DIY PUNK PARTIES

Yesterday I hosted a party at home for Olga and Nathan, as they had returned home, and we owed them one after the legendary skate parties they ran.
Nathan has been an inspiration to me to organise parties, be carefree, and trust that everyone and everything will come together and be amazing.. unpredictable.

I’ve always loved the sound that you get playing outside. Theres a world of air to push. I heard whitty from spiderbait jam on my Gibson, and I couldn’t believe how nice the tone was. My old Tama rockstar kit sounded beautiful.
Playing parties takes away the intimidating and soulless vibe that venues seem to have. DIY/BYO/12FU

The 2014 riot grrl generation

Been recording liquor snatch all lesbian punk rock band. the bass player, flea, impressed upon me the need for girl bands to get a fairer share, and she’s right. 

12FU at the bird.. free

Feb 24th 2013

12FU supporting THE SUBHUMANS

Only a week to go when we (12FU) play with old mates from the UK – THE SUBHUMANS.
Come down and say hi!

 

Punkers who died…

Paul Raven 
(Neon Hearts/Killing Joke/ Prong/Ministry) 
Heart Attack 
01/16/61-10/20/07

Rozz Williams 
(Christian Death) 
Suicide 
11/6/63-04/1/98

Hide (X Japan) 
Suicide 
12/13/64-05/02/98

Andrew Sewell (aka Sig) (Icons of Filth) 
Heart attack 
???? – 10/23/04

Andy DeMize (Nekromantix) 
Car Accident 
3/11/83 – 1/11/09

Arthur “Killer” Kane 
(New York Dolls) 
Lukemia 
2/3/51 – 7/13/04

Bill Hicks 
(Comedian/Social Commentator) 
Pancreatic cancer 
12/16/61- 2/26/94

Bob Kondrak (Photographer) 
Rare Blood Disease 
1948 – 11/27/09

Bob Stinson (Replacements) 
Accidental drug overdose 12/17/59 – 2/18/95

Bobby Ubangi (Carbonas) 
Lung Cancer 
1974 – 7/1/09

BÖNA (Rude Kids) 
Car Accident 
7/9/58 – 1/25/83

Brad Stoll (City Kids) 
Cancer 
???? – 5/21/97

Brendan Mullen 
Stroke 
10/09/49-10/12/09

Brent Lyles (Agent Orange) 
Car Accident 
9/7/63 – 1/19/07

Brian “Damage” Keats 
(Verbal Abuse/Genocide) 
Liver Cancer 
2/11/63 – 1/12/10

Bryan Gregory 
(The Cramps) 
Heart attack 
1955 – 01/10/01

Britley Black (Crime) 
Diabetes 
???? – 4/27/2004

Chuck Valle (Murphy’s Law) 
Stabbing 
7/10/65 – 7/17/94

Claude Bessy 
(Catholic Discipline) 
Lung cancer 
1945 – 10/2/99

Craig Lee 
(The Bags/Catholic Discipline) 
1954 – 1991

Darby Crash (Germs) 
Suicide/Overdose 
1959 – 1980

Dave Blood 
(Dead Milkmen) 
Suicide 
10/16/56 – 3/10/04

Dave Insurgent 
(Reagan Youth) 
1964 – 1993

Dee Dee Ramone (Ramones) 
Overdose 
09/18/51 – 06/5/02

Dennis Boon 
(The Minutemen) 
Car crash 
1958 – 12/22/85

Dennis Danell 
(Social Distortion) 
Brain aneurysm 
1961 – 02/29/00

Dwayne Goettel 
(Skinny Puppy) 
Overdose 
02/1/64- 08/23/95

Eddie Kurdziel 
(Redd Kross) 
Overdose 
09/25/60 – 06/6/99

El Duce (The Mentors) 
Hit by train 
03/24/58 – 04/19/97

Frankie Fix (Crime) 
Overdose 
???? – 1996

Fred “Sonic” Smith (MC5) 
Heart Attack 
9/13/49 – 11/4/94

GG Allin (Scumfucks) 
Overdose 
1956 – 6/28/93

Giuseppe Codeluppi 
(Raw Power) 
Heart attack 
1957 – 10/6/02

Henry Knowles (Agression) 
Lukemia 
1958 – 08/29/02

Howard Pickup (Adverts) 
Brain Tumor 
1951- 7/11/97

Jason Sears (Rich Kids on LSD) 
Overdose (?) 
