Tim Hemensley
(& Bored! European Tour Diaries 1990)
23/11/1971 - 21/7/2003
This page celebrates the life of one of this countries most rockinest Individuals, who led a life of music involvement, creativity and
passion, & who left us not only decades worth of audio magic, but also some great documentation as well with his writings from an incredibly young age. Tim was an absolute RABID FAN, soaking up music across a wide range of genres, always found down the front at gigs & constantly up for a discussion on topics all across the board ! There were many times when he used to pop into the Record stores where I used to work ( Au-Go-Go and Missing Link ) & engage with the staff in a very indepth way, then find himself chatting to a customer ( young or old ) about a band or artist which would be like a mini history lesson where said person would often walk out with a fresh record ( New or Old ) under their arm and a smile on their face. His history, output & mega DIY attitude remains a BIG influence in my life and those thoughts & memories of our times spent together are held tight & with special respect. Enjoy these writings and more will be added here across 2019/2020
This page celebrates the life of one of this countries most rockinest Individuals, who led a life of music involvement, creativity and
passion, & who left us not only decades worth of audio magic, but also some great documentation as well with his writings from an incredibly young age. Tim was an absolute RABID FAN, soaking up music across a wide range of genres, always found down the front at gigs & constantly up for a discussion on topics all across the board ! There were many times when he used to pop into the Record stores where I used to work ( Au-Go-Go and Missing Link ) & engage with the staff in a very indepth way, then find himself chatting to a customer ( young or old ) about a band or artist which would be like a mini history lesson where said person would often walk out with a fresh record ( New or Old ) under their arm and a smile on their face. His history, output & mega DIY attitude remains a BIG influence in my life and those thoughts & memories of our times spent together are held tight & with special respect. Enjoy these writings and more will be added here across 2019/2020
This below article was written by me and originally appeared in the 10th Issue (Aug 2003) of the Missing Link Records Newsletter
Tim Hemensley - Local Rock’n’Roll roustabout and good pal to many died on July 21st 2003.
Tim’s history is incredibly rich in achievement & bare bones passion within Australia’s underground music scene, being one of this town’s original- true punk rockers ! From his time at local inner city alternative schools ( a wonderful parential choice of free spirit nurturing) to his very early involvement in Melbourne’s Punk Rock and Independent Music and Art scene, Tim was one of the Do-er’s not sayers and incredibly, at not even ten years old (the very early 1980’s) fronted the local Punk Rock combo ROYAL FLUSH & was performing live as an 11 year old-belting out cuts like ‘Coppers round the Corner’ , ‘Christain Bullshit’ , & ‘Teacher’s Gestapo’ (Roman Tucker of Rocket Science was also a member of the band). As the years progressed he would end up in a later line-up of his fave nihilistic heroes THE SICK THINGS and sonic teen ratbags GOD (Tim, Sean, Matty & Joel would, at a moments notice switch instruments and take turn on vocal duties on a whim), MORBID DREAD, prime era BORED! and finally, the longstanding, hard livin’ ballsed out wrecking crew that was THE POWDER MONKEYS.
I have many of my own spine tingling memories of Tim’s tenure in half of these bands, the latter two especially where his songwriting,delivery,vitriol & attitude would all come together into one amazing rush of sonic adrenalin as his equally awe-inspiring band members burned up a stage. But this was just the band member side to Tim, there was much much more -all tackled with the same rabid desire, wide eyed enthusiasm & deep deep love of an underground subculture. Tim published his own fanzine in the early 80’s ‘Punk Purge’ - words of manic fandom, venom, and real opinion were chugged out on an old clicky clacky typewriter & copied and stapled together. Here is a sample of some of his rush of words from December 1982 :
The Killayoni Scene : I thought I’d use this last page to remember a club called The Killayoni Club, one of the best non pub venues for new music (New Wave or Rock, not strictly commercial) in the last 3 years. When I was interviewed on the ‘Behind the Shelter Sheds’ ( a programme for kids on Radio 3CR what else could it be ?), I named the club as one of 2 places kids (under 15’s) could get to see live New Wave or Punk. A few months later the Killayoni Club was gone and the bands scattered to other places far and wide. The Killayoni Club was located in Flinders Lane and bands such as the Incredibly Strange Creatures who stopped living and became mixed up zombies, Plays with Marionettes, 3 Toed Sloths, Daughters of Charity & Voix would be the right’s entertainment. The first time I went there was NYE 1981. Meeting Kathy Buck (manageress) at the door was a surprise (as I thought it was a Polish nightclub) and later on actually meeting the performers was something rare and something which probably hasn’t happened since the demise of the first wave of Punk in this country in 1980. Let me point out that the club was not strictly a Punk club. This Zine isn’t strictly just a Punk zine. I am a Punk, Punk is the music I love and therefore I give considerable coverage to Punk. But the music and bands who perform at TKC hardly ever get any mention in the rock press & most of the gigs they do are publicized by word of mouth, so there should be some zine or magazine that talks about them. One of the bands who (to me anyway) represents the true Killayoni sound was 2D. They played very sixtiesish garage post punk rock, very heavy, very psychedelic (ie: garage psychedelia like late PRETTY THINGS, MASTERS APPRENTICES, SHADOWS OF KNIGHT, KINGSMEN etc..) very good. Even though 2D are gone now & Ifs Buts and Maybes have taken their place, the energy etc..still remains. THE band of the club was The Incredibly Strange Creatures… who were thoroughly improvisational and seemed to alienate most of their audience rather than attract them (Kathy Buck lying on the stage screaming and Jim Buck monotonously saying ‘She Says/’She Says/’She Says/’ while other musicians have arguments through Saxophones was hardly fun or a good night out). Punk was supposed to be Anti-Music-Music but the person who said that would probably be choking on their words when they saw the Incredibly Strange Creatures…. Another band who sometimes appeared there was Three Toed Sloths consisting of Jim Buck on heavily distorted guitar & Terry Shannon on Bass with songs such as ‘ I’m gonna bust yer ass you son of a bitch’, Johnny Cash’s ‘Angel from Vegas’ and ‘ I wanna be a worm’ . Of course, no history of TKC would be complete without mentioning ROYAL FLUSH (plug!!) who played the club on ‘The Final Fling Killayoni Thing’ final night. Oh I don’t know what to say now !! alas, poor Killayoni, I knew it well !
