll, they're not old, and they're not on the dole", "the group plays motorcycle club parties and hospital charity dances. Among their influences are Gary Gilmour, the Trashmen, the Dead Boys, and Octavius Caesar".

Where Is The Sun [Download]


Finally Sweet Dancer A Go Go turned up on the Kim Fowley's Hollywood Confidential LP (USA GNP Crescendo GNPS 2132, also in Greece on MusicBox SMB 40130), later in 1980. Ross Wilson is credited with arranging and he and Keith Glass sing backing vocals. You will recognise the song from the News flexi, though now with more doctrinaire drumming and restrained guitar. Still, a good song is a good song. Although Fowley doesn't cop a credit here, Gavin Quinn did take issue with the Wirth songwriting credit:

It seems that at their meeting, Jarryl claimed that he wrote and arranged what Fowley was hearing. When Gavin heard this much through friends in the business, he was predicably not happy. In the beginning, he had written all Babeez/ News material. He was a skilled and prodigious writer: "Gavin had this pop/punk vision and his rate of churning out songs was really fast" [John Murphy]. But Jarryl began writing with Gavin and compositions were collaborative from then on: "I'd lay down the parameters, he would work out the hard stuff. He had a much better appreciation of key and chordal structure than I did. He knew what I wanted, so between the two of us we managed to perfect it. He wasn't too good with melody, so developed a lot with melody. Towards the end it was all a group effort. Regardless of whose songs they were, the band arranged them and made it happen." [Gavin].

Sweet Dancer A Go Go [Download]



The story doesn't quite end there. The band then rebranded as The Breakers and after supporting the B-52s on their tour released one 7" on Powderworks in 1980. This is pure Countdown new wave, over-produced and over dramatic. The choruses are OK.




When I'm On T.V. [Download]


Lipstick And Leather [Download]


Though apparently publishing and even recording deals were signed for overseas it appears that was it. The band's swansong was a brief appearance in the background half way through the film that popularised the phrase "slack-arsed molls" (chime in at 6:08):

News - Dirty Secrets 7"+flexi 1979

Bruce Milne and Clinton Walker published 3 issues of their fanzine Pulp through 1977 (the third was a double issue numbered 3/4). For issue 5 Milne planned to include a flexidisc by our good friends News. Milne had had a relationship with the members of News pre-dating their days as Babeez, having been in various party bands with them in the nascent Melbourne punk scene. Around March 1978 the band thus recorded two of their songs at the Faraday St house they used as band base and recording studio. As recorded at the excellent News pages, they used "the same gear as for the Babeez EP. It was all one take, straight down." The flexis were then pressed at Sydney manufacturer Ambassador Records.

Then things went cold. In April, while putting together their first actual release - the Dirty Lies 7", Milne told them the zine wouldn't be published. Clinton Walker elaborated:

...a fifth was almost completed when the concept folded early in 1978. Roadrunner magazine had been started in Adelaide, and we got involved doing what we could for them in Melbourne. But we both harboured an ambition to put out Pulp 5 somehow, sooner or later. It was a matter of finding a couple of hundred dollars which, of course, we couldn't.

News put together a Pulp benefit at Bernhardt's on 30th April, "a six hour spectacular including News (natch), Young Charlatans, Boys Next Door, Two Way Garden, Fiction, and Spivs. An epic show, but for some reason or other, it didn't resuscitate the ailing Pulp". Eventually Pulp 5 became a Best Of Pulp which eventually saw light as the book we all know and love, Inner City Sound.

The flexi also eventually surfaced in 1979 as part of the Dirty Secrets (a.k.a. The History Of News) pack put together by Bruce Milne, coupled with a one sided vinyl 7" containing one side of the Babeez EP (with Dowannalove and Hate). Nobody Wants Me wasn't included as it was earmarked for a Missing Link compilation, Inner Sanctum.

Dirty Secrets was an excellent package and it sold well, at least partly due to the fact that while many in Melbourne were aware that Babeez / News had pioneered local Punk, few knew how or why. This was down to many factors, but especially their practice of avoiding the 'above ground' live circuit and their patchy press coverage. The package also indicated Bruce Milne's continued interest in News, although it marked the end of his 'professional' involvement.

