Powder Monkeys
Encyclopedia
The Powder Monkeys were an Australian
punk
/indie rock
band, based in Melbourne
, Led by Tim Hemensley
, they existed from 1991 to 2002, and were renowned as a live act.
for a time, and the first five-piece Powder Monkeys played in early 1992, with a lineup of Tim Hemensley (bass, vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar), Adyn Hibbert (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jed Sayers (harmonica) and Timmy Jack Ray (drums). Hibbert left around June 1992, though he did play on their first single, "Yin Yang", released February 1993 on Dog Meat Records
. Aydn's guitar tracks were left on only a few songs on the band's first album, Smashed On A Knee, recorded in 1992, but one song he penned and sang, "Ugly", was included and the album finally came out on Dog Meat in March 1994.
The Powder Monkeys put considerable effort into live performance and touring during this period. After Jed Sayers left at the end of 1994, the band remained a three-piece. Their next release, in February 1995, was the five-track EP Straight Until Morning, which were recordings for a Triple J
live broadcast.
The band released the single "The Supernova That Never Quits" in December 1995, with the second album Time Wounds All Heels following in February 1996. The second album is considered a much more coherent example of the band's sound.
Hemensley and Ray also played with the Peter Wells Band in 1996. There was some music industry interest in Time Wounds All Heels, but nothing resulted. The band reemerged in August 1997 with the 7" "Get The Girl Straight"/"Wasn't Born Yesterday" (400 copies, red vinyl) on the Death Valley label.
Most of 1998 was spent touring. A live album, recorded at an April 1998 Melbourne gig, Blood Sweat & Beers came out in early 1999 on Safety Pin Records (Spain) and on CD from Butcher's Hook Records (UK). They then went on a European tour, on which they recorded "Two Tub Man" and "Check This Action", both released as split 7" singles with the Hellacopters. They also recorded a new album with Hellacopters producer Fred 'Atlas' Estby titled 'Lost City Blues', which saw a release on the Hellacopters White Jazz
label. The album has never seen an Australian release. A 6-track EP was also recorded, Talk Softly & Carry A Big Shtick, which was released on Punch records and is now a collector's item, featuring rarely heard songs 'Breakdown Coming' and 'Positively Crapple Street'.
Timmy Jack Ray departed the group shortly after. His replacement was ex-Seminal Rats
drummer Todd McNear. John Nolan suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 2001, the result of his heroin use, and was left with slightly impaired motor skills. Nolan spent several months recovering, and the group reconvened in 2002, recording a song for the Dirty Deeds
soundtrack as well as a cover of legendary Detroit band The Dogs
' 'Black Tea'. They played their first gig in over a year at the Tote, supporting punk legends The Dictators
, and shortly after supporting Dead Moon
. These were to be the last Powder Monkeys gigs.
After a lengthy battle with heroin, Tim Hemensley died from an overdose on July 21, 2003. It was a devastating blow to the Melbourne rock scene, which had been severely depleted in recent years with the deaths of Guy Lucas (Philistines, Freeloaders), Mick Weber (Seminal Rats), and Sean Greenway (GOD, Freeloaders, The Yes-Men).
The final recordings were compiled on a CD titled 'Outta Control Rock'n'Roll' and released on the Dropkick label in 2005. It featured three new songs recorded live at Sean Greenway's wake in 2001, as well as studio recordings of several cover songs including The Stooges
'Cock in my Pocket', a staple of their live sets for many years.
Music of Australia
The music of Australia is the music produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of modern Australia, including its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian music is a part of the unique heritage of a 40–60,000 year history which produced the iconic...
punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
/indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band, based in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Led by Tim Hemensley
Tim Hemensley
Tim Hemensley was a bass player and singer from Melbourne, Australia who was best known for his role as the leader of highly respected punk / garage / hard rock band, Powder Monkeys. Also known for his time in teenage band GOD, Geelong's Bored! and the Yes-Men, Tim Hemensley was in his first band,...
, they existed from 1991 to 2002, and were renowned as a live act.
History
Tim Hemensley and John Nolan were members of Bored! in the late 1980s. Both left Bored! following that band's 1990 tour of Europe. Nolan then played with HossHoss (band)
Hoss is a hard rock band based in Melbourne, Australia. One of a string of 90s hard rock bands on Melbourne's Dog Meat Records that included the Powder Monkeys and Splatterheads, Hoss was primarily a vehicle for the songs of front man, Joel Silbersher...
for a time, and the first five-piece Powder Monkeys played in early 1992, with a lineup of Tim Hemensley (bass, vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar), Adyn Hibbert (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jed Sayers (harmonica) and Timmy Jack Ray (drums). Hibbert left around June 1992, though he did play on their first single, "Yin Yang", released February 1993 on Dog Meat Records
Dog Meat Records
Dog Meat Records was a record label for the Australian hard rock music scene in the 1990s. It released such artists as Hoss, Powder Monkeys, Splatterheads and others....
. Aydn's guitar tracks were left on only a few songs on the band's first album, Smashed On A Knee, recorded in 1992, but one song he penned and sang, "Ugly", was included and the album finally came out on Dog Meat in March 1994.
The Powder Monkeys put considerable effort into live performance and touring during this period. After Jed Sayers left at the end of 1994, the band remained a three-piece. Their next release, in February 1995, was the five-track EP Straight Until Morning, which were recordings for a Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
live broadcast.
