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Hardcore
may have had its roots in the YOU ES A, but that doesn’t mean
there weren’t potent bands banging it up DIY in other
continents. As this piece written by vocalist Randy Reimann
clearly shows; the stories, the feelings and the experiences are
the same. Read on and spread the word!
Massapeal: How did it begin? Well, I’d
like to say that we met under dark, lurid circumstances, almost
too painful to tell, but , alas it all began for me on a sunny
day, with birds chirping cheerfully in the trees looking down
upon three naïve lads in a skate park. Darren Gilmore, Kevin
McClaer, and myself (Randy Retmann), met while climbing through
a wire fence at North Ryde Skate Park. The park had been closed
to the public for some time and there were rumours around that a
shopping mall was to be built there instead.
Darren was a surfer-come-skater, raised on the New South Wales
coastal town of Stanwell Park. Kevin and I were ‘Westies’,
raised some 30 kms from the water in suburban Fairfield.
Although we had completely different cultural backgrounds, it
was pretty clear that we all liked the same music as evidenced
by the t-shirts we were all sporting. I recall Darren wearing a
Verbal Abuse tee, Kevin, a Discharge t-shirt and me, a homemade
Suicidal Tendencies number. While enjoying an uncrowded session
in the half pipe, we enthusiastically talked about our favorite
records.
“Have you heard the ‘Code of Honour, Sick Pleasure’, split
record?” “What about Reagan Youth’?, ‘SS Decontrol’? Or ‘Bad
Brains’ Rock for Light LP?”
We all spoke of our own bands too of course. Darren played drums
for two bands; a new band, Climate of Fear, who played a brand
of English, Oi influenced punk rock and also, Rocks, a recentle
reformed first generation punk band who had released one of
Australia’s first bona fide punk records back in March, 1978,
the legendary You’re So Boring EP. He was also talking of
getting together another band, that would be more hardcore. Kev
and I also had a band, The Toothbrush Family. We played in my
parent’s garage, and I remember telling Darren that we were
working on a cover of MDC’s “Dead Cops”. I failed to tell him
that none of us could play a note or even tune a guitar. I also
neglected to mention that my mum would come out every hour with
orange cordial and chocolate-coated biscuits.
Skateboarding and being into hardcore and punk was not without
its troubles though, way back in 1984-’85. If you rocked up to a
gig with a skateboard – Kev and I always did as it was our main
mode of transportation back then – and not dressed in the
standard punk attire ie: leather jackets, lots of studs, Doc
Martin boots and big spikey hair, you could be in for an evening
of much more than musical entertainment and slam dancing! You
could end up being the focal point for a bunch of skindheads’
fists or boots, or both, and punk’s saliva on top. It became
second natura to always cope the venue for quick exits, to know
where the skins were situated and what you could use as a launch
pad when the slamming (moshing) started. Ahh yes, fond memories
flood back of being stretched taut, like a rope, in a lethal tug
of war confrontation. Skinheads had me by my feet, my younger
brother Karl, and Kevin had me by my hands. The skins drooled in
anticipation of wrenching me free from Karl and Kevin’s grip and
punching and kicking the shit out of me. All the while,
Melbourne band, Permanent Damage, trashed it out in front of us,
good and proper in the stage of inner city Sydney’s The Gaelic
Club.
Looking back, these events often started when Kev and I hit the
sidewalk outside of our western suburb homes. Skating to the
train station often meant dodging projectiles flung from souped-up
Monaro’s (the Australian Pontiac), filled with yobbos
(Australian for ‘Redneck’), blaring Acca-Dacca (AC/DC) or the
Tatts (Rose Tattoo). The train trips themselves were often hairy
and a thing to endure. Just getting to the gigs was quite a
trip!
I digress. It was just a few days after meeting Darren at the
skate park, and just up the road from the Gaelic Club at the
Strawberry Hills Hotel, that Massappeal came to be. Kevind and I
had parked (hidden) our boards behind the bar and were partaking
in some joyous slam dancing and stage and stool diving (stools
were taller than the stage), while the Hard-Ons, Sydney’s
hottest new punk band, ploughed through their set, side-stepping
bodies and just managing to keep their equipment upright on the
stiny stage. After the Hard-Ons last song, Darren, squeezed
squeezed his way through the crowd to where Kev and I were
catching our breath. In a crowded room full of black leather and
studs, Darren stood out by being so unassuming; cut-off army
pants, sneakers, scabby knees and a smile—a kindred misfit.
