Monday, August 26, 2024

Blitz Babiez

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW
GENRE: Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1993-1997
 
MEMBERS:
  • Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon - Vocals
  • Ziad Beydoun - Guitar
  • Grant Dirckze - Drums
  • Ian - Bass (1993)
  • Errol Alley - Bass (1994-1997)
  • Jamie Dack - Guitar (1993-1995)
  • Jamie Brusard - Guitar (1995)
RELEASES: 
 
  • Time's Ticking (1993)
    • 1. Time's Ticking
    • 2. Monkey Grip
    • 3. Emotions
  • On The Line (1994) - Download Here.
    • 1. Frotter
    • 2. M17
    • 3. Now He's Gone
    • 4. Burning
    • 5. Die Looking Good
    • 6. Blame It
    • 7. Wicked World
    • 8. Equality
    • 9. See Me
    • 10. One of the Family
    • 11. Long Time Ago
    • 12. Apathy
  • M17 (1994)
    • 7" released in Europe for 1995 European tour. Features four songs from On The Line:
      • 1. One of the Family
      • 2. Equality
      • 3. M17
      • 4. Blame It 

  •  Neoteny (1994) Compilation
    • Gratznog
    • 5-4-3-2-1

 


  • Fuse Box (1995) - AC/DC tribute compilation
    • Livewire


  •  Feel This (1995)
    • 1. Feel This
    • 2. Gates of Desire
    • 3. Kid
    • 4. House of Glass
    • 5. World 


  •  Thought Spawn (1996)
    • 1. Find Tomorrow
    • 2. Domesticated
    • 3. Fake Salvation
    • 4. Navigate Your Soul
    • 5. Silence
    • 6. Worlds Apart
    • 7. Ripcord
    • 8. Portrait of Chaos
    • 9. No
    • 10. Nothing Wrong
    • 11. Buried Alive
    • 12. Trigger Slip
    • 13. Guardian Angel
    • 14. Gratznog

  • Worlds Apart (1996)
    • 1. Worlds Apart
    • 2. Navigate Your Soul
    • 3. Tear it Down
    • 4. Boys in Town


  •  Try Hard (1997)
    • 1. Try Hard
    • 2. Now He's Gone
    • 3. Equality
    • 4. Trigger Slip

  •  Skaters Have More Fun (1997) Compilation
    • Nuff S Nuff

  • Rock (1998) Compilation
    • We Will Rock You
 
SUMMARY: Blitz Babiez were a five-piece band formed by Joanne Lanzon and Ziad Beydoun during the heyday of '90s Sydney punk in March, 1993. The band played hundreds of shows and embarked on a European tour in 1995 after recording their first album, famously becoming one of the only Australian bands to play war-ravaged Serbia in this time. In 1996 the band decided to remain a four piece after successively losing two guitarists (both named Jamie). After recording a second album, the band embarked on another European tour. A third European tour was planned in 1997 but, when this fell through due to a dodgy promotions company, the band decided to call it a day as drummer Grant Dirckze was moving to England.
 
SHOWS: 
 
Hornsby PCYC, 11th February. Pic by Anna Cridland.

