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Pick Your Kings: Australia’s Best New Punk Bands Choose Their Favourite Aussie Punk

The supports for the upcoming Iceage shows present some classic OZ punk You Tube clips.

In case you missed it, Iceage are coming to Australia for the first time and playing some free shows in Sydney and Melbourne. That’s reason enough to get pretty freaking excited. But what sets the excitement meter to another level is that supporting the Danes are some of Australia’s best punk bands. Melbourne gets the sizzle of Exhaustion and the boogie fuelled power of Power while the Sydney show, presented by Pistonhead, is a barrage of Low Life, Housewives and Ausmuteants. Iceage or no Iceage these are already some great punk shows.

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To celebrate we’ve asked each band for their favourite Aussie punk You Tube videos and the choices are as killer as the lineups. From the legendary Venom P Stinger and sleaze of Lubricated Goat, to the Sharpie influenced La Femme, the more obscure Young Identities to newer upstarts Oily Boys this is all Aussie punk gold.

Power

La Femme “Chelsea Kids”

Nathan Williams: From what I can gather the singer, Chane Chane, wasn’t a nice boy. He sharpened himself in some pretty rough areas of Melbourne and came out shining and free. I’m guessing he would have gotten something special outta watching Rose Tattoo in the late 70s while wearing Cuban heels and his girlfriend’s lipstick. ‘Pretty’ tough, right? That dichotomy gets me off. La Femme are at home between Bowie’s extraterrestrial Aladdin Sade and the savage Stooges. Those peacock dance moves and swagger come from someone confident not just in themselves but those who around them. And the band can boogie! They look great in those ridiculous outfits. Style! This is an ode to the glamorous rock and roll of their alien forefathers and the mothership. All filtered through sweat, broken teeth, Melbourne Bitter and love. Take me back.

Low Life

Oily Boys “Suffer Beach”

Mitch Tolman: I’m biased. These boys are my brothers but I also think they're mad. I'm strangely proud and quite patriotic when it comes to Australian punk. I think we do it well and bring a lot to the table. Most Aussie punk bands have obsessions with being transgressive and breaking molds, being crass and self-aware. But hating themselves in general and having that self-flagellating approach is something very distinct. To me Oily Boys epitomize this.

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They are constantly penetrating their way though a range of taboos. “Suffer Beach” has got it all; solid riffs, a little breakdown, a bit of flange. If there were an Oily Boys tramp, he'd have the face of Aggro, the voice of toad fish Rebecchi, the rollerblading ability of Drazic and the ‘fuck off/ I'll kick ya head’ attitude of Alf Stewart.

They are currently out of action but this band is resilient and endless. I love them.

Exhaustion

Lubricated Goat “Nerve Quake”

Per Bystrom: Rich played me this record the very first time he came over to my house for dinner. Then he passed out on the floor. Few men can pull off full leathers. Stu Spasm can. At the end of the listening session a cop car pulled up and broke up a riot at the Vic Market over the road. I believe we had mashed potato that night.

Housewives

Young Identities “New Trends”

Will Harley: Brisbane’s Young Identities existed for barely a year before changing their name to Kicks and their sound to goth. They probably only ever played a handful of shows to an audience of no more than a few dozen friends and peers. Fortunately for us they left behind two EPs which, for our money, contain some of the crudest and nastiest (i.e. best) low-budget punk to emerge from anywhere in the universe, ever. The fact that they managed to do this before any of the band members reached the legal drinking age in Australia just makes it that much better. We listened to and talked a lot about the Young Identities around the time we were forming our own band thirty years later.

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Ausmuteants

Venom P Stinger “Walking About”

Jake Robertson: This is the best punk drumming in Australia. It’s an absolute banger of a track. I rip it off in a few Ausmuteants songs. I’m pretty happy about the Venom P Stinger reissues. They are on constant high rotation. Sick Things are mad too. Check them out.

Noisey presents Iceage in Sydney and Melbourne on their first Australian tour:

Wednesday September 17 - Goodgod Small Club, Sydney, with Housewives, Low Life and Ausmuteants . Presented by Pistonhead Lager . FREE ENTRY RSVP HERE

Thursday, September 18 - Hugs & Kisses, Melbourne, with Exhaustion and Power. RSVP has closed.

Related reading:

Iceage Belong to No One

One of the Best New Australian Punk Bands Isn't Even That Punk

An Interview With Ausmuteants