The two songs, by the John From-The-Suburbs, Joy Relentless, Adam Five and Jaryl Circus line-up, are both excellent examples of News' poppy but dirty punk. Both have excellent 1-2-3-4 count-ins, reminiscent of the Babeez' Dowannalove. All in all the sound reflects Five's reaction to The Ramones:

The big changeover was when we heard the Ramones, we incorporated that style into what we were already doing; stopped using 5/4 feels, which we'd been experimenting with, we'd been kidding ourselves (it wasn't necessarily more expressive or musical); and we didn't want it to be as undynamic as the Ramones; if you look at their music through a level-meter you'll find it's flat we wanted more dynamics. We actively made sure there were no spaces in the music; that was one of the definitions.

Sweet Dancer Au Go-Go [Download]


Tell Me Why [Download]

More reading (click to enlarge):

Insert

Rear of sleeve

Low numbered sleeve

The Numbers - Govt. Boy 7" Local Label 3, 1979

The Numbers began in the North West Sydney suburb of Thornleigh. Brother and sister Chris and Annalisse Morrow had played together at home for many years before unleashing themsleves on the world with a string of drummers. Today we concentrate on their first release, a three track 7" on the Local Label (home of the Sheiks, Paradox, Young Modern and Mopsie Beans), which was recorded in 1978 and came out in 1979. A comprehensive interview with the band by David Nichols can be found over at Mess + Noise. From that interview, Chris Morrow recalls the first record:

It was about being a kid who went to a government school. I guess it was really – I wrote that with Marty Newcombe, who was the original drummer in the band – that whole working class thing. Through Marty we met a guy called Arch Brown, and Arch worked with what was called the Blacktown Music Co-Op. I think it might have been one of those initiative things through Blacktown council, or it might have been just a group of ordinary citizens. At that time the whole “hey anybody can put out a 7” single” mentality was burgeoning, and you could do-it-yourself to get a record out and get some recognition, so during that whole period that was taking place in the western suburbs. We did two or three gigs for the Blacktown Music Co-Op and Arch put us in the studio to do the EP. He was really instrumental in the band’s early career, and he was the band’s tour manager for a long time after that.

Interestingly, Brown and Chris Morrow went on to begin writing a rock opera about the government boy living in Blacktown. Nothing came of it, though a version of the song Blacktown can be heard on the band's second album, 39:51.

The Govt. Boy EP is a good one, with a strong, urgent delivery, simple drumming and good guitar lines. The dual male and female vocals are also used to interesting effect. There's an element of all the instruments fighting with each other to get to the end of the song, but, those were the times. It's that urgency which was lost when the band set off on the path of commercial success, being picked up by ex-AC/DC manager Michael Browning for his Deluxe label.

This is the point in the post where we find something nice to say about the band's later career. So, um, ah, they weren't the worst band to find some measure of Countdown level success. Will that do? They also had records released in the UK and Europe so keep your eyes peeled. In other Wallaby Beat related tidbits Marcus Phelan from The Works joined on guitar for a while, and drummer Simon Vidale was involved in the Barons and Scattered Order (in fact Mitch Tee did the Numbers live sound for a while). The full, convoluted line-up changes are well handled over at RetroUniverse.

Govt. Boy [Download]


Private Eyes [Download]


Guerilla [Download]

Two of the EP tracks were reissued on a 1980 B-side which managed to get both song titles and the year of recording wrong.

Relatives - Uncle Theo Comes To Visit 7" Red Ash RAP 002, 1979

By now, regular readers will be well acquainted with The Relatives' great first single, and in particular its hilarious diss of art dealers and collectors. Written from the perspective of a former art collector, Picasso (Private Collector) reflects on the absurdity of the collecting world. Among its many pointed observations, the sentiment that "auctioneers should be kicked in the face" is one that still has some currency with today's punks. The song's conclusion - in which the cynical ex-collector ends up making counterfeits - may ring bells for some, too.

The theme is continued on Uncle Theo Comes to Visit, The Relatives' second and last single. The Prof has been known to complain that it lacks humour, but we'll put that down to its standout song, The Collector, cutting too close to the bone. It's a cracking song, a cautionary tale about the all-consuming record collecting impulse. Riffs cycle through a progression of truck driver's gear changes, ramping up the tension as the obsession takes hold, and only returning to baseline once the collection has gone up in flames. Most hardcore record collectors have, at one time or another, fantasised about being released from the burden of a collection by destroying it. We ourselves have often contemplated the therapeutic benefits of putting a match to our 50-count box of Hilton Bomber EPs. Hmm, tomorrow's a public holiday - might be a nice day to fire up the barbeque.

