- By Lauren Strickland
If you say the words “punk scene” and “Canberra” in the same sentence, you’re likely to be met with raised eyebrows and incredulous comments. As a city we often find it difficult to escape our quite, leafy, suburban reputation. Canberra Punk & Beyond, a punk collective formed in the 70s, banded together in order to challenge the notion that Canberra was a hardcore wasteland.
Their event Rock Against Boredom: Revisited, held at the ANU Bar, looked back at some of the punk offerings from the scene’s rich history, with a line up including veterans The Young Docteurs and Capital Punishment, as well as some younger blood, Call to Colour, and, Life & Limb.
Call to Colour kicked-started the night with a neo-70s, bass-driven Rage Against the Machine-lovechild of a set, plus a light show heavily influenced by the rage intro. The four bands that followed let loose a more purist punk performance; Vacant Lot had a sound the Sex Pistols would be proud of, and the Capital Punishment faithful filled the floor (and created the night’s only mosh pit) as the band ripped through punk classics, churning out the Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’, the Sex Pistols’ ‘Pretty Vacant’, as well as a slew of their own punk-rock gems inspired by the aforementioned legends. After the dark and slightly melancholy growl of the Young Docteurs (and the raw sounds of the Real Gone Lovers before them), the sixth and final band Life & Limb bookended the night with their newer-punk sound and a somewhat anti-climatic performance.
Young Docteurs, Commonwealth Park, Canberra, 1980. Photo by Rene Muir
The younger bands lacked the strong vocals that the Canberra Punk & Beyond veterans provided; Life & Limb seemed to be missing their singer entirely. Vacant Lot were a standout, with the lead singer’s deadpan delivery offsetting his absurdist lyrics about the coming household appliance apocalypse – “white goods are coming to take you away.”
Rock Against Boredom: Revisited pitched itself as a retrospective, an opportunity to revisit the golden age of the punk rock scene – the 70s are pretty much where it’s at in punk rock terms, whether you were in Canberra at the time or not. So it was a disappointment that the night offered the audience no sense of progression, bands simply appearing on stage, playing their set, and disappearing without a word. Ultimately Revisited made me sad I wasn’t there the first time around.
