1 - The Saints: This Perfect Day How do you follow up (I'm) Stranded, possibly the greatest punk single of all time and a bunch of other singles from a debut album that is perfection? With this blast furnace of all forward momentum, which maybe is even better than (I'm) Stranded. In fact Perfect! If the razor sharp slash of Ed Kuepper's guitar, the sound of Ivor & Algy nailing the rhythm section to the floor and Chris Bailey's barely contained contempt in the vocals doesn't make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, maybe check your pulse. The Fall covered this bad boy as well and that's all you need to know. 2 - Purple Hearts: Just A Little Bit Proving that the 60's were anything but quaint, Lobby Loyde's searing guitar runs will melt your brain and the manic vocals of Mick Hadley will make you rethink that all the Purple Hearts want is "just a teeny weeny bit of your love". I'm sure their intentions are much more sinister. Thi...

Melbourne punks Civic have been threatening to unleash a classic since they emerged on the scene with the 12” EP New Vietnam on Anti Fade records . A few strong 7”s followed. Two, again on Anti Fade before a move to Flightless for the 3rd. Then in 2021 the full lengther on Flightless…. Future Forecast. New Vietnam - 2018 This record along with their killer live shows proved that these guys weren’t just regular noise & bluster punks, but had legacy building in mind to stand alongside Australian punk legends such as the Saints , Birdmen , Scientists , Victims , etc. Future Forecast was definitely not far off the mark & a fiery debut to be sure, but I reckon this newie Taken By Force has taken them to that next level & has legendary written all over it.  Future Forecast - 2021 I first heard a lot of these songs last November when they supported the Gizz at a bangin’ outdoor gig in St Kilda. As soon as they hit the stage Civic meant business & were armed with a ...

Geelong! I hear you say. What’s that all about? Well, if you like your rock raw and full of six string noise makin’ pedal abusers; knuckle dragging primitive thud; and pissed off, bored sounding throat shredders; then look no further than Geelong I say. Still not convinced? How about I throw Bored!, GOD, Magic Dirt and Warped at ya! And now that I’ve got your attention let’s jump straight into recent times. Geelong is still spewing out quality reprobates with bad attitudes & ruthless guitars. At the forefront of all this mayhem is the mighty Anti Fade label founded by Billy Gardner. Anti Fade has unleashed some absolute modern game changers such as Ausmuteants , Hierophants & Orb into the Australian rawk scene. Billy, (also known as “the man in too many bands”) has played in some of the better batterers of so- called instruments to crawl out of the Geelong scene; including Ausmuteants, Cereal Killer and Smarts . But, I want to talk about a killer rough diamond in Billy’s b...

G'day!! My name is Ben & I'm from Melbourne, Australia and like all of you I'm a fanatic!! I'm a rabid record collector, avid music zine & book reader & constant gig attender. I have also thumped drums in a stack of independent bands for nearly 30 years and have recorded & self released original tunes as well. All of this keeps me busy as it is, and now I'm going to attempt to translate all of this mish mash of random info in my head onto paper for the kick arse Monstres Sacrés blog. Anyway now that I have been given the opportunity at Monstres Sacrés , I look forward to hopefully introducing you to the wild, guitar abusing, pedal crushing, tub thumpin', totally rockin', at times unsavoury & the flat out weird sounds of punk/garage/indie/noise and more in the Australian scenes past & present. Oh yeah why did I spell Australia wrong for the name of my blog? It's actually named after the great Saints song Orstralia from the Eterna...

If you think that Australian punk rock begins and ends with The Saints and Radio Birdman , let it be known that this sparsely populated country south of the equator has been spewing out quality snot caked punk tune-age with attitude to burn since before those seminal bands scorched the earth. Back in the sixties The Atlantics ripped out the track Come On  after trading their surf guitar for an el cheapo six string noise maker with a fuzz box. Australian bands have been pumping out the raw stuff with wild abandon ever since. Over each generation there's been our fair share of troublemakers forming bands brewing up untamed sounds under monikers such as The Missing Links , The Purple Hearts , The Victims , X , Scientists , Cosmic Psychos , Bored! , The Powder Monkeys , Hoss and Eddy Current Suppression Ring . In the last ten years like minded bands have continued to rise from the muck to yet again stoke the garage punk flame and mutate it into ever more unexpected brain frying ways...

Lorsqu'il est question de compilations de rock 60's, qu'il soit garage, R&B ou punk, on pense à Nuggets, Pebbles, Back From The Grave, ou d'autres moins officielles comme Born Bad. La plupart étant consacrés aux groupes américains, nous allons nous pencher sur ce qui existe pour l'hémisphère sud avec la série en quatre volumes « Before Birdmen Flew » qui regroupe des formations austr a liennes et néo-zélandaises restées underground. L'idée ici n'est pas de lister tous les groupes présents sur ces quatre albums mais plutôt de faire ressortir les plus excitants (sans que les autres n'aient quoi que ce soit de mauvais) à commencer par THE BLACK DIAMONDS   avec « I Want, Need, Love You ». Titre s auvage dans sa composition comme dans la voix du chanteur Glenn Bland, très proto-punk au sens où on l'entend aujourd'hui. Ces « diamants noirs » ont vécu à la dure dans une cité minière australienne, d'où leur nom. On les retrouve sur les volumes...

 Après les albums classiques des Saints et la période NEW ROSE évoqués dans la première partie, voici la suite de la carrière de Chris Bailey et des Saints. 1986 : THE SAINTS - All Fools Day (POLYDOR) Arturo LaRizza (basse) / Ivor Hay (batterie) / Richard Burgmann (guitare) Les Saints n'avaient pas vraiment percé avant le milieu des années 80 et All Fool's Day. C'est ce que j'ai considéré comme la première vraie sortie américaine. On a fait une tournée là-bas avec cet album et les gens demandaient : "C'est votre premier ?" Si le disque n’est pas sorti sur New Rose, c’est strictement pour des raisons d’affaire. Une décision que j’assume, puisque je l’ai prise, en sachant que l’avenir des Saints passait par une distribution plus large. Le moment était venu pour les Saints de renouer avec une grosse compagnie. C'est très difficile pour moi d'être terriblement objectif. Je pense que All Fool's Day est probablement l'une des meilleures choses au...