ORIGINS: Kingswood, NSW
GENRE: Punk, Metal, Rap-Metal, Latino Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1998-2007
MEMBERS:
- Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar)
- Steve Austin (Bass)
- Stixx (Vocals, Drums) [1999-2001] (Vocals, Percussion [2002-2004]
- Allan Fryer (Drums) [2002-2007]
RELEASES:
- We're Full of Shit (1999) [as Slavegrinder]
- 1. Redemption
- 2. Substance Under Abuse
- 3. Porky's
- 4. V-A-D
- Fnord (2004) - Download Here.
- 1. Save Some For Daddy (Enemy Unseen)
- 2. Pretty Punk Ditty
- 3. Fuck the Pigs
- 4. Fight Song
- 5. No Holds Barred
- Self-Titled (2004)
- 1. Get Up Stand Up
- 2. Sheep
- 3. Gone
- 4. It's Irrelevant
- 5. Crocket's Pocket
- 6. Made by Mexico
- 7. Ode to Clayton
- 8. Cellar Door
- Demo (2005)
- 1. Pretty Punk Ditty
- 2. 80's Lovin
- 3. Sheep
- 4. Gone
- Live Practice (2006)
- 1. Enemy Unseen
- 2, Pretty Punk Ditty
- 3. She Said No
- 4. Sabotage
- 5. Los Ninas
- 6. Gone
- 7. James Taylor
- 8. Rap Metal Song
- 9. New Contender
- 10. Keith Richards
- 11. Gratitude
SUMMARY: Naming themselves 'Slavegrinder' after Skid Row's track 'Slave to the Grind', the band was started by Pablo, Austin and Stixx while they were students at Kingswood High who'd been inspired by various shows they'd watched in Western Sydney. Slavegrinder were initially self-described 'ratbag punks' but their style developed into a hybrid of punk, rap, funk, and metal with Latin American overtones. The band added a new drummer at the end of 2001 so original drummer Stixx could focus more on vocals. After briefly experimenting with the name 'The Grind', the band changed its name in 2002 to Save Some For Daddy. They became notorious for their live shows and volatile antics, getting themselves banned from several practice studios and venues. This volatility eventually led to the band imploding while they recorded an album in 2005, leading to Stixx and the rest of the band parting ways. The band continued sans-Stixx for a year or two more before finishing up.
 |
| Slavegrinder |
SHOWS:
- Emu Plains Community Centre, Emu Plains - 4th December, 1999 (as Slavegrinder)
- Judgement Day, Judge's Carpark, Penrith - 8th April, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Halloween Party, Kingswood - date unknown, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Surveyor's Creek Hall, Glenmore Park - 15th April, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Castlereagh Hall, Castlereagh - 24th June, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Evans Theatre, Panthers Leagues Club, Panthers - 24th June, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Puddstock, PCYC, Penrith - 13th July, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Halloween, Kingswood - 28th October, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Old Council Chambers, Penrith - 3rd November, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Great Western Bar, Penrith - 8th November, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- St Clair Skatefest, St Clair - 11th November, 2000 (as Slavegrinder)
- Havoc 2, Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - 24th March, 2001 (as Slavegrinder)
- Old Council Chambers, Penrith - 31st March, 2001 (as Slavegrinder)
- Great Western Bar, Penrith - 10th October, 2001
- Gearins Hotel, Katoomba - 13th October, 2001
- Grounded Festival 4, Museum of Fire, Penrith - 13th April, 2002
- Save the ADI Site, Joan Sutherland Centre, Penrith - 27th April, 2002
- Great Western Bar, Penrith - 29th August, 2002
- PCYC, Penrith - 18th October, 2002
- Halloween Party, Kingswood - 30th October, 2004
- National Beer Day, Putty - 6th November, 2004
- National Beer Day, The Union, Penrith - 4th November, 2006
- Springwood Royal, Springwood - 28th December, 2006
- National Beer Day, The Moshpit, Newtown - 2nd November, 2024
ORAL HISTORY:
PABLO: We kicked off in Kingswood High with Stixx, Austin and myself. Just classic 'Let's start a band' vibes even though we didn't know anything. We saw Frenzal Rhomb play at the Panthers Pavillion with Dogbuoy (they threw Pez candy everywhere) and this made us really want to start a band. Seeing Less Than Jake with Nancy Vandal and Neil Hamburger at Parramatta also really brought us into the fold.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
STIXX: We started with the name 'Ladies First', but that's before we were a proper band, then we were ' Slave', then 'Slayve', then 'Teen Thrash', 'Firesign', 'Reaper', until we got 'Slave to the Grind' and then from that came the name 'Slavegrinder'.
