Ageing punks take a stroll down memory lane

BY ALEX MCDONALD

April 3, 1977 is a date that’s lodged in Hugh Liney’s brain. The Saints were performing at Paddington Town Hall alongside legendary proto-punks, Radio Birdman. The crowd that had gathered that night was more diverse ‘ and three times larger ‘ than at any previous Birdman show.
As always, the band were decked out in ironic military wear. But the joke was lost on one punter, who spat at Birdman singer Rob Younger all night. Younger responded by leaping from the stage and punching him in the face.
The band’s rendition of Kraftwerk’s Radioactivity was a highlight, Liney says, as was the moment when the crowd began hurling their seats on to the street.
“It was a riot basically,” says Liney, a music producer who has created a podcast to relive the music scenes that developed along Oxford Street in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
Liney goes on: “There was a little bit of blood splattered on the wall. I think there were about 1000 people there, which was huge for those days. And the Saints and Birdman didn’t actually like each other.
“It was loud, too. It was really the first time that many people had heard loud, thrash, big chord punk.”
Avant-garde filmmakers used the Paddington Town Hall for screenings throughout the 1960s, as did psychedelic lightshow pioneers like Ellis D Fogg. Two decades later it became the birthplace for the city’s rave scene, when the first RAT parties were put on there.
These musical strands are brought together in Liney’s Rock’n’Roll Walk of Fame and Shame, which can be downloaded for free from the council website.
Funded by the City of Sydney, the podcast puts a new spin on the historical tourist walk ‘ giving anyone with an iPod and a passing interest in Australian music, a taste of the sounds that emerged from forgotten clubs like the Funhouse, Beatle Village and French’s Tavern.
“Almost everybody started there,” says Liney of French’s, now Betty’s Soup Kitchen. “Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil. Everybody.”
French’s was one of many wine bars that doubled as a music venue, which shows the current small bar buzz is nothing new.
While researching the various bands, Liney conscripted his friend Martin Plaza from Mental as Anything, as well as Rob Younger (“He’s from Wollongong like me. He’s still fit and active”) and Andy Anderson from the Missing Links.
Radio National’s Tim Ritchie also pitched in to discuss the dance music which still dominates the Oxford Street strip.
“Jac Vidgen started [the RAT parties] in the ’80s and they were just extraordinary,” says Liney.
“The dance culture was unheard of and the disc jockeys did some fascinating things.
“They were the forerunner of the whole dance and club scene’ Although apparently it’s fading.”
One of the few remaining nightspots on the music trail is the Paddington Green, which hosted a bunch of pivotal electronic acts in the early ’80s.
Severed Heads played there, as did Scattered Order and Makers of the Dead Travel Fast.
“I know there are a few scenes in Newtown like it now, but we’re talking 1978,” Liney says.
Besides being the most prominent gay nightspot on the strip, the Albury Hotel was another key location for local music.
“There was a very famous band called the Mangrove Boogie Kings and they were so big at the Albury Hotel. They were also at French’s a lot.”
Liney is now working on a similar podcast for King Street in Newtown and has plans for further musical excavations.
While he acknowledges that council’s push to re-establish a cluster of small bars in the city is admirable, he doubts whether a truly eclectic music scene would thrive under the current planning regime.
“Everybody I speak to in the music industry can’t find a gig,” he says. “Usually it’s because of noise restrictions. None of this punk, psychedelia or dance music could now be launched because of noise laws.
“But I think the council’s push to get smaller licensed venues back is definitely going to help.”