1/23/68 – 1/23/68

Jeffrey Lee Pierce 
(The Gun Club) 
Blod clot 
06/27/58 – 03/31/96

Jerry Nolan 
(New York Dolls) 
Meningitis 
1951 – 1992

Jim Carroll 
Heart Failure 
08/01/50 – 09/11/09

Joe Nanini 
(Wall of Voodoo) 
Blod clot 
???? – 12/4/00

Joe Strummer (The Clash) 
Heart attack 
08/21/52 – 12/22/02

Joey Ramone (Ramones) 
Lukemia 
5/19/51 – 04/15/01

John Dougherty (Flipper) 
Heroin overdose 
04/20/61 – 10/31/97

Johnny Cash 
Respiratory Failure 
02/26/32 – 09/12/03

Johnny “Guitar” Watson 
Heart Attack 
2/3/35 – 5/17/96

Johnny Ramone (Ramones) Cancer 
10/8/48 – 9/15/04

Johnny Thunders 
(New York Dolls) 
Overdose 
1952 – 04/24/91

Jonithin Christ 
(Code Of Honor) 
Pneumonia 
1958 – 03/05/09

Jon Nodtveidt (Dissection) 
Suicide 
1975 – 08/16/06

Keith Whittaker 
(The Demics) 
Cancer 
???? – 7/16/96

Ken Jensen (DOA) 
House Fire 
1962 – 1/29/95

Ken Montgomery 
(DOA/Subhumans) 
Overdose 
1958 – 09/27/94

Kevin Paul Godley
(Epic Soundtracks/Crime) 
Suicide/Overdose 
3/23/59 – 11/6/97

Kid Krupa (Revillos) 
Diabetes 
1962-2005

Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) 
Suicide 
2/20/67 – 4/5/94

Lance Krantz (Detox) 
Overdose 
1964 – 7/15/01

Les Paul 
Pneumonia 
06/09/15-08/13/09

Lux Interior (The Cramps) 
Heart Condition 
10/21/46 – 02/04/09

Malcolm Owen (Ruts) 
Overdose 
????-1980

Mark Hickey (Aggression) 
Liver and kidney failure 
1958 – 8/8/00

Masami (Ghoul) 
Date Unknown

Mia Zapata (Gits) 
Rape & Murder 
???? – 7/7/93

Michael Conley (MIA) 
Unknown 
1959 – 02/28/08

Mick Ronson 
(Spiders From Mars) 
1946 – 1993

Morikawa (Kuro) 
Date Unknown

Nick Sanderson (Gun Club) 
Lung Cancer 
1961-6/9/08

Nyna “Napalm” Crawford (VKTMS) 
1956 – 05/00

Peter Laughner (Rocket From The Tombs/Pere Ubu/Friction) 
Acute Pancreatitis
08/22/52 – 06/22/77

Randy Uchida (G.I.S.M.) 
Cancer 
????-02/10/01

Ray “Raybeez” Barbieri 
(Warzone) 
Pneumonia 
11/27/61 – 08/11/97

Ricky Williams 
(Crime/Flipper/The Sleepers) 
1955 – 1992

Rik L Rik (F-WORD) 
Brain cancer 
1960 – 6/30/00

Rob Tyner (MC5) 
Heart Failure 
12/18/44-9/17/91

Roland S. Howard 
(Birthday Party)
Liver Cancer 
10/24/59 – 12/30/09

Ron Asheton (The Stooges) 
Heart Attack
07/17/48 – 01/??/09

Sable Starr 
Brain Tumors 
8/15/57 – 4/17/09

Sean Finnegan (VOID) 
Heart Attack 
1965 – 01/30/08

Sean Sumner (GWAR) 
Suicide 
???? – 9/96

Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) 
Overdose 
1957 – 2/2/79

Simon Wilde (DOA) 
1958 – 1994

Sterling Morrison 
(Velvet Underground) 
Cancer 
8/29/42 – 8/30/95

Steven David Harle 
(UK Decay) 
1961 – March 1995

Steven Wells 
Cancer 
05/10/60-06/24/09

Stiv Bators (Dead Boys) 
Run over by taxi 
1949 – 06/4/90

Tim Yohannan 
(“Maximum Rock N Roll”) 
Lymphatic cancer 
1946 – 4/3/98

Todd Barnes (TSOL) 
Brain aneurysm 
1965 – 12/6/1999

Tom “Pig Champion” 
(Imperialist Pigs/Poison Idea) 
Kidney Infection/Flu 
11/4/58 – 1/31/06

Wendy O Williams 
(Plasmatics) 
Suicide 
5/28/49 – 04/6/98

Wesley Willis (Schizophrenic Street Singer) 
Unknown 
1963-08/21/03

Will Clay (Vomit Pigs) 
Overdose 
1955 – 1998

Will Shatter (Flipper) 
Overdose 
1961 – 12/9/87

The Rex Bassking – 100 found in mint contition!

