Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Offset

 
ORIGINS: Lower Blue Mountains, NSW
GENRE: Punk, Melodic Hardcore
YEARS ACTIVE: 1997-2000
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES: 
 

  •  Driving Makes You Stupid (1997) - Download Here.
    • 1. Better Things
    • 2. Rat Race
    • 3. Take a Breath
    • 4. Bowlo
    • 5. Mighty Weapon
    • 6. Society
    • 7. Bowlo (acappella - secret track)

  • Turramurra (1998) - Download Here.
    • 1. Used to Be
    • 2. Not Like This
    • 3. P.O.P.
    • 4. Taken Away
 
  • Wolston (1999) - Download Here.
    • 1. No Such Thing
    • 2. For the Sake of It
    • 3. Telling Myself
    • 4. Tried Your Best
    • 5. So Many People Like You


  • Castle Hill (2000)
    • 1. Confused
    • 2. Once Again
    • 3. Question
    • 4. Usual Feeling
    • 5. Better Things
    • 6. Thinking
    • 7. Ricky
SUMMARY: Fuznut began when two members each from broken-up bands The Hassle Brigade and Fatboy joined together with the idea of pursuing a melodic hardcore sound. The band changed their name to Offset when they became a trio after Aaron Baker left. They continued to play shows until around 2000, adding another second guitarist and supporting Diesel Boy on their Australian tour.
 
SHOWS: 

Supporting Voodoo Glow Skulls

ORAL HISTORY:
PAUL: Fatboy broke up and around the same time The Hassle Brigade broke up so the two came together to make Fuznut. The name 'Fuznut' came from that fuzzy feeling you get in your nuts when you're excited about something. 
Paul Cullens (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAN: Johnny and I, plus Aaron and Ben from Hassle Brigade, teamed up and formed Fuznut. It was four dudes who loved playing and hanging out. I wanted to venture outside of playing the drums - the four of us met up and bang. The band was named Fuznut as a description of when you hear an awesome band or song and your body reacts, we called it "getting fuznuts!" I didn't want to play drums again; I wanted to sing. We were jamming together and writing together and it was the best. It was an amazing time of hanging out and playing music. 
Dan Scutts (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
REVIEW: Comprising the remnants of two, now defunct punk/hardcore bands called The Hassle Brigade and Fatboy, these boys were specially selected to support the Katoomba chapter of the Hardcore BBQ. Probably because they are the only band in the area suited to the others on the bill. But convenience is not their only merit, they can actually play a decent tune. This was the first time I heard the new conglomeration of Fuznut, after hearing The Hassle Brigade once, but being very inebriated on that occasion, I cannot remember a great deal. But what I do remember though is that the style of The Hassle Brigade in comparison to Fuznut is fairly different. Fuznut opened their set with a tune (sorry, I don't know the names of the tracks) from the school of fast, thrashy and melodic punk rock, comparable to the likes of NOFX (did they play 'Bob'?) and The Descendants. But this was not to last, with the boys moving on to their preferred style, a ska and hardcore fusion (ska core?) without horns. They ripped through a few fine sounding numbers, with Brendan from Downtime and the general audience listening intently. Even though the crowd was small, I could tell by the expression on the punters' faces that they were impressed. But tragedy was to strike early for the Fuznuters, with the guitarist breaking a string and not having a replacement. "This has never happened to us before, and we hope that this will never happen to us again," stated the leader vocalist, a comment seconded by the band's bassist. Nevertheless, in true punk rock spirit, they soldiered on in the face of adversity. They belted out three more songs just using bass, drums and vocals, which sounded damn fine as is, while attempts to repair the guitar were made. These attempts were unfortunately fruitless and the guitarist was forced to join the others minus one string. Standouts of the set were a full-on rockin' version of the Friends theme and their numerous synchronised leaps into the air, with one of these temporarily leaving the bassist down for the count.
Review of Hardcore BBQ '97 show by Hans, Anti-Charisma Issue 2, 1998

Playing at The Globe, Newtown

PAUL: We changed to Offset... the name 'Offset' has no story. It's just a name that we picked. Maybe we changed it because Aaron left. Maybe we wanted to just play punk music without the ska. I'm not sure. 
Paul Cullens (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAN: The last CD we just named 'Castle Hill' as it we recorded at a studio in Castle Hill. Kind of a shame, we were done and just wanted to have some fun putting our songs down. Maybe it's a bit sad but, for me, this is the recording I'm most proud of. I loved the songs; rush the lyrics big time but loved getting these songs down before we wrapped things up. We'd toured in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne with Diesel Boy and then things kind of fizzled out. We went into the studio because we thought the songs were good so we just put it all down for ourselves. I think, as Offset, we left a lot of songs and energy behind - but shit happens. Johnny, Ben and I had an amazing connection and I really think these songs ripped. It's stupid, but I listen to these songs every now and then and think, far out, there is some good stuff here.
Dan Scutts (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

Playing at Ulladulla (2000), members of Diesel Boy on backup

RELATED BANDS: CFBP, Fatboy, The Hassle Brigade, Strength Within, Badanga, Hunstman, Easy Company, Spasm, Boneless, Bad Blood, Tuskin Raiders, Last Exit to Nowhere

BAND TREE:

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