Stewart
Cunningham has found himself credited for playing guitar on some of the best Detroit punk
CDs to come out of Australia in the nineties. I’d noticed his name (or his nomme
de guerre Leadfinger) repeatedly pop up in a sort of subconscious way, but it
wasn’t until I was bowled over by the 1999 Brother Brick CD A Portable Altamont
that it suddenly became apparent that this fiery Scottsman had some serious credentials to
bring to the bar. That CD was a special surprise to this writer, because many years back
I’d bought the debut Brick CD called Getting’ Beyond A Shit based on a
rave description in an AuGoGo Records mailorder catalog. Having been disappointed with
that one, there was small chance I’d have explored the Brick again, except that so
many people who get buzzed on the same Aussie/Detroit rock that I love spoke so highly
about it. And they were right…A Portable Altamont is a smoking and varied
album of hellishly great rock and roll.
Cunningham’s
family originated in Scotland and moved to Australia when he was four years old. He grew
up in Wollongong, a steel and coal mining town an hour or so south of Sydney. Coming from
a working class background himself, Stewart began his exposure to music hanging out in
pubs listening to the garage band movement of the early 80s. This was followed quickly
enough by an absorption with Australian indie bands like the Celibate Rifles, Eastern
Dark, New Christs and Died Pretty and the whole line up of Citadel groups, and on record
to the Stooges, MC5 and the usual suspects. But though you might not expect it from the
records he’s played on, his musical tastes and influences don’t stop there, but
span a much broader spectrum of blues bands and groups as varied as the Byrds, Elvis
Costello, the Wipers, Moving Targets, Bullet LaVolta, Replacements, the Who, Flamin’
Goovies, and Pretty Things.
The name
Leadfinger has some real significance, as you might guess if you see the x-ray of his hand
on the booklet of A Portable Altamont. Stewart explains: "When I was young, my
brother and I managed to talk my mum into letting us get an air rifle because all our
mates had them. We used to go up into the bush in our local area and play all sorts of
stupid games, shooting at each other, birds, wildlife, anything that moved. One day my
brother shot me at close range and the lead slug hit me on the hand and got stuck in my
finger. There was blood everywhere and fuck it hurt! I had to have an operation to get it
cut out. Needless to say the air rifle was gone when I got home. But yeah the nickname
came from that I guess. I used to hang out with Scott Nash the Bass player from Asteroids
(this was before I joined) and we were smoking a lot of pot and this stuff that I grew. He
started calling me Leadfinger because I was packing the bongs too big and too often. That
was back in my pot smoking days. I never inhaled though! I think I told him the story
about the air rifle (we both grew up out in country-ish areas and had lots of stories to
tell) and he just called me that one day as a laugh and it stuck. I started putting it on
records instead of my real name because I wanted to be somebody different from who I
really am. You know, you get sick of yourself and seeing your name. It’s very
appealing sometimes to be able to get away from yourself and be somebody different or
somewhere different to this normal fucking everyday world that we are forced to
inhabit."
Cunningham’s
recorded beginnings lie with the turn of the decade Sydney band the Proton Energy Pills.
Signed to Waterfront at the tail end of the eighties Australian explosion, the Pills were
touted as the coming big thing by their label and some fanzines. In reality they
didn’t have it together that well…the songs weren’t all that compelling and
the style was a sort of compromise between mainstream pop and harder Detroit punk that
wasn’t likely to satisfy fans on either end of the spectrum. They toured Australia in
support of Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr. and along with a couple of singles recorded a mini-lp
with Kent Steedman (an experience that Stewart says did little for the quality of the
result). They were young guys and Stewart feels that they got taken advantage of by
Waterfront, who tried to change them to fit a style that the label thought would be
successful rather than letting the band do what they wanted. When the Pills split around
1991, most of the other members went on to become Tumbleweed, a band that had substantial
success in Oz, but whose members today are mired in legal difficulties as a result.
Meanwhile, Stewart hasn’t had the publicity of his former mates, but he’s made
and recorded a lot of music to be proud of as we shall soon see.