First 3 since 1970

The story of the Rex Bassking sounds like a legend, or at the very least a Da Vinci Code style tale of investigation, serendipity and discovery. The amp’s origins lie in the 1930s when the late Frank Lamberti arrived in Australia from Italy. Working at the Astor radio factory in Melbourne, where he assembled valve radios and communication equipment for the Australian military, Mr Lamberti transferred these skills to his own company in 1946 when he teamed up with his brother Anthony to form Lamberti Bros. The company’s North Melbourne workshop began producing valve radiograms, televisions and a range of guitar amplifiers beginning with a 6 watt amp released under the Rex brand name.

The company continued to make amps over the next 15 years, ranging from the original 6 watt designs to 50 watts. But rising labour costs led to the difficult decision to cease production in 1974. But before the doors were closed, Frank had his small team, working under the name of General Music Company, manufacture a final run of 100 the 20 watt Bassking amps, with an improved design. But these amps were never sold, and remained left in their shelves until they were discovered by Frank’s children after his passing in 1996. They resolved to release the amps in memory of their dad, and over the past two years, Frank’s son Joe has worked with one of his father’s original technicians to fine tune the design to be more guitarist friendly. Joe explains. “Originally dad designed the Bassking as a versatile amp which could be used for guitar, bass or keyboard. Dad started off as a radio technician. He couldn’t play guitar and simply tested his amps striking open strings. His aim was to amplify without distortion. Nevertheless, he designed some great amps and I’m sure he would be more than pleased with what we’ve done with his last 100.”

So this brings us to today. The Bassking is a simple but undeniably classy looking combo. The review model was finished in vintage red vinyl which was found in the workshop along with the amps. The two channels, Bass and Normal, each have their own dedicated pair of inputs, and controls for volume, bass and treble. A Celestion G12H twelve inch speaker has been fitted as part of the redesign. High quality electrolytic capacitors have been fitted, and matched valves from Electro Harmonix form the heart of the amp’s power and tone. The Bassking is driven by two 12AX7EH valves in the preamp and two EL84EH valves in the power section. There’s a jack on the back panel for an additional speaker cabinet, and I would love to see a matching extension cabinet built in the same cosmetic style.

I first plugged into the Bassking’s Bass channel with a Strat style guitar. The tone was extremely clear and warm, with a tight yet thick low end and a rounded high end. Nudging up the treble control added a little bit of musical sharpness to the signal, and plugging in my Telecaster I was immediately reminded of blues legend Albert Collins’s famous “icy” tone – clean, loud, sharp, expressive and musical. Bringing down the treble again, this channel was great for jazz lead lines and chords, and its high headroom ensured there was no distortion to muddy up the purity of the tone.

The Normal channel has a similar basic character to the Bass channel, but the low end is more subdued, the highs are glassier, and the midrange is a little thinner, resulting in an almost acoustic guitar style shimmer to chords and double stops. With a little experimenting, I managed to coax an authentic recreation of Mark Knopfler’s “Sultans Of Swing” tone from the Strat, while slightly edgy blues tones were also on tap in an almost Steve Ray Vaughan vibe. I then tried the amp with a DigiTech Bad Monkey overdrive pedal to see how the circuit and speaker handled dirtier tones. Again the sound reminded me of Stevie Ray, this time his slightly edgier tone from “Pride & Joy.” The absence of a midrange control on the amp didn’t prevent it from exhibiting a perfectly voiced midrange to fill out the pedal’s tone, and the combination of a particularly responsive overdrive pedal, playing dynamics and the Bassking’s great preamp meant changes in phrasing were reproduced with expressive accuracy. It’s great to plug into an amp that doesn’t just compress and distort every note, and by carefully choosing how hard you pick any particular sound, you can get a huge variety of sounds without even touching the tone controls.

In the 1960s a lot of amps, such as the Marshall Super Lead, had two channels with twin separate inputs like the Bassking, and players soon discovered that running a small patch cord between the inputs of the two channels allowed them both to be used at the same time. I set the Bassking up in this way, and the resulting tone was amazing. There was a pleasing natural compression, and the tone fattened up considerably. The ability to set separate bass and treble frequencies for each channel, then blend the volumes of each for the perfect mix, allowed me to create a thick and deep tone that still had huge amounts of treble. This sound would be particularly useful to bands with only one guitarist, because it allows you to stake out a huge amount of sonic real estate.

