Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / Black
Sometime in the Spring of 1983 Robert placed an ad for a guitarist in Sydney's Phantom Records on Pitt Street. Phantom Records was the Mecca for vinyl junkies and outcasts of society alike...The ad was answered quite quickly by a skinny English lad by the name of Andy who had just taken up his rock and roll weapon of choice: guitar - in the style of John Mckay, from Siouxsie and The Banshees.
Robert and Andy sparked upon contact and the chemistry was perfect. They wanted to create something 'unique' to Sydney at the time - a Punk / Gothic fusion, without the fashion bullshit. They had pretty similar influences, ranging from X-MAL DEUTSCHLAND ('Fetish' was on rotation almost 24hrs a day), UK DECAY, BAUHAUS, SKELETAL FAMILY and SIOUXSIE and The BANSHEES to Dead Kennedys, T.S.O.L. - Punk/Post-Punk mutants with a melodic edge. They were no virtuosos, and had no great expectations - they just wanted to play the kinda music they liked...
Robert went to Kingsgrove North High School at the time where he found Tanya "Busty", who wanted to be in a band as well - and she was a Banshees fan. She was dragged along to the first rehearsal at Sydney's Now Studios - and thus the Distorted Silence was born, in embryonic form... Andy had brought along a tape recorder with 'Spellbound' from the Banshees, hooked a microphone up to the P.A. and pressed 'play'... Andy at least vaguely knew the chords, Tanya stood around trying to look cool and Robert started butchering his bass using a distortion pedal through his 5-watt amp. Before they knew it, they had blown up the P.A. and were banned from rehearsing at Now.
Not the best of starts... but, undeterred they booked their next rehearsal somewhere else. Tanya had already lost interest and so Robert began looking for another singer, and drummer, while Andy was away in England for a few weeks. The drum chair was filled by Margie - a dedicated Birthday Party fan who just wanted to smash the drums. Also, she was instantly likeable for her humour and attitude. A vocalist was harder to find, but eventually Robert found Lissa at school - and though shy and withdrawn she proved to be a damn good shrieker when she had enough vodka and orange juice in her.
The band rehearsed, wrote a few originals and learnt the complete 'Track Rehearsals' bootleg material from the Banshees (recorded in 1977) - it was easy to play (even for us!) and filled a large part of their set.The Distorted Silence never gigged around town...but played a few parties for friends. In late 1984 it all started to fall apart. Robert left before it was discovered his bass talents were limited to one string. However, he already had another band in the works, by the name of Dusk Furrow...
Dusk Furrow originally was to have 2 (!) bass players, a guitarist, singer and drummer, aping local heroes BOX OF FISH. As well as the same influnces that the Distorted Silence sported, he wanted it to be much darker and more abrasive. Robert had met a girl called Sabina through Lissa's connection to the ill reputed 'Erskenville Mob' - she wanted to play bass but did not have one. No problem. Robert simply lend her his and was therefore forced to take over vocals...(or should we say "screaming his head off"!).
A school mate by the name of Paul was brought in as a tribal-style drummer. He actually listened secretly to Michael Jackson, Wham, Devo and Split Enz as well as a lot of Funk and early Rap, but let's not hold that against him. He brought a different feel to the band's material... for the better. Fortunately, he also adjusted to the music!
Dusk Furrow played at the last Distorted Silence party gig without a guitarist. Andy liked what he saw and after being pestered by Robert for some time, agreed to join. The Distorted Silence dragged its corpse along for a couple of rehearsals with a new female bass player but they seemed to have purchased a ticket to nowhere - and with Andy leaving the band became nothing but a fond memory of their youth. They sadly never recorded any material in the studio and the few originals they did are lost forever to the sands of time...
Dusk Furrow on the other hand embarked upon rehearsals, and their set soon included a lot of original material, along with two covers (a crazy version of the Peter Gunn Theme with made up lyrics from Box Of Fish song titles and a Sex Pistols tune in fine D.F. tradition). They were gigging on a regular basis from the end of 1984 through to 1986, supporting all their favourite bands around town. They played with Box Of Fish, the highly under-rated These Cars Collide, Trench Gashes, Southern Fried Kidneys...to name a few. Around this time Robert also started his fanzine "Grunge It Severely" wanting to document what was happening around them.