One must remember how young Tim was when documenting the local scene (barely a teenager), and all through Tim had amazing support from his literature soaked, warm & beautiful parents Retta and Kris (who had released books of poetry himself for years), and with them being both being very longstanding figures in one of this town’s tucked away Bookstore treasures ‘ Collected Works’. Fellow GODmember Joel Silbersher was also a early teen fanziner -publishing his ‘ Man connot live on eno alone’ zine in the mid 80’s and covering all sorts of interesting music, from Eugene Chadbourne to Civil Dissident. This was actually quite amazing for it’s time, as back then, all this stuff was TOTALLY underground and for the most part existed well under the radar of the mainstream media and money greedy Oz rock scene so I think that these achievements and willingness to explore the true alternatives should be celebrated and appreciated twenty plus years down the track, where access to information now is served on a plate & subcultures exposed and glorified for quick gain be ever present leeches chasing their time in the sun.
Tim Hemensley was very well read with music history, was someone with whom you could talk indepthly with on a wide range of topics, from Politics to Photography, The Arts, Film, Melbourne history and Architecture to the to’s and fro’s of the technology age, to the environment to personal goals and back to the state of the Rock’n’Roll scene. When, in the early 90’s Tim gave me his written diaries for BORED!’s European Tour for my own Fanzine publication (Resistant Harmony Issue #5 1992) it was an absolute treat to see the detail and care he’d gone to & the way in which he offered up commentary on all sorts of other things besides the music. Tim’s own photo’s of the Berlin Wall being dismantled by truck & crane to lush scenery…it was all an engaging and thorough overview, right up until the very last moment in the van enroute to a European Airport where 7 weeks of R’n’R overload came out loud ‘n’ clear….all over the van, all over the gear, all over the luggage, and all over his band mates! Tim Hemensley left us with many amazing living and breathing documents from Pre-teen clippings in trash mags to the two totally raw and raucous cuts on the 1984 Melbourne Punk Compilation ‘Eat Your Head’ with Royal Flush, through to some lasting moments of teen energy in GOD to his amzing songs, playing and heartfelt deep down deliveries with BORED! and THE POWDERMONKEYS to his involvement with Lucy De Soto and Peter Wells of ROSE TATTOO to eloquent film interviews detailing his love of music…
It’s true documentation of a life led and left behind, and as we’ve seen time and time again within this local independent music scene, there is nothing whatsoever ‘Cool’ or ‘Glamourous’ in and around the drug lifestyle which takes so many and leaves many questions for those left behind to soldier on and deal with it in real terms. For me personally, I feel proud to of been around for many crazy God ,Bored! and dynamite Powder Monkeys shows (whether at The Great Britain Hotel or the Jaw dropping Prince of Wales residency shows-so many of which will stand as easy some of the most explosive live bouts of adrenalized soul baring music blasts I’ve seen in 20 years of underground music viewing). From just coming back from Tim’s funeral, it was fitting to see a wide cross section of people there to celebrate his life and to hear Tim’s voice come out of the speakers in the opening lines of ‘Wasn’t Born Yesterday’ as the music kicks and pummels it’s way through was a spine tingling feeling and something those in appreciation should always hold true, as Tim Hemensley had for his 30+ years a voice born for R’n’R which held melody, delivered power and spat inner fire in a way that wiped the floor of so many others who tried their hand on the Rock’n’Roll party line but instead drew blanks. This man was the real deal and there is lots to learn and admire in being able to project passion in such a raw and naked way. Images of bleeding Bass rattled fingers and vomiting mid song stage right without missing a beat comes from a belief, a dedication, and a love of the power of music and it’s importance to those who live and breathe it.
The fact that the documentation remains and will stand as white hot Australian music mastery forever is a wonderful thing indeed. I’m one who usually avoids funerals of friends who have fallen like dominos in this way as I find it hard to hold back my feelings of the always present individuals who I feel help perpetrate a cycle of sadness, but this is something that I wish not to delve in too deeply right here and now…I came to celebrate a life, remember times past and present and to embrace care. I think I can speak on behalf of my fellow Record Shop buds when I say that we’ll sure miss those weekly visits of the Lil’ fella and his opinions, joviality,spontaneous customer interaction, gentlemanly manners and enthused eyes seeking out new sounds whilst offering up eleoquent snapshots of magical musical moments of his heroes. Tim always made sure to wish us a warm farewell each and everytime he walked out of the store with his partner Marisa and we say a final farewell to him…Tim…. A true individual, Punk Rock to the core, Rock’n’Roll to the core and someone who played hard & left powerhouse lifelong impressions on many of us.
Scotti - Late July 2003
( Below : Killayoni Club - Melbourne / News Article with Tim as a very young lad )
BORED! Euro Tour Diaries
August 29th 1990 - October 7th 1990
This here is a wonderful look in to the bands shenanigans as they left Aussie shores to take on Europe in 1989. This Originally appeared
in # 5 of my old fanzine RESISTANT HARMONY ( it has a website ) in August 1991 and is reproduced here in all it's Rock'n'Roll glory !
It's a warts 'n' all account of a band on the road in a pre-Internet /Pre- iPhone age and retyped from the Cut and Paste Originals a few years back. SEVEN WEEKS of Rock Action and all the highs and lows & getting up to no good ! Enjoy this cool piece of Oz Rock history....
in # 5 of my old fanzine RESISTANT HARMONY ( it has a website ) in August 1991 and is reproduced here in all it's Rock'n'Roll glory !
It's a warts 'n' all account of a band on the road in a pre-Internet /Pre- iPhone age and retyped from the Cut and Paste Originals a few years back. SEVEN WEEKS of Rock Action and all the highs and lows & getting up to no good ! Enjoy this cool piece of Oz Rock history....