While most of the Sydney punk scene at this time were still
heaviuly influenced by what had happened in the UK nearly a
decade earlier, some of us were more excited by what was
actually being created at that very moment: Hard Core.
“Do you wanna sing for our band?” Darren asked. I remember being
nervous and excited and thinking, shit, I’ll have to write
lyrics. I haven’t written a word since high school, and that was
only cuz I had to. Kev nudged me and said something like “Go for
it.” “Yeah, OK” I hesitantly replied. Darren then introduced me
to the guitarist-to-be, who standing up the back of the room. I
sort of knew this guy too, not by name, but through trading
tapes. I got a Black Flag live tape from from him some months
before at the Rehearsal Room, a real dodgy venue by a vacant
service station in Redfern. Tape trading was the best way to
find out about new bands back then , and I had a pen-pal in
Washington DC, who’d send me tapes of Minor Threat live and
other DC bands.
My ears were ringing as Darren said, “Randy, this is Fred”. For
the first month of Massappeal rehearsals, Brett was “Fred” to
me, but when my ears finally stopped ringing I got his name
right. Brett, a semi-professional surfer from Manly, (one of
Sydney’s northern beach suburbs), had been listening to punk
since the first wave, but really got into it as the next heavier
and more aggressive style developed in band slike Discharge, The
Exploited, Blitz, Anti-Pasti, UK Subs, The Ruts et all.
Around 1980-1981, Brett along with some friends-future
professional surfer, Pam Burridge, future World Surfing Champion
Barton Lynch and Doug Lees, (the drummer for local punks,
Progression Cult) started to venture out to the civic Hotel in
the heart of Sydney’s CBD, to see some of the new punk bands:
Identity X, Vigilante, Chaos, Kelpies, etc. In May 1982, Brett
went to Europe to try his luck on the professional surfing
circuit. He surfed until September and then went to London to
see some bands for a couple of weeks before flying back to sunny
Manly. He picked up a job within a couple of days and ended up
staying for a couple of years, cultivating an extremely,
ridiculously long Mohawk that I’m told looked more like a giant
dead slug resting atop of his otherwise bald skull! But hey, he
did get to see some pretty amazing shows that I’ll always be
jealous of: UK Subs, The Exploited, Subhumans, Discharge Anti
Sect, Crass, The Mob, Flux of Pink Indians, etc.
At the end of 1982, the Dead Kennedys and MDC made it to the UK
form the States. Brett felt an affinity to these bands from the
US. It felt more natural to him, less contrived. He realized
that “You don’t have to dress up like a turkey, (or a slug-head)
to play heavy music”. Then, in early ’83, Black Flag and Bad
Brains toured the UK, and Brett realized that most of the
English bandswere actually quite lame in comparison – “Sheep in
wolves clothing” as he saw it. A surfing trip to the Canary
Islands in October 1983 seemed to give him a different
perspective. He returned briefly to the UK but was back home in
Sydney by Christmas.
Discovering that his local pub – the Mosman Hotel – was the hu
for a local thriving punk scene and the strong desired to be
involved in a band, Brett made up with local punks, Progression
Cult, who were looking for a new singer. It wasn’t in the cards,
as they split up the next weekend. Undeterred, he tried to get
something happening with new people but soon discovered that no
else he knew seemed to be into the stuff he wanted to play. So,
in 1984, at the age of 24, Brett realized that the only way he
was gonna get something happening was to learn how to play
guitar himself. He borrowed a guitar and an amp and proceeded to
make feedback! No notes yet, just beautiful noise to the delight
of his neighbours. A month later he joined Sydney band, the
Bedspreads, on second guitar. It wasn’t quite the music he
wanted to create, but he would remain forever grateful to the
chaps for giving him a go after only playing guitar for a month.
It did give Brett the confidence to form a band of his own.