Stixx, Obzine Issue 8, March 2000
PABLO: Another defining show we watched was the Melrose Hall gig where Clobassi
and The Hassle Brigade played and everything got smashed up. Melrose Hall was like this lonely church in the middle of a hill by a graveyard. I know it wasn't but it just felt like that. It was such a cool spot and venue. I first saw Clobassi there, and they were going off. It was my intro to local music. I remember Offset, Spilt Milk, Below the Belt were all playing shows there too and making tapes, and it just felt so legit. Anyway, this one show which was at the height of the 'Homies vs. Grungers' era, got broken into by homies. They smashed the windows and jumped everyone, broke gear, stabbed kids. I remember it was just insane news across the scene. It kind of killed the scene for a year to be honest. I remember there was just no shows for ages after that, it just wasn't safe. I think eventually Korn and Limp Bizkit kinda helped the rivalry die down, and shows slowly started happening again at the PCYC and also the Channel Cafe near Judge's Carpark.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 |
| Austin and Stixx |
PABLO: Stixx and I got jobs at Burger King to buy a PA so we could practice. It was $750 and I ended up paying for 90% of it. I used to steal so much chocolate sundae sauce. Stixx ended up getting fired for smoking and drinking in the freezer. I stayed on for like a year and then one day I just stopped showing up. We bought the PA because we didn't know how else to be a band - we didn't know how to get shows or have vocals at home while practising so a PA made a lot of sense. After a while we were playing scrappy backyard shows with Spudgun and had started a website. We had one of the first online forums in the Western Sydney scene, which really went out of control and helped establish us as loads of people started using it. It got real toxic real fast, but in a great way. Stixx's mum then found the website and she cried.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: I don't get in any shit because my parents don't know anything, they haven't watched us, and Austin's parent are just used to Austin being a weirdo. Stixx's parents are, well, they're used to it too.
Pablo Andres, Anti-Charisma Issue 3, 2000
PABLO: We recorded a bunch of lo-fi songs on a four track that we saved up to buy. We hired a school hall for a day in Glenmore Park on a Sunday and recorded our first demo. We were actually super hungover because we'd gone to King's Cross the night before to a place called Porky's. We saw some insane stuff there. The next day we were out of it but we went in to record. We wrote the song 'Porky's' the day we recorded it.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: We had a song called 'VAD'. The letters stood for 'Violent Anal Dilation'. It was a different time.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
STIXX: For the song 'Redemption', I got the idea from a movie, The Shawshank Redemption, and there's this show called Tom Green where he walks around the streets and he goes up to this lady, "Can I ask you a question?" and she goes "yeah", and he goes "Have you seen the Shawshank Redemption!" and starts fucking yelling at her and she went apeshit, it was awesome, and that's where I got the idea from.
Stixx, Anti-Charisma Issue 3, 2000
PABLO: Our friend Greg Cooper started recording us on his home computer and he had music racks and gear and plugins - we had no idea about anything. Greg was a legend, he lived in an apartment near Chicken Man, which was near Kingswood Station. Chicken Man has the best chicken salt on Earth.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: The demo is all a lie - there's no CD really coming out. We have about nine tracks and we recorded it live, but it's shit quality. We'll be making a demo... but why make a demo if you suck? Make a demo once you're good. You gig until you get good, then make a demo which is good, and sell heaps of EP copies, which is good like Ugly Kid Joe.
Pablo Andres, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
PABLO:
Our Halloween gigs were legendary. At the first one, we had a pig's
head impaled on a stick that someone threw into my back so hard. See, we
had this radio show on 88.3 WOW FM called Metal Sesh, which was on before Twist N Skank (hosted by Jase Spiller). We took the pig's head and a Satanic Bible to the radio show and that's how Metal Sesh
ended - we got fired. We had to take the pig's head around with us
because it was convenient to keep it in the fridge at the radio station
while we did the show. We swore a bunch of times while broadcasting and
talked about the pig's head being with us. We had like 60 complaints and
the station guy ran in screaming and kicked us out. Then we played
Halloween at someone's house. We put the pig's head on a stake, played a
mean set, I wore a dress, we did 'Attitude' and 'Walk Among Us' by The
Misfits, and Austin played with a sock on his cock. That night I got so
drunk I vomited on a goat and woke up half-naked in the next door
neighbour's kid's cubby house with my shoes missing and 'Satan' written
with lipstick on my chest.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN:
Pablo got onto my good friend at the Halloween show and I got very
angry. It took me six months to admit to it, but I pissed on him that
night. Spudgun also played and broke a guitar, those Potato Bastards.