29/8/90 - Amsterdam
We visited here today and had a ball…smoked great Hash in the Holland Hell’s Angel bar ‘The Other Place’ whilst drinking good Dutch beer and coffee and listening to Slayer.
Walked around the Red Light district (window shopping) (look but don’t touch) surrounded by black hustlers (‘Hey guys you want hash?, coke ? trips? How about it ?) Buzz and Marv
(our roadie) got tattooed by Hanky Panky downstairs at The Other Place…Can’t wait till we get back here !!
30/8/90 - First Gig Vera, Groningen, Holland
Apart from a shaky start to the day (me leaving all my luggage in the place we were staying in) & then discovering that the Trace Elliot amp Paperclip (Booking Agency)
have hired for me is gonna take A LOT of getting used to (this gig was the worst Bass sound I’ve ever had). The gig turned out to be very good ! great venue, with a downstairs bar, a fairly large hall for the bands, and an upstairs bandroom with a bar (unlimited free beer). Ran into Sylvana, Cathy and Guido (friends from Geelong), played for almost two hours (I think everyone agrees the set was a little too long), did an encore…not bad for the first nite considering that at soundcheck I busted 3 bass strings…Germany tonite !
31/8/90 - AJZ , Bielefeld, Germany with House of Suffering
This place is a big anarchist squat (someone later told me it was a Government funded Youth centre..not sure of the correct answer), great atmosphere, good food, some very weird people...one woman with plastic straws behind her ears and a bag around her waist with 'NEW AGE' (moulded in tin foil) stuck on it. She said 'Do you like my creativity, Is good for myself, I like Australian men'...in a very icy Germanic accent. She ended up getting on stage with us and performing some kind of ritualistic pagan love dance. Support band House of Suffering were dull thrash metal that dragged on forever. Stayed at Bo Bo (the promoter)'s parents place (they were away for the weekend), a great big German mansion. Apparently not long after we left the gig for Bo Bo's place some drunk American soldiers turned up and attacked a few of our fans.
1/9/90 - ‘Odeon’ , Munster Germany with Mudhoney
I didn’t enjoy this one at all. Our soundman Eppo has a cardiac arrest every time I cause my amp to overdrive..The volume level he wants me to play at is completely unacceptable to me and vice versa. We ended up sticking a piece of gaffa tape over the red overload signal…he doesn’t have a clue about what it is we’re going for. Dave or Marv ‘decided’ we should hire this piece of shit (the amp that is). Mudhoney turned out to be pretty nice guys -in Melbourne they seemed a little stand offish. We all got very wasted at the gig as there was unlimited beer and bourbon. Also a very good veg meal, but I poured strawberry yoghurt all over it (thought it was native custom) and rendered it unedible. Back at the hotel I ended up puking all over the bed and the floor and blocked up the sink as well. Johnny also took a couple of rides on the porcelain bus during the nite
We visited here today and had a ball…smoked great Hash in the Holland Hell’s Angel bar ‘The Other Place’ whilst drinking good Dutch beer and coffee and listening to Slayer.
Walked around the Red Light district (window shopping) (look but don’t touch) surrounded by black hustlers (‘Hey guys you want hash?, coke ? trips? How about it ?) Buzz and Marv
(our roadie) got tattooed by Hanky Panky downstairs at The Other Place…Can’t wait till we get back here !!
30/8/90 - First Gig Vera, Groningen, Holland
Apart from a shaky start to the day (me leaving all my luggage in the place we were staying in) & then discovering that the Trace Elliot amp Paperclip (Booking Agency)
have hired for me is gonna take A LOT of getting used to (this gig was the worst Bass sound I’ve ever had). The gig turned out to be very good ! great venue, with a downstairs bar, a fairly large hall for the bands, and an upstairs bandroom with a bar (unlimited free beer). Ran into Sylvana, Cathy and Guido (friends from Geelong), played for almost two hours (I think everyone agrees the set was a little too long), did an encore…not bad for the first nite considering that at soundcheck I busted 3 bass strings…Germany tonite !
31/8/90 - AJZ , Bielefeld, Germany with House of Suffering
This place is a big anarchist squat (someone later told me it was a Government funded Youth centre..not sure of the correct answer), great atmosphere, good food, some very weird people...one woman with plastic straws behind her ears and a bag around her waist with 'NEW AGE' (moulded in tin foil) stuck on it. She said 'Do you like my creativity, Is good for myself, I like Australian men'...in a very icy Germanic accent. She ended up getting on stage with us and performing some kind of ritualistic pagan love dance. Support band House of Suffering were dull thrash metal that dragged on forever. Stayed at Bo Bo (the promoter)'s parents place (they were away for the weekend), a great big German mansion. Apparently not long after we left the gig for Bo Bo's place some drunk American soldiers turned up and attacked a few of our fans.
1/9/90 - ‘Odeon’ , Munster Germany with Mudhoney
I didn’t enjoy this one at all. Our soundman Eppo has a cardiac arrest every time I cause my amp to overdrive..The volume level he wants me to play at is completely unacceptable to me and vice versa. We ended up sticking a piece of gaffa tape over the red overload signal…he doesn’t have a clue about what it is we’re going for. Dave or Marv ‘decided’ we should hire this piece of shit (the amp that is). Mudhoney turned out to be pretty nice guys -in Melbourne they seemed a little stand offish. We all got very wasted at the gig as there was unlimited beer and bourbon. Also a very good veg meal, but I poured strawberry yoghurt all over it (thought it was native custom) and rendered it unedible. Back at the hotel I ended up puking all over the bed and the floor and blocked up the sink as well. Johnny also took a couple of rides on the porcelain bus during the nite
John Nolan - BORED! -Photo: Scotti
2/9/90 -‘Occ’, Venlo, Holland with Bleach
Tiny venue, how they managed to cram a bar, an upstairs bandroom and a stage in there I’ll never know. This was local band Bleach’s second gig..pretty terrible funk/arty type of band, they all wore tight fitting suits and seemed to be pretty embarrassed (for good reason too). Hardly anyone there but we played an ok set.