We put some questions about Uncle Theo (and Uncle Theo) to Simon Kain, Relatives bassist and all-round nice guy. Not only did he answer them graciously, he also made available an unreleased song from the Uncle Theo sessions. Ultimate Fridge embodies everything that's great about The Relatives - inventive songwriting, unique and funny lyrics, lots of energy - and would've been a highlight had it been included on the record.

There were formative pre-punk versions of The Relatives going back to 1975 or so, but by 1977 your set lists had already incorporated Saints and Sex Pistols tunes. Dave Graney has spoken of seeing a news report about the Pistols as the key event in his introduction to punk - was there a similar pivotal moment that pushed The Relatives in that direction?

Reading Anthony O'Grady's Funhouse editorial in RAM Magazine really gave a sense of momentum of a pre-punk movement especially the Sydney scene. By this time our listening was extending to Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Velvets etc. There were snippets about the Ramones, Blondie and the CBGB scene coming through, and then the UK scene started getting mentioned. The Pistols getting signed and dropped by EMI was making the local papers, and the first plays of the video were on TV, from Countdown to Flashez to the news. I think I missed the LWT report Graney mentions but the release of Anarchy was highly anticipated and I bought it on the day of release. The Saints were also getting name checked after their Sounds review, however I (and we) didn't get to see either them or Birdman as we were still too young to get into the gigs and we missed the Punk Gunk gigs as well.

If there was a seminal moment I guess it would have been in early 1977 when the Boys Next Door played a house party over the road from our house. Their equipment van had broken down so the host, who knew we had a band, dragged them over to our place looking for amps. We had tiny little practice amps at this stage but they gladly borrowed them. Having supplied the gear we were invited to the party which was a rabble of the St Kilda scene absolutely tearing the place up. Chris Walsh of The Negatives was filling in on bass for Tracey and I had a long chat to him about music etc. On the turntable they played Alice Cooper's Killer and Funhouse by The Stooges, both I heard for the first time and really right then my direction was set. The band played a great early set of the Lethal Weapons tracks plus covers of I'm Eighteen and possibly the Ramones. Cave was in torn jeans and a cadet shirt with a (Caulfield Grammar?) school tie and a holey jumper over that. It was a great gig and the fun, pace, mayhem and energy of the night really set us on the trail to play punk classics in first gig as The Velvet Underpants in 1977.

Babeez/News seem to have been influential in giving a hand to younger bands in Melbourne, the Proles in particular. News gave you an early gig at Bernhardt's - how influential were they on The Relatives?

In 1978 I was at Melbourne University with John Murphy, who was a school friend of a guy I knew from Scotch College. John was drumming in News and I often ran into him in Lygon Street outside of Readings, which was then the number one place in Melbourne to get all the new singles coming out of the UK and USA. They used to get the shipment on I think a Wednesday morning and then pin them up on a large cork board. I'd drool trying to work out which ones to get each week and was never disappointed.

Back to John - of course we discussed music and he kindly offered to try to get us a support at News' Bernhardt's residency. Bernhardt's was the still-standing disco better known as the Thumpin' Tum in the '60s. It still had the old decor of black and white striped wallpaper and red light coverings. It was a mad crowd of guys in garbage bin liners and was a lot more "punk" than the scene at the Tiger Lounge in Richmond where the Boys Next Door had a residency on Tuesday nights.

By the time we got the support we'd changed the band's name to The Nooney Rickett IV, which we pinched from a combo in a kitsch '60s teen flick called Winter A-Go-Go. Jason and Rodney were still at school and I think for this gig we had dropped the second drumming, retaining Ashley Thompson. We had a lot of nerves playing our first public gig, especially to a real punk audience. My memory of the gig was a blur of noise, we hadn't used foldback before and we couldn't hear what the other guys were playing. It was a slow death that couldn't end sooner and there was a real sense of disappointment afterwards. Not shared by all the band, but I really felt down after that and we didn't play in a "punk venue" again until 1980.

