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Incoming new Brain Drain video featuring that godawful wheel. Great expectations indeed.

Oh hey so this year I moved back to my hometown of Brisbane. Here is a video and a song about it, which will be on a tape in early 2017.

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Next in the very occasional Blanque Check presents series is this! An all solo artist affair for fans of Small World Experience, Dollar Bar, Brain Drain, and/or Jamie and The Debt.

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Listen/purchase: Mother by jamie and the debt

Jamie and the Debt’s latest EP has just been released into the world. Can you say “heart on sleeve?”

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Media Consumption.

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It’s 2016 and I’m cleaning out my RSS feeds and here are some defunct and not-so-defunct live recording blogs I found

http://reelmuzak.blogspot.com.au/

http://eternalsoundcheck.blogspot.com.au/

http://skyhut.blogspot.com.au/

http://turnitupto10.blogspot.com.au/

http://unbridledpleasure.blogspot.com.au/

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New Jamie and the Debt incoming! First up, a buzzing little bundle of rage called Mother on the No Friends #4 flexidisc, and a new release in the works.

Also check out the funny and frank interview with Jamie and the Debt in No Friends #3. Available in paper or digital form from https://nofriendszine.com/

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This is all I’m listening to today. Another slice of Scraps’ melancholic detuned synth pop, and this one is particularly bangin’. From an upcoming 12″ on Moontown.

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BNE

Reorienting the focus of this tumblr to my new/old hometown by way of a (very) personal essay and a mix of some old stuff I never bothered to listed to when I was growing up here.

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Not Stranded: Rediscovering Your Roots via Brisbane Punk

An Introduction to early Brisbane punk songs that aren’t (I’m) Stranded.

I’m sitting inside a room that is nearly empty, with the exception of the few unsold items from a garage sale; a bike, a desk, a set of drawers and a budget turntable. Icy snow crackles as it’s blown against the windows, like whatever that crackle-in-your-mouth candy is called. Poprocks? I don’t know and I suppose it’s not important, other than it reminds me of being a kid in Brisbane.

Earlier this week I made a mix of early Brisbane punk that I’d promised to a friend and my girlfriend a long time ago. My time here in Western New York is coming to a close and I’m trying to tie up loose ends before I go.  In some ways I think I put off making the mix as a way of avoiding looking back at my hometown, which I left a long time ago but am due to return to in a week’s time.

I left Brisbane embodying the cliché of the naïve music-loving kid lured away to Melbourne, attracted by the promise of meeting more like-minded obsessives and delving deeper into the underground. Needless to say, I learnt that what I was looking for was under my nose the whole time in Brisbane, but by then I was too far gone, and Melbourne had made its mark. In Melbourne I got more into punk that wasn’t just The Saints or The Ramones, and as I moved on to Sydney and the United States, I kept finding that being around punk and DIY-minded spaces and people was where I was at my best, and so I kept on digging…

Making this mix though, was a way of looking back at Brisbane’s past (a somewhat glorified one), probably for the first time since I left about 10 years ago. Like I said, I liked all your standard punk touchstones as a kid in Brisbane, but growing up listening to 4ZZZ I’ll admit that most local music presented as ‘punk’  at the time struck me as corny and melodic (it was the late 90s), posturing pick-scraping, or straight out novelty. As uninformed as this opinion admittedly was, I was generally of the opinion that Brisbane punk lacked depth and as such lost interest. While I’ve since made amends for this indiscretion, I never really revisited Brisbane punk’s roots until I made this mix.

I should admit that I still remain fairly critical of my hometown, and by extension, its music. On top of that, having ignored my  history for far too long, a bunch of this stuff is still new to me so I’m arriving at the songs on this list with almost as fresh ears as my intended listeners are. There are some obvious omissions from this short list, and it’s probably because songs about love and/or girls copped the boot, as did a bunch that leaned too heavily on traditional rock tropes, including extended guitar solos and the always cringe-inducing stonesy vocal drawl. Sorry, Fun Things I also omitted The Kicks, because fuck, I couldn’t pick just one. I picked a more representative Young identities track (New Trends) in favour of my personal favourite (Threats)

All the bands I chose have been covered to death by rock historian and journalist types, so I’ll spare you the hyperbole about the repressive Bjelke-Petersen era, and leave you to read Pig City and listen to comps like Shakedown, Bloodstains Across Australia, Behind The Banana Curtain, and the many many other Aus Punk compilations out there.

What I will do, is leave you with a tracklist compiled by a prodigal Brisbanite who left town thinking The Saints were the be-all and end-all. A kid who gained his musical education interstate and overseas, but always felt an affinity for the attitude and irreverence of the weirdo DIY fringes of his hometown. A now much older kid who’s likely to argue that Young Identities and La Fetts are the places to look for a still-relevant representation of early punk Brisbane.

I always felt guilty for leaving Brisbane. I felt like I left because I was bored, but that if people like me just kept leaving and not doing anything about it, it would continue to be boring. Needless to say, Brisbane is (and always was) doing just fine without me, and there will always be motivated people making things happen. I feel like I’m coming back for my second go at Brisbane with the benefit of a decade’s experience in life and in music, and most importantly bringing with me the snot, snarl and obstinacy of this bunch of early Brisbane punks.

Early BNE Punk: A Mix for Biff and Jamie 1. Young Identities – New Trends 2. Razar – Task Force 3. The Leftovers – I Only Panic When There’s Nothing To Do 4. The Saints – One Way Street 5. La Fetts – SEQEB Scabs 6. Just Urbain – Guns and Guitars 7. Mystery of Sixes – Mystery of Sixes 8. The Parameters – Pig City

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Dear punk show attendees,

“It’s a punk show, what do you expect” or “Comes with the territory [of punk shows]” is not a fucking acceptable excuse for being a shitty person. 

“Punk” isn’t about being a narcissitic piece of shit, so stop blaming or using the music or the scene to justify disgusting behavior. 

If you think unprovoked violence, stealing, discriminating, and disrespecting your peers is punk, GET THE FUCK OUT. 

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While I’m on a new releases roll, I quite enjoyed this lil’ nugget of buff punk. Tuff garagey vibes in true 716 style. If you liked Brown Sugar or Blobs, or currently like Utah Jazz or Aaron and The Burrs you might be inta this.

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Buffalo’s finest purveyor of naive jangle pop, Peter Kirsch, has a tape out real soon on the excellent OSR Tapes label. Preview most of it here!

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Eyes Ninety released their debut LP on Feb 6 at The Bearded Lady. Here’s (most of) their set from the night. Get the record from Swashbuckling Hobo

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Also on Beggars’ Night 2015, Jamie and the Debt was there and played some music. (Press play now)

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BEGGARS’ NIGHT 2015. Different Planets played live at Dreamland! Here ‘tis.

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“We have two more okay...the first two” Toilet Roy and associates, live at the old Spriral Scratch basement in summer ‘14.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND GOODBYE...

or maybe just see you later.

This thing started as an excuse to do some writing and reviews, sorta became a label until I realized that having a label required more money and promotional ability than I have, or at least had at the time. So then it became a gig guide and sneaky promo for shows I booked. I have a feeling it might turn full circle and get back to more writing-focused stuff, but will probably persist in being a mixture of whatever crap I’m up to at the time. See you in 2016.