By early 1986 though, the band had almost run its course. Andy had also started playing in a band by the name of Toys Went Berserk - and things were starting to go well for them. Robert wanted to do something heavier - more along the lines of Discharge, Terveet Kädet and Crucifix (ie. European hardcore punk). Sabina was the first to leave though - wanting a change of muscial direction, she took a break and went off on a long overseas holiday. In came Martin (a friend/fan of the band) to replace her, but by then it was too late. The spirit was gone. Martin played a couple of parties and two gigs, before it all fell apart. Maybe they should have just taken a break...but it ended in a break-up.
Andy continued with Toys Went Berserk, who became quite respected, gathering fans across the globe - and rightly so. They lasted six years, from '86-'92, recording 3 albums and touring the States. He then moved to London with Toys singer Coo, where they lived for 12 years, before returning Down Under once again. Must be the climate. He and Coo have had several bands since TWB, including Feast and Houdini (in London)and current studio project Houdini Twins and swamp/voodoo-styled Rocket To Memphis...and a few other bands stationed in Perth - which allow his busy work-o-holic schedule. His bands are worthwhile checking out!
Sabina, upon returning from Europe, did a short stint in a 60's garage band... before hooking up with Robert once again in the Stone Puppets (see below). She later played with Greg Brady Overdrive, Vanilla Chainsaws,Harpoon...Two Pin Hot Wire and Rollcage...and will probably always be the quiet, creative one.
Paul kept working as a car mechanic (with Italian Mafia connections?) in Sydney's Kingsgrove but continued to take drum lessons and listened more openly to Funk...last seen, he was getting bad haircuts and still wearing jogging pants without shame - even to his own wedding! He does not drum anymore...but hey, maybe his kids will one day.
After Dusk Furrow, Robert formed the chaotic (and almost weekly changing band members) group Nuclear Disgrace with a crazy but loved Sydney punk scenester from Spain by the name of Fernando (R.I.P.)and Rick from the Imatient Virgins (who later went on to drum for The Mothers)...who became Total Totallity...who became Dripping Breath...playing one gig and a couple of wild parties...with a special invite from Newtown police when they refused to turn down the noise. Dripping Breath imploded in a heap of cider corpses and glue sniffers...
Eventually Robert decided it was time to get organised again, and in 1987, he started Stone Puppets. Featuring Sabina on bass and 'I-switched-to -guitar' Martin (both ex-Dusk Furrow), as well as Brenden (drummer) and Chris (Sabina's guitar whizz kid cousin). The band did quite a few gigs around Sydney and there are still rumours about that they were offered a tour of Europe with Bad Religion at one stage - but they instead thought it would be a better idea to disband (in mid-1989) at the height of their "career". Stone Puppets released an EP record on a German label (Gift Of Life) and copies have been spotted and sold on German Ebay for a mere one Euro. WHAT?!? Not hundreds of bucks?!? Does this vouch for quality? No! Of course not!
Robert these days resides (since 2003) again in Germany...as a punk rock pensioner in a 'Charlie Harper' retirement home Bonn, Bad Godesberg...being a mere dedicated observer of bands/music instead of taking up an active role. He indoctrinates/mind bends school children with Punk Rock tunes so the legacy of good music is insured in the youth of today...some even bought copies of the Dusk Furrow cd! Should he ever front a band again- you migh read about it here.
What ever happened to Martin? Well, Robert saw him last years and years ago in Centrepoint doing the Christmas shopping with his wife, still working for the Australian Tax Department and wanting to get a new band going. We sort of lost touch...Sabina these days works for a big Sydney magazine...
HEY KIDDIES - HAVE YOU HEARD THE LATEST NEWS?
Dusk Furrow independently released two tapes of material in their lifetime - and we can't say it made much of an impact on the music scene at large! However, through the wonders of modern technology, and myspace, you can now hear what they sounded like, for yourselves.
In 2006 Andy and Robert decided to release a limited edition CD called 'Step Into The Light' in order to secure the band a notch of the infamy they deserve.
(UPDATE) May 2007: the CD has sold out. We might consider doing a CD-R version with photocopied covers for those who still want to hear our material.
Thanks for checking us out - and feel free to make friends.