The Relatives released two singles within the space of 6 months in 1979. A common lyrical thread between them has always intrigued me: collectors and collecting. The lyrics seem to reveal an inside knowledge of The Sickness. What was the inspiration there?

I wrote The Collector for the Theo EP. It was directly inspired by a guy I knew who had the most incredible collection of records, all beautifully arranged in his bedroom. He'd order boxes of releases each month, it really was an obsession. Going as far as getting every different country's release of the same record. I mean really! Spending another $20 on a record you already have just to know you have the Spanish version. Years later he'd sold the lot (bar his fave 45s) and replaced them all with CDs (no doubt still getting each release with different country of origin!). I had my own vinyl Jones going (see Readings above) so it was really a warning that the obsession can overwhelm you in the end, hence the burning of the collection at the end of the song.

Who is Uncle Theo?

The relative you love to visit.

You pressed more copies of Uncle Theo than your first single (500 vs 300). It certainly seems to be easier to find. Tell us about how Uncle Theo was distributed - did copies make it elsewhere in Australia, or even overseas?

The vast majority of Uncle Theo singles (and almost all the badges that went with them) were given away on the night with the extras given to band members, sent to whatever radio stations, press, bookers or industry connections we could find. Only a few were put on sale in shops, I dropped off five I think to Readings (of course) and our local Brighton record shop took 10 copies or so. I was too embarrassed to ask for any money for them - that is, if they ever sold. None were sent to overseas press or labels that I can remember. One copy did end up with Molly [Meldrum]. We were at the taping of Countdown when the Police played and whilst he wasn't looking I flung a copy onto the pile of records he was about to review. Unfortunately the ruse failed and we missed out on our one Countdown moment.

After the two singles, The Relatives went in a more post-punk, Fall/Gang of Four direction. How do you rate the songs from this period compared to the singles? Did this incarnation of the band do any studio recording?

The music changed fast and the amount of influences swirling around were so exciting to soak up. Both the Gang of Four and Fall were big influences as well as the Birthday Party, Wire, Mekons, Pop Group, PiL to name a scant handful. It was a natural progression to keep harnessing the aggression of punk and explore the rhythm and jaggedness of the sounds that were around. We were not going to be a Sham 69. Once Andrew and Ashley left the group (1979) Rob took over all the vocal duties and we drafted Bruce in on drums. He was a sheet metal worker with long hair and a real prog rock drum kit with multiple toms etc. The kit shrunk over time and he became a real beast of a player which drove the beat of the group.

Another change at this time was that Rodney Howard began writing songs prolifically. Songs such as Trade Secret, Philosophy and Golden Rule are some of my fave tracks we ever played. Intricate staccato-like riffs with a propelling beat and great lyrics. It's such a shame these were only recorded to demo stage and not properly released. With Rod writing so many great songs I think it was about six months before Rob, Jason and myself (the Kain brothers often collaborated) began offering new songs. All the recordings of this era are well documented in the tapes that are at Inner City Sound. There are no other recordings from that period that I recall. It being the era of the cassette we did plan to release cassette only versions of some recordings, live and studio (RAP 003 and 004), but didn't get around to doing so.

You seem to have done a great job documenting The Relatives' history. Was it apparent at the time that you were involved in something important, something worth documenting and preserving?

See answer to the Collector! I have always hoarded stuff about bands I enjoyed, from the early days of scrapbooks to Go Set to programmes from live shows. It seemed only logical to extend this to any band(s) I was in and yes I knew it was important, possibly not to anyone else but certainly to the members of the band. As I've probably shown in my rants above, that era was incredibly special. There was a new inspiration with every NME, gig, visit to a record store and every new Relatives rehearsal. It all went by so relatively quickly (say '77 to '82), I'm glad I kept it all.

The Kain brothers both continued to play music after The Relatives broke up. What are you currently up to musically?

Jason is more active than I. After Chad's Tree broke up in 1989 I did a few gigs with Juliet Ward (Lighthouse Keepers) and Jason in a band called Skullduggery, but I gave up playing live altogether. I got into band management and booking and the bug has never bit again.

Emotional Moment [Download]


Summer Holocaust [Download]


The Collector [Download]


Ultimate Fridge (unreleased) [Download]