3/9/90 - Drove back to Niejmegen Holland 4/9/90 - Did my washing, bought a ‘classic metal’ effect pedal to beef up the awful sound I’ve had onstage (cheapest pedal in the shop at 99 Gilders,that’s about a hundred au$). My money is holding up well, we get a daily wage of about 20 bucks. The guy whose house we’ve been staying at has a cupboard in his lounge room full of bizarre pornography…like hundreds of what appear to be ‘Score Cards’ ie: pink slips of cardboard with photos of famous women stuck to them (Kim Wilde, Kim Bassinger, Michelle Pfeifer, Suzanna Hoffs) and a score next to their names (e.g.: Kim Wilde 145). He also has a book of tracings from pon mags- we assume he meant to trace Kim Wilde’s face on to them or something..we’d been told he was ‘on holiday’ which we took to mean ‘he’s out of town’,but of course when we came back to the flat with our dinners, he opened the door. To make matters worse we’d left his secret porn stash scattered all over the lounge room. Most of us ran into the toilet, or one of our rooms and collapsed with hysterical laughter….very embarrassing moment.
5/9/90 - ‘Schwimmbad Musik Club’, Heidelberg, Germany with The Devil Dogs
One of the best gigs so far. The Devil Dogs are a great Punk Rock band from New Yawk who ripped into the finest N.Y.C. tradition (Shades of The Dictators, The Dolls, and The Ramones). We played a so-so gig, but the crowd seemed to like it. There was an upstairs disco room, a cinema, a games room (Pool Tables, Pinball Machines) as well as the music room where the bands play. They played ‘My Pal’ in the disco so John and I got down on the floor and did the Lambada. The Devil Dogs are great guys, we all bought each others records and traded autographs and addresses. These guys have even jammed with Handsom Dick and Ross the Boss from The Dictators !!. Hung out with a bunch of German freaks who took me, John and Andy (Bodyguard and String Changer) to a parking lot to smoke some joints and listen to their car stereo. We met a man tonite who’d hijacked a helicopter to get out of Czekosluvakia 15 years ago. He thought we were great and bought a double of everything we were selling (t-shirts, LP’s etc..)
7/9/90 - 'Reithalle' Bern Switzerland w/: Burger Von Calais
Breathtakingly beautiful place. Went for a walk around the town with Andy and John-incredible cathedral, most awesome stained glass windows I've ever seen. Went up to the bell tower, incredible view etc...bought a camera, a disposable one..very good day. Last nite (6/9/90) stayed at Reithalle, a great big Anarcho-hippy squat where we are playing tonite. Most of it is well set up, there's a cinema, a coffee shop, an Anarchist Library, and of course a Venue. Unfortunately it seems to be overrun with Hippy parasites ( a guy came in to our room and said "Hashish" 'To Sell?' we asked..."I look for some to smoke" he said). No locks on any doors...constant visits by people all through the fuckin' nite and stupid aggro punks...we're expecting some kind of confrontation tonite-this morning one "Punk" sprayed water on Eppo, he responded by hurling a bottle at him, so when we went to check into our hotel in the afternoon, the punks sprayed water (from a hose) all over us as well !!! fucking scum....not really looking forward to playing, but we'll just have to wait and see. It sure ain't the summer of love....... The gig actually turned out to be really great (the best so far). Fabian the promotor had a word to the Punks who promised not to cause any trouble ( and they kept their word) We played with Burger Von Calais, a sort of Art /Noise band...Swiss guys with shaved heads and baggy trousers. I started off thinking they were shit (well not my cup of tea anyway) but was won over by an intriging version of "Walk on the Wild Side". Quite good, a three piece,bassist with an effects rack, very good drummer and a singer with a wooden leg !. The Reithalle let's people in for free and they carry around a hat at the end of the nite asking for donations. We actually made 200 Francs more than the guarantee ! Biggest crowd so far-about 350-400 people- great room,big stage, good fold back sound.The crowd was wild-we were called back for 2 encores. After the gig a swingin' chick called Barbs laid some coke on us...the full rock star trip ! then back to the hotel to grit our teeth and talk at 200MPH for the rest of the nite.
8/9/90 - Joc Ralley 90' (festival), Izegem Belgium w/: Negazione & L.O.G.
Today was absolute hell....hideous cocaine comedown. We drove from 9 in the morning till 7 in the evening and were held up at the border by fascist border guards...went through all our pockets, but when they saw how jam packed with luggage and equipment the back of the van was, they let us go. Sheer hell in the van -John, Andy and me (the drug squad) all feeling really frail and fucked after sitting up all nite and only getting 3 hours sleep. As for the gig, Joc Ralley 90' (whatever that means), we played in between Life on Grey (very contrived pretentious 'power rock' group from Holland) and Negazione (The Italian band i once would of probably creamed my jeans to play with). These days unfortunately, Negazione are really shithouse -they all look like a bunch of wannabee Americans (Bandana's,long 'conditioned' hair,those knee length skate shorts or whatever they're meant to be, NIKE sneakers, and of course those little blue baseball caps worn backwards on the head! They even spoke Americam to the crowd !). The audience was hilarious, 200 or so 16 year old Wattie lookalikes complete with Mohawks, Exploited T-Shirts, and 'BARMY ARMY' chants in front of the stage !! When we played, it felt like 1982 all over again. Young punks trying to make themselves vomit, then getting up and pogoing...these guys were the worst stage divers I've ever seen -they get up on stage, wave to a friend, then jump into his arms !! We played the lack lustre gig of the tour so far, after all that driving i don't think any of us were in the mood to play. I had no voice at all,couldn't even be bothered to go through the motions. We met up with a group of people who'd come from Antwerp to see us...I sold my GOD shirt to one guy (who actually had a Birdman patch sewn on his jacket) for 500 francs. Thinking that i'd just made an incredible profit, I gave him a European BORED! shirt as well. Found out later that 500 francs is worth something like 19 Aussie Dollars......
