On Friday afternoon I stopped by Missing Link Records to catch short in-store sets by the Stabs and the Straight Arrows. The Stabs played a good half hour or so of excellent all new material- they are heading out on tour soon, too. The Straight Arrows were running late, or had technical problems, or something, but managed a slamming twenty minutes of shit-hot garage punk.
On Saturday we got political. Well, a bit political anyway- Melbourne film maker Joe Loh has made a documentary about the recent changes to the law that oversee unions on building sites. Or, as the film's official site puts it: A documentary exposing the activity of an industrial inquisition targeting building workers across Australia. “Constructing Fear” shows how these workers are the front line in an attack on civil liberties that has implications for every Australian.
It was showing at ACMI, for only $10.00, and the ticket also got you into Cherry Bar later in the evening, for a show featuring Dynamo and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, who both contributed music to the soundtrack. The place was packed of course, with an odd mix of old school union types and the young ubercool. Both bands were fantastic. The song ECSR recorded for the documentary, "Devil's Demands", is available for free download from the site above, by the way, as is the film itself.
Anyway, I've got to get back to work on that Lethal Weapons feature mentioned below. Here's a bit of a taster- an eyewitness account by someone who was there at the time, and is still active in music today:
In the end it was a storm in a teacup. Suicide quickly dissolved, Mushroom retaining only the Teenage Radio Stars (who would later morph into The Models) and The Boys Next Door, who finished one album in which Mushroom were totally disinterested and were let loose to develop into The Birthday Party. All the bands moved on to the next stage of development and the scene flourished, particularly in Melbourne where it reached a kind of artistic peak from 1979 through to 1983.
Ironically the experience firmed our resolve about such issues and we proceeded to be staunchly independent for over 20 years, never again working with the Australian Music Industry.
You'll just have to wait to find out who that's from.
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