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Music

Why Are Oily Boys So Angry?

You would think writing about all that dark stuff would bum them out.

Photo by Mitch Pinney

Oily Boys are one of the truest incarnations of hardcore punk Sydney has spit out recently. They play fast, obscenely perverse, aggressively disturbing, yet cathartic songs to listen to while daydreaming about shoving your boss’ head under a lawn mower.

It’s not always easy to decipher what frontman Drew Bennett is screaming, but I’m pretty sure it’s mainly relating to violent disfigurement, locking people in his basement, and other murderous scenarios. Considering pretty much all their songs are based on different snuff plots, it’s easy to conclude there might be something pent up somewhere.

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But hey, we’re not here to judge, I enjoy thinking of ways to maim my manager as much as the next person, and I’m pretty sure none of them actually went through with it. With them playing our Noisey party in Sydney this week, we thought it would be a good time to bring up some of their anger issues.

Noisey: Why are you so angry?

Drew Bennett: I guess it’s sort of a mix of the music Oily Boys play and also my everyday life that makes me angry. It’s pretty hard to walk down the street and get away with telling people to fuck off. A lot of people have to internalise things, at least I get to release a lot of that shit in my own life.

Have you ever considered meditating?

No I can’t, I have ADHD, apparently.

What’s the most punk thing you’ve ever done?

I guess probably it was when I was younger and me and another guy who plays bass in Oily Boys, we lived in this place and lost our garbage bins. Then we just stopped taking the rubbish out because we were lazy and then to get rid of it we dug a hole in the back yard and burned it.

Is it annoying when people use punk as an adjective?

A little I guess. I guess punk isn’t really the way you dress or how you talk or how you act, I guess it’s a lifestyle. But I think from an outsider’s perspective it’s just a way they can blame things they don’t understand.

What’s this day job that causes you so much stress?

I work in a corporate sales department. I used to work in a call centre and then somehow winged what I thought was going to be sick promotion—but it just wasn't. Now I just have to tell people bullshit and apologies for things I haven't done.

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What is the worst thing you’ve ever done for money?

When I was about 16 my friend Ben convinced me to get a job with the circus, putting up the tent and bringing it down. We would spend the day putting up this fucking giant circus tent, which is the most fucked thing I’ve ever done, then they said you have to get in the caravan

now and we're going down the coast. So I got put in this caravan with about 15 other workers and then they stopped to get fuel and I just said “fuck this”, got out, and started hitching home.

That’s a legitimately weird story. I really liked your latest EP Majesty. Am I correct in saying that “Tan” is about drowning and having sex with a man before wearing him as a suit?

Yeah it’s kind of about kidnapping your neighbour whose skin is too big and you gotta wear it down so it fits you. Basically the guy falls in love with him so much that he wants to be him. I had been reading Silence of the Lambs a lot so I just ripped off Thomas Harrison and turned it into my own song. That’s blatant plagiarism, everybody will know that now.

Doesn’t writing about all the dark stuff bum you out?

Not really, unfortunately. It should. People will probably be like, well that guy is a fucking freak. But you know you work somewhere and someone gives you the shits and you can't tell people you work with to go fuck themselves. But you fantasise about how much you would like to tell them to fuck off, things give you the shits and you sort of just try to write a nice song but then the more you think about it, it sort of just becomes more dark and more grim and the next thing you’ve done is written another song about killing someone.

Cool. I’ve seen you guys get pretty hectic in your shows, I hope you look after yourself off stage.

Yeah we all do pretty well. We hang out together and are all pretty healthy. I probably drink the most out of everybody and make a dick out of myself that way, but in real life there is no real difference. It’s not as if Oily Boys get together and have this band persona—we just hang out and play shows, and if you see us being dickheads at shows we would probably do the exact same thing hanging out in my lounge room.

Oily boys are playing our Sydney Noisey Party with Reptiles and The Friendsters at Good God on Wednesday the 14th of May.

It’s free but you’ve got to RSVP, do that here.