The 20 watt Rex Bassking is the great lost amp of Australian music history, and you can hear the history and heritage with every note. It’s fun to play, looks great and is built to a very high quality standard. It’s bound to be an Australian classic and I can’t see the limited edition run of 100 lasting long in stores before being snapped up by boutique amp collectors and blues and jazz guitarists.

SPECS:
POWER: 20 watts
ELECTRONICS: Bass and Normal channels, 2 12AX7EH preamp valves, 2 EL84EH power valves.

LINK

ariel hyatt

Ariel Hyatt gave a free seminar at APRA HQ in Richmond all about the music biz today and how to make a buck in it, especially via online resources.. she gave out specific websites that she reccomended to use like facebook, myspace, twitter, wordpress, reverbination etc.. What a delightful speaker.. Check her out when she comes to your town…

Ariel’s twitter

80’s Punk/Alternative Reunion in Melbourne – 3rd Oct 2009

Start Time:	Saturday, 03 October 2009 at 14:00
End Time:	Sunday, 04 October 2009 at 23:30
Location:	The Corner Hotel (Beer Garden)
Street:	57 Swan St, Richmond, VIC, PH:0394279198

…So have you ever wondered what happened to some of those people you used to hang out with back then that you have lost contact with?
It’s hard to believe it’s been so long…..but the time has arrived to get together again
So bring yourself along to the Corner Hotel and anyone else you can find from this time (cos not everyone’s on Facebook!)

Those of you who had babies back then….bring your grown-up offspring too! (They can drive you home afterwards haha)

p.s. we’re open to suggestions if you have any ideas on how to make this an even better event! The time is quite flexible so you can come and go as you please. Bring your cameras, partners, kids!

LINK TO EVENT PAGE

The Definition of a Bogan

The Definition of a Bogan

What is a bogan?

BOGAN (pronunciation boe-gn) is a term used primarily in Australia to describe a particular section of the working class demographic.  This derogatory slang word is a gender-neutral noun; this being important as many bogans tend to gravitate towards one another forming relationships and extended families.  A bogan family is not an uncommon phenomena in certain regions.  A bogan typically resides in either a low-cost housing estate, government housing or in the outlying regional areas of continental Australia.  Generally bogans tend to congregate in areas with little or no features & amenities.

Generally the bogan fits a particular stereotypical image.  The perception of what actually constitutes a bogan has been shaped over the years primarily by the media; notable especially are television programs such as Channel 7’s Today Tonight and Channel 9’s A Current Affair .  These programs regularly feature stories of harrowing boganism- including communities under siege from bogan terrorism, and bogans “rorting the system” in relation to welfare benefits and questionable practices.  A number of comedy programs have also featured bogans in the past, prime examples being Kylie Mole of The Comedy Company, Poida (bogan pronunciation of the name “Peter”) played by Eric Bana, and more recently Bloke Man of the Comedy Inc late shift.  Eric Bana’s portrayal of the character Poida gained him accolades within the industry and effectively launched his professional acting career.  This is one of very few examples of extreme boganism leading to success & wealth.

So now we have a basic understanding of the bogan, we may delve further into the mysterious world of mullets and long-kneck beer bottles in brown paper bags. Traits of the bogan can be summarised by the following points:

• A pronounced lack of dress sense in social situations.  Typical bogan attire consists of a flannelette shirt, King Gee stubbie shorts (either blue/khaki), torn or soiled jeans from the 1980’s or earlier, and of course double-plug standard issue white thong sandals with black rubber.  A bogan’s dress sense is not influenced by intended destination/occasion hence the line between workwear and formal wear is often hazy at best.  On rare occasions bogans may be spotted wearing enclosed shoes when entering the local RSL to “have a slap on the pokies” or to “get pissed wif me mates on the veebs (VB)”.  A female bogan will usually wear a matching ensemble usually consisting of second-hand fashions or products purchased from the discount retail chains Best and Less or Big W.

