Feedtime (Aus. Aberrant) 1985
Cooper-S (Aberrant/Rough Trade) 1988
Shovel (Aberrant/Rough Trade) 1988
Suction (Aberrant/Rough Trade) 1989
Descended from pre-hardcore punk and electric blues, this Australian trio offers a fast and loud journey down Tylenol territory, playing it dark, dank, dense and devastatingly simple. "Ha Ha," the first track on Feedtime, pulses with deepness, guitar sawing in repetitive circles like the mating call of a didgeridoo, with vocals that are pure low-frequency growl. The grumbled "I've got a Pontiac/gasoline/Pontiac/gasoline" of "Fastbuck" evokes images of Big Black's "Kerosene" with high-intensity drumming and hard, repeating chords. (The guitarist often plays with a bottleneck, which sounds pretty amazing when cranked up to eleven.) An urge to experiment and fuse mismatched genres with each other leads to a stylistic square dance, as blues pairs off with punk and metal meets mantra. Everything is shaken down until it pounds. Even an air of shimmery progressive folk crops up in the vocals of "All Down." Listening to Feedtime is like sandblasting your ear canals, but it's worth the agony.
If your tweeters blew out last week, no problem. You won't miss them at all until you get to Shovel, where the same pounding sense of repetition slams guitar chords at your face but adds a touch of country warp and twang on the title cut and a crisp upfront drumbeat to the band's repertoire. Like Pere Ubu or Suicide or any number of bands that people didn't know how to appreciate in their time, Feedtime are original, making music that is totally compiled from familiar bits but given enough of a twist to make it the band's own.
Cooper-S applies Feedtime's noisy shredder to cover versions, blessing the Rolling Stones ("Street Fighting Man," "Play with Fire" and two more), Animals ("We've Gotta Get Out of This Place"), Beach Boys ("Fun Fun Fun"), Ramones ("Loudmouth"), Slade ("Hear Me Calling") and others with its tuneless spirited roar, feedback slide experiments and an occasionally untuned bass. Without casting aspersions on Feedtime, it's safe to assume that none of the songs' authors would be able to recognize their handiwork in these rumbling renditions.
Feedtime bid farewell to the world with Suction, an all-original swansong that (for more than half the record) runs tidy, occasionally tuneful songs through the usual floor-scraping guitar noise, adding such previously tested accents as harmonica, horns, acoustic guitar and femme vox. (The barking canines on "Drag Your Dog," however, are new.) While the merits of balancing oppression and allure depends on your perspective towards ear abuse, there's no questioning Feedtime's purposeful expression. (The US Suction CD also contains the Feedtime LP.)
[Andrea 'Enthal/Ira Robbins]
taken from trouser press
I've seen you guys fall apart at the Palace knowing I'd see you kick every one's arse through the floorboards at the next gig. I love the crank it up and go and you proved you got your chops with Cooper S
gidday, lots of good memories of seeing you guys in the mid 80's at the palace and other places with the painkillers supporting( phil died afew years back ). fractured is still a fav
Hey there!!! The rockingest rock band of all bands that rock, LUBA are rocking out at the Harp hotel and the Sydney city RSL. So come along and rock on with us.
howdy feedtime, long time no see, its
great to have you join my pack, im a
longtime fan & ex-neighbour of your
bass-player, remember Darley St. i
used tolive in the old house across
the street,i was a friend of headboys
he would probably be thrilled to find you guys here as well, so hi from him to. drop in anytime, love yr stuff...
...peace & lots a love...bruce
here
thnaks for the absolute honour of the addy. I played Once in a band called BLOODSUCKING FRWAKS b4 this that played with you and THE DAMNED and you guys kicked serious arse (as expected) have a great NYE 2007 and dont be a stranger to our lame fuck city, yeah?
