Primitive Calculators
Encyclopedia
The Primitive Calculators are an Australia
n post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite
Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizer
s (a Wasp and Roland SH2) along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time (Roland CR-78
). Their frantic, low-fidelity sound pumped out of Marshall Combo amplifiers. Loudly. Their music was influenced by proto-punk New York acts like The Godz, The Velvet Underground
, Texas '60s psychedelic punk, James Brown
, and The Silver Apples
and Australian bands such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. They are often compared to The Screamers
from Los Angeles, Suicide
and bands from the No Wave
music scene from New York.
, a rough working-class outer suburb of Melbourne
, moving in 1977 to St Kilda
, then the centre of the punk rock
scene. Despite socialising with the likes of Nick Cave
from The Boys Next Door they remained outsiders to this scene (most of which consisted of people from middle-class backgrounds with private-school educations), and in 1978 moved to Fitzroy
. Here they settled on the 4 piece lineup that recorded and found like-minded friends,such as Ollie Olsen
and John Murphy
of Whirlywirld
, and were instrumental in organising a series of gigs named "Little Band
nights", where hastily-formed bands would play for 15 minutes each; this led to a compilation EP
being recorded. The Primitive Calculators played their last gig in March 1980, though their self-titled live album came out in the early 1980s. The band reformed briefly in 1986 to perform a live version of their song "Pumping Ugly Muscle" in the film Dogs In Space
.
In 2001, a 1979 live recording of "Pumping Ugly Muscle" was included in "Can't Stop It", a compilation of Australian post-punk bands from '78 to '82, released by Chapter Music
. The title of the CD was taken from the Calculator's only studio recording, in December 1979, which was a 7" single with the tracks "I Can't Stop It" and "Do That Dance".
This led to a renewed interest in the band and later the 2003 release of the "Glitter Kids" EP
, of three live recordings from 1979 by Meeuw Muzik in the Netherlands
.
The Primitive Calculators' album was reissued on CD by Chapter Music
in 2004, with extra tracks from related projects (The Moths!
, other live recordings from 1979 and an unnamed Primitive Calculators/Whirlywirld
hybrid recorded in London
, 1981).
In March 2007, Chapter Music
released "Primitive Calculators and Friends, 1979 to 1982", a CD which contained the only studio recordings of the band (the 7" single from 1979), the "Little Band
" single, also from 1979, and live tracks from Little Band
nights. It also contained other recordings from bands the members formed after 1980 such as a single called Zye Ye Ye (recorded in London, 1981 with Ollie Olsen
and John Murphy
), and bands formed after the return of some of the band members to Australia, from Europe, in 1982.
In January 2009, the band reformed for the inaugural Australian All Tomorrow's Parties
music festival at Mount Buller
, in Victoria, curated by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
. The band occasionally play small venues and back yards around Melbourne, and feature in Richard Lowenstein
's 2009 documentary "We're Livin' on Dog Food".
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite
Mosrite
Mosrite is an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists....
Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s (a Wasp and Roland SH2) along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time (Roland CR-78
Roland CR-78
The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by today's standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time...
). Their frantic, low-fidelity sound pumped out of Marshall Combo amplifiers. Loudly. Their music was influenced by proto-punk New York acts like The Godz, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, Texas '60s psychedelic punk, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, and The Silver Apples
The Silver Apples
Silver Apples are an American psychedelic electronic music duo from New York, composed of Simeon Coxe III, who performs as Simeon, on a primitive synthesizer of his own devising , and until his death in 2005, drummer Danny Taylor. The group was active between 1967 and 1969, before reforming in the...
and Australian bands such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. They are often compared to The Screamers
The Screamers
The Screamers were a punk rock group active in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1970s. The Screamers were pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk," and can also be classified as art punk....
from Los Angeles, Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....
and bands from the No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
music scene from New York.
History
They met as teenagers in SpringvaleSpringvale, Victoria
Springvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 20 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Greater Dandenong...
, a rough working-class outer suburb of 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...
, moving in 1977 to St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, then the centre of the punk rock
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...
scene. Despite socialising with the likes of Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
from The Boys Next Door they remained outsiders to this scene (most of which consisted of people from middle-class backgrounds with private-school educations), and in 1978 moved to Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
. Here they settled on the 4 piece lineup that recorded and found like-minded friends,such as Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
and John Murphy
John Murphy (musician)
John Murphy , sometimes credited as "Jonh Murphy", is an Australian drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumental session musician who has played in numerous Australian and British post-punk, ambient and industrial music groups...
of Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...
, and were instrumental in organising a series of gigs named "Little Band
Little band scene
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic...
nights", where hastily-formed bands would play for 15 minutes each; this led to a compilation EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
being recorded. The Primitive Calculators played their last gig in March 1980, though their self-titled live album came out in the early 1980s. The band reformed briefly in 1986 to perform a live version of their song "Pumping Ugly Muscle" in the film Dogs In Space
Dogs in Space
Dogs in Space is a 1986 Australian film set in the "little band scene" in Melbourne in 1978. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein and starred Michael Hutchence as Sam, the drug-addled frontman of the fictitious band from which the film takes its name....
.
In 2001, a 1979 live recording of "Pumping Ugly Muscle" was included in "Can't Stop It", a compilation of Australian post-punk bands from '78 to '82, released by Chapter Music
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett inspired fanzine called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen...
. The title of the CD was taken from the Calculator's only studio recording, in December 1979, which was a 7" single with the tracks "I Can't Stop It" and "Do That Dance".
This led to a renewed interest in the band and later the 2003 release of the "Glitter Kids" EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, of three live recordings from 1979 by Meeuw Muzik in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
The Primitive Calculators' album was reissued on CD by Chapter Music
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett inspired fanzine called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen...
in 2004, with extra tracks from related projects (The Moths!
The Moths!
The Moths! were an English indie rock band from London. They made new wave and post-punk pop and had drawn comparisons with the Human League, Wire, the Buzzcocks and early Adam and the Ants.-History:...
, other live recordings from 1979 and an unnamed Primitive Calculators/Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...
hybrid recorded in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1981).
In March 2007, Chapter Music
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett inspired fanzine called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen...
released "Primitive Calculators and Friends, 1979 to 1982", a CD which contained the only studio recordings of the band (the 7" single from 1979), the "Little Band
Little band scene
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic...
" single, also from 1979, and live tracks from Little Band
Little band scene
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic...
nights. It also contained other recordings from bands the members formed after 1980 such as a single called Zye Ye Ye (recorded in London, 1981 with Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
and John Murphy
John Murphy (musician)
John Murphy , sometimes credited as "Jonh Murphy", is an Australian drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumental session musician who has played in numerous Australian and British post-punk, ambient and industrial music groups...
), and bands formed after the return of some of the band members to Australia, from Europe, in 1982.
In January 2009, the band reformed for the inaugural Australian All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
music festival at Mount Buller
Mount Buller, Victoria
Mount Buller is a town in Victoria, Australia east of Melbourne on the slopes of Mount Buller . Primarily a resort town, Mount Buller is popular with snowsports enthusiasts in winter due to its close location to Melbourne...
, in Victoria, curated by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1983. The band is fronted by Nick Cave and has featured international personnel throughout their career.-Formation and early releases :...
. The band occasionally play small venues and back yards around Melbourne, and feature in Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
's 2009 documentary "We're Livin' on Dog Food".