He met Darren in late ’84, early ’85 at the Strawberry Hill
hotel. Darren was wearing a Verbal Abuse t-shirt so Brett knew
they had a similar musical appreciation. They both surfed, so
they had that in common also and shared the view that the
limitations on lifestyle placed b y the inner-city punk elite
were both un-punk and stupid. They also talked of the lack of
real musical talent in town at the time and of the rumour that
Albi, guitarist for Melbourne punk hardcore band, Vicious
Circle, was going to bring US band, Youth Brigade out to
Australia. Brett figured that there was no band in Sydney that
would be a suitable support and put the idea to Darren about
forming a new band. Brett always had the name Massappeal, in
mind, having taken it from some graffiti spray painted on the
wall of the Tooheys brewery on Broadway, inner-city Sydney. It
was an irony of sorts. The idea that Massappeal, could generate
‘mass appeal’, was of course, ludicrous. But then again, the
fact that Adolf Hitler, Ronald Reagan and even Madonna could
generate the same appeal was just as ironic. This was the point
of Massappeal.
Following our introduction at the aforementioned Hard-Ons show,
we started regular practice. Our first gig was on gay Mardi-Gras
night in 1985, supporting Vicious Circle at French’s Tavern on
Oxford Street, Sydney. We played six songs in fifteen minutes,
just the three of us. Kevin was yet to join and spent the entire
(15 min) set sitting on the stage with my very underage brother
Karl cheering us on. The most memorable thing about this gig for
me though, was loading our equipment back into Brett’s van after
the show and being confronted by a bunch of skinheads who wanted
to beat us up for not looking punk enough! It didn’t help that
Brett identified one of the skinheads to a policeman, as the
perpetrator in a gay bashing incident that had happened right
outside French’s earlier that night. It was only an intervention
by Steve, a friend of both our’s and the skinhead’s – as well as
the editor of a local punk fanzine, Rise Above, that saved us
from certain bashing.
Kevin joined the band soon after. He had been coming along to
all the practices and had a bass guitar which he’d attempted to
play in Toothbrush Family. It was perfect. Kevin’s first
practice with Massappeal included the epiphany of tuning! “wow,
that makes it so much easier to know what strings to hit” said
Kevin. After two more practice sessions Kevin played his first
gig with Massappeal at a birthday party at the Middle Harbour
Skiff Club. The second gig was at the Hellenic Hall, Chippendale
on the 16th of November ’85. We also played a great gig out at
Fairfield around this time in a room above a cake shop called,
The Gallery. It was a space organized and run by Dave and Phil
Mascellani. A space for the local kids o hang their art, read
their poetry, listen to tapes and drink milo and instant coffee.
The gig though, was most memorable for the tasty pair of shorts
I sported that night
Brett had a tape of our performance at the Hellenic Hall and one
of the songs on the tape would end up being our first release.
Ray Ahn of the Hard-Ons wa doing a fanzine titled Zit and he was
putting together a compilation tape to go out with one of the
issues. He asked for a Massappeal track so Brett dubbed him off
one of the songs from our live tape.
Weeks later Keving got a copy of “Zit Magazine” from waterfront
and I remember us both being pretty excited as he dropped the
tape into the machine. The Massappeal track started with me
introducing the song as it was a live recording, Kev and I
looked at each other puzzled as my voice came out of the
speakers at least an octave lower than usual and sounding like
an out-take from the Exorcist. Then the song started, Brett
seemed to be playing a lot slower than I ever recalled and I
didn’t recognized the song, “what the fuck has he done”” Kev
yelled. Brett’s tape machine must have been crapping out or the
batteries must have been dying when he dubbed the song so our
first first release was Massappeal in slow motion. Even still,
our song was still three times faster than anything else on the
tape!
Waterfront Records, the only store in town to really stock a
decent selection of hardcore and punk music, had heard about us
by virtue of our spending every Thursday night shopping there.
They asked us to play a Saturday afternoon in-store as support
to another new, hot, more Detroit style combo called, The
eastern Dark. It was there and then that they asked us to do a
record with them. It was highly unexpected; we were just stoked
to be playing our music to people, and maybe support Youth
Brigade if they ever made it to Australia, and now, we were
going to record!!!