Taking their
name from an early record by Los Angeles band Clawhammer (Brother Brick Says) the
Brick has been a sporadic affair for most of the nineties, with Cunningham being the only
constant. They began as a three piece shortly after he left the Proton Energy Pills, with
Stewart joining forces with ex-Horny Toads rhythm section Mikey Stephenson and Kurt
Anderson. (The Horny Toads themselves made two very solid mini-lps of Birdman influenced
rock and roll.) It was this group that cut the CD Getting Beyond A Shit. Since
those days there have been numerous shifts in personnel with names such as Nik Reith
(ex-Celibate Rifles) on drums, Mark Wilkinson (ex-New Christs) on guitar, and Scott Nash
(ex-Asteroid B-612) on bass. The current line up has Ashley Thomson (ex-Kelpies, currently
also in the Panadolls) on drums, and Jay Curley, Stewart’s old time partner in the
Proton Energy Pills, on bass.
That first
Brother Brick CD has some of the same energy that later Cunningham efforts have, but it
seems unfocused. The songs have a lot of chord changes that just don’t seem to work,
and the guitar is mixed too low to have the fiery effect of later Brother Brick
recordings. The opening "Hotshot" has too much of a straight heavy metal feel
and leaves a weak first impression. "Jetlag" has better energy but feels more
like a jam than a proper song. "Downstream" is slower and shows quite a bit of
promise, although it still feels a little too heavy metal. "Something You Once
Had" sounds like a potentially strong song, but in the places where it needs a good
guitar idea, things fall flat…something that’s surprising given how it’s
great guitar that ultimately makes later period Brick songs so great. "Can’t Get
Off" is non-descript both in writing and playing. The closing "Hollow Man"
is the most complex track; one that seems intended to have dynamics that didn’t come
out of the production very well.
"Those
recordings were really only demos", says Stewart of GBAS. "A junkie
friend of ours put them out on her label in Adelaide. Nothing was happening in Sydney for
us so we just thought - why not? I don't really dig the record that much either but I do
love the track "Hollow Man" a lot - it was a killer live too! I kind of look at
it as record of a band trying to find their feet. We had only been together for a short
time and I had only just started singing so in that view it ain't half bad but yeah, not
half as good as later stuff. The other thing was that there was no focus in the band yet.
It was too early and nobody had really stood up and said: "This is the way it's gonna
be!" You need that in a band; you need somebody to have a vision or a bit of control
of the output and focus otherwise you end up doing material that is all over the
shop"
Thinking back
about those days, he continues: "I remember Mikey used to play nude behind the kit
all the time and people were pretty amused. I just got used to it, but the first time we
rehearsed I remember walking in to the room and there was Mikey behind the kit with no
gear on! I did get a bit of a shock at first but he explained to me that he did it so his
clothes would not get wet and he could wear them again afterwards. Apparently one time he
went out after a gig in wet clothes and got pneumonia!"
By 1994
they’d begun to resolve some of the problems of the early lineup, and the evidence is
plain to see on the great single "Chokito Bar". This track (and the equally fab
flip side "Feel Strung Out") also appears on A Portable Altamont.
It’s a moody but rocking piece that has a really nice break transition into a killer
chorus that sells the whole song. As with all Brick material, the emphasis is on blazing
white hot guitar.
Says Stewart:
"As you can see we were a lot more confident in the vocal and writing department. I
think by then I had grabbed the reigns a bit and was really more focused. The other guys
were a bit more confident in my writing and views and we knew more what we wanted. Yeah,
it was a step up. I would rather be judged on that 7" than on GBAS."
Around this
time, Stewart was approached by Sydney band Asteroid B-612 to help them out. The intent
was for it to be a temporary thing, but the final tally showed him staying for several
years, recording on 3 CDs and a fistful of singles, and generally being a key to the salad
days of a band that was arguably the best in Australia during the mid 90s, that is
assuming you like your salads to have big chunks of New Christs, Radio Birdman, or
Celibate Rifles in them. Although the end was as ugly as it gets (as shall be seen),
Stewart still looks back with pride on what they accomplished together.
