About Me
"New Archetypes? It's a little wordy, but so was Rage Against The Machine."
--Tom Morello
"New archetypes are born from mutations of existing ones. This is following the ‘Prime Directive’ as specified in the Genesis of the Torah as ‘Copulate and Multiply’."
-- Max Sandor
FRIENDS since birth, Screamin' E. Hernia and Karl Richard-Marx formed New Archetypes in 2006 when it became apparent that Karl's musical skills combined with fledgling guitarist, filmmaker and gutter poet Hernia's songs could develop into something of a new archetype. In a rehearsal room in their death-metal friend Billy's warehouse flat above a smash repair joint in Redfern, they hammered away at their craft, throwing in covers by The Stooges, The Beasts of Bourbon and The Birthday Party, Karl accompanying variously on guitar, bass and a horrific optical theremin shaped like a baby doll's head with red glowing eyes, which he ran through all manner of effects to synthesise the rotting belch of the devil. Hernia's raspy screaming and shouting was terrifying. One evening, during a particularly bone-powdering jam, they earnt their first $5, when a tripping metal head who hung out at the flat stuck the money under the door, with a note pleading with them to stop making him feel like he was dying.
Skip forward a few months, and Karl is at a party getting hammered. His brother Hans Regretel and friend The Naked Drewth mention they want to form a band, Hans being a bassist/guitarist, Drew being an aspiring drummer (in that he couldn't play, but liked the idea). Karl and Hernia decided this mix of experience and inexperience (or innocence?) had an attractive Blakean undertone. Besides, this way there'd be more people to chip in for bourbon.
Soon after, New Archetypes rehearsed together for the first time, The Naked Drewth having his first ever bash at a kit (he now gets lessons from Mr Bungle's Danny Heifetz). With them was friend Ted Frostbite, an eccentric punk and pipe organ virtuoso, who'd performed recitals in places like the Sydney Town Hall and the Opera House. His father was also a keyboard player for she who played Leather Tuscadero in the TV show Happy Days (yes, her), as well as The Who's John Entwistle, Kiki Dee and Robert Palmer's early-'70s group Vinegar Joe. Despite Ted's extreme abilities in the art of fine music, he aimed for total chaos. The formula had been written. New Archetypes were complete.
Their first public New Archetypes gig took place January 5, 2007, at the Lansdowne Hotel and was cut short after just two songs because Screamin' E. Hernia had already been in a fight with a bouncer and got kicked out. The band had to sneak him back in to play (see blog for full report). They were compensated by the venue with unlimited free beer.
Prepare yourself for NA.
It will be loud.
It will be brutal.
It will be primitive.
You will become an addict.
NA beckons.
