hellmen

For six years at the cusp of the ‘80s and start of the ‘90s, Hellmen rode the skatepunk-surf wave better than most Sydney bands. Now Melbourne’s Buttercup Records reminds everybody what the racket was all about. Hellmen were explosive and slammed out song after song with not many longer than three minutes - exactly like this release. 

"Mutant Surfer" is a four-track seven-inch EP with two scuzzy rehearsal songs, an outtake and a previously released track. The title cut opens and is an especially potent example of what these guys sounded like live. “Don’t Do It” rocks like the proverbial but pales next to closer “Stone Rock”, left off “Electric Crazyland”. “Skate To Hell” is a cover of a Gang Green song that seems very familiar, even to a non-skatepunk fan. Now, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hellmen back in the day (something about them being from enemy territory like the Northern Beaches maybe?) but this makes me want to track their old stuff down. It's all due for a re-issue and this is a taster for a Buttercup LP of some sort.

Art is by the mega-talented band member Ben Brown and there’s even a temporary tattoo in the packaging. It’s a limited run of 300 copies - a precursor to an LP - so don’t delay.

3/4

Buttercup Records on the Web

They were a first-time band for many underage gig-goers in the 1990s so there’s a certain irony in  Melbourne hardcore exponents Nursery Crimes paying a visit to Sydney with a show at Marrickville Bowling Club on April 26.

It will be a night of old and new with O.G. support in the form of Herbal Lunatics (Ben Brown singing songs of  his old band, The Hellmen) and Fun Again! (members of Bored! and Massappeal), with Northern Beaches upstarts The Darrans and newcomers Bugg Music opening proceedings.

Nursery Crimes were Australian pioneers of all age shows in the ‘90s and many who saw them back in the day now have kids of their own. The good news is that U18s are good to be at the Bowlo if accompanied by a (responsible) adult.

In their first life, Nursery Crimes were support-of-choice for international tourists like L7, Henry Rollins, Faith No More and Fugazi. They released two full length albums before breaking up the first time in 1994 and have reformed a handfull of times since 2006. This will be their first Sydney gig in 15 years and tickets are on sale here.

Dark Country- Sonic Garage (self released)

Sonic Garage burst on the Sydney music scene about two years ago with "Asteroid", which what the best local single released in 2021.  The album it came from, “Space Travels”, was raw, tough street level Northern Beaches rock that referenced the Stooges, Dictators, and Radio Birdman.

It was a record from the tradition of that area’s melodic, guitar driven, gritty and surf-tinged music, in the tradition of the early Midnight Oil, Celibate Rifles and The Hellmen.

The quick version? Fourteen tracks. The cover doesn’t lie. Wall-to-wall guitars. Rocks harder than a Manly ferry on a cross-Sydney Harbour run in a 40-knot gale. The long version? Read on…

“The Fantastic Sounds of” has the blessing of Dave “Spliff” Hopkins, their mercurial guitarist, and frontman Ben Brown, whose stellar “surfing dead” artwork has not only adorned their past and present releases but those of Massappeal, Red Kross and Bored! They were the core of the band. Hopkins now lives in WEstern Australia and plays in Purple Urchin, while Brown is still a stellar artist.  

The Hellmenn sprang from the loins of the Sydney musical underground in the halcyon late ‘80s, rolling out a long-player and numerous EPs and singles until grunge, random breath testing, poker machines and venue licensing red tape sucked the marrow out of the local live scene in the early ‘90s. The Hellmenn were proud products of the city’s Northern Beaches - the place that spawned Midnight Oil, Asteroid B612, the Celibate Rifles, to name some notables. There were many more.