Bazooka Joes

ORIGINS: Lower Blue Mountains, NSW

GENRE: Psychobilly, Rockabilly, Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 2001-2004

 

MEMBERS:

• Murray Sheridan (Vocals, Drums)
• Jordan Thomas (Double Bass, Vocals)
• Mick Fryar (Guitar)
• Unknown (Bass) [2001]
  

RELEASES: 

 

• It's Party Time (2002) - Download Here.
  
• 1. He's in the Money
• 2. My Fat Ford
• 3. Wanna Go Back
• 4. Devils Way Home
• 5. They Played Rock
• 6. Rockabilly Rebel
• 7. One Hour

SUMMARY: Fryar and Sheridan originally played under the name 'Proven Wrong' with a different bassplayer. The band members all knew each other from their time together in Music class at Blaxland High School and Fryar and Thomas had been jamming together from as early as Year 8 or 9. Eventually the trio would start bunking off from school on Wednesday afternoons to write music at Sheridan's house. They got their first show at Channel Cafe through Adam Rawson (Barkode, Normal Day) and played a range of shows around the Penrith / Blue Mountains area over the next couple of years before moving on to other projects.

 

SHOWS: 

• Channel Cafe, Penrith - unknown date, 2001
• Kelts Bar, Blaxland - unknown date, 2002
• Casey's, Sydney - 31st July, 2004
• The Harp, Tempe - 23rd September, 2004
  

ORAL HISTORY:

MICK: It all started in mid high school where the three of us just wanted to jam on Living End covers. That sure happened but then we thought we should try to do some gigs outside of school and that we did. So that's pretty much how it started. The name 'Bazooka Joes' is mentioned in a Simpsons episode. Also, Bazooka Joe was a pro boxer from the '40s, so that's the idea behind our name. 

Mick Fryar (Guitar), CTW Issue 8, 2004

 

MICK: The three of us were all in the same year together at Blaxland High. Same music class... our parents really pushed us all with music, and we were looking for an excuse to wag Wednesday afternoon sport, so we would all go to Murray's house to write and record songs together every Wednesday. Somehow Adam Rawson (who we didn't know at the time) got in touch and offered us a 'real' gig at the Channel Cafe... and it all went from there.

Mick Fryar (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JORDAN: We were just three school mates. We were 16 years old, all in the same year at Blaxland High school. We loved punk, rockabilly and rock and roll and just started jamming at our drummer Murray's house after school.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MURRAY: We were all quite influenced by rockabilly and psychobilly bands and wanted to make our own band that was similar. The Living End were quite big at the time too, which we were all into.

Murray Sheridan, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JORDAN: We once wrote a song called Jatz and Cheese because we ate lots of Jatz and Cheese at rehearsal. Later on we changed the name of this song to Food to be more inclusive of food in general. This was a pretty typical approach to our songwriting stylings at the time.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JORDAN: The first gig we ever did was our friend Phillipa's 21st birthday. She was a few years older than us. It was a hoot. But the first real show we played was down at the Channel Cafe out the back of the Penrith shops.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

MICK: So many chaotic memories... one being we played at the Backdoor with The Casanovas and we threw in their biggest single into our set for that gig. I think Jordan may have been wearing a leather skirt and a balaclava that show also.

Mick Fryar, Noise Levels discussion, 2024

 

 

JORDAN: The most significant gigs were at the Penrith PCYC in the early 2000s. There was a thriving punk scene that we were lucky to be a part of... we had a real sense of community back then. The bands helped each other and we all had some fantastic experiences playing our music our way.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

 

MICK: One of our worst gigs was at the Harp - some nights you're just not on the ball. Our all time worst was a show we did in Kings Cross where about 5 people turned up and it was such a long trip to get there. Jordan had a broken hand so we had a fill-in for that show. In terms of cool gigs, we played to a couple of thousand people at the Fairfield Showground and also got to play to a packed-out and extremely eager crowd at the Springwood Royal. 

Mick Fryar (Guitar), CTW Issue 8, 2004

 

MURRAY: For some reason we were always thinking of strange things to do on stage... One show I wore some old war goggles for the whole set and the other two wore boxer shorts that same gig! Another show at The Backdoor at Panthers, Jordan wore a balaclava, no shirt, and a leather skirt and we made a big plate of fairy bread to consume whilst on stage. Basically we just wanted to have as much fun on stage as we could.

Murray Sheridan, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MICK: We wanted to play really well, had stupid songs, didn't know if I our biggest influences were The Stray Cats, John Farnham or Spy vs. Spy... but we did what we wanted at the time. We actually recorded heaps of stuff but it mostly ended up on just a few copies for us to just listen back to.

Mick Fryar, Noise Levels discussion, 2024

 

JORDAN: Recording our EP was pretty damn easy if I remember correctly. We'd done so many shows together, playing so much of our original music, that when it come to put it to tape it just flowed. Our drummer, Murray, was already becoming quite a good engineer at that stage so he handled much of the production. I just ate a lot of Jatz and cheese.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

MICK: After The Bazooka Joes unofficially disbanded we all played together in various bands and shows... Murray has always popped in and out of Jordan's projects. Murray and I played in a band in 2010 which did a 6 month residency stint in China.

 Mick Fryar, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JORDAN: The band never really formally stopped playing. Sadly in Australia there isn't much support for original music. 99% of the venues favour cover acts and tribute artists. I hate all that stuff. I hate it because of what it does to artists. It encourages creative music types to forgo their own vision in favour of a safe alternative for the pubs, clubs and RSLs. If you want to make any money, most people have to go this way. This is what happened to the Bazooka Joes. We were all sucked into the covers vortex. The money was a little better, but after a while it can kill your dreams. We learned that the hard way. Luckily we are all pursuing creative original music again.

Jordan Thomas, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

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