ORAL HISTORY:
JOANNE: When I was in primary school, the band that really stood out was The Ramones. Then in high school, it was Dead Kennedys, The Clash, etc. It was music that said something I guess, just what I liked. Countdown was my favourite show was I was little. I liked a lot of Aussie stuff too, like The Sunnyboys, The Reels, The Angels, Jenny Morris, The Church... then I started seeing bands like The Trilobites, The Hard-Ons, Celibate Rifles, Nursery Crimes, and WWXXIV. Seeing bands play live pretty much saved my life. I was sick as a kid when I was nine, in hospital for nearly a year. Then my dad got cancer. Five years later I was 17 and I suppose I could have fallen to drugs, sexism, shit music, etc. Punk was what I liked. I started looking for it at Waterfront Records and the Anarchist Book Shop. Then I met Pete from Rocks, he introduced me to a whole plethora of punk, IE. The Descendants and heaps of other US punk bands.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
ZIAD: Before Blitz Babiez, I started a band called Dream Riot with Joanne. We were a mish-mash of very wrong things put together. Joanne had the punk and pop influences, I was into Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, and other indulgent metal bands. So we had Blondie-sounding songs with twenty-minute guitar solos and a lot of unimpressed band members... Years after Dream Riot I met Joanne again at a Hard-Ons gig. '92 I think it was. She was trying to put something together. By then I had a bit more of an idea of what punk was meant to be, after discovering Black Flag and Misfits... loved that raw energy.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOANNE: The Blitz Babiez was my third band. I met up with Ziad at a Hard-Ons/Gerry A gig. Ziad and I had both been in Dream Riot. We decided to write some songs and then we got the other members. Grant, our drummer, had been in my second band, Deep Dish Action. Unlike the previous two bands, Blitz Babies was melodic punk/hardcore, which I love.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ZIAD: We tried out a few drummers and found Grant, who just totally blew us away from the first beat he played. We practiced at Troy Horse and, later, Zen.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


ZIAD: Our first show was at Petersham Bowlo with Toe to Toe, Subversion, and so many crazy good bands at the time. We were nervous as hell. The room was packed mainly due to the amount of people Joanne was friends with. It was amazing. We had people moshing and yelling shit at us that we didn't understand, and they were smiling and nodding. I think the pop-punk catchy-ness mixed with the rawness of not playing too well, haha... was a crowd-pleaser at that moment. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ZIAD: Three months after we played our first show we did a Zen recording with Geoff Lee - the notorious budget-evicting producer. He records you; then tells you to get out while he mixes, haha. Times Ticking was our first single. It was released by No Deal Records (label of Sean, bassplayer from Toe to Toe).
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JOANNE: We were looking for shows straight away. Sydney was cool back then. Heaps of places to play. Cool bands. I sort of managed us in the beginning - chasing shows, calling around. As for getting attitude playing in such a male-dominated scene back then; the blokes were cool. Sean from No Deal (original Toe to Toe member) is still a good mate today. As is Bibs (Toe to Toe, Crank, Rocks). There were a few snide comments from others but, you know, fuck them, haha. I just carried on and got us to Europe.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 


ZIAD: It was a different world back then. So many venues still, and there were always people out and about. Because our sound was diverse enough, we would play gigs mid-week at the Mortdale Inn with Lazarus (an indie/hard rock band) and then again on the weekend with Bolt Thrower (power metal) at the Borland Community Hall in Newtown.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: The Time's Ticking EP is the 3 song debut release for the Blitz Babies as well as for No Deal Records, and by all measures the band and the label are off to a great start. There's strength in the Blitz Babiez' music; from the fast hard guitar powered by big harmonies and belting vocals, to the lyrics about making a stand for oneself in relationships ('Time's Ticking', 'Monkey Grip', 'Emotions'). The music may be served on soft pink vinyl but the Blitz Babiez are all punk. So besides buying this EP, the next best thing you can do for yourself is to see the energising Blitz Babiez LIVE!
Review of Time's Ticking by Anne, Loaded to the Gills Issue 3, April 1994


 
ZIAD: It was shortly after the Times Ticking release that we scored a spot on the 4ZZZ Market Day Festival in Brisbane due to high rotation of the song 'Time's Ticking' on the punk show. We played our set and wow, what a reaction. I'd never seen anything like that in size - so many of our most iconic photos were taken in this show; lots of stage divers and mosh waves. We went to Victoria a few weeks later and then back up to Queensland. Sadly we never made it to Western Australia or South Australia. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JOANNE: I wrote the majority of lyrics. I'm for equal rights for everyone, including women (haha). I never considered myself a feminist, more an equal rights person. But now I realise I was a feminist and still am. Human rights is definitely my thing. And cats. Punk was a way that, even me - a girl, could sing about stuff I believe in and people would understand. That's all I hoped for. Being on stage sort of sends me into a different world. I love punk. The Blitz Babiez boys were great. We're all still friends. All in all I'd have to say, a lot of my influences came from bands like The Ramones, Descendants, and the people I hung out with seeing bands like The Hard-Ons, Massappeal, Nursery Crimes... I loved everything from WW24 to the Trilobites. Rocks were a massive influence. Live music rules.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
JAMIE D: We won't be gigging again for around three months. Joanne's got nodules on her throat. She's still got to see a specialist yet... We don't want to play unless Joanne's voice is at full capacity, you know, we want to make sure that she's ready. We've now got Errol, who's replaced Ian. He's been with us for about three weeks but it's gonna be a while before he plays his fist gig. 
Jamie Dack (Guitar), Loaded to the Gills Issue 2, January 1994
 
