Spudgun

ORIGINS: Cranebrook, NSW

GENRE: Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1997-2003

MEMBERS:

• Simo (Guitar)
• Blake (Drums) 
• Dave Renshaw (Vocals, Bass) [1998-2000, 2000-2003]
  
• Cameron 'Budge' Budd (Bass) [1999-2003]
• Ben Procobis (Guitar) [2000-2002]
• Steven (Guitar) [2003]
  
• Ross (Vocals, Guitar) [1997]
  

RELEASES: 

• Demo (1998)
• 1. Rain or Shine
• 2. Shun Away
• 3. Light My Fire
• 4. Humpty Dumpty was a Homeboy

•  Get Some Pudding Up Ya (2000) - Download Here.
  
• 1. Escape
• 2. Mass Debation
• 3. Gravity Filter
• 4. Cops Are Tops
• 5. Good Times
• 6. G.F.U.
• 7. Ya Mama Stinks Like Shit

• Up to Scratch (2001) - Download Here.
  
• 1. The Love of My Life
• 2. EFTPOS
• 3. Special
• 4. Michelle
• 5. Lasers So Hard
• 6. Nead
• 7. Smash the State
• 8. Good Times
• 9. Spinout
• 10. Life on the Same Page
• 11. Hate 

• Unreleased Album (2003)
   

SUMMARY: Spudgun came together in 1997 as a group of friends interested in music. Their lineup fluctuated at various points, at one point Dave parted ways with the band for several months before returning as singer again. The most stable lineup being as a 5-piece between 2000 and 2002 after the addition of Ben Procobis as a second guitarist. The band stopped playing around 2002 as members moved on to other projects.

 

 

SHOWS:

• Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - Saturday 10th January, 1998
• Axolotl, Werrington Youth Centre, Werrington - 20th March, 1999
  
• Cambridge Park Primary School Hall - Saturday 24th April, 1999
• St Paul's Anglican Church, Emu Plains - Friday 20th August, 1999
• Emu Plains Community Centre, Emu Plains - Saturday 9th October, 1999
• St Paul's Anglican Church, Emu Plains - Friday 26th November, 1999
• Emu Plains Community Centre, Emu Plains - Saturday 4th December, 1999
• Judgement Day Skate Fest, Judge's Carpark, Penrith - Saturday 8th April, 2000
• Surveyor's Creek Hall, Glenmore Park - Saturday 15th April, 2000
• Blaxland Tavern, Blaxland - Thursday 18th May, 2000
• The Cowshed, Wentworthville - Friday 26th May, 2000
• Castlereagh Hall, Castlereagh - Saturday 24th June, 2000
• Evan's Theatre, Panthers Leagues Club, Penrith - Saturday 24th June, 2000
• Meredith's Birthday Party, Hazelbrook - 1st July, 2000
  
• Puddstock, PCYC, Penrith - Thursday 13th July, 2000 
• The Whole, Parramatta - Friday 21st July, 2000
• Prankfest 2, Civic Centre, Katoomba - Saturday 26th August, 2000
• Rock the Lympix, Parramatta Town Hall, Parramatta - Sunday 3rd September, 2000
• Xposed, Fairfield Amphitheatre, Fairfield - Thursday 14th September, 2000
• St Paul's Anglican Church, Emy Plains - Friday 6th October, 2000
  
• Great Western Bar, Penrith - Wednesday 25th October, 2000
  
• Great Western Bar, Penrith - Wednesday 1st November, 2000
  
• Old Council Chambers, Penrith - Friday 3rd November, 2000
  
• Parramatta Town Hall, Parramatta - Monday 18th December, 2000
• Grounded Festival 2, Museum of Fire, Penrith - Saturday 17th March, 2001
• Havoc 2, Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - Saturday 24th March, 2001 [show did not go ahead]
  