"I think
I did contribute some great songs to Asteroid B-612 and it wasn't a coincidence that we
got signed to Au-Go-Go Records not long after I joined", he says. "By then we
were ripping shit live and I think from seeing the band play live a lot and being a fan I
was able to see where their strong points were and where they could do with some fine
tuning. They were really sloppy live, too many breaks between songs, out of tune, no
audience rapport or even humor - the brilliant bits, which I knew were there, were too few
and far between. After I joined I sort of pointed this shit out and said "let’s
fucking drop this song and that song", "let's do this cover", "here
you go I've got this song I think will suit the band". You know what I mean. In about
6 months we were really tight and killing it. It was great fun too."
The first CD
Stewart appeared on was called Forced Into A Corner, and it leads with one of his
songs called "Edge A Bit Closer", a powerful song with a meaty guitar hook
that’s probably the best thing the Asteroids ever laid to tape. If you bought the
Asteroid B-612 CDs in the order that they were released and had heard the self-titled
debut CD without Cunningham, then Forced Into A Corner would knock the wind out of
you. It didn’t hurt that the overall recording quality was leaps ahead, but the gut
level blast of guitar fury on that opening track is intense…the more amazing given
that the song’s not particularly fast. Stewart’s own impression:
""Edge
A (it was supposed to be "little" but somebody fucked up) Bit Closer" is a
great tune and we played that song every set for 4 years. If one song was responsible for
that band getting somewhere it was that one. It is a total killer, Detroit MC5 grooving
fun rock’n’roll song and it is still hard edged. I am really proud of that one
but also disappointed that it was only available on an album that had 400 copies pressed
and that was it. Fucking hard to get - unavailable now, it came out 2 years ago on that
Lance Rock label run by Jack Tieleman on an Asteroids comp so that’s OK."
"Yeah I
joined just before that album was to be recorded", he continues, "and I was only
supposed to be in Asteroid B-612 for that album so I gave them that song and I presumed
that was it. I kind of looked at it as a fun sort of thing and I liked all the guys so I
was just chuffed to get asked. In hindsight I really should have gotten more writing
credits for that album as a lot of the arranging and guitar lines that I wrote are very
integral to making that album as good as it is. But at the time I didn't care and was just
happy to be involved."
The rest of Forced
Into A Corner isn’t all brilliant, but a lot of it sure is. The guitar on John
Spittles’ "People Like You" makes that one stick to the ribs, and the
following track "Plastic" is more of the same. The next track is a long, slow
bluesey number…most Asteroids CDs have two or three tracks like this, and while
injecting the odd slow number makes the rockers feel even harder, Asteroid B-612 never
seemed to write a slow song that didn’t feel like something of a let down. It’s
the tracks like "Which Way", "Can I Touch It", the Chuck Berry rip-off
"Danny’s Sister" and "I’ve Had You" that really make this CD
smoke.
In the middle
of his Asteroid B-612 days, the group was good…really good, and they knew it.
Stewart says that the band felt like they were the legitimate heirs to the tradition of
Radio Birdman, the Celibate Rifles and the New Christs, and it certainly is a defensible
assessment. They toured over most of Australia and even came to the US for a series of
gigs that proved to be a very ill-starred journey for Stewart. Despite the foul memories
of the end, it’s clear from his reminisces that Cunningham also had some great times
to go with the bad. He tells some stories below:
"I
remember the time John Spittles rolled off the stage at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne two
bars into the first song of an Asteroid B-612 set and nearly broke his neck, I looked up
in the first song and the whole crowd was seemingly laughing at us and pointing and when I
looked over John was gone and Bullet (singer) was in stitches on the ground. We nearly
stopped playing the song. It was a big fall, too (about 1 and a half metres). He had some
nasty bruises the next day, you also have to bear in mind that John is a very big fellow
(20 stone?) but to his credit he tuned up and got back up there and had a laugh."
"We used
to have a lot of laughs in the Asteroids and in some respects it was like a footy team
going away. It got very blokey and very intense at times. A lot of the stuff I would love
to tell you about touring just wouldn't come across as funny written down - you know what
I mean but when you are there it was just like... you were gonna die from laughter!"
Following this
was a 5 track CDEP called Teen Sublimation Riffs. This one features the rollicking
"Straight Back To You", two other Cunningham compositions and a cover of Alice
Cooper’s "Is It My Body?". Stewart’s title track is dedicated to two
deceased rock writers, one the well known Lester Bangs and the other the much less
heralded Louis Dickinson, who published Melbourne’s excellent Lemon fanzine
for several years but sadly took her own life. It’s an ambitious song that veers from
a slow moody part to a ripping lead break. The sound on this disc is also great, but it
doesn’t hold up as well as the Forced Into A Corner..