9/9/90 - Day Off Rotterdam Holland
Went to 'Metropolis Festival', a big outdoor gig with 18-20 bands. We were on 'Stand-By', meaning that if another band failed to show up or pulled out we'd get to play. Of course no-one cancelled so it was a day of much needed relaxation.....free beer, food, and 'Access All Areas' passes fastened to our shirts. We scored immediately from 'Henry' or 'Harry' or someone, a guy who was there for community work ( he kept saying something about 'Drug related crime'). Saw MUDHONEY again, shithouse mix but music wise it was the best gig I've seen of theirs. Hung out in their backstage caravan and ravaged the fridge and food...heaps of HEINEKEN, cheese, salami, fruit etc... then stood in the sun and were bored into a semi-comatose state by their bassist. The big highlight of the day was getting to see THE GUN CLUB, who headlined the show. Jeffrey Lee played some great slide, Kid Congo looked like one of those Puerto Rican gang members in 'Colors' and a hot lookin' Asian chick on Bass. Well chosen set (not the standard 'Greatest Hits' package you seem to get from most 'Legendary' American bands these days), only complaint being yet another gutless P.A. sound. Then back to Niejmagen and a quick visit to the local coffee shop to buy some 'Skunk Specieel' (finest Sinsemilia in Holland). Tomorrow nite we're staying in fantastic Amsterdamn.
10/9/90 - Amsterdam - 3 days off
Bang. words cannot describe this nite. (except to say that 'Big eyed beans from venus' by Beefheart, and 'Song For Karen' by Sonic Youth are now the greatest songs ever written). Also should mention that i got the eye of horus tattooed on my left arm by Hanky Panky.
13/9/90 - 'U-Boot' - Ravensburg, Germany
The tiniest venue I've ever played in. forget the Napier or the Prince Pat, this place takes the cake. It's apparently a 400 year old cellar, which has been used as an Air-Raid shelter (amongst other things) at different times in history. With 15 people in the room it was standing room only/full house affair. Anyone wishing to stand up the front had to squeeze past the pinball machine and the bar, but none were game enough. We played a very rusty set (It's been 4 days and many many mikes since the last gig).The owner of the club was a seedy looking coke head with far too many skeletons in his closet. He turned out to be another one of these Euro-Sex perverts we have a habit of running into in these parts. While we were perusing his meagre underground comix collection, he told us that he didn't mind if we wanted to "have a wank" (his words) when reading his Cherry Poptart books,but could we refrain from getting cum on the pages, cos' they were 'very precious' to him. We laughed nervously and got the fuck out of there as soon as dawn broke.
14/9/90 - 'Zirkus', Gammelsdorf, Germany
To get to the 'Zirkus', one must drive away from the city and then through lush Germanic countryside for about 90 minutes. The club is surrounded by farms and foliage. Bizarre setting, the place itself is like the Old Greek, but better acoustics, run by cool people, great crowd.....we played really well tonite, fantastic on stage sound,only problem being that when i told the foldback mixer to give me more of John on my side of the stage, he gave me so much more of John that for a while there I thought i'd somehow drifted in his astral body. After a few songs of the loudest noise pollution since Vesuvious's last gig, i began to curse John's very existance. I could feel my skin peeling away from my body, and out of the corner of my eye saw sparks (blue and red ones too!) shoot out of my finger tips. I couldn't bear it anymore. My eyes were turning rapidly into bubbling gelatine. I turned to the foldback mixer and yelled 'NO, YOU INSANE KRAUT BASTARD,DEAFNESS I CAN HANDLE,BUT PERMANENT BRAIN DEATH ?'. Somehow the language barrier disintegrated and the ghost of Jimi was immediately dismissed from my wedges.
15/9/90 - 'Ehingen Festival' -Ehingen, Germany with Anfrenn, Miners of Muzo, Paranoiacs, Veterans
We started the day off with a very sobering trip to DACHAU, the concentration camp. On a tour like this you can cocoon yourself with leisure, kicks and no task more strenuous than making yourself comfortable, but if you try and ignore the legacy of horror that is so inherent in European culture and society, then you are only getting half the story. The festival itself was a very polite and dull affair....the festivals seem to be set up in out of the way country towns to cater for the fans who can't make it to the clubs in the city. Therefore they seem to be pretty much devoid of atmosphere, everyone stands around awkwardly and no-one smokes. There was too much in band tension on stage for me to enjoy it (Andy described the gig as a 'grudge match'). The other bands were all awful 60's cover type of shit, the kind of bands who make Blue Ruin look wild, except for Anfrenn, a punk band from Wales who played in a melodic Skids /early Clash style. The bass player thought he was Paul Simonon and ran around with his shirt off. I'm sure that in his head he was a remarkably sexy rockin' HE-MAN, but to us he just looked like a pleasant, well mannered working class guy with a couple of drinks inside him. Nice people tho'.
Went to 'Metropolis Festival', a big outdoor gig with 18-20 bands. We were on 'Stand-By', meaning that if another band failed to show up or pulled out we'd get to play. Of course no-one cancelled so it was a day of much needed relaxation.....free beer, food, and 'Access All Areas' passes fastened to our shirts. We scored immediately from 'Henry' or 'Harry' or someone, a guy who was there for community work ( he kept saying something about 'Drug related crime'). Saw MUDHONEY again, shithouse mix but music wise it was the best gig I've seen of theirs. Hung out in their backstage caravan and ravaged the fridge and food...heaps of HEINEKEN, cheese, salami, fruit etc... then stood in the sun and were bored into a semi-comatose state by their bassist. The big highlight of the day was getting to see THE GUN CLUB, who headlined the show. Jeffrey Lee played some great slide, Kid Congo looked like one of those Puerto Rican gang members in 'Colors' and a hot lookin' Asian chick on Bass. Well chosen set (not the standard 'Greatest Hits' package you seem to get from most 'Legendary' American bands these days), only complaint being yet another gutless P.A. sound. Then back to Niejmagen and a quick visit to the local coffee shop to buy some 'Skunk Specieel' (finest Sinsemilia in Holland). Tomorrow nite we're staying in fantastic Amsterdamn.
10/9/90 - Amsterdam - 3 days off
Bang. words cannot describe this nite. (except to say that 'Big eyed beans from venus' by Beefheart, and 'Song For Karen' by Sonic Youth are now the greatest songs ever written). Also should mention that i got the eye of horus tattooed on my left arm by Hanky Panky.
