THE HARD-ONS
The Hard-Ons hailed from the Sydney (Australia) suburb of
Punchbowl. With Korean, Ceylonese and Yugoslav-Australian
backgrounds they made for a potent and volatile cultural
collision.
Formed in 1981, this group of suburban misfits had to change
their name before most venues would even book them and their
unabashed suburbanism rubbed a raw spot with inner-city radio
stations.
And their impassioned hymns to teen sex would have
shocked most Porky's fans rigid. But they also played rock &
roll like they invented it, a feat that was guaranteed to impress
Sydney's jaded rock audiences.
Peter "Blackie" Black, Ray Ahn and Kesh de Silva were
young - late teens to early twenties - but their track record was
amazing. Their first gig was at a suburban scout hall. It was
broken up by the police.
Their second gig was at a birthday party
held in a church hall. That one ended with the hostess in tears,
her parents incensed and the band being beaten up by the guests.
The legend of this energetic, fast and funny band grew like a
lotus . . .
Along the way there was a Hard-Ons singer appropriately named
Mad Dog, but he left after five shows "because he cut his
wrists while stage-diving," according to Ray. Although,
"he did come back from the hospital and finish the show in
bandages".
The Hard-Ons listed their influences as AC/DC, Kiss, Deep
Purple, Hendrix, Black Sabbath, The Stooges, The Ramones,
Motörhead, Motley Crue, RATT, The Who and a Swedish thrash metal
band called Bathory. In short, they were young, fast and loud.
Their debut EP, Surfin' On My Face (1985), sold well, and their
originals (with titles like Coffs Harbour Blues, Been Had
Before,
Squathouse and Suck 'n' Swallow) proved popular.
While maintaining
a solid underground following in Australia, the Hard-Ons proved
particularly popular in Europe, scoring a Top 10 hit in Spain and
a Top 5 slot in Greece with their 1989 album Love is a Battlefield
of Wounded Hearts, which also made the Top 5 in the NME chart in
the UK.
The band called it a day in 1993, although they reunited in
1997 for a series of gigs and a new EP, Yesterday And Today
(1998).
The band reconvened again in the new millennium (with drummer
Pete Kostic replacing de Silva) and released the Very Exciting!
album in 2003. De Silva returned in 2005 (on vocals) and the band
celebrated their 21st anniversary with Australian and European
tours as a four-piece.
Recordings were made in 2006 with the intention of releasing a
double album of material. This project was eventually released as
two separate albums - the poppy Most People Are a Waste of Time
(2006) and the heavier Most People Are Nicer Than Us (2007), with
subsequent tours around Australia.
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