The next
Asteroid B-612 CD, Not Meant For This World shows Cunningham fully integrated into
the band and credited with writing or co-writing all but one track (more on this later).
Released in 1996, it has even better sound than Forced Into A Corner…sort of a
cross between Raw Power Stooges and Exile On Mainstreet Stones, but with
more energy than either. Highlights are Cunningham’s New Christs-like title track,
the bluesier "True Romance", the crunching powerhouse "Emotional
Tattoo", a strong remake of "Straight Back To You", the mid-tempo
"Believe It’s True" with its far-eastern guitar licks, and the shitkicking
"Always Got Something To Lose". It closes with another good time Chuck Berry cop
called "Where Has All The Fun Gone".
But now the
end of Stewart’s days with Asteroid B-612 were coming. The band came to the US for
their first ever overseas tour, and as it did for Radio Birdman nearly 20 years earlier,
the strain of being packed into a small van, and the mindless traveling, setting up,
playing, tearing down, and traveling again destroyed the bonds that held the band
together. We’ll let Stewart pick up the story.
"I
remember that last gig we did in Philadelphia was pretty harrowing, nobody in the band was
talking - especially to me - and I didn't want to fucking even get on stage with these
guys. I said I'm not playing the gig tonight unless we sort some shit out. I was quite
willing to finish the tour and stuff but they said hey we'll talk about it after the show
- talk about regret! Fuck I wish I never played that show. In the van after the gig I was
just fucking ambushed and attacked by three of the band, while one of them sat cowardly in
front and pretended nothing was happening. These guys were supposed to be my mates and
here they were roughing me up, screaming in my face and accusing me of all this absurd
shit. Somehow I jumped out of the van and just wandered up the street to where I was
staying and as far as I was concerned that was the end of a very harrowing tale and the
end of a good band. They are still going, but I can see their karma came back not long
after that scene and fucked them badly. They deserved it, too, but I'll let them tell you
about it."
"We have
all talked and kind of made our peace but I think back to why we fucked up and I am of the
opinion it was because the other guys in the band had never really done a long tour
before. I think I became their excuse to get the fuck out of there and go home. It was
badly organized, too, but it didn't really have to come to that. I remember they slagged
the shit out of me when they got back and every chance they got in an interview or even on
stage they would pay out on me. I don't think they gained anything out of it. I think deep
down they knew the band weren't as good anymore and needed an excuse, but yeah, they
really had it in for me as if they hadn't fucking done enough already. I was beginning to
think they wanted blood for a while there but I am pretty proud that I kept playing and
let the music do the talking. I just ignored it all and figured my real friends would be
there in the end. And they were!"
"The
worst part was when the vinyl version of the album Not Meant For This World came
out and the band had changed the writing credits and took my name off songs I had written
and put their names in there. I couldn't believe they would be that stupid and petty, the
CD had been out for months so you had two records with different credits on them. Talk
about embarrassing! Even the label people at Au-Go-Go records were apologetic and
embarrassed. It wasn't their fault because they didn’t see the art for the vinyl.
Somebody in the band thought it convenient to just send the artwork design straight to the
printer. After that I just went "Right, fuck you guys". Any shred of respect or
concern about them was gone. It was as if they were trying to pretend I was never in the
band, but gee it made them look pretty bad."
A Portable
Altamont was recorded right in the heyday of Asteroid B-612. The lineup did its first
major shuffle after that first CD, with Mikey and Kurt leaving and Scott Nash of the
Asteroids coming in to help out with a drummer named Craig Jackson. Says Stewart: "I
think Scott was just a big fan of the Brick before he joined and was really into helping
me out and returning the favor for me helping Asteroids out. I think Scott also wanted to
broaden his horizons and play something a bit more left of center. Also we were pretty
close friends and always had a good time together."