13/9/90 - 'U-Boot' - Ravensburg, Germany
The tiniest venue I've ever played in. forget the Napier or the Prince Pat, this place takes the cake. It's apparently a 400 year old cellar, which has been used as an Air-Raid shelter (amongst other things) at different times in history. With 15 people in the room it was standing room only/full house affair. Anyone wishing to stand up the front had to squeeze past the pinball machine and the bar, but none were game enough. We played a very rusty set (It's been 4 days and many many mikes since the last gig).The owner of the club was a seedy looking coke head with far too many skeletons in his closet. He turned out to be another one of these Euro-Sex perverts we have a habit of running into in these parts. While we were perusing his meagre underground comix collection, he told us that he didn't mind if we wanted to "have a wank" (his words) when reading his Cherry Poptart books,but could we refrain from getting cum on the pages, cos' they were 'very precious' to him. We laughed nervously and got the fuck out of there as soon as dawn broke.
14/9/90 - 'Zirkus', Gammelsdorf, Germany
To get to the 'Zirkus', one must drive away from the city and then through lush Germanic countryside for about 90 minutes. The club is surrounded by farms and foliage. Bizarre setting, the place itself is like the Old Greek, but better acoustics, run by cool people, great crowd.....we played really well tonite, fantastic on stage sound,only problem being that when i told the foldback mixer to give me more of John on my side of the stage, he gave me so much more of John that for a while there I thought i'd somehow drifted in his astral body. After a few songs of the loudest noise pollution since Vesuvious's last gig, i began to curse John's very existance. I could feel my skin peeling away from my body, and out of the corner of my eye saw sparks (blue and red ones too!) shoot out of my finger tips. I couldn't bear it anymore. My eyes were turning rapidly into bubbling gelatine. I turned to the foldback mixer and yelled 'NO, YOU INSANE KRAUT BASTARD,DEAFNESS I CAN HANDLE,BUT PERMANENT BRAIN DEATH ?'. Somehow the language barrier disintegrated and the ghost of Jimi was immediately dismissed from my wedges.
15/9/90 - 'Ehingen Festival' -Ehingen, Germany with Anfrenn, Miners of Muzo, Paranoiacs, Veterans
We started the day off with a very sobering trip to DACHAU, the concentration camp. On a tour like this you can cocoon yourself with leisure, kicks and no task more strenuous than making yourself comfortable, but if you try and ignore the legacy of horror that is so inherent in European culture and society, then you are only getting half the story. The festival itself was a very polite and dull affair....the festivals seem to be set up in out of the way country towns to cater for the fans who can't make it to the clubs in the city. Therefore they seem to be pretty much devoid of atmosphere, everyone stands around awkwardly and no-one smokes. There was too much in band tension on stage for me to enjoy it (Andy described the gig as a 'grudge match'). The other bands were all awful 60's cover type of shit, the kind of bands who make Blue Ruin look wild, except for Anfrenn, a punk band from Wales who played in a melodic Skids /early Clash style. The bass player thought he was Paul Simonon and ran around with his shirt off. I'm sure that in his head he was a remarkably sexy rockin' HE-MAN, but to us he just looked like a pleasant, well mannered working class guy with a couple of drinks inside him. Nice people tho'.
16/9/90 - 'Negativ' , Frankfurt, Germany with Napalm Beach and 69
We saw some flyers '69' (local band) had printed up - '69 with the fucking great BORED!'. They even had the promo photo of John and Dave in the window of their van !. Great venue, reminded me of The Tote, tho' it was a little bit bigger. 69 weren't bad, very big MUDHONEY influence and they obviously did their best to impress us with a couple of handfulls o' Stooges covers,but the thing that keeps striking me about the local groups we've played with so far is their lack of individuality......I mean, some of these bands sound more like Mudhoney than even Mudhoney do. Napalm Beach were fuckin' great axe hero heavy rock, with that BIG 3 piece sound ala MOUNTAIN (Chris -NB's Singer /Guitarist looked like Leslie West anyway) Gun Dust etc.. Fucking great people-man talk about Brothers in Arms !. Drummer Sam was in the original WIPERS (Circa : 'Is this Real?'), Chris was in an early line-up of POISON IDEA and Bassist Dave sidelines in a 'Pebbles' type Punk band called RED WINGS ROMEO (best band name I've heard in a while!!). We both blew each other off stage, and as the nite went on, the proceedings became exceedingly debauched and decadent. The beer,beam, and boo flowed freely till it was time to go home. We said 'So long, see you in Zurich' when we were next to play with them.
17/9/90 - 'Ecstacy', Berlin ,Germany
Had a leisurely stroll around (what remains of) the fabled wall today...felt kind of eerie walking through no man's land, looking up at the gun towers (under 2 years ago we would have probably been shot for just standing in that particular spot). The borders are all deserted now,so it takes less than 5 minutes to drive from West to East Berlin. Once there, the transformation from clean,modern metropolitan west to dull,grey, polluted, univiting communist East is quite shocking (In your head you're thinking 'and this is meant to be a United nation now ?).The Ecstacy club is everything I'd ever imagined Berlin to be, I was just waiting for Bowie or Iggy to come prancing in, decked out in furs. Thomas, the XTC''s promotor is one of the most generous guys I've ever met, and what he provided us I shant' go into,lest to say that we were pissing ourselves at the thought of all the dipshits back home running around with nostrils full of Epsom saying "good score" !!. An hour or so later tho', i was laughing no more,as the huge pasta meal, the 3 lines, and all that warm beer caught up with me, and i bought it all back up, right on stage.....had spew all over my foot pedal,my jeans, in my hair etc... all this in the middle of 'Remedy' too !!. Apart from that, a great gig,much like the ones at home....loose, loud, very sweaty, we ended up doing 'My Pal' as an encore, and the krauts went wild !. After the gig, Thomas took us and assorted hangers on down to the disco floor 'Madhouse', where the party went on and on and on.........