Anyway, I came out to play with a sock - two socks - on my knob. Then
they got stolen so I had to play naked, with a hat on. It was fun, it
felt very free. Free and easy. I had to play my bass low because I
didn't want my genitals, though they're small, being exposed.
Steve Austin (Bass), Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
.png) |
| Review of Judgement Day (April 2000), Anti-Charisma Issue 3, 2000 |
STIXX: My dad's getting in contact with some chick from a studio... my dad is kinda the manager. That's why he was so fucken pissed off when he pushed Dennis over at the end of the last song at the Judgement Day show. Dennis dove at the fucken cymbals and smacked 'em over so my dad got up and came over to Dennis and went 'You fucken cunt!' and smacked him and Dennis just went 'fine' and went.
Stixx, Anti-Charisma Issue 3, 2000
 |
| Judgement Day, Judge's Carpark, April 2000 |
AUSTIN: A favourite show was playing with The Porkers in Parramatta - it was the
first time we got a full rider, which included whiskey. We also had a
show at Gearins in Katoomba, which was our first over-18s show in a
pub... the manager was not happy that I did not wear pants. One of the band comps we played in; someone spilled a beer on
the guitar amp and it broke, which ensured our victory. Slavegrinder came 2nd in the Go For Gold band competition. Pablo and Stixx spent all the money on beer and weed - I was very mad about it but I'm sure we then got a gig in Mulgoa out of it.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: The Go For Gold band comp was sweet, we had a huge stage. I remember we totally kicked Spudgun's butt and also that day Dave (Spudgun singer) backed over Simo's guitar and broke it - I think Simo had to borrow mine to play. And yeah, we spent all the money on booze, cigarettes and weed, and Austin was really mad. I blame Stixx.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: Best gig was when we played Panthers Pavilion and the guy was like 'LOL last time we let off too much smoke and the fire department had to be called and all of Panthers evacuated, we won't let that happen again!' and then we kept asking for smoke and it happened again. And they had to evacuate all of Panthers Leagues Club... it must have cost Panthers so much money, it was mad. I also jumped off the stage while playing and cracked my head open real bad. I came to in the medical centre and Austin was there, and I was like, dude, what the fuck happened? He was like, you jumped off stage and cracked your head open, and I was like, okay, don't tell the doctor I can't remember it, we have another gig to play. I then went to the hospital, got bandaged, and went back to play another show on the same day at the PCYC. The scab on my head lasted for months. I bled for months and I had to get plastic surgery.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: Pablo had a concussion but still wanted to play. I don't think there was anything I could have done to stop him from playing.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 |
| Puddstock, July 2000 |
REVIEW: Slavegrinder's set was cut a bit short due to the fact that their guitarist, Pablo, split his head open for the second time in a few weeks and felt a bit faint. But broken head or no broken head, they played with just as much if not more energy and enthusiasm than usual. They played a brilliant set including two of my favourite songs, 'V.A.D.' and 'Cookie'. As usual, bassist Austin pulled off his legendary rock moves and drummer Stixx played just as hard as ever. Not to mention Pablo getting down to play in the skank circle and tripping someone over with his head! Definitely one of the best Slavegrinder sets I've ever seen.
Review of Puddstock (July 2000) by Meredith, Obzine Issue 13, August 2000
REVIEW: Slavegrinder played and much to their disappointment the crowd was not as excited as they wanted and they let us know over and over again but as always they ruled and kicked arse. Pablo made it through the whole set despite the fact of his dizziness.
Review of Puddstock (July 2000) by Dale Hurley, Obzine Issue 13, August 2000
REVIEW: The local boys did it again and they rocked the stage - Austin with his cool and crazy outfits played and slapped his bass sick and the rest of the band rocked. I'd like to thank Slavegrinder because Penrith are dying out for some hardcore sort of music. But now Slavegrinder have come and shown us how it's done and everyone loves it... I think that Slavegrinder will go really far with the local scene and will get very well known throughout Penrith and the Mountains.
