Melbourne Punk legends The Meanies are hauling ass from around the world to return down under in celebration of their 30 years together as a band and 25 years since the release of quintessential Meanies hit 10% weird.
The annual River Rocks music fest at our very own divey crown jewel the Barwon Club will be a major tour pitstop where the boys will be playing across both days of the weekend event. Too eager to wait, we hit up old mate Wally Meanie for a chat about what the band’s got in store.
One thing’s for sure, they’re keen to get together and grace the Barwon’s stage. “We’ve done tonnes of shows at Barwon Club over the years… [back in the day on tour] we did almost as many shows in Geelong as we did in Melbourne.”
In their time at the Barwon The Meanies have made lots of memories – Wally recounted one crazy gig in particular; “this one time I was playing at the Barwon Club and it was packed, really packed, it was in the early days and Andy Kent from You Am I was in the crowd and accidentally bumped into someone who basically just turned around and slugged him one, so he had a massive black eye, poor bastard.”
The Meanies are well known for their energy and rowdiness, on stage and off, with fellow bandmate Link Meanie being particularly infamous for his performance injuries including the time Wally recalled poor Link stripping off for a birthday suit encore when a crowd member hopped on stage to deliver a king hit that busted his jaw.
However, the craziness is part of the deal in a punk outfit and even 30 years on Wally reckons not much has changed, “it’s just same-old, same-old, we haven’t changed that much really… it’s pretty much us, it’s still our stamp.”
In keeping the spirit of ‘90s Melbourne pub punk alive, The Meanies have got heaps of material coming our way with a live album arriving in time for the tour recorded from the 25th birthday party bash, a new 7” of unreleased Meanies and covers coming up soon and an album also in the works set to release around mid-2020 so keep your eyes peeled, kids.
In the meantime, have a beer with the boys while they’re still in the country on tour and grab some tickets before they’re gone!
When & Where: Corner Hotel, Melbourne – November 5, Theatre Royal, Castlemaine – November 8 & River Rocks @ The Barwon Club, Geelong – November 9-10.
Written by Jess Sercombe
