Filed under: Australia
(22 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5)
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Psychotic Maniacs - A Tribe Of Melbourne EP (Reactor Records, Reactor 19) 1987
This EP was actually recorded in August 1984 but it hadn’t gotten mixed, mastered, and released until at least April 1987. Truly a shame because this album sounded rather ahead of it’s time for having been recorded in 1984: most bands hadn’t played this fast until the later 80’s. This is both the first and last album by Psychotic Maniacs, who were a very short-lived Australian hardcore band who (in my opinion) do not get the attention they deserve. Matter of fact, Australian hardcore as a whole doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Do you see Australia in the categories section? The back cover of this record says what I think was the lifespan of the band, “Psychotic Maniacs, December 1983-October 1984″. Less than a year old!
Some people compare this band to Depression which I don’t think is too far off, but it sounds more like the self-titled LP Depression did, not the later metal shit. Also, I like this singer more than Depression’s singer. Other than that, someone also compared them to Conflict which I don’t think is accurate at all. To me the vocals sound a lot like the singer from Chaos UK.
Liz from the band G.A.S.H. (Girls Against Sexual Hype) also plays bass on this record. The rest of the line-up includes Ronnie- vocals, Obby- guitar, and Scotty- drums. KFTH had this to say about them:
“The story goes, Depression were recording their self titled LP in 1985. They finished recording a lot earlier than expected, so rather than let the recording time go to waste, Smeer of Depression called the Maniacs up at 2am and told them to get down to the studio. The Maniacs, who at the time were living at the infamous “Hardcore House” with Depression and Gash came down to the studio and kicked down six songs from their old live set.”
I don’t think this is true, but I don’t know. Like I mentioned before, the album cover says they split in 1984, and Depression wasn’t recording that album until 1985. So either KFTH is wrong or the cover must be. Regardless, it sucks that this band didn’t last longer or record more. Another thing KFTH kinda messed up on was saying how this EP was referred to by some as “Tribes Of Melbourne” when thats actually just the name of the song, it actually says “A Tribe Of Melbourne” on the label of the vinyl. A small mistake. Technically, I would label this as a self-titled EP since it only has the bands name on the album cover, but that probably hasn’t been done yet because it would just make this band even harder to find.
“I Need The Weed” has got to be THEE best hardcore weed song I’ve ever heard! From what I understand, it’s a song about wanting to smoke weed but not having the funds. Pretty awesome lyrics like “I want to smoke, I want to smoke, I want to smoke today / Smoke smoke smoke smoke smoke my life away”. Being a pothead, I can’t help but relate to it. My favorite part is where he says something like “I need the weed! It’s why Jesus sent me here!”. However, “Wanna Die” is my favorite song on this album, which is weird beause I didn’t think too highly of it when I first heard it, but it grows on you.
Anyways, what’d you think about it?!
Tracks
Meat
Trickery
Tribes of Melbounre
Wanna Die
Self Destruct
I Need the Weed
Posted by: Crass_must_die
the guy on the cover needs a good orthodontist.
it is photo manipulation …
[…] Original post by Crass_must_die and software by Elliott Back […]
this is some good shit here. i heard this record waaaay back when it was first posted at strangereaction and thought nothing of it. hearing it again after such a long time sounds so much better. thanks crass must die
Yes that’s true, this record was recorded during the Depression LP studio session, but it was in 84 not 85, the LP was out in 85 though. Also Liz wasn’t in GASH yet as they didn’t existed in 84, even before Psychotic Maniacs she was in other punk and oi bands, in 82 she played with the Boot Boys and Genocide.
And personnaly i wouldn’t say “most bands hadn’t played this fast until the later 80’s” ; Death Sentence which started at the end of 84 were much faster than that, and even the great Civil Dissident, and this is only for Aussie bands.
As a matter of fact Ronnie the lead singer, was kicked out of Hardcore House, for stealing other residents stuff, apparently no one so him after that…
“this record was recorded during the Depression LP studio session, but it was in 84 not 85, the LP was out in 85 though.”
That’s sorta what I thought may have happened. The Depression LP is like 26 songs so I doubt it was recorded all at once; so they probably just didn’t release it until after a good while.
After reading my post again, I should have specified that Liz was not yet in GASH. I haven’t heard and was not aware of her involvement in the Boot Boys or Genocide though. However, I would love to hear it if you ever felt like posting it =]
When I said most bands didn’t play that fast in 1984, I meant only as far as Australian punk goes. Thankfully, I think you kinda knew what I meant, but I’m sure someone is gonna take that to the ass and bitch about it. It must’ve slipped my mind to consider Death Sentence, but I’ve never really been able to stand that super-duper fast crap anyway. But also, I thought Death Sentence’s first EP not released until 1985 anyway. I do really like Civil Dissident, but I don’t think they were as fast as Psychotic Maniacs; especially if you compare the lengths of their songs. Also, they were a little more sloppy in my opinion. Both great bands though.
Oh yeah and that’s the first time I’ve heard what you said about Ronnie hahaha. That’s hilarious but also sucks ’cause I would’ve loved to hear more of him.
neva hoid of it…… like it