18/9/90 -Molotow , Hamburg, Germany
Right in the heart of the infamous Reeperbahn, where the Beatles used to play the Star Club. We were told by people, 'don't walk around at nite without a gun', but compared to the totally upfront wildness and weirdness of the Amsterdam red light district, we found it a trifle dull. Still, some interesting sights: a street that's fenced off and has signs up telling you not to enter if you're a female or a minor (same things in here as anywhere, whores in shop windows,pimps, sleazy turkish guys in long brown overcoats),plus here a lot of the whores stand on the street holding umbrella's and they 'hook' you as you walk past. I was 'hooked' by one honey-eyed blonde, who said 'don't worry, i just want to talk, i won't bite..' Not being used to pick up scenes like this, i turned a pale shade of purple and whispered ' after the show toots' ( a slight exaggeration of course). The Molotow was yet another tiny cavern, very good place, but so fucking overcrowded (no air-conditioning) and stuffy that i wanted to vomit again !.A big guy from Hamburg (who spoke English with a very pronounced Cocknet accent) came up to me and said 'Tonite you made a sin - you tried to be Angry Anderson !!'.His favourite band was ROSE TATTOO and he'd been in a band which had played a 30 minute version of 'Butcher and Fast Eddy' !!. We stayed at the promoter's place, and he turned out to be ANOTHER sex deviant. At about 5.30am, the usual silence of dawn was shattered by the sounds of a woman's screaming orgasm in the next room. This was followed by the sound of a gunshot outside the window....OK, I'll admit that i was in a state of chemically induced psychosis at the time,but John and Andy heard it too !!
19/9/90 -'Line Club' , Braunschweig, Germany
It's not hard to imagine the kind of scene the 'Line Club' caters to (It used to be called the Coca Club).The 2 guys who ran the place were the most obvious speed freaks we've yet seen...same goes for the crowd. Tonite Reinhardt, Glitterhouse's head honcho (and the man who financed the whole tour) came to see us. We're staying at his place tomorrow for some much needed sleep....7 gigs in a row and we are FUCKED.
20/9/90 - Day Off - Glitterhouse Mansion
Spent this day at Reinhardt (Glitterhouse Fuhrer)'s place, slept most of the day, then went off to a traditional German Restaurant, ate Schnitzel, and drank lite glasses of beer, then back to the mansion to get stoned, and listen to Reinhardt's priceless collection of Bad Company Records. Reinhardt says he respects us for our ability to smoke all nite (when Mudhoney stayed they flaked out after a couple of joints).Great guy !
21/9/90 - 'Beat Baracke', Leonberg, Germany with Parish Garden
I've got to hand it to these Dutchies - when they decide to rip off a band, they go the whole hog ! Parish Garden look and sound a lot like Soundgarden. Highlight of their set was a so-so version of 'We Love You' by The Stones. We played a very tight, slick set, but it was so uninspired and lethargic as to be completely forgettable. No low points,but no high ones either. Gimme a bad gig anyday. I've got to take it easy now,the last 3 nites of sleeplessness (and excess) have left me with a cough......still exhausted from Berlin. At the moment, John and I are in a Hotel room watching an Italian spaghetti western dubbed in German !!
22/9/90 - Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne (KWK), Basel, Switzerland w/: Phil Singer Songwriter (or something)
Great venue, seems to be more accustomed to theatre than rock (miniscule P.A.), but a good space none the less. We were supported by a Singer/Songwriter from England, Phil something (can't recall his last name).....sort of a cross between Nick Cave and Syd Barrett but the most pretentious sides of both of them.. Very shithouse. As for us, same set and approach as the Beat Baracke gig - well oiled and tight,but fairly uninspired. Fabian, the promoter of the Reithalle in Bern came along to see us again, which was good of him ! He told us that on Swiss radio last week, some D.J.'s had given us a big rave, telling the listeners 'You will never see another band like this', Best Live gig etc... Elise (Melbourne friend) came along again too (she was at one of our earlier gigs). After the gig, John and me hungout with DAVE FROM NEW YAWK (spoken in deep Brooklyness), who was the original singer in AGNOSTIC FRONT. He told us he'd been working as a roadie for G.B.H. for the last six years, and is now living in Basel with his Swiss girlfriend. We went then to a crazy German speedfreaks house (this guy had the most intense 12 gauge pupils I've yet seen). He lived with his wife, and brewed his own schnapps - a sort of very high alcohol fruit drink, very citrusy (I threw up most of it before we left anyway). Dave rolled joints and talked on and on about breeding Pit Bulls and hydroponic lamps (said the 'skunk' we smoke in Holland is full of toxins due to lamps used) and the old N.Y. skin scene ('I'm an awld skin, I ain't one awf thi new breed') and so on till we walked back to our hotel at 4.30 in the a.m.
We saw some flyers '69' (local band) had printed up - '69 with the fucking great BORED!'. They even had the promo photo of John and Dave in the window of their van !. Great venue, reminded me of The Tote, tho' it was a little bit bigger. 69 weren't bad, very big MUDHONEY influence and they obviously did their best to impress us with a couple of handfulls o' Stooges covers,but the thing that keeps striking me about the local groups we've played with so far is their lack of individuality......I mean, some of these bands sound more like Mudhoney than even Mudhoney do. Napalm Beach were fuckin' great axe hero heavy rock, with that BIG 3 piece sound ala MOUNTAIN (Chris -NB's Singer /Guitarist looked like Leslie West anyway) Gun Dust etc.. Fucking great people-man talk about Brothers in Arms !. Drummer Sam was in the original WIPERS (Circa : 'Is this Real?'), Chris was in an early line-up of POISON IDEA and Bassist Dave sidelines in a 'Pebbles' type Punk band called RED WINGS ROMEO (best band name I've heard in a while!!). We both blew each other off stage, and as the nite went on, the proceedings became exceedingly debauched and decadent. The beer,beam, and boo flowed freely till it was time to go home. We said 'So long, see you in Zurich' when we were next to play with them.