The band released the single "The Supernova That Never Quits" in December 1995, with the second album Time Wounds All Heels following in February 1996. The second album is considered a much more coherent example of the band's sound.
Hemensley and Ray also played with the Peter Wells Band in 1996. There was some music industry interest in Time Wounds All Heels, but nothing resulted. The band reemerged in August 1997 with the 7" "Get The Girl Straight"/"Wasn't Born Yesterday" (400 copies, red vinyl) on the Death Valley label.
Most of 1998 was spent touring. A live album, recorded at an April 1998 Melbourne gig, Blood Sweat & Beers came out in early 1999 on Safety Pin Records (Spain) and on CD from Butcher's Hook Records (UK). They then went on a European tour, on which they recorded "Two Tub Man" and "Check This Action", both released as split 7" singles with the Hellacopters. They also recorded a new album with Hellacopters producer Fred 'Atlas' Estby titled 'Lost City Blues', which saw a release on the Hellacopters White Jazz
White Jazz
White Jazz is a 1992 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet, preceded by The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and L.A. Confidential....
label. The album has never seen an Australian release. A 6-track EP was also recorded, Talk Softly & Carry A Big Shtick, which was released on Punch records and is now a collector's item, featuring rarely heard songs 'Breakdown Coming' and 'Positively Crapple Street'.
Timmy Jack Ray departed the group shortly after. His replacement was ex-Seminal Rats
Seminal Rats
Seminal Rats were an Australian punk/indie rock band, based in Melbourne, who existed from 1984 until the death of lead guitarist Michael Weber on 2 January 1999...
drummer Todd McNear. John Nolan suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 2001, the result of his heroin use, and was left with slightly impaired motor skills. Nolan spent several months recovering, and the group reconvened in 2002, recording a song for the Dirty Deeds
Dirty Deeds (2002 film)
Dirty Deeds is a 2002 film shot in Australia. It was directed by noted fringe director David Caesar and stars Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, Sam Neill, Sam Worthington and John Goodman and produced by Nine Films and Television, the film and television production arm of the Nine Network, owned by PBL...
soundtrack as well as a cover of legendary Detroit band The Dogs
The dogs
The Dogs were a 1990s hip hop group consisting of Disco Rick, Keith Bell, Labrant Dennis and Fergus "Cracked Up" Smith, best known for "Crack Rock," their hit single with the chant "Yo' Mama's on Crack Rock!" The group released three studio albums The Dogs in 1990, Beware of The Dogs in 1991 and...
' 'Black Tea'. They played their first gig in over a year at the Tote, supporting punk legends The Dictators
The Dictators
The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth." The Dictators are represented in the "Punk Wing" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland, Ohio...
, and shortly after supporting Dead Moon
Dead Moon
Dead Moon was a United States punk rock band from 1987 to 2006, formed in Portland, Oregon. Fronted by singer/guitarist Fred Cole, the band also included bassist Toody Cole, Fred's wife, and drummer Andrew Loomis. Veterans of Portland's independent rock scene, Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn...
. These were to be the last Powder Monkeys gigs.
After a lengthy battle with heroin, Tim Hemensley died from an overdose on July 21, 2003. It was a devastating blow to the Melbourne rock scene, which had been severely depleted in recent years with the deaths of Guy Lucas (Philistines, Freeloaders), Mick Weber (Seminal Rats), and Sean Greenway (GOD, Freeloaders, The Yes-Men).
The final recordings were compiled on a CD titled 'Outta Control Rock'n'Roll' and released on the Dropkick label in 2005. It featured three new songs recorded live at Sean Greenway's wake in 2001, as well as studio recordings of several cover songs including The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
'Cock in my Pocket', a staple of their live sets for many years.
Albums
- Smashed On A Knee, 1993
- Time Wounds All Heels, 1995
- Blood Sweat And Beers, 1999
- Lost City Blues, 2000
Compilations, etc.
- Persecution Blues, 1995
- Live... Live... Live..., 2004
- Outta Control Rock'n'Roll, 2005
Singles and 7"
- Yin Yang, 1992
- The Supernova That Never Quits, 1995
- Get The Girl Straight, 1997
Split 7"
- The Wizard (with Adam West)
- Two Tub Man (with The HellacoptersThe HellacoptersThe Hellacopters were a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson , Dregen , Kenny Håkansson and Robert Eriksson . Andersson had been the drummer for death metal band Entombed and Dregen was taking a break from his full-time band Backyard Babies...
), 1999 - Destination X (with The HellacoptersThe HellacoptersThe Hellacopters were a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson , Dregen , Kenny Håkansson and Robert Eriksson . Andersson had been the drummer for death metal band Entombed and Dregen was taking a break from his full-time band Backyard Babies...
), 1999 - Black And Blue (with The Speedfreaks), 2004
External links
- Official home page
- Discography
- Powder Monkeys (Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and PopEncyclopedia of Australian Rock and PopThe Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop or Rock and Pop by Australian music journalist Ian McFarlane is a guide to Australian popular music from the 1950s to the late 1990s...
by Ian McFarlaneIan McFarlane (music journalist)Ian McFarlane is an Australian music journalist and author of The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop.-Biography:McFarlane started as a freelance music journalist in 1984 writing for Juke, The Edge and From the Vault...
)