In May 1986 we recorded a demo and in August/September we
recorded Nobody Likes a Thinker. Not happy with the mix, we
decided on remixing in October for release by Waterfront in
December 1986.
Released together with the Hard-Ons Smell My Finger and the
Spunkbubble’s Metal Wench 7”, the records created quite a stir,
with reviews in all music mags, as well as daily newspapers,
giving Massappeal and the Hard-Ons two thumbs up! Incredibly,
Nobody Likes a Thinker went straight to number 1 on the national
indy chart knocking oz rockers Noiseworks into number 2
position. It all seemed silly, weird and meaningless at the
time. I didn’t know music charts existed before that point. I
was reading fanzines like Maximum Rock and Roll and Flipside, I
don’t recall ever seeing charts.
Sometime after the release, Massappeal and the Hard-Ons went on
a tour of Australia. The Sucked up and Spat Out Tour went to
Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Aarrgg rock and roll!
I remember driving into Melbourne, and Kevin, after only having
one beer, stuck his head out the window and vomited, only to
have it come back in the rear window of the bus and splatter
Keith (Hard-Ons drummer).
Speaking of drummers, Darren was the first member to leave
Massappeal and this began the revolving door band members. In
1987 Tubby Wadsworth joined the band and we recorded The Bar of
Life 7”. Tubby came through the metal scene and was and still is
an amazing drummer, though we had to slow him down a bit. At one
show at the Sutherland Royal Hotel we were to play a 40 minute
set and instead we finished it in just 20 minutes. He ws an
enthusiastic stage diver too and as a result we once missed out
on a bunch of gigs with oz metallers Mortal Sin as Tubby
Sheepishly nursed a broken arm.
The song “Are You Alright?” contains a crazed rant by Kevin
during the intro to the song. It came about because we felt that
something other than Brett’s guitar madness was called for. I
was coming up with goose eggs so Kev walked into the vocal booth
and spat nails into the mic. He came back into the control room
quietly nd no-one said a word. He was obviously very upset about
something but we were all too scared to go into it with him.
“Are Yu Arlight Kev?” Too dangerous, too ugly. Perfect.
We did a national tour with US hardcore band DRI that same year.
A gig in Canberra wasn;t too pleasurable for us, most of the
people at this show were incredibly nice, but it only takes a
few dickheads to take the night to another level. It was a very
intense gig. Everything was so charged and on the verge of
exploding and then it did. Part way into our set, a bunch of
skinheads standing at the back of the crowd started throwing
half-full cans of beer at us. I recall the sensation of playing
that gig but not the individual songs. It was truly primal, raw
and pure. We cracked open and the songs shut out like waves of
debris. By the time DRI hit the stage, the skins had moved down
into the pit and were picking off dancers one by one. DRI
stopped mid song and it all went nuts. I recall someone swinging
one of Tubby’s symbol stands around like a baseball bat and
collecting more than one bald head. The cops showed up, removed
the skins and DRI finished off the night’s entertainment in fine
fashion. Later I watched Tubby wipe/peel skin and blood from his
drum stands. Blown away by Tubby’s ballistic blender-beat
drumming, the drummer from DRI gave Tubby his Bad Brains t-shirt
that was literally dripping with sweat and blood, as an act of
homage.
Later while trying to get comfortable for the long three hour
trip back to Sydney in the back of the very cold and dark tour
truck (yes, a truck with a roller door, no windows no
ventilation and very illegal) I remember feeling sick from the
diesel fumes and the constant rocking and wobbling of the truck,
but I spotted some rivet holes in the side wall and started to
suck in the night air with my lips over one of the holes.
I tried to make sense of the night, thinking, ‘that was terrible
and fucked up. No, that was amazing and blistering pure’.
Looking back, the whole wild ride had a foot firmly planted in
both camps—such was the world of Massappeal f those times.
Written by Randy Reimann of Massappeal. Taken from the liner
notes of the recent reissue of Nobody Likes a Thinker. Courtesy
of Relapse Records.
Check out our
review of Relapse’s reissue
of
Nobody Likes a
Thinker. |
