Ten under-remembered Australasian rock bands

By STEVE MASCORD

FROM AC/DC and Rose Tattoo to Boss and Mortal Sin, there’s no lack of Aussie hard rock and metal bands that we could all pluck out of the air if challenged at a party.

But no matter how much we fancy ourselves as experts in this niche topic, there are equally dozens that we have probably forgotten, or only think about every couple of years.

Here at Hot Metal we want to do more than bring you news and interviews – we want to jog a few memories too. 

So here, in no particular order with no specific criteria, are 10 bands that we would not be so bold as to call ‘forgotten’ .. let’s go for ‘under-remembered by some’.

MR UNIVERSE

If you were a denizen of Springfields in Kings Cross in the early nineties, you would have seen Mr Universe a few times. At the time, the similarity to Urge Overkill was not so obvious. But today it stands out like dogs bollocks. Lovely textured rock, with soaring choruses. As far as we can tell, they just put out one EP in October 1993, Massive Appeal.

DEFRYME

Another grunge era band, Defryme had considerable more chart success than Mr Universe. In fact, their album Pure Killer reached number four on the ARIA chart in 1994. Also unlike Mr Universe, these Melbourne rockers have been active as recently as this year, planning to release an EP called Starkiller “because Sony won’t let us release Pure Killer.”

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

The Living Daylights were famous for being fronted by Denise DeMarchi, sister of the Baby Animals’ Suze. They released one album in 1994 and some singles. Also in the band was Boyd Wilson, a keyboardist and vocalist who was in a Perth band with Denise, her sister and two future members of Johnny Diesel and the Injectors (including Mark Lizotte). Both Boyd and Denise continue to record and perform live.

TEMPLE GODS

Temple Gods are probably best remembered as Bob Spencer’s project after he left The Angels. The line-up was rounded out by Liam Shiels on vox, John Conomos on guitar, Simon Bailey on drums and Rick Grant on bass. This was muscular seventies-influenced rock, with an EP and an LP released. All gun players, some still involved in music (including Bob, obviously) and others not,

BOMBERS

The Bombers are fondly remembered by many Aussie hard rock fans. The name came from the presence of legendary Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster (a Lancaster Bomber was a cultural trope then, perhaps not so much now), who we lost in 2021, and Quo drummer John Coghlan. Also present was The Angels’ John Brewster, soaring vocalist Tyrone Coates, guitar slinger Steve Crofts and, when Coghlan wasn’t around, skinsman Peter Heckenberg. The boys released one studio album, Aim High, in 1990. Coates has recently refloated a version of the band.

BORED!

Bored! was a groundbreaking buzzsaw of a Melbourne band with strong punk leanings. They were initially active between 1987 and 1990 and have reformed a few times since with different line-ups. The band splintered in 1991 with two members leaving to form Powder Monkeys. You’ll find Bored!’s 2000 album Chunks on streaming services. An outfit that has now taken on legendary status – ahead of their time

THE BURNING ORPHANS

This group we know very little about aside from the fact they are Australian, they put out their only record in 1995 and they are actually far punkier than Bored! That and we have that CD, self-titled with six tracks. “Freddie” is very Janes Addiction influenced. If you know any more about them, leave a comment below!

THE D4

A mainstream band across the ditch, The D4 are famous for garage rock anthems like “Rock’n’Roll Motherfucker” and “Exit To The City”. They put out two albums, 6Twenty (2001) and Out Of My Head (2005), played multiple Big Day Outs at a time when The Datsuns and Shihad were breaking new ground for Kiwi rockers overseas and reformed recently for a New Zealand tour.

PUSH PUSH

Named after the Cinderella song of the same name, Push Push made their singer Mikey Havoc famous in the Shaky Isles. They released their only album, A Trillion Shades Of Happy, in 1992 and opened for AC/DC the same year. Push Push announced to the crowd at one of these shows there was a fire under the stage – causing their set to be cut short. But this was not before they blew up an amp which impacted Ackadacka’s show. Perhaps best described as a Kiwi Screaming Jets, given their diversity and anarchic nature – but they were way funkier.

DEAD FLOWERS

Another venerated Kiwi act that never received its due on the other side of the Tasman. Named after the Rolling Stones song, this grunge era act recorded their debut album Skin Of A Stone at Phil Rudd’s studio. In 1994 they played New Zealand’s first Big Day Out. The follow-up album was called Sweetfish. The awesome song below is from 1998’s eponymous offering,