The Throwaways (Australian Band)
Encyclopedia
The Throwaways were a musical group from Melbourne, Australia who played from 1989 to 1995, consisting of Marc Dorey, Sean Baxter, Dave Kendal, Mat Butler and later Matt Charles. They recorded:
and The Who
, and US acts such as the Velvet Underground and The Doors
, they gravitated toward the then underground Australian scene of the era, where acts as the Hoodoo Gurus
, the Stems, Huxton Creepers and the Go Betweens were producing a range of 1960s garage-influenced post-punk tunes.
The first musical output at this point was limited to a rough demo of several songs recorded by Dorey and Butler on a portable cassette deck modified by Butler to permit lo-fi mulitracking.
In 1987 Butler & Dorey moved to Melbourne. At University College, Dorey met fellow resident David Kendal, and in 1988 Sean Baxter. A fellow resident of the college was Mark Maher ("Kram"), later of Spiderbait
, with whom The Throwaways, Guttersnipes and the Meanies would release the "Teeth" compilation.
band's melodic noise aesthetic. The rehearsal saw the first airing of songs that later became fixtures of early live sets such as "Tarmac", "Violent", and "Girl in the Lava Lamp". This session culminated in the members propping their respective instruments up against amplifiers left at full volume, and exiting the shed in order to spend the rest of the night drinking beer and listening to the resulting wall of noise over several hours.
Through 1989 the Kendal-Baxter-Dorey-Butler lineup rehearsed a 30 minute set of tunes that saw the initial 60s pop aesthetic mesh with a more hardcore approach to instrumentation indicated by the Detroit punk school, especially as practiced by antipodean exponents such as The Saints and Radio Birdman, with occasional forays into Who-esque jams. These rehearsals led to the first show as an entrant in a 'battle of the bands' competition held at Melbourne University in late 1989, supporting a Cosmic Psychos show. While the band clearly won over the punk-oriented crowd with a swift 15 minute set culminating in a self-indulgent display of feed back and instrument destruction, the competition's judges were not so swayed, and The Throwaways failed to make the next heat of the contest.
Over the next six years, The Throwaways were regular fixtures on Melbourne's inner city alternative music scene, playing at venues such as The Tote, The Punters Club, The Great Britain Hotel and the Richmond Club.
These influences meshed with three emerging aesthetic streams within the band that saw a move away from its 60s pop origins : avant-garde jazz; Alternative Tentacles art-punk acts such as NoMeansNo and the Dead Kennedys; and metal influences such as Napalm Death and Slayer. The results of this direction, PostMadonna Primadonna, were recorded by producer Simon Grounds and released by Dr Jims records.
The band dissolved in 1995.
- Boogie Wonderland EP (with The Meanies and Nice Girls From Cincinnati)
- Angle Grinder CD
- Teeth (with SpiderbaitSpiderbaitSpiderbait are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Finley in 1989 by bass guitarist Janet English, singer-drummer Mark Maher , and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version of the 1930s Lead Belly song "Black Betty" reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart...
, Guttersnipes and The MeaniesThe MeaniesThe Meanies are an indie Australian punk rock band, formed in 1989. The current band members include Link Meanie , Ringo Meanie and Wally Meanie . The Meanies had a hiatus in the mid-late 1990s, but began performing again in 1998...
) EP - Wally's Wild Weekend Live Compilation LP amd
- Postmadonna Primadonna CD
Formation
Meeting at high school in the mid-1980s in the provincial city of Geelong, Mat Butler and Marc Dorey proposed the formation of what would become The Throwaways. Influenced heavily by mid-1960s British Beat acts such as The KinksThe Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, and US acts such as the Velvet Underground and The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, they gravitated toward the then underground Australian scene of the era, where acts as the Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
, the Stems, Huxton Creepers and the Go Betweens were producing a range of 1960s garage-influenced post-punk tunes.
The first musical output at this point was limited to a rough demo of several songs recorded by Dorey and Butler on a portable cassette deck modified by Butler to permit lo-fi mulitracking.
In 1987 Butler & Dorey moved to Melbourne. At University College, Dorey met fellow resident David Kendal, and in 1988 Sean Baxter. A fellow resident of the college was Mark Maher ("Kram"), later of Spiderbait
Spiderbait
Spiderbait are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Finley in 1989 by bass guitarist Janet English, singer-drummer Mark Maher , and guitarist Damian Whitty. In 2004 the group's cover version of the 1930s Lead Belly song "Black Betty" reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart...
, with whom The Throwaways, Guttersnipes and the Meanies would release the "Teeth" compilation.
First Lineup
In late 1988 Kendal (bass), Baxter (drums), Dorey (guitar), Butler (vocals and guitar) held the first rehearsal of The Throwaways (although the name was not coined at this time), in a corrugated iron shed at Kendal's Bacchus Marsh house. Also in attendance at this rehearsal was Ricky Drewitt (guitar). Essentially a free-from feedback jam, with occasional segues in to lyrical/chord motifs provided by Butler, the session laid the groundwork for theband's melodic noise aesthetic. The rehearsal saw the first airing of songs that later became fixtures of early live sets such as "Tarmac", "Violent", and "Girl in the Lava Lamp". This session culminated in the members propping their respective instruments up against amplifiers left at full volume, and exiting the shed in order to spend the rest of the night drinking beer and listening to the resulting wall of noise over several hours.
Through 1989 the Kendal-Baxter-Dorey-Butler lineup rehearsed a 30 minute set of tunes that saw the initial 60s pop aesthetic mesh with a more hardcore approach to instrumentation indicated by the Detroit punk school, especially as practiced by antipodean exponents such as The Saints and Radio Birdman, with occasional forays into Who-esque jams. These rehearsals led to the first show as an entrant in a 'battle of the bands' competition held at Melbourne University in late 1989, supporting a Cosmic Psychos show. While the band clearly won over the punk-oriented crowd with a swift 15 minute set culminating in a self-indulgent display of feed back and instrument destruction, the competition's judges were not so swayed, and The Throwaways failed to make the next heat of the contest.
Over the next six years, The Throwaways were regular fixtures on Melbourne's inner city alternative music scene, playing at venues such as The Tote, The Punters Club, The Great Britain Hotel and the Richmond Club.
Second Lineup
In 1993 Butler left the group, but remained an active supporter and counsel. He was replaced by Mat Charles, whose arrival introduced a new aesthetic strain inspired by Captain Beefheart and early 80s goth/punk practitioners such as the Birthday Party and Einsturzende Neubauten.These influences meshed with three emerging aesthetic streams within the band that saw a move away from its 60s pop origins : avant-garde jazz; Alternative Tentacles art-punk acts such as NoMeansNo and the Dead Kennedys; and metal influences such as Napalm Death and Slayer. The results of this direction, PostMadonna Primadonna, were recorded by producer Simon Grounds and released by Dr Jims records.
The band dissolved in 1995.