Australian Radio Legend Phil MacDougall Shares His Top Punk Records from Down Under

Images: Benjamin Thomson

This article originally appeared on Noisey Australia.

Melbourne radio station PBS is celebrating 35 years on air and for thirty-four of those, Phil ‘The Prince of Darkness’ MacDougall has been presenting the best punk, garage, industrial, and goth music. From its early days broadcasting above St Kilda’s Prince of Wales Hotel to it’s new location in Easy St, Collingwood, PBS has been a staunch supporter of Australian music, and Phil with his shows Classical Gas, Road Runner, and the long running Sunglasses After Dark has been there championing Aussie punk and garage.

MacDougall has one of the best and most comprehensive collections of Australian punk and garage records in the world and to celebrate his time at PBS and the station’s 35 years broadcasting, we asked him to pick his top ten Australian punk singles.

Noisey: What was your first involvement with PBS?
Phil MacDougall: PBS started broadcasting in December 1979, and early 1980 I went down to a PBS meeting to see if I could do a show. After a couple of meetings, I [managed to get] a show from midnight to 2 AM…

Had you had much radio experience before this?
No! I only went down [to the initial meeting] because my friend wanted to do a reggae show. I never thought I’d have a big future in radio, it was never a goal of mine and I never thought I’d still be here after 34 years.

I did the midnight show for six months or so, and the progressed into other shows at better timeslots.

Where did your on air name the Prince of Darkness come from?
Bill Walsh from the first (and the best!) lineup of the Cosmic Psychos; he worked at PBS for about 10 years as our accountant.

Bill Walsh was an accountant?!
[Laughs.] He’s very good with money! So in the early 90s he used to see me come in with my box of records for Sunglasses After Dark, and he just nicknamed me the Prince of Darkness. So you can thank Bill Walsh for that.

This was all before the internet, so back in those early days—how were you sourcing music?
Mainly going to record stores, of course. I would also make trips to Sydney once or twice a year; I used to go up there to do a record buy. But yeah, I would go to many different record shops in Melbourne. Melbourne’s had so many great record shops over the last 30 years, like Missing Link, Au-Go-Go Records, and so on

What are some of the more memorable guests you’ve had on the show?
The Cosmic Psycho’s came in a bit over the years. Jello Biafra came in on his second tour of Australia, his spoken word tour.

What’s he like to interview?
He’s really intelligent, you have to be on your guard when you’re talking to someone like Jello.

One of the funniest interviews [I’ve done] is Captain Sensible from The Damned, he came and joined me on the show for an hour. He brought his Japanese girlfriend too, and kept referring to her throughout the show. Over the years I’ve had bands sign records, and he signed one of my Damned records by writing “I love Captain” next to lead vocalist Dave Vanian’s mouth.

PBS has been a big supporter of local punk music, the early Cup Day Kaos shows were very punk heavy. Did you have a hand in them?
I went to them! But PBS has always supported Australian underground bands heavily. When PBS started, we used to have five to ten punk shows a week, but that’s not so much the case anymore. Punk was really strong on PBS in the 80s, and we had a rotation of ten announcers who all came in to talk about punk.

Every ten years there seems to be a new flock of kids that put a new slant on punk music, and Eddy Current Suppression Ring came up about ten years ago and that spurred on Ausmuteants, Wet Blankets—there’s hundreds of bands—I call them the Post-Eddy-Current Suppression bands.

I’ve interviewed plenty of unknown Australian bands that have just gone nowhere, and I really enjoy that also. I think it’s really important to interview those bands, sure I’ve interviewed many big name alternatives, but PBS has always supported the unknown.

It’s almost like a historical document.
Yeah, I had the Yard Apes from Ballarat in the other night. The whole band came, as I think they were really excited to be interviewed live on air and being able to talk about their music.

Before the internet, print interviews had a mystique, but now there isn’t as much of an impact for them—but being on the airwaves, people still get a kick out of that.
The Internet has changed the whole music game quite dramatically, there are good and bad things about it. I don’t download anything. I hate MP3 files—and on my show I play 80 per-cent vinyl. I do play Melbourne CDs as the smaller bands can’t afford to press to vinyl.

“I’m Stranded” – The Saints (Fatal, 1974)
The first punk single! Released in September 1976 on their own Fatal records label one month before the Damned’s “New Rose” single in the UK. The Saints got their first!

"Burn My Eye" Ep – Radio Birdman (Trafalgar, 1976)
This was released in and edition of 1000 copies and available by mail order only. All four songs were written by guitarist Deniz Tek. “Burn My Eye” and “I-94” are Australian classic punk songs.

"Happy Birthday" – The Boys Next Door (Missing Link, 1980)
One of the last seven-inch singles released under the name The Boys Next Door before they changed to the Birthday Party. This was actually also released as the B-side to the "Mr Clarinet" single by the Birthday Party. The classic sound/interplay of Nick’s voice and Rowland’s guitar work can be heard which would go on to define the sound of the Birthday Party on the Prayer on Fire and Junkyard LPs.

"Lead Me Astray" – Cosmic Psychos (Mr. Spaceman, 1987)
Aussie punk at its finest. Released in 1987 on Mr. Spaceman Records and features the best and definitive Psychos line-up: Ross Knight (bass, vocals), Peter ‘Dirty’ Jones (guitar, vocals), and Bill Walsh (drums, vocals).

"Out of the Unknown" – Died Pretty (Citadel, 1984)
The band and the label helped to pave the way for paisley/garage underground from Australia into Europe that also included the Hoodoo Gurus, the Stems, and the Screaming Tribesman.

"Swampland" – Scientists (Augogo, 1988)
The band had released two singles and an LP but it was this third seven-inch and a new line up based in Sydney with Kim Salmon that put them on the map internationally. On par with the Cramps and the Gun Club.

"Walking About" – Venom P Stinger (Aberrant, 1988)
The affects of the Birthday Party were still lingering in Melbourne when Venom P Stinger went into Silkwood Studios in North Fitzroy in October 1987 and record all 2:36 minutes of this noise single. Ick Turner had come from the Sick Things and the Moodists and along with Jim White would form the Dirty 3. RIP Dugald Mackenzie.

"My Pal" – God (Augogo, 1987)
Debut single by tour teenage punks with attitude. Equal parts Spinal Tap, Kiss, and Dictators. This song becomes more popular as the years roll on.

“Get Up Morning” – Eddy Current Suppression Ring (Corduroy, 2004)
The debut Eddy Current single. I used to go down to Corduroy warehouse in Highett and buy records and Mikey used to work there cutting records. I got a hold of this there. I fucking love this band!

"Wipe That Shit Eating Grin Off Your Fucking Face" – The Smith Street Band (Poison City, 2015)
I wasn’t in to these guys early on as it had a more folk punk feel but these two songs are a real up yours and fuck you to Tony Abbot. It’s a really great punk single. I really like the new album. There are still some folk elements but it’s a lot more hardcore punk then their first two albums.

From May 11 - 24 the PBS Radio Festival celebrates 35 years of broadcasting to Melbourne and beyond.