"Mikey
and Kurt left because of work and family commitments really. They were not into the hard
yards anymore. We had become a pretty good band and done a lot of top supports and got a
regular following. I think they expected that somebody was gonna knock on our door and
throw a million bucks at us. When I pointed out that that was not going to happen and we
were gonna have pay for some more recording out of our own pockets they seemed a bit tired
of it all which I totally understand too. Playing rock'n'roll means a lot of sacrifices in
the way you’re gonna live your life, relationships and security. Even I get a bit
spooked by it sometimes but for some reason I keep doing it and still love it even though
I know I am missing out on some things too. Mikey and Kurt were two amazing cats who grew
up together and were basically like brothers, really talented and funny guys. Just the
most classic Australians and a lot of fun. They also pointed out a lot of funny shit to me
about life in general and about playing in bands."
"After
Kurt and Mikey left Mark Wilkinson was still in the band too as 2nd guitarist but he was
just along for some kicks. He knew Mikey and Kurt really well from Brisbane and the days
of the Horny Toads and the Girlies so when they pulled the pin he dropped out too and a
year or so later he was in the New Christs."
"After a
break and just playing with Asteroids I got very restless and wanted to play my own songs
again. I was playing in a party band called Motorslug with Scott Nash and Craig Jackson on
drums and we all lived in the same suburb (called Newtown in the inner city of Sydney
where I still live to this day!). I just said (in classic Blues Brothers style) "look
I'm gonna keep it going" and they were into it. I just saw it as a chance to do
Brother Brick the way I had envisaged it and as much fun as the original Brick was. There
were a lot of things about it that I think sucked. Craig Jackson was this guy who I knew
around the place from gigs. He was a big fan of my first band The Proton Energy Pills and
he started a label called Swiveldisc. He had played in heavy slow-core bands like Mindless
and Drill but he had a good kit and could play pretty good."
"So that
line-up played a heap of shows and recorded the bulk of A Portable Altamont and
then Scott Nash and I went on our ill fated Asteroid tour of the USA. When we came back I
was no longer in Asteroids and Scott and I were no longer friends so I drafted in Jay
Curley from The Proton Energy Pills and Tumbleweed and he filled Scott's boots. Craig was
still there on drums. Later on when the record was supposed to come out we got really sick
of Craig because all he wanted was success and to "get somewhere". So I kicked
him out for not having a sense of humor and for ripping us off. Both Jay and I had been
through the bullshit of being in successful bands and we didn't give a fuck about that any
more - we just wanted the Brick to rock and be good fun but Craig was too heavy and he had
no sense of humor and he ripped us off so that was it. Why am I telling you all
this?", he concludes, having gone perhaps a little further with the story than
he’d intended.
But to get to
the CD itself…well, it’s a mindblower and that’s all. The opening "The
Same" begins with a faded in intro piece of guitar wank that might give about 10
seconds of question about what’s going to go on, but then the song proper begins and
there’s no doubts now…it’s the full ripsaw Detroit-rock guitar experience
with nothing held back…a fluid, bruising monster of a song. "Chip On My
Shoulder" is slower but the dual guitar and rolling bass runs are still fine. Then
there’s "Beyond My Hands", which makes more use of space and lets the
guitar drop out for long stretches of vocals, bass and drums alone. A good mood maker and
the sort of thing the Asteroid B-612 was trying for but usually missing with their slow
songs. Next there’s "Chokito Bar", which along with the later track
"Feel Strung Out" were recorded for that early single with the Mikey Stephenson
and Kurt Anderson rhythm section. "Chokito Bar" is one of the CD’s biggest
highlights with that unforgettable "You said you hated it" chorus repeated over
the top of another marvelous guitar line, and a deadly hook of a stop/start bit just
before the first guitar chorus that makes your stomach feel like you’ve just crested
the peak in a rollercoaster.
The ensuing
"Derelict Eyes" is another slow one that works great, with moody arpeggio guitar
bits to go with a downer relationship lyric. But that’s just the pause before the
tour de force center of the CD, three tracks that rock like a hurricane with a blizzard of
tasty guitar. "No Turning Back" has some great drumming that provides the song
with a real distinctiveness. "Rock’n’Roll Marie", a song about a girl
who really digs great music, sells itself on pure guitar power and a cool "why doncha
why doncha why doncha" repeated chorus. And then the monstrous "Feel Strung
Out" which has this fluid guitar style that feels like being on the freeway in a car
that’s going 120 without any hint of strain, and a brilliant chorus of
"It’s the end of my time with you friend / What goes around…comes
around".