17/9/90 - 'Ecstacy', Berlin ,Germany
Had a leisurely stroll around (what remains of) the fabled wall today...felt kind of eerie walking through no man's land, looking up at the gun towers (under 2 years ago we would have probably been shot for just standing in that particular spot). The borders are all deserted now,so it takes less than 5 minutes to drive from West to East Berlin. Once there, the transformation from clean,modern metropolitan west to dull,grey, polluted, univiting communist East is quite shocking (In your head you're thinking 'and this is meant to be a United nation now ?).The Ecstacy club is everything I'd ever imagined Berlin to be, I was just waiting for Bowie or Iggy to come prancing in, decked out in furs. Thomas, the XTC''s promotor is one of the most generous guys I've ever met, and what he provided us I shant' go into,lest to say that we were pissing ourselves at the thought of all the dipshits back home running around with nostrils full of Epsom saying "good score" !!. An hour or so later tho', i was laughing no more,as the huge pasta meal, the 3 lines, and all that warm beer caught up with me, and i bought it all back up, right on stage.....had spew all over my foot pedal,my jeans, in my hair etc... all this in the middle of 'Remedy' too !!. Apart from that, a great gig,much like the ones at home....loose, loud, very sweaty, we ended up doing 'My Pal' as an encore, and the krauts went wild !. After the gig, Thomas took us and assorted hangers on down to the disco floor 'Madhouse', where the party went on and on and on.........
18/9/90 -Molotow , Hamburg, Germany
Right in the heart of the infamous Reeperbahn, where the Beatles used to play the Star Club. We were told by people, 'don't walk around at nite without a gun', but compared to the totally upfront wildness and weirdness of the Amsterdam red light district, we found it a trifle dull. Still, some interesting sights: a street that's fenced off and has signs up telling you not to enter if you're a female or a minor (same things in here as anywhere, whores in shop windows,pimps, sleazy turkish guys in long brown overcoats),plus here a lot of the whores stand on the street holding umbrella's and they 'hook' you as you walk past. I was 'hooked' by one honey-eyed blonde, who said 'don't worry, i just want to talk, i won't bite..' Not being used to pick up scenes like this, i turned a pale shade of purple and whispered ' after the show toots' ( a slight exaggeration of course). The Molotow was yet another tiny cavern, very good place, but so fucking overcrowded (no air-conditioning) and stuffy that i wanted to vomit again !.A big guy from Hamburg (who spoke English with a very pronounced Cocknet accent) came up to me and said 'Tonite you made a sin - you tried to be Angry Anderson !!'.His favourite band was ROSE TATTOO and he'd been in a band which had played a 30 minute version of 'Butcher and Fast Eddy' !!. We stayed at the promoter's place, and he turned out to be ANOTHER sex deviant. At about 5.30am, the usual silence of dawn was shattered by the sounds of a woman's screaming orgasm in the next room. This was followed by the sound of a gunshot outside the window....OK, I'll admit that i was in a state of chemically induced psychosis at the time,but John and Andy heard it too !!
19/9/90 -'Line Club' , Braunschweig, Germany
It's not hard to imagine the kind of scene the 'Line Club' caters to (It used to be called the Coca Club).The 2 guys who ran the place were the most obvious speed freaks we've yet seen...same goes for the crowd. Tonite Reinhardt, Glitterhouse's head honcho (and the man who financed the whole tour) came to see us. We're staying at his place tomorrow for some much needed sleep....7 gigs in a row and we are FUCKED.
20/9/90 - Day Off - Glitterhouse Mansion
Spent this day at Reinhardt (Glitterhouse Fuhrer)'s place, slept most of the day, then went off to a traditional German Restaurant, ate Schnitzel, and drank lite glasses of beer, then back to the mansion to get stoned, and listen to Reinhardt's priceless collection of Bad Company Records. Reinhardt says he respects us for our ability to smoke all nite (when Mudhoney stayed they flaked out after a couple of joints).Great guy !
21/9/90 - 'Beat Baracke', Leonberg, Germany with Parish Garden
I've got to hand it to these Dutchies - when they decide to rip off a band, they go the whole hog ! Parish Garden look and sound a lot like Soundgarden. Highlight of their set was a so-so version of 'We Love You' by The Stones. We played a very tight, slick set, but it was so uninspired and lethargic as to be completely forgettable. No low points,but no high ones either. Gimme a bad gig anyday. I've got to take it easy now,the last 3 nites of sleeplessness (and excess) have left me with a cough......still exhausted from Berlin. At the moment, John and I are in a Hotel room watching an Italian spaghetti western dubbed in German !!
22/9/90 - Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne (KWK), Basel, Switzerland w/: Phil Singer Songwriter (or something)
Great venue, seems to be more accustomed to theatre than rock (miniscule P.A.), but a good space none the less. We were supported by a Singer/Songwriter from England, Phil something (can't recall his last name).....sort of a cross between Nick Cave and Syd Barrett but the most pretentious sides of both of them.. Very shithouse. As for us, same set and approach as the Beat Baracke gig - well oiled and tight,but fairly uninspired. Fabian, the promoter of the Reithalle in Bern came along to see us again, which was good of him ! He told us that on Swiss radio last week, some D.J.'s had given us a big rave, telling the listeners 'You will never see another band like this', Best Live gig etc... Elise (Melbourne friend) came along again too (she was at one of our earlier gigs). After the gig, John and me hungout with DAVE FROM NEW YAWK (spoken in deep Brooklyness), who was the original singer in AGNOSTIC FRONT. He told us he'd been working as a roadie for G.B.H. for the last six years, and is now living in Basel with his Swiss girlfriend. We went then to a crazy German speedfreaks house (this guy had the most intense 12 gauge pupils I've yet seen). He lived with his wife, and brewed his own schnapps - a sort of very high alcohol fruit drink, very citrusy (I threw up most of it before we left anyway). Dave rolled joints and talked on and on about breeding Pit Bulls and hydroponic lamps (said the 'skunk' we smoke in Holland is full of toxins due to lamps used) and the old N.Y. skin scene ('I'm an awld skin, I ain't one awf thi new breed') and so on till we walked back to our hotel at 4.30 in the a.m.
