You can’t silence the UNDERTONE!

Undertone was a hardcore punk noise band from Adelaide, Australia. When the band started, they were originally called Bile Slime but weren’t really doing much. I met a couple of the guys at the Pizza Hut I worked for (true story) where all of us delivered pizzas. We all got talking about music and then it dawned on us that we should get together and jam. So I joined the band as a guitarist (the first time I ever played guitar in a band) and started writing songs for them and things really started to move. The band was taken seriously and the jamming was done regularly. On the weekends, Grover (singer), Matt (bassist) and myself would go into the city, eat food, talk music and go record shopping. We all listened to so many different things that I think it helped inspire the sounds that we brought to band practice which would explain why our songs seemed a bit mish mash. One song would hear similarities to Helmet while the next was in the genre of crustcore like Infest followed by one inspired by the straight edge hardcore sounds of bands like 7 Seconds and Minor Threat, yet somehow it all sounded like Undertone.

We decided that the name Bile Slime wasn’t so great and searched out a new one. Then after listening to the band Inside Out (Zach’s band before Rage Against The Machine), there was a song on the CD titled “Undertone”. That sounded like it fit us perfectly. As Zach screams “You can’t silence the Undertone!” we figured that it suited our sound just fine and BAM! The new band was ready to rock. After only jamming a short time, playing parties, scout halls and any other venue that shut us down after 15 – 20 minutes, we decided a proper gig would be good and Undertone played our first show with the bands All Flight Crew Are Dead and Price Of Silence at the Crown And Anchor Hotel on the 7th of May, 1995. People started talking and the band started playing more frequently and got established rather quickly in the process. We added a second guitarist, Mark, and completed the line-up. We wanted a heavier, crazier sound and I wasn’t a competent guitarist on my own to make that happen. Along with Craig’s tight and super spazz fast drumming, the band was now cookin’ with gas! On the 17th of September, 1995, we went into the studio at the School of Audio Engineering to record 4 tracks which can be heard at the band’s Myspace page.

Then, something happened, one day I just got fed up and walked out of band practice never to return. Something changed with the band’s direction and my interest. I loved this band, I loved the high energy performances, I loved the insanity and chaos but the band was changing. Crust core had become the “in” thing in Adelaide at the time and that wasn’t really my cup of hot chocolate. I mean, sure, 1 or 2 songs per set was fine but a whole set’s worth? It didn’t do it for me. So I parted ways with the band. Neither me or the band were happy with how things were so it was the best thing to do. I have no idea how much longer they lasted but it seemed like all this happened within a year… but I could be wrong.

I had always proposed to master the recording and release it on 7” for the world to hear but to this day, it still hasn’t seen light. I did a cover and had it all ready to go but the funding was the problem. Then my interest. Maybe when vinyl pressing gets cheaper (if it ever does) I can look into it. Or if someone wants to put it out themselves, let me know. It does need to be mastered though and I think it’ll sound sweet once it is. Maybe I’ll do that part just for kicks so I can hear it at its fullest sound.

Anyway, I have this video on YouTube as it gives a pretty good idea of how Undertone were as a live band. I have a bunch of videos of this band as I tried to film all of our shows but this one especially sticks out for me as my favourite. I may add some more videos later but for now, you can check out this video of these 5 songs all in just under 9 minutes. The songs played are:
1. Reason For That
2. Passing Unnoticed
3. Chunks (a cover tune originally by the band, Last Rights)
4. Your Continued Success At Being A Fucking Asshole
5. Sea Of Shit (a song I heard rumours was written about the crowd at the Adelaide Big Day Out who were watching The Offspring but I can’t confirm if this is true or not as I am no longer in contact with any of these guys)

On a side note, I think if I was ever to be involved with a reunion show from any of my past bands, this would be the one. We just had something that seemed to work. Craig ended up drumming for Gacy’s Place, I went and drummed for the Blood Sucking Freaks, played guitar in Blood Of Others and started Muscle Car, and Mark moved to Melbourne and joined a hardcore band (I think… but I don’t remember their name. Fallout maybe?). Regardless, enjoy!

MUSCLE CAR in Head Gap Studios (April 2008)

In January of 2008, I moved from the land of Balfours (Adelaide) to the land of freezing cold winters and no good cakes but awesome everything else (Melbourne) and upon making such a big decision, I had to think of what I was going to do with the band. End it or just keep going with new people? Well, the last line-up in Adelaide was already a bunch of new people anyway so it made no problem for me to get up and go. Plus, I had wanted to move to Melbourne for many years and finally I made the decision to do it.

I arrived into Melbourne, got myself a job within 2 weeks, and went to the pre-show drinks at the Corner Hotel before the Ozzy gig. While there, I was speaking to a past MC bassist, James and he introduced me to a dude named Riley. Long story short, he’s now the guitarist. ANYWAY, I was stoked that within a few months of living in Melbourne, a new line-up was happening, a tour of the UK was organised and a new recording was booked for April. Only being together for a couple weeks as a full line-up, we went in and nutted out 4 songs.

I made this little film about our time at Head Gap Studios recording those 4 tracks… 1 of which you hear in this film titled “Queen Of Noise”. I originally wrote this song in 1998 and I honestly have no idea what the lyrics are about; it’s basically a bunch of catch phrases from bands I like (Twisted Sister, MC5, Powder Monkeys, Poison, etc.). It was recorded with the original MC line-up (Myself, Adam, Shamus and Paul) in 1999 and to be honest, I never really liked the original recording cos I thought the guitar solos sounded like Slayer and whilst I am a fan of Slayer, I don’t feel that crazy style of solos works with the MC sound. So I have put both versions up so you can hear the difference.

First up, the new recording put to tape in 2008.

And here is the original promo done in 1999 (but not finished until 2000).

This original video was Muscle Car’s first music video… and it definitely shows. Filmed in Damo’s bedroom using a hydroponic light to brighten up the room, and shot on Super 8 film, this video was filmed on a 36 degree day at the band’s residence on Payneham Rd. With the Summer heat and the hydro light, it was about 45+ degrees in the room and we were all dehydrating rapidly. But that’s rock n roll. The dark / light flashes are from the Super 8 film being projected on to a white wall while being filmed with a HD camera. The cam couldn’t pick-up the frame rate as quickly as the human eye can, hence the flashing. Edited at Flinders Uni where Damo and Aaron studied film-making, this was our first real attempt at making a video.

MUSCLE CAR – “Feel Her Breathe” Tour video

I was going through a bunch of old video tapes recently when I came across a Muscle Car video that was never quite finished. It was a celebration of 7 years of the band touring around Australia. I watched the tape back and found that it should be finished and uploaded for all to see. So after much tweaking and fine tuning, I managed to get the video ready for human consumption and uploaded this barrel of fun to Youtube. This here documents the years 1999 – 2006 when the band toured around the country kicking up a storm. For some reason we always ended up in wrestling matches with each other and managed to somehow involve all those who came along for the ride. Antics. I feel this 5 minute video gives a pretty good idea of what touring with Muscle Car is like.

There is also another video from the 2008 UK tour but that hasn’t been finished yet but I will get that done ASAP and upload that for your consumption too. That tour was hilarious. Good times indeed! Stay tuned!