Review of Puddstock (July 2000) by Smidy (The Oi-Ska's), Obzine Issue 13, August 2000
PABLO: At one point the cut on my head almost healed up and then Austin punched me in the face
while we were skanking to Ballpark at Grounded. I fell on my face and broke my tooth. It's still broken - thanks, Austin. The band even stopped playing their song. Austin floored me; good times. That's when the cut started to bleed again and never stopped. I got up and skanked bleeding, and the band dedicated a song to us. We had a great day.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN:
I punched Pablo in the face at Grounded when it was at Granville Race
Course. I still feel bad about it to this day. He kept pushing me in the
back in a skank circle. I warned him twice and then threw a haymaker.
Right in the mouth. Down went Pablo. I think it was during Ballpark's
set. The crowd thought we hated each other... (Pablo, I'm sorry about your tooth). We snuck backstage at lots
of shows. My favourite was Big Day Out. Stixx and I had beers with
Jabba and Regurgitator and watched NOFX from the stage. Still can't
believe we didn't get booted out.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 |
| Austin and Pablo at Grounded. |
AUSTIN: With Grounded we snuck backstage and The Brain was on and I thought they were cool so we jumped on stage and they liked it so we kept doing it. And we talked to Segression and they said 'get up on stage' and we got up for Cryogenic as well.
Steve Austin, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: Actually, I'm still glad Pablo's tooth is broken.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: Our second best gig was at Katoomba, at the Gearins Hotel, where we brought our own smoke machine and smoked the place out. We either bought that smoke machine outright or hired it - it was a high priority for us. No one could see anything and smoke was pouring out the windows. It was great. Another great gig was Puddstock. There was also this show in Sydney where we did a cover of 'Gratitude' by Beastie Boys - we totally kicked ass that night and got paid $76. We went home and threw the money on the bed and rolled around in it. The next day we bought 30 cans of $1 energy drinks that were on special at the Plaza - we drunk them all.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
REVIEW: Slavegrinder's sound was a lot clearer than normal and Stixx's rapping was definitely more understandable. And Slavegrinder seemed to have ripped Segression off. During 'Redemption', Pablo does some weird sound with his guitar which sounds exactly like 'The Thickening' off Segression's Smile. But who cares as long as it sounds good?
Review of St Clair Skatefest (Nov 2000) by Sean, Obzine Issue 17, December 2000
REVIEW: All three of the 'Grinder lads were having a lot of fun. They played some fine old school punk covers like 'Attitude' and some of their great originals like 'V.A.D.', 'Redemption' and 'Cookie'. Not to mention their newie, 'Porkeys', which if I reckon correctly, was the first time they had played it in front of an audience. The highlight was when Stixx's face turned a beetroot-red while he rapped his lungs out. The lowpoint was Austin's arse making an appearance, I'm sure we could have all done with this unnecessary cameo.
Review of St Clair Skatefest (Nov 2000) by Luke, Obzine Issue 17, December 2000
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: In terms of musical style, we definitely had 'range'. We were just down with anything and not so focused on fitting the sound or style of any particular scene or anything. Lyric-wise, we were always left wing, and our politics were always influenced by resistance. I was really into it then (and still now) and to his credit, Stixx wrote some great lyrics.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
STIXX: Our music is like funk metal thrash punk rap hardcore.
Stixx, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
PABLO: I didn't like the name of the band so I changed it to The Grind. We were banned from too many places so we had to change the name of our band so we could get gigs again.
Pablo Andres, Obzine Issue 18, February 2001
.png) |
| Obzine Issue 18, Jan/Feb 2001 |
PABLO: Stixx and I started Slavegrinder but man, he was trouble. Like, just the messiest dude that ever happened. He just always found trouble, it was an art. After a while it got too much, and he kinda moved away and got even messier, and it just wasn't looking good or working, so he was out of the band and the band went into stasis. Then I met Allan while trying to steal a porno mag from the newsagents he worked at, in Penrith Plaza, he was like "That's not going to work, meet me at the Mondo". We started hanging out and had jams - turned out he was a demon drummer. Austin was already an amazing bassist, so we had a team again.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ALLAN: I knew of Slavegrinder because we played and attended the same music scene in Penrith and the Blue Mountains. Although I first properly met Pablo not at a gig but when he tried to steal a porno mag from the newsagents I worked at. I took it from him and told him to meet me outside. I met him outside, gave him the porno, and we smoked some weed. He asked me to drum in his band and not long after I quit my shitty band and joined his.