After this
things HAVE to slow down a bit, which they do with "Drives Me Wild", one of the
lesser tracks on the disc. The instrumental "Help Yourself" restores the energy
level again with another slash’n’burn guitar-fest. The two closing songs
"We’re Not Like You" and "Rock Action" would both be solid
rockers for most bands, but feel more like cool down efforts compared to the best tracks
on this one.
All in all,
what we’ve got here is one of the best albums of its type to come out of Australia in
the nineties…the only competition would be the New Christs’ Lower Yourself
and Woe Betide, and the Fools In Heat. There’s other bands that have
been treading the same boards, like the Freeloaders, Asteroid B-612, Hoss, Bored, and the
Hunchbacks, but good as they are they are all a clear step behind. Given what a terrific
disc it has turned out to be, it’s incredible that Stewart had a difficult time
finding a label to release A Portable Altamont as a full CD. But in the meantime he
got some labels to release singles from it. This initially led me to the erroneous
conclusion that the album was really a collection of single sides and not a coherent piece
of work. Stewart quickly set me straight on that score.
"There
were only 3 previously released songs on that album, which were put on there because it
was an overseas release and those songs had only been released on vinyl locally in
Australia. I think they are good songs and deserve to be released on CD too so people get
to hear them. The rest (9 songs) were recorded in one block, and although you can pick the
recording quality difference between the two sessions I think the whole thing goes well
together because the writing is of a good standard throughout, and the songs are in a
similar vein in regards to lyrics and attitude. The Rockin’ House 7" and Estrus
7" came about after Hellfire Club decided to do the album and those labels just
pulled songs that they liked and released them on vinyl."
I asked him
about the response to the CD…it took so long to get a label deal that it had to be
very disheartening, but people who like the general style seem to be flipping for it now
that it’s out. "I have been surprised by the reaction", he replies.
"Not because I didn't think the album was any good but because you just get so used
to being ignored that you come to be a little bit defeatist about things. It was such a
battle to get those songs released. It took two years, and if it wasn't for my friends who
kept asking me about it and egging me to do it and telling me it deserved a release then I
wouldn't have pursued it. But that’s why I am so glad that people like it, too. It
was worth it in the end just to get it out there so people who like this sort of music
could hear it. I don't really know if it is selling. I haven't talked to Nicolas at the
label for a while either. I guess not if you’re talking "makin money" but
we have been selling 5 or 6 at every gig which is a good average."
Given that Altamont
was recorded at the same time that Asteroid B-612 was going strong, it seems natural to
wonder how it was decided which Cunningham songs would go to which band. Says Stewart:
"In some regards there’s a fine line between what could be an Asteroid song or
what could be a Brother Brick song. "Derelict Eyes" and "Beyond My
Hands" would not really suit the Asteroids but maybe "Drives Me Wild" or
"Rock’n’Roll Marie" would. At the time I just wrote an incredible
number of songs for both bands. I was on a roll and some of them like "Not Meant For
This World" or "True Romance" (Asteroids) and "Rock'n'Roll Marie"
and "Chip on My Shoulder" (Brother Brick) were just absolute killers to play
live and in my opinion are such great tunes that it was often a case of whoever I was
rehearsing with the first time after the riff or idea came to me, that was who got the
song. I did consciously write in a certain way for Asteroids because the band was a lot
simpler musically and a lot rootsier, so it wouldn’t suit them to get too
complicated. It always had to have a rock'n'roll/blues flavor. The way John Spittles and I
played together relied on a bit of space for some improvisation and jamming on stage too
and I often wrote stuff where we could go for a 2 guitar/dueling MC5 type action because
it was fun as well."
"With
Brother Brick it was just me and I could write and play whatever the fuck I wanted. I
could mix it up, pull in more varied influences, so it’s definitely a more original
sounding band than the obviously Detroit-ish Asteroids."
