Friday, June 7, 2024

Omnicide

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW
GENRE: Crust, Grindcore, Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1993-1995
 
MEMBERS:
  • Glenn Maltby - Vocals
  • Darren 'Daz' Bottom - Guitar
  • Dave 'Dubbs/Dubbo' Dub - Drums
  • Grant Rogers - Bass
  • Jamie 'Juma' Davidson - Guitar (1994-1995)
RELEASES: 
 
  • Wartorn (1994) - Download Here.
    • 1. Devastator - Omnicide
    • 2. Breath of Destruction
    • 3. Horrible Pleasure
    • 4. Under the Blade
    • 5. Wartorn
  • Keep On Babble On (1995) [Compilation]
    •  Cops For S & M
  • Worst Case Scenario (1995) [Compilation]
    • Devoured
    • Programmed At Birth
  •  The Core Sessions (1995) [Compilation]
    • Insult
    • Drug Fucked
    • Frozen Existence
    • Dissector 
  • Discography (2020) [Anthology]
    • All above tracks plus:
    • Squat
    • Darren's Song
    • Shit Creator
SUMMARY: Forming in November 1993 after drummer Dubbo moved to Sydney from Melbourne, Omnicide fully solidified after adding second guitarist Juma in April 1994, with a lot of the music being written by Dubbo to go with Glenn's lyrics. The band lived together for some time at the Gracelands squat and toured Melbourne a couple of times and also played in Adelaide. The band began exploring a more grindcore sound after a couple of years and recorded 17 songs in 1995 (only a few of which ended up being released at the time) before breaking up. Some members then went on to form Noisam.
 
 
SHOWS: 
ORAL HISTORY:
DUBBO: I'd jammed with Grant before, with Nathan Summers. Grant used to live around the corner from Glen and Darren in Surry Hills.  
Dave Dub (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
GRANT: Dubbo was the main instigator. I knew Dubbo when he lived in St. Kilda. I remember a massive party at his place after the D.R.I. show - we had now both moved to Sydney but hadn't had any contact for a few years. I didn't know many people in Sydney and I started going to a few shows at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre. Dubbo and I started chatting for a bit and then he asks if I want to have a jam with a couple of young guys he met from the southern suburbs. By this time I'd moved into Gracelands on Cleveland St, which had bedrooms big enough to set up a band in. Glenn and Darren came over and we all hit it off. I thought these two were absolute gold from the minute we met. 
Grant (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAZ: The motivation behind starting Omnicide probably came from our love for early UK crust and grindcore bands. We started in a run-down terrace on Lord Street in Newtown. Then we moved to a squat called Gracelands in Chippendale. That place was dodgy as fuck. There were people coming and going all the time. Junkies too; heroin was bad around then. 
Darren Bottom (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GRANT: We were all definitely influenced by UK crust, the smellier the better. Our first gig was at the Bowlo... I remember the sun was still up and the majority of people were spread out and not too close to the stage because we stunk. 
Grant (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JUMA: I'd known Dave Dubbo for years, we had a D beat thrash band called Compost in the Melbourne punk scene that we formed back in 1987, so he and I played very well together. I moved to Sydney not long after Omnicide formed and the guys asked me to jam with them to add an extra guitar to the band. I instantly got on with all the boys and it sounded so good that they asked me if I wanted to joint he band. I loved the sound they had already created and I fitted in very well.  
Jamie Davidson (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


GRANT: Our sound was so much better with two guitars. Dubbo was killing it with double kick and I had so much distortion on my bass it sounded just like a rumble.
Grant (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DUBBO: The band name means 'Kill all'. I determine it as 'murder to extinction', which is basically the way it's going with the world. The destruction of rainforests, logging, ozone depletion - everything! - pollution. Most of the lyrics are about devastation. Songs called 'Omnicide', 'Breath of Destruction', 'War Torn'... I've also just written a song called 'One World Nation', which is about Class War. It's about smashing some people's heads in. When I first got into punk it was about caring. There were heaps of vegos about, there were people who used to protest all the time and that was basically what punk was ages ago. It's changed a lot these days. Our band is into saving the environment and we're pretty much all anarchists.
Dave Dub (Drums), Loaded to the Gills Issue 7, February 1995

JUMA: The drummer Dubs and Grant (bass) used to jam around a bit and the other two guys just met in the same area and they started jamming together. They did a tour of Melbourne just before I joined this year and that really went off... What we do is grindy, you know. It's got a metal edge but I think it falls somewhere in between and the songs are all... well, they go with the name really. They're about the way the planet is at the moment - just really, really fucked up.
Jamie Davidson (Guitar), dB Magazine, 1994

 
REVIEW: As usual Omnicide are as tight as ever and have since gained a substantial following. Fortunately for the listener we have not been totally immersed in their ever-present voice of gutteral anguish.
Review by Matt of Core Sessions Compilation CD, Loaded to the Gills Issue 7, February 1995

