Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Shirkers

ORIGINS: Baulkham Hills,  NSW
GENRE: Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1997-2001
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES: 
 
  • Original Pogo Verse (1997)
    • 1. Billy Bob
    • 2. Understand
    • 3. Clone Me
    • 4. Restraint
    • 5. Refuse

  • Anthems for the Shirking Class (1998) - Download Here.
    • 1. Schmuck
    • 2. Queerboy
    • 3. Lyrical Inspiration
    • 4. Gossip Gander
    • 5. Gobbo's Song
    • 6. Hey Hey It's Saturday
    • 7. Growing Pains
    • 8. Just a Shadow
    • 9. Lonely Friend
    • 10. Refuse

  • Were the Blood [Split with The Blurters, The Rats, Death Before Dishonour, and Blurred Vision] (1999) - Download Here.
    • 1. Never Goin' Back
    • 2. The Kids
    • 3. Sellout
    • 4. Restraint
    • 5. Punk Rock Holiday

  • Alienation Within a Consumer Society (2000) - Download Here.
    • 1. Rye New York
    • 2. Screw Up
    • 3. 40 Hours
    • 4. You Make Me Pathetic
    • 5. Discontent Be Content
    • 6. 13 Years
    • 7. Friendshit
    • 8. Seventh Day
    • 9. Filler (Minor Threat)
SUMMARY: Luke Mernagh formed The Shirkers while still attending high school, enlisting the involvement of his brother Paul, his school friend Simon, and a work experience connection Adam. Craig McVea joined the band on bass after responding to a Drum Media ad and they quickly set about recording their first demo. McVea and Lees left the band shortly after recording, leading to Luke Mernagh taking over vocal duties and Barwick joining on bass - just in time for the band's first proper show. After this point the band regularly played a range of shows in pubs and squats with bands such as The Last Hemeroids, Cult 45, Frenzal Rhomb, and H-Block 101. 

In 2000, when Frenzal Rhomb had to pull out of the Big Day Out, The Shirkers were offered a slot playing the festival. They used the money from this to fund their second album and then things came to an end shortly after this when Barwick and Gobbo decided to move on.
 
SHOWS: 

The Shirkers at Grounded Festival

ORAL HISTORY:
LUKE: I always wanted to play music with my older brother and we shared a guitar. We would show each other riffs and that sort of thing. So we put some songs together. I convinced my mate Simon from school to learn drums as I noticed he was really good at tapping along to music and had a really good rhythm. We didn't know anyone who could sing or play bass... in fact, I wanted a bass but we ended buying the $50 guitar we shared instead. A few months later I had to do work experience for school and I ended up doing it at Phantom Records. There was another guy there my age doing the same. His name was Adam Lees and we got along really well. He was a great singer and loved Propagandhi. We started writing lyrics together. We always joked how we were kinda weaklings and not really punk rock, so we had ideas to call our band something like The Weaklings or The Wimps. We went with The Shirkers and started to rehearse.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

CRAIG: I think I wanted to do more Beastie Boys stuff and the rest of the band wanted to do more punk/ska stuff. I played a couple of shows and we did a demo. It was fun at the time but I wanted to do Clobassi so I left Shirkers within a year.
Craig McVea (Bass), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024

Review of demo by Christina Myers, B.M.A, October 1998

LUKE: At a TUBbH gig my brother played the demo to Jono in the car tape deck and Jono wanted in. Jono really taught us how to do a band properly - how to get gigs, how to market yourselves, etc. We would not have gone anywhere but our rehearsal space had it not been for him.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
LUKE: Adam kept cancelling practices and we mutually decided to go on without him. We had our first first big gig with The Last Hemeroids and H-Block at the Globe in the singer... and we had no singer. I ended up filling in and people thought it sounded okay so we never thought about replacing me on vocals. We all sang a song here and there, usually we sang the songs we wrote.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
 
LUKE: We wanted people to know we weren't a city band so we made a joke out of it and wrote 'Straight Outta Baulko' as our kind of slogan.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
LUKE: Being a part of that scene at that time meant having that feeling that every young person strives for - feeling confident that you are finally good at something. I met a lot of long-time mates and was able to connect with hundreds of wonderful people.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
Review by Con, Bar Code the World Issue 20, October 1999
 
LUKE: I found out we were playing the Big Day Out the morning after my last HSC Exams. My brother opened my bedroom door to tell meas I was sleeping-in on a beautiful Summer morning. I said: 'Fuck off, you're full of shit' and he was like 'Nah bro, I'm for real'. I got up and was so stoked. Went out the back and hugged my dog for ages and basked in the sun. I was very optimistic for what life would be like after school at that point. I actually couldn't afford a ticket to go see Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at the Big Day Out so it was a dream come true. I got to meet Joe Strummer.
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
 
JONO: Standout memories... playing the Big Day Out to a hitload of people and accidentally sconing someone in the face when I threw a CD into the crowd. Getting gastro on tour to Brisbane and almost shitting myself on stage. Gastro was honestly horrific, Paul ended up playing bass while I slept and shat and puked for three days.
Jono Barwick (Bass), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024
 
LUKE: We used the money from Big Day Out to self-fund a CD. We put it out and made it all ourselves. I designed and printed all the inserts and stuff. We then continued to play a few gigs but Simon lost interest and Jono too, so we just broke up a few months later. I was devastated. I had massive plans for us so I had to take a bit to think what was next for me. I had imagined that The Shirkers would be a band I would be in forever. So that was hard. As soon as I turned 18 it was, like, over. 
Luke Mernagh (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Correspondence, 2024 
 

RELATED BANDS: Dagnabit, Own Enemy, TUBbH, Instant Mayhem, The Breakout, The Lock Ups, ADD Thrash, Stereo City, Black Jaw, Colytons, Baby Hitler Jesus, Domestic Clone Unit, Hell City Glamours, Firearms, Degeneracy, Cruelty's Fun, Garottes, The Flames of Love, Lungs, Staying at Home, Clobassi, Fat Slinky, Irrelevant, Carnage Flail, Scratch Habbit, Lucy and the Pheromones, Moonbombs, Brand Disloyalty, ROFL, The Spitz
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