• A lack of personal hygiene.  A bogan will often allow his/her hair to grow into an attractive style named the “mullet” as popularised in the 1980’s.  A hair cut is a rare event for the bogan, and most styling occurs when the razor is brought out to either a) produce a “skinhead” style cut or b) a “frullet” (front-mullet).  Similar styles apply for females, however the female bogan frequently colours her hair auburn.  The bogan bathroom usually contains a bar of multi-purpose soap used to both cleaning the family, washing the hair, styling the hair and manicures/pedicures.  Whilst most non-bogans will use Eau de Toilette spray as a perfume, the most common boganistic fragrance is “Odour of Toilet“.  The bogan frequently rosters showers at irregular intervals such as once a week for males and twice for females.

• Distinct vocabulary.  The bogan language is somewhat foreign to most English-speaking people.  For example in boaglish, the word “shooting” would be pronounced as “shootun”.  Similarly, the word “look out” is pronounced as “look eet”.  The boaglish alphabet does not contain the letters “i” or “g”, hence the pronunciation of words containing the suffix -ing are simply pronounced -un.  Examples include “rootun” (rooting), “fishun” (fishing) and the common phrase “where’s me fuckun beer woman” (what is the current location of my alcoholic beverage dearest female partner).  The boaglish vocabulary is mostly limited to frequent curse-words and miss-pronunciation of common English words.  A common bogan trait also includes shortening words.  Locations such as the Wyong Leagues Club become the “leaguesy”, the Crown Casino becomes the “leaguesy” and females/males such as Sharon/Barry become “Shaz” and “Baz“.

• A particular choice in motor vehicle.  The bogan usually drives one of two makes of vehicle.  Typically this is either a Holden or a Ford .  Common bogan variants manufactured by each of these companies include the Holden Commodore (VB-VP models), Holden Kingswood and the Ford Falcon (all models up to the recent EF).  Other well known bogan vehicles include early model Datsuns and Toyotas .  Bogan accessories include anything HSV/HRT for Holdens, and FPV/FTR for Fords.  These vehicles tend to be more prevalent on the roads whilst the V8 supercar races are being held.  Drivers often attempt to imitate in heavy traffic their heroes Skaifey (Mark Skaife) and Ambrose (Marcos Ambrose).  Bogan vehicles are rarely detailed, and are serviced even less frequently.  Most bogan drivers hold animosity towards imported vehicles “farken rice” and are still bitter that the Nissan Skyline beat the Holden and Ford racing teams at Bathurst in the early 90’s.  Consequently, many bogans believe their VN Commodore has the ability to beat anything with the badge “Ferrari”, “Nissan”, “BMW M3” or “Pagani”.  Click here for examples of bogan vehicles.

• Choice in music.  The bogan prefers either metal or pub rock.  A bogan would suggest that the song Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel would be a more appropriate national anthem than Advance Australia Fair.  AC/DC is also a popular choice.  Anything Barnesy. Midnight Oil is another classic example of the bogan genre.

• Employment status.  The common bogan is either a) not employed or b) a tradesman/labourer.  A bogan employee can be spotted kitted up in a fluorescent vest or polo shirt.  Unemployed bogans often frequent RSL’s/clubs for discount lunches during the day, before continuing on to the local Centrelink office to receive the hard-earned cash of the tax-paying public.  This will be followed by a journey to the most convenient bottle shop (“bottlo”) to purchase 2×24 cartons (“slabs”) of Victoria Bitter (“Veebs”) for $60.  Also included in this purchase is the all-important packet of Winfield Reds (“Smokes”).  The rest of this pension money is budgeted towards the “pokies” at the local pub.

• A poorly-maintained house or unit.  As previously mentioned, the bogan often resides in regions of a lower socio-economic standing.  Basically, in most cases the bogan is located some way inland from a coastal fringe or major waterway.  In the case of Sydney, this has lead to the term “westie” being coined in order to distinguish the boganistic population of the inland western suburbs from the more affluent residents of the east.  In the case of NSW/QLD and Victoria, the majority of bogans are located on or west of the Great Dividing Range.  Whilst this is not always the case, it is important to note that the concentration of bogans per capita is somewhat higher in these areas.  The bogan house usually consists of a number of elements (see below):

1. The bedroom (for rootun).
2. The balcony (for smokun/shootun).
3. The livun room (for watchun telly/smokun/gettun pissed).
4. The kitchen (for storun beer).
5. The combined bathroom/laundry (for washun shit) .
6. The shed (for rootun/smokun/shootun/gettun pissed/storun beer/workun on the commo).

All-in-all the bogan is seen as a top bloke by his mates, but is a menace to the rest of society.  Our bogan awareness campaign aims to expose the secrets of the bogan by delving into previously uncharted territory…. n shit