DATELINE: Sydney, Australia - They were the product of a CIA experiment; rarely employed, driftless musicians from the 80’s, playing the independent scene, watching hours of American TV…
They were abducted with the promise of a headline gig, forced hallucinogenic substances in horrific experimentation (and then demanded the CIA did it again), and then cryogenically frozen for the next few decades. It was Night of the Many Deaths, that’s for sure.
But when a major condenser blew in the refrigeration evaporator, combined with a security guard’s mixed tape playing 70’s favourites through an old boombox, a course of events would be set in motion that not even the Central Intelligence Agency could understand, let alone control.
As the five “subjects”, as they were known by their handlers, slowly began to defrost, their dormant cerebellums were flooded with a cornucopia of rockin’ ‘70s toons.
As their brains kept decrystallising, so too more 70’s Rock would impregnate, until finally when they shook themselves off of the last shreds of ice, all five were convinced they were no longer of the ‘80s, or of their former bands: The Celibate Rifles, The Trilobites, Mushroom Planet, or The Southern Preachers.
Taking their inspiration from a diverse ‘70s playlist that ranged from Deep Purple to The Dictators, the five would flee their CIA controllers in an old Holden Gemini panel van to seek places to play, uniting under a title found in an ad, on the page of an article on Russ Howell in an old SkateBoarder magazine: Bahne Super-Flex.
Some say they’re still affected by the residual hallucinogens inflicted upon them during their detention.
You decide.
They’re playing live on October 6 at Manly Boatshed at Sonic Garage’s “Dark Country” album launch with Capital Romantics, and on Friday October 20 at the Brass Monkey in Cronulla with special guests Sinister Smile.