"I
remember also when I was putting together the ideas and format of A Portable Altamont
that I also wanted it to be dynamic and have variety on the album, not one dimensional. So
the writing was also done with that in mind. It seems to me that a lot of bands are too
scared to go somewhere different or a different mood, or slow it up. It gets fucking
insane listening to a 12 song CD and every song is full bore in your face. Can you imagine
Raw Power without "Gimme Danger" or "Penetration"?"
Of late,
Brother Brick is a very active concern in Australia. The line up with Ashley and Jay has
been doing a lot of touring and that takes a lot more of their own effort than it does for
established bands with a manager and a bigger label behind them. "We are a totally
self-managed, DIY band", says Stewart, "so doing a gig is a lot of work in the
promoting/organizing side of things. It isn't just turning up and playing! I get down
because we can't do everything we want to because of cash and connections. Booking
agencies have a stranglehold on any facet of the music industry that involves money, so
getting a well paid gig or support in Australia is fucking nearly impossible. Bands like
us just scrape by. We don't have money to record or pay for T-shirts or a CD pressing. It
is always one step at a time and that’s why we find it hard to record; money is hard
to come by. I have some new songs in my head and a few bits and pieces lying around. We
have had a lot of offers for releases but we don't have the product. But that is only a
matter of time."
"There is
a totally new 7" coming out on Bang! records from Spain called "See You
Tonight" - it is a real killer and features Bill Gibson (ex-Eastern.Dark bassist)
doing back ups and also the drumming of Nik Reith (Rifles/ New Christs). He was gonna join
the band and did that first recording but I don't think he believed in it too much. He is
spewing now because it's really going well and he has told me he regrets not taking up the
offer. He comes to every gig and stands up the front with that look in his eyes that says
- "fuck I wish I was playing". Anyway maybe one day we'll play together. But
yeah, we do have plans to release more stuff and we are working our arses off to do
it."
So you might
think that’s about enough for one guy to be involved in, but wait! There’s still
more. Because in addition to all this, Stewart’s also playing guitar in Challenger 7,
the terrific Detroit punk-cum-power pop outfit headed by ex-Kryptonic Ian Underwood.
Challenger 7’s records even without Cunningham have been really tasty guitar oriented
power pop with a strong Detroit punk influence, and Ian has certainly proved over his
career that he’s no slouch when it comes to serving up some fiery guitar work. But
where Stewart no doubt helps most is in the live set, where previously Ian had to carry
all the guitar responsibility himself. On a recorded song like "Blot" (done
before Stewart joined) the sound is huge and powerful, but there’s more than one
guitar track on the recording, so it’s doubtful it packed such a punch live until
Stewart’s arrival. So far, Stewart has appeared with Challenger 7 on the two tracks
"Bipolar" and "Payola" from the Hellfire Club Records split 7"
with Rollercoaster, and his playing definitely has more reserve than with Brother Brick,
but it’s still guitar monger heaven. A new full length CH7 CD is about to appear, and
that should prove to be a killer, since the assortment of single sides available so far
have been nothing if not enticing.
Says Stewart:
"Yeah, I like playing in Challenger 7. It’s not as rock as the other bands. We
are trying to be a bit more refined about the musicality of it all whereas Brother Brick
is from the wilder/out of control/Detroit side of things, especially live. It is
definitely more melodic and we have a good time together. Hopefully we'll play live a bit
more this year. There is an album due out on 1+2 Records from Japan in April called Payola.
It’s finished and I must admit that some of the most polished songwriting I have done
is on that album. So I am looking forward to hearing what people think."
Lest you might
think that he’s talking about some Shoes-type polish or something, be assured that
Challenger 7 unleash buckets full of guitar licks that will drive the most rock happy fans
wild, and they are only less rock oriented in relationship to Brother Brick.
"I’ve
also been doing a part-time project with some guys from Melbourne called the Yes
Men", he continues. (Is there no stopping this man?!) "Over the past two years
we have been doing the odd gig and spot of recording and last year the album was picked up
by White Jazz and should be out overseas some time this year, it is called Prosody
and it is already out on Stolen Records here in Australia on CD. There will be a vinyl
pressing of it in March too. It is mainly the songwriting of Sean Greenway who was also in
God and The Freeloaders. Sean does vocals and guitar and I play lead and do some back ups.
