Stalin's Organ

ORIGINS: Mount Colah, NSW

GENRE: Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1992-1998

 

MEMBERS:

• Christie (Vocals)
• Claire (Vocals) [1992-1993]
  
• Fran Toller (Drums)
  
• Stuey [1992-1993]
  
• Simon (Bass) [1992-1994]
  
• Derek Martin (Guitar) [1994-1998]
• Muzza (Bass) [1995-1998]
• Nathan Summers (Bass) [1995]
  

RELEASES: 

 

 

• Scratch and Bite (1994) [Split with Feral Dreams] - Download Here.
• 1. Sex Girls
• 2. Brainless Bimbos
• 3. Puppet Factory
• 4. Stalin's Song
• 5. Executives Wife

 

• Keep On Babble On (1995) [Oxford Babylon Radio Skid Row Compilation] - Download Here.
  
• 1. Judge Me
• 2. Fried Brains and Veins to Go
  

•  The Core Sessions (1995) [Trans Alien Recordings Compilation] - Download Here.
  
• 1. Death by Vomit
• 2. Woy Woy Blues
• 3. Aussie Wonder Camp
• 4. Mental Anguish

• 6079 (1997) [Red Rag Records Compilation] - Download Here.
  
• 1. Syndrome
• 2. Hammered Opinion
• 3. Liposuctions for the Fat & Insecure
• 4. Knives
  

SUMMARY: When the band Bullwinkles Revenge finished around 1991, some band members (Fran, Simon, Stuey) decided to continue as a new band with dual female vocalists (Christie, Claire). The band was considered to be part of the Cosmic Snail collective. Also playing under the name Bullwinkles Revenge at first, the band soon became Stalin's Organ, and eventually the lineup reshuffled to settle as a four piece with Christie and Fran as the only original members. The band was very active throughout the mid-90s, often playing multiple shows in Sydney each weekend. They finished up around 1998 with a final show at the Kings Cross Hotel.

 

SHOWS: 

• PCYC, Hornsby - unknown date, 1993 
• Not So Big Day Out, Hornsby Youth Club, Hornsby - 11th December, 1993
  
• Glebe Rower's Club, Glebe - 7th March, 1994
• Punx Picnic, Sydney Park, St Peters - 3rd April, 1994
  
• Dancing Fools All Ages Show, Newtown Neighburhood Centre - 14th May, 1994
  
• Vulcan Hotel, Ultimo - 21st May, 1994
  
• Lewisham Hotel, Sydney - 11th March, 1995
• The Golden Ox, Redfern - 18th March, 1995
• Pembroke Street, Epping - 25th March, 1995
• Thunderfest '95, Eastwood Masonic Temple, Eastwood - 1st April, 1995
• Feedback, Newtown - 2nd April, 1995
• Feedback, Newtown - 16th April, 1995
• Hardcore Nation, The Phoenician Club, Sydney - 13th May, 1995
  
• Punk and Disorderly Chapter 13, Street Level, Blacktown - 17th November, 1995
• Waterloo Tavern, Sydney - 9th December, 1995
• Rainforest Benefit, 1A James Lane, Sydney - 17th December, 1995
• Lewisham Hotel, Sydney - 27th January, 1996
• Iron Duke, Alexandria - 2nd May, 1996
  
• Hardcore Nation, The Phoenician Club, Sydney - 6th May, 1996
• Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville - 29th June, 1996
• Punk Files, Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 27th November, 1996
  
• Kings Cross Hotel, Sydney - unknown date, 1998
  
• Punx Picnic, Sydney Park, St Peters - 1st July, 2000 [Reunion show]
  

ORAL HISTORY:

FRAN: Dave and Pat (from Bullwinkles Revenge) didn't want to continue so just me, Simon and Stuey were jamming... we got together a set list and then convinced my then-girlfriend Christie and Simon's girlfriend Claire to do duel vocals.

Francesco Fran (Drums), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

DEREK: I saw Stalin's Organ in '93 at Hornsby PCYC. They were played a Crass cover, 'Shaved Women'. I loved them straight away. Got to known Fran at that show and he asked me to come and have a jam with them. Fran and I became really close and ended up living together for years. Claire had stopped singing at that point. 

Derek Martin (Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

 

SIMON: We would like to establish ourselves as an entertaining energetic live act, not just music, but a good live show, and just have a good time really... We're more of a social band than a polished, political shock tactic band. 

Simon (Bass), Loaded to the Gills Issue 5, July/August 1994

 

CLAIRE: Christie and I write the lyrics, except the obviously simple ones... Money's not important, but having a good time is. We do it because we enjoy it. Whatever messages we are trying to get across we always try to make it witty.

Claire (Vocals), Loaded to the Gills Issue 5, July/August 1994 

 

DEREK: We played a shit ton, a couple of times a week for a while there. We did a tour of Adelaide at the end of '94 and when we got back Justin left the band... We were always super busy doing shows. The Phoenician Club Show for Hardcore Nation was epic. It was the biggest crowd Stalin's Organ played to. That was rad.

Derek Martin (Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

NATHAN: I played bass in Stalin's Organ for only a few months as I was playing drums in SMUT and Savage Cabbage at the same time and was fairly occupied with several bands. Stalin's Organ's first bass player Simon had left and another bass player ended up joining them more permanently after me; a fellow called Murray who was originally from Coffs Harbour. I did a few gigs with Stalin's Organ, including a big one at the Phoenician Club and an all ages show at a Church Hall in Epping. It was fun playing bass in the band ideally it would have been good to have played longer as I have always been friends with the Stalin's Organ people, but I had a bit much on my plate. We all used to play together as bands a fair bit. In particular, I remember SMUT and Stalin's Organ doing a tour of Canberra in 1994. 

Nathan Summers (Bass), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

DEREK: We were all so young. Nothing was hard. We just had a fucking ball. They were really good times. So many shows. I loved those days. Fran was fucking hilarious... he always had some off the wall shit going on. The Adelaide trip sticks out to me because I'd grown up there and to go back with mates in a band was so good. We had a great time.

Derek Martin (Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

 

DEREK: In the end it naturally fizzed out. We all decided we needed to do something new. We'd got better at what we were doing and our tastes and direction changed. 

 Derek Martin (Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Bullwinkles Revenge, Groin, Bastardos, The Last Hemeroids, Beertruck, Poospoon, 12 Day Fixx / No Justification, Savage Cabbage, World on Welfare, Dead by Dawn, Hippycrits, Vae Victus, Dark Horse, Cream Soda, Cooking with Gas, SMUT, Groovinator, Anarchists Anonymous, Magnet, Mad Cowboy Disease, Burn Em Down, Red Planet Repairs, Metal Ace, Dropzone