• Old Council Chambers, Penrith - Saturday 31st March, 2001
• Top Deck Youth Week Festival, Judge's Carpark, Penrith - Saturday, 7th April, 2001
• North Richmond Community Centre, North Richmond - Friday 18th May, 2001
• Festival to the Max, Top of High Street, Penrith - Saturday 26th May, 2001
• Ice Storm, Gearin Hotel, Katoomba - Saturday 14th July, 2001
• Kelts Bar, Blaxland - Thursday 2nd August, 2001
• Kelts Bar, Blaxland - Thursday 27th September, 2001
• Gearin Hotel, Katoomba - Saturday 22nd December, 2001
• Save the ADI Site, Joan Sutherland Centre, Penrith - Friday 27th April, 2001
• The Big Thing, Colbee Park, McGraths Hill - Saturday 6th April, 2002
  
• The Orient, Springwood - Saturday 1st June, 2002
• Mahratte, PCYC, Penrith - Friday 18th October, 2002
• ANU, Canberra - Thursday 19th December, 2002
  
• The Orient, Springwood - Saturday 27th September, 2003

ORAL HISTORY:

DAVE: It was a high school thing. Blake and Simo were playing with a guy called Ross and it was all part of the hang out on the weekend scene. We'd be in living rooms and garages. The idea of a band was a very fluid thing as a teenager. People picking up instruments, singing along, idle dreaming that somehow led to participation and aspiration. Anyway, Ross disappeared and all of a sudden I was playing bass to gigs of pubescent teenagers in abandoned houses or under awnings with Simo and Blake. It was confused, it was camaraderie, it was amazing.

Dave Renshaw, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

SIMO: Our first gig as a band was at Melrose Hall in Emu Plains with Porndrug and Clobassi, We were not actually on the bill; the Hassle Brigade were meant to play but when they didn't show up Andrew from Porndrug ran up and told the organisers that Spudgun were The Hassle Brigade and we got a half hour set as the headlining band!

Simo, Spudgun website, 2000

 

BUDGE: We got rid our bassplayer (Dave) because he never turned up to practice.

Budge, Obzine Issue 7, January 2000

 

SIMO: Dave is cool, he was ejected from the band once and I took over on vocals. After two months of my annoying voice, Dave was brought back 'cause Simo can't sing for shit. Dave is a mad cunt, just like the rest of the band and we are glad to have him back!

Simo, Spudgun website, 2000

 

DAVE: Recording Up to Scratch was underwhelming. We were so pumped to be recording. It was going to be huge and we got there and the guy recording us was rude. I can remember Simo saying "How was that? after tracking something, and his response was "That's probably as good as you'll get." I remember him mocking us over tuning. On the other hand, it was amazing to have recorded the stuff we were playing. It was very validating. We'd drive around in our cars constantly playing it and feeling proud. We were proud because we were all self taught and we had made this outlet, this creation, these countless hours at Farz's studio into something recognisable, something tangible and something that was us.

Dave Renshaw, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

SIMO: The highlights of my time in Spudgun was just having fun, being little gronks and making friends. Playing shows with and meeting bands we worshipped at the time. Pretty cool to do at such a young age.

Simo, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVE: One of my favourite memories was that thing at Gearins when the pub lost its shit because it was All Ages and they hadn't realised so they tried to make everyone's parents come... It was a bit of a shit fudge.

Dave Renshaw, Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

BEN: It was definitely fun but a lot of behind-the-scenes turmoil. I left Spudgun in 2002 and started to recruit members for a post-hardcore / screamo band in late 2003.

Ben Procobis, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVE: Musically, I think we were about to go through a change and what could have come next could have been good but different. There were a few songs we had written but never got down, so that always feels like a space of regret. In terms of the band breaking up, the time was probably right. There were various tensions that had taken place over time and I think it was a ripe time. It could have become a bit of a poisoned chalice for friendships if we kept flogging it. Simo and I moved on together and what came next (Call the Medic Call the Nurse) was pretty special, so I was happy with that.

Dave Renshaw, Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

BUDGE: Playing in a band for a living would obviously be the absolute dream, but it didn't happen, besides, despite what people's opinions may be of us, we were not talented musicians... but fuck it was so much fun.

Budge, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Call the Medic Call the Nurse, Gimp, Septembers Silence, Awaken I Am, Simo Soo, Midstream/Double Standard, Nice Guys