For fans of Melbourne’s indie punk band The Meanies, summer is about to get a whole lot sweeter. As part of their Silver Jubilee Tour, Link, Ringo, Wally and Jaws have teamed up with Poison City and Tym Records to put out re-issues of The Meanies’ classic back catalogue. Prepare for a trip down Aussie punk-rock lane.
“Everything’s getting a re-released!” Bass player Wally says triumphantly. “Tym Guitars in Brisbane [home of Tym Records] is putting out one of our old singles ‘Never’ and they’re also going to release one of our old EPs that has never been released on vinyl before – that’ll be available in the New Year.
“Also, yesterday we made it officially official,” he grinned, “that Poison City Records in Melbourne will be putting out a bunch of stuff for us too. Our two EPs Gangrenous and In Search Of are going to be piled onto a 12” together and re-released.
“On top of that, the re-issue of 1992’s Come ‘n’ See is out very shortly with two bonus tracks, and early next year our album 10% Weird will be re-released with a bonus 12” of tracks that you can’t get anymore. We’ve added another ten songs and they’ll be in the same jacket sleeve, so it’ll be like a double album. Phew! That’s a lot to get through!” Wally laughed.
If that’s not enough to get even the most die-hard Meanies’ fan smiling, this will do it. “Yes, the rumours are true – we’ve been sitting on new stuff that we recorded last year. We wanted to wait till there was time to give it a really good mix. I’m pleased to say that’s done now, and the album was dropped off to me two days ago.
“Yesterday we had a good ol’ listen to it on my classic old hi-fi at home. We all sat down and picked it to pieces and it’s safe to say we’re pretty happy with the result. So we’ll get that mastered soon and lock down some artwork for the cover. Once all these re-releases have come out, we’ll release the new stuff. We figured that was the best way to do it,” Wally said, sounding every bit the seasoned musician he is.
In the meantime, Wally assures me that you’ll hear new Meanies’ material at their upcoming gigs. “This leg of the tour is going to be fun – we’ve never played the Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine before, and we’ve never played the Karova Lounge in Ballarat, even though we’ve been to Ballarat quite a few times over the years. At these shows we’ll be bringing along our buddies, Batpiss – we always have a good time with those guys. We love being on tour and this time of year is always so much fun.”
The Meanies are the punks that keep on giving – so why not add a little more brandy to your eggnog and head down to The Boxing Day Slam at The Barwon Club.
“The Barwon Club was almost like a second home to us in the early days. We’ve played there tons of times but we haven’t played there for quite some time, so we’ll have to make it count,” Wally smiled. “We plan to have a few beers and a wander around the crowd, then jump on stage and rock it! I think that’s part of the reason we’re still around after 25 years – we’re just four guys in a punk-rock band having a laugh, you know?”
When&Where: Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine – December 5, Karova Lounge, Ballarat – December 6 & Barwon Club, Geelong (Boxing Day Slam) – December 26
By Natalie Rogers