JOANNE: I got nodules in the beginning. It didn't hurt but I couldn't hit high notes. I had to not sing or speak for a month. Went back to the doctor and inflammation had reduced. I then had singing lessons to avoid the nodules coming back. On tour I didn't drink much and ate propolis lollies. Lots of room-temperature water. Gave up smokes.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
ZIAD: On The Line was recorded mostly live at Damien Gerard Studios. The recording engineer Russell Pilling set up office baffles between our amps and drums. We could hardly take shit seriously. Grant and Jamie kept making us laugh with their exaggerated cockney accents. But somehow we got the job done. My favourite song from this record is probably m17. It was initially written by me and Joanne but all the extra bits, the breakdown, and the arrangement was from the whole band jamming on it and collaborating in the rehearsal studio. Even some mistakes turned out to be a wow factor... for example, the outro of the breakdown was created when Bezza (Errol) was fumbling what he thought would be this cool fill. It was this evil-sounding riff.
 
ME: Hey Bezza, stop... play that again.
ERROL: What?
ME: That fuck up... play it again.

This happened quite a few times but I remember this one time so well.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JAMIE D: It's going to get harder to put on shows, but like punk has always been about putting on your own shows regardless of whether there's anywhere to play or not. Like the show down at the Bowling Club the other week, and there's always Glebe Rowers. People tend to go off when the shows are put on by people in the scene. We're seeing more people at the shows because it's a more concentrated area. There's not so many gigs to go to and it;s like the shows that do happen, there's more people having a good time.
Jamie Dack (Guitar), Loaded to the Gills Issue 2, January 1994

JOANNE: Not long after On The Line, my mate in Amsterdam invited us over to tour Europe.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


JOANNE: A couple of years ago I met a guy called Henk in Amsterdam who Peter from Rocks put me in contact with... Blitz Babiez were together but they had never played a show. That was in April, 1993... In July we did a demo which was a couple of weeks later after our first show. I sent Henk the demo and he really like it... he was really interested in Sydney bands and stuff, and we talked about the possibility of us going over there and he was totally into that. So that helped us get the On The Line CD out quicker, and it came out in September 1994. Henk distributes stuff over in Europe. He also does Kangaroo Records. He also released a 7" for us, a European pressing.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon, Loaded to the Gills Issue 8, 1995
 
ZIAD: After the On The Line album we scored a European tour organised by Kangaroo Records in 1995. Henk Smit, who organised the tour, became a close friend with us after meeting Joanne during a holiday.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
GRANT: The whole tour is going to be three and a half weeks... they have us listed for playing almost every single day. I kind of think that's pretty much impossible. We'll burn out after the first week. Just going up to Queensland or something on the weekend we come back totally shagged and wanting to kill each other, you know? It will be a huge mental test but i think it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be really intense.  
Grant Dirckze (Drums), Loaded to the Gills Issue 8, 1995
 