Allan Fryer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: We needed to change names because we brought Allan in as a full time drummer. I think Stixx was replaced because he wanted to sing rather than play drums, or because he wasn't a great drummer to begin with.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: Austin and I got really high and drunk at the Mondo in Penrith
Plaza one day. Stixx was out of the band for a bunch of reasons, and we
needed a new start, we were walking around day-drinking out of brown
bags and looked inside a bin near Judge's Car Park. We found a photo of a
dumb looking baby that someone must've thrown out and Austin said 'save
some for daddy!' and we laughed and laughed and I said that's the
stupidest thing I've ever heard - let's make it our band name. To be
fair, as Slavegrinder we'd been banned from playing in a few places, so
the name change was needed. We'd let off smoke bombs at the show on top
of Judge's Car Park and covered everything in toilet paper before
smashing our gear. We were also banned at the time from a couple of
practice studios.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: Allan and I worked really hard to find a pocket but he could also riff out on drums like Pablo could on guitar and I think that's why he fit in the way that he did. We got real tight but we played all the time; 2-3 times a week we played full concerts in a spare bedroom. The neighbourhood must have hated us but that's what we did. Pablo always wanted fast fucking blast beats - if it wasn't for Allan and me, there would have been no soul. If you couldn't play fast it wasn't good enough for Pablo. Which is because he couldn't sing.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
ALLAN: I drummed. Drummed till my fingers got blistered and I was sweating out of my eyes. I approached it with sticks in my hands, ready to break some skins and metal. I preferred groove and rhythm but Pablo kept wanting more speed.
Allan Fryer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: Save Some For Daddy are different from Slavegrinder because Save Some For Daddy have better songs... we're fusing genres over a wide spectrum of influences such as rap, punk, metal, ska, Gunners...
Pablo Andres, Obzine Issue 26, July 2002
AUSTIN: We spent a lot of time at Great Western Bar on Open Mic night. Normal Day were always there. It was almost like al the bands that practiced at Symphonic Sound Studio would show up and play every Wednesday. It was its own little world.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: After a while, Stixx moved back and went from percussionist and backup singer to full time singer/frontman. He was an awesome singer but just such a mess. We met Clay from Quadbox and The Brain and he invited us to record with him. We laid down a bunch of tracks in his studio and that became our EP Fnord. We later recorded our 'proper' album with Clay at his fancy new studios in Sydney. I believe they were next door to Billy Thorpe's studio. I saw Billy Thorpe there and he said "Hello! I'm Billy Thorpe" and shook my hand.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 |
| Clay recording Save Some For Daddy |
AUSTIN: Allan was the only one of us to get a Save Some For Daddy tattoo. He really believed. He's never covered it up - I'm proud of him.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: I was mad at Allan when he got a Save Some For Daddy tattoo. But looking back on it, I respect it.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
STIXX: Standing up to sing is different to sitting down as the drummer. I'm closer to the chicks, and, well, I like to sit down but standing up's okay as well because... it sucks actually.
Stixx, Obzine Issue 26, July 2002
PABLO: One memorable show was National Beer Day, where Joshua Apple threw me into a river. Then the following National Beer Day, where we got into a fight with a bunch of off-duty cops and one of them threw me into a hedge. Another fun show was a festival we played at UWS. It was going to be huge. Gerling played. There were so many bands, three stages, hundreds of security. And dude, like, 13 people showed up. There were more portaloos than people, it was amazing. I think they lost $500k. I played with a broken leg that day. It was a sick show, the 7 people watching us loved it. Gerling made so much fun of Penrith. They were kinda dicks, but of course, they're Gerling.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
.png) |
| Review by Rhys Lewis, Dropkick Zine Issue 3, 2005 |
STIXX: The thing about Save Some For Daddy is that we're not trying to fit in - why would you want to be a part of a scene where everyone sounds the same? We just wanna go out there and play, and people will get into it, it's full energy and there's breaks and shit... our new MP3, 'SSFD' (recorded by Clay from The Brain/Quadbox), is a serious political song. It's like our generation's chant has been 'fuck the system', even System of a Down said it, they said 'Fuck the System' and everyone chanted it.
Stixx, Obzine Issue 26, July 2002
PABLO: We'd put all this time and effort and money into making an album and the thing devolved into chaos. We spent much of our money but Stixx didn't put any money in and became a complete diva. He brought his dad into the studio to tell him he loved him and that he had it all figured out and it was all going to be okay. It was super awkward but also hilarious. Anyway, he hadn't paid his part but somehow he got the masters and took them home.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: Recording is going great! Stayed at the studio till 11:30 yesterday, we got 'Get Up Stand Up' and 'No Holds Barred' done and they sound monstrous! This CD, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure it's going to blow everyone away. We've been discussing how to sell the music and one of the ideas is to not press CDs at all but to charge people $5 to $10 to download the album and then charge them an extra $2 for the artwork. It would save us a lot of production costs and it makes life easier for us, but then again, I like the idea of our CD being at the shops. Clay said this was the same problem that happened when vinyl went to tape and then tape to CD and that we have to be a step ahead and play it smart and I agree, so yeah, if you know how we can sell music online let me know!