On drums is Mark Hurst from the Guttersnipes and the bass tracks are shared by Taz
Blizzard (Meanies/Seaweed Gorillas/ Maiko) and Jay Curley from Brother Brick. We got a
track on that Birdman - Flattery tribute (volume 2) and a 7" on 007 records from New
York called "Fratricide" which is a bit of a killer. Sean gave Nikke from the
Hellacopters a tape of the album when he was out here in ‘99 and he just flipped and
loved it, so much that he talked White Jazz into putting it out. The Yes Men played with
the Hellacopters last week in Melbourne on the 2nd February. It was cool to meet them and
for them to see us play too. I wish the Brick had played with them too because we would
have made them work their arses off. The one thing I will say about that Yes Men album is
that it is very original hard-edged rock'n'roll in Sonic's Rendezvous Band style.
It’s very pure and intense if you know what I mean and the sound and songwriting is
incredibly distinct."
So lastly I
wanted to find out what sorts of music Stewart is listening to these days to give him
inspiration, both locally and overseas. His reply: "Geez, that's a hard question.
Like everyone I suppose I have been listening to a bit of Scandi Rock but it doesn't
really have the intensity/heart/passion that I dig to hear in music. I believe Australian
bands do the rock thing better you know. As far as loud hard-edged stuff, I kind of get my
dose of that playing in bands and going to gigs so I don't listen to a lot of full on
music at home. Like a lot of people I dig around and like to find new shit that was from
the 60's and 70's that I missed. Always close to the front of the pile is the Byrds and
the Who, Big Star and Dylan, I can't get by without that shit. "Sweetheart of the
Rodeo" has been getting a lot of play lately and last year I went through a bit of a
country rock phase - Steve Earle, son Volt, The Band, Lucinda Williams (for my girlfriend)
Wilco and a bit of an Elvis Costello phase." Indeed…they’ve covered
"Welcome To The Working Week", which takes some imagination to conceive of
Detroit-ed up as a Brother Brick tune.
"I dunno,
the Pretty Things always appeal to me and I am a big Roky Erikson fan. Been digging the
later Saints albums; Prehistoric Sounds and Monkey Puzzle, Ashley (the Brick
drummer) has been turning me onto Electric Frankenstein and the Watts album gets into some
Brother Brick territory so I really dig that. I like to think that what I listen to is
from the whole spectrum except I hate dance music. I guess I like good songs more than
anything. Not having much money lately has also curtailed my spending on records and CDs,
too, so I have been going through my collection and re-listening to a lot of early
influences like the Fluid, Moving Targets, Wipers (Brother Brick covers
"Mystery"), Eastern Dark (they cover "Walking" and "Up Your
Heart") and a fair whack of blues. Been reading this Chuck Berry autobiography which
I have found to be very interesting as well as funny."
"New
Australian Bands? Mmmmm tricky that one, there is so much shit here, so many
copyists/imitators....There is this band called Maiko from Melbourne who feature Buzz
Munday from Bored on drums and Taz from the Meanies. They recorded a great album but they
don't play much so look out for that if it ever surfaces. The Bloodsucking Freaks, Z-28
and Repo from Adelaide are all really cool. Strutter are about the only thing in Brisbane,
Daredevil in Sydney do a great Sabbath -Rock thing, and the Thermals are cool. Also from
Melbourne are the Stuntcar Drivers who are good value."
Lately it seems like
there’s a minor rebirth of Australian underground music after a fairly dormant
nineties. Things have changed a lot from the glory days of the late 80s, when there were
live venues everywhere and dozens of significant indie labels catering to all kinds of
tastes. The number of venues for rock bands is way down now, victims of a change in laws
that have allowed pubs to have video poker games as entertainment with the result that the
bands are no longer viewed as necessary to draw punters in for a drink. Sydney’s JJJ
radio station, which in the 80s was focused on Sydney bands, went national in the early
nineties and stopped playing local bands. Combined with the pub situation, this made it
impossible for the local bands to reach any but the most die hard followers of the
city’s scene. But there is lobbying for a local station once again that looks like it
has a chance of happening, and the venue situation is picking up. Bands like Brother Brick
are waiting in the wings and maybe their time will come to be the inspiration for a whole
new wave of great Australian bands this decade. Let’s all hope so.
