Sunday, March 24, 2024

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: 
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

ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Big thanks to Katelyn Slyer for the pic of the band.

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
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