GLENN: Omnicide is best described as crusty grindcore crossover. The scene that we play around with consists of a lot of death and grind bands, like Persecution for example. There are also a few crusty sounding bands like Unclean and Subversion. On top of that there are a lot of American-sounding hardcore bands up here like Minute Minder and Blitz Babies. A lot of gigs are happening and a lot of new bands are forming so everything is pretty promising, it's going well. But the scene doesn't get much publicity because all bands are doing it themselves and it takes a while to get out a record, CD, or tape. It is difficult to raise the money yourself. There are people that are into this scene and there are a lot of them, but the bands get missed out on by the mainstream street papers up here. And so you don't get to hear as much about it because it's a bit more underground.
Interview with Markus Koch, dB Magazine, 1994

JUMA: There's a lot of different people that come and see us. A lot of surfy types. They may not of had the same hassles as we've had so it's good to tell them what's happening. We've been squatting heaps and have been hassled by the cops. A lot of these people in our audience are still really young and haven't had any of that. They see this really fast, noisy, loud, aggressive sort of music and they're able to release some steam. I think that's what they get out of it. It all depends where you live. If you live at the beach suburbs you'd probably be going to the surf clubs and if you've lived out in the suburbs you'd probably end up... going to the pub every Thursday after work.
Jamie Davidson (Guitar), Loaded to the Gills Issue 7, February 1995

DUBBO: We did a good tour with Beanflipper through Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The Crown and Anchor show in Adelaide was my best show. 
Dave Dub (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

FEATURE ARTICLE: This is Omnicide's first major tour and there's no question as to whether they're ready. The question is: are we? They've played the Sydney circuit for just over a year now, hailing originally from 'the subversive streets of Newtown', and just to fill you in, they've played with bands like Subversion, the excellent Blitz Babies, Downtime, Flycop, Persecution, Armoured Angel, Magnacite and Unclean, to name but a few. This time, it'll be with Beanflipper here in Adelaide. If we want bands of this calibre to keep coming back we'd better make it worth their while, so get the hell out there!!!
Nazz, dB Magazine, 1994

On the Street, October 1994

JUMA: We toured Adelaide and the crowds were completely mental. It was insane and so much fun. We then went from there to Melbourne with Beanflipper. Those gigs were great. We actually caught the train to the get to Adelaide. It was pretty messy, I remember I almost got kicked off the train a few times... I was very naughty indeed, smoking and taking some substances. Drugs and the punk scene and squatting was a way of life back in those days. 
Jamie Davidson (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GRANT: We went to Melbourne a couple of times. The Adelaide show with Beanflipper and Price of Silence was definitely one of our better shows. Also, the McLibel Benefit Show at the Lewisham was a great show. We had a bunch of new songs that weren't on the demo and have always thought they were technically better and it made Dubbo proud 'cause I was using more than one finger to play. The McLibel show was to help some people who had made flyers in the UK that said "McDeath McMurder"... Maccas got so pissed 'cause they knew it was true. It went on for years, was fucken' crazy.
Grant (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
FEATURE ARTICLE: Sydney's Omnicide describe themselves as 'grind metal and hardcore'. They've been together for a year, and recently added a second guitarist. In this time they've built up a steady following in Sydney, toured Melbourne, and recorded a number of songs. Five of these will feature on a demo which they'll be bringing to Adelaide... The band members have tastes that range between metal, rap, funk, jazz and grind - so there's plenty of variation. Whilst metal and hardcore form the basis of their music, "some of our songs are really heavy with distorted guitars but they'll still have a sort of dancey feel. There's a couple of songs like that." The doom style vocals mean that you'll have to wait for a lyric sheet to actually follow them. Live, they describe themselves as grindy and fast, with some songs sounding along the lines of Extreme Noise Terror, some black metal, and early American hardcore with doom vocals. And a good time was had by all.  
Daniel Kearney, dB Magazine, 1994
 
DUBBO: I left first because of personal reasons, and then I left Sydney. Some of the other guys from Omnicide formed Noisam but I was gone to Queensland by then.
Dave Dub (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAZ: We disbanded after a few years due to conflicting ideas on which direction the band was heading.
Darren Bottom (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JUMA: I'm glad we were able to entertain so many people. The bands that were around back then were awesome, in both the Sydney and Melbourne scenes. I remember when I first came up to Sydney with Compost and played with bands like Tutti Parze, it was all very politically-motivated angry punk thrash, but we all looked after each other as well - if anyone fell over in the slam they were instantly picked up by others. I did however leave all this behind in '94 and got clean and sober. I needed to get clean and sober as I'd been an addict for years by then and had been squatting for 10 years. I'm not ashamed of saying this because, as I said, we were all family and living on the streets came at a price with drugs. I've been clean and sober since '94. We've lost a lot of beautiful people from drugs and I have an 18 year-old son now and he wouldn't be here if I'd just kept using and drinking but again, that's how we all were back then. We were from broken homes - hence why we were all family and looked after each other.
Jamie Davidson (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Compost, Warpspasm, Noisam, Unknown to God, Sordid, Smash & Grab, Crust Fund Kids, Coffin Fly, Mountain Depression, HuggaMugga, Cachexia, Devious Kickback, Subversive Intent, Consumers of Greed, Dancing Outlaws






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