ZIAD: The highlight was playing the Dynamo Festival, and the endless shenanigans of zig-zagging all over the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, and all the way to war-torn Serbia. We visited 16 cities and towns in all. When we were in Amsterdam, or close to it, we would stay at our tour manager Henk's house and this kind of became our HQ. We'd stay at PCYCs, in barns, and even under semi-trailers in our sleeping bags. In Australia the default was (and still is) one beer ticket for each band member but in Europe it's usually drink till you drop, especially in Germany. It was a crazy decision to go to Serbia but well-appreciated by the locals, most of who opposed the war and showed us unbelievable hospitality. It was surprising to see many punters singing along and the mosh was out of control. This was pre-internet so CD-burning and tape duplication was the go-to. This was also wartime and not many people could afford ticket prices or CD purchases. The first Serbian gig was at a converted theatre in Subotica. The room wasn't huge, about the size of a train carriage. We wanted to let everyone in but the promoter refused, saying it was already sold out and that it wasn't fair to the patrons who'd paid. But those outside could still hear us well enough. The next gig was at Belgrade University, which was just crazy. The auditorium was about the size of, say, the Lansdowne Hotel. It was shoulder-to-shoulder packed... the constant flow of stage divers being carried and passed on to the back was impressive. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOANNE: Playing in Serbia was absolutely fantastic. They were so giving. No punks were touring there then... Yugoslavia was in a bad way, the way wasn't long over. The people were awesome. The Yugoslav cops, on the other hand, were a bit dodgy and pulled us over with guns. Grant was peeling an apple and they'd seen him holding a knife. They kept overtaking our van and then they'd slow down. When they passed again, Grant shook the knife. Next minute they pulled us over abruptly. Luckily we'd just picked up the guy who'd organised for us to come to Serbia. We had visas. All was okay. We laughed a lot. In Serbia we played at a uni and got interviewed there for TV. For me, these were the most important shows. These people had nothing. Conscription was in. It was a total shit show of a government, corrupt as fuck. Our driver's wife told me years later that they thought we were fucking crazy 'cause it was so dangerous. I had no idea, haha. I just trusted Henk and Wab (our driver). Best Dutch blokes.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
ZIAD: Everyone knew me to be obsessed with my cherry-red Gibson SG. During sound check in the Netherlands I had it leaning on my amp speaker. There was a bit of traffic with people rushing by and setting up the stage. Somehow, at the same moment, we all looked back to just watch the guitar slip off the speaker... I rushed to try and dive for it but it was too late. It hit the ground and the neck broke. SGs are notorious for breaking in the same spots towards the headstock because of their slanted back design. Next day, Wab drove me four hours there and four hours back to a well-known guitar doctor who was situated on the other side of the Netherlands. He cleaned the break like a wound... glued and clamped it. Just the patience, assistance, and effort of our driver Wab was legendary.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JOANNE: We were on our way back from Serbia, it was a long drive. We got to our next show in Holland. We sound check. Ziad leans his guitar and I watched it fall in slow motion.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ZIAD: Funny story - while in Madrid, Jamie and Grant were acquainted with a shabby long-haired feminine-looking dude, drinking and smoking with him all night. He professed to them that he was a painter and a part-time male prostitute. It was after a show and we were all quietly chatting and trying to fall asleep in the dark. All of a sudden Jamie is yelling 'No, no, dude, get the fuck out of my sleeping bag!' and this guy responds, 'Hey, but I thought we were friends'... All you could here was everyone else trying to hide their laughter.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
         
 
JOANNE: The majority of our shows were in Germany and it was cool. The crowds were great considering we were unheard-of. We played the Dynamo punk stage when Propagandi pulled out. That was fun too. Also played with Snapcase, who were a straightedge band. They smashed up our beer rider. Cockheads.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
ZIAD: On our return to Australia we had to face the reality that Jamie Dack was leaving the band. He was important to the band in the sense that he had a very entertaining sense of humour and a good balance of hard work and humility. After Jamie left we found a new guitarist, also named Jamie. He brought a more metal edge to our sound on the EP Feel This. Just thinking about it now, things happened fairly quick back then. I mean, we got back from Europe in May, found a new guitarist by June, and recorded an EP by August. Released it September, and toured up and down the east coast of Australia in October/November.
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOANNE: Coming back to Australia, I felt a bit sad, to be honest. I'd have loved to have been able to move over there with the band but that would have been impossible - some of the boys had family commitments. Ziad was married with a couple of kids and Grant