Steve Austin (Bass), Save Some For Daddy website, 2003
PABLO: Stixx and I ended up having a fist fight in his apartment in
Sydney. I found out he had the master recordings so I knocked on his door and then ran into his house. I spotted the master CD and broke it in half. He hadn't paid his part and we weren't having it. He kicked me into the ground and his girlfriend was screaming and called the cops. I got up and we punched each other a bit. Anyway, I smashed the
CD and left his house bleeding. I wrote 'FUCK YOU STIXX' with my blood
on his door. When I came back down to the street Allan and Austin were
waiting for me. I said 'Stixx is out' and we became a three piece again.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: When it came time to record, we kind of fell apart. Stixx was in and then he was out and then he was in again and then he was out again. We had to strip Stixx off the record and re-do the vocals without him after we'd had a meltdown. The final product never really got released and we had a second run as Save Some For Daddy Mk 2, without Stixx. We spent a while rebuilding the band and recorded a couple more live sets before eventually calling it quits. Things were never the same after all that shit went down with the recording. Eventually we all had other commitments like uni and work and we just kind of stopped. There was no announcement or animosity, we just fizzled out. I moved away, Pablo moved away, Allan worked 300 hours a week. That's just how it rolled.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: And then Stixx's dad tried to sue us. One night Stixx jumped through my window and tried to fight me about it and I had to kick him out. As I said, he was a mess... just hanging out with the worst people. His housemate tried to set his house on fire once while I was there and cut a hole from his room into the bathroom. His housemate was even more of a mess than him... he'd escaped from an asylum and was initially a sweet, quiet dude but within months he was riding a tricycle around the streets in his underwear. Anyway, Stixx is still Stixx and I'll always love him but he's just always trouble. Like really, he gave me some of the most intense and best laughs of my life. Hanging out with Stixx was like playing Russian Roulette - 1 out of every 8 times he would ruin your life, but the other 7 times he would ruin something else around you and it was just great to watch. Very, very funny dude; smart too. There wasn't a cook or a weirdo that Stixx didn't love. Like, one time our house was getting egged, and it was bunch of kids and Stixx - just egging our house. Then he invited them in and kept trashing our house. There was also the time he spray-painted his hair white to be punk, or when he used shoe polish on his hair or eyebrows, or when he ruined his parents house and then left it for me to deal with. Actually, this is nothing, the shit he did... Stixx was out of control. I'm still surprised to this day that he didn't die in the accident where he rolled a car full of people on the M4 while listening to The Misfits. We loved Stixx, but he was a lot. We tried again, and again, and everytime was just instant trouble, like he has a skill. It's magic. It's art.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
AUSTIN: Nobody would believe half the shit we got up to at that time. I think we made the most of it. We never had a fancy tour but I learnt a lot of great lessons and had some adventures that I'd never trade in for anything else. I'd jump back on it in a heartbeat if I had the time to practice and get tight again. Growing up sucks.
Steve Austin (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
PABLO: I think we were always 'outsider' ratbags and we did that to ourselves but it meant we didn't really get accepted or included in the broader scene. We were a bit too funk for the punks or a bit too metal for the ska crew. Another thing that happened was emo. It just ravaged the scene, in sound and in fashion, and we were just not into it. I fucking loved the Western Sydney music scene before that. Spudgun were the ying to our yang for a while, they were like the good-looking private school kids but we had better songs. We all became mates and that was a real scene for us, getting into trouble at Penrith PCYC and Penrith Plaza and Grounded and the Mondo and all that. We really cared for and loved Slavegrinder/Save Some For Daddy, we really put so much energy into our shows and we were just loose kids and I love that; it was a dream. I learnt heaps too and I applied a lot of that to my band Mesa Cosa in Melbourne after. Being in a band introduced us to all our friends, brought so many scenes together, all our events and community and mischief. It was sick, it was the vibe, golden years, bands rule.
Pablo Andres (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
RELATED BANDS: The Brain, Mesa Cosa, Outside Chance, Level 26
 |
| National Beer Day 2004, Putty |
 |
| National Beer Day 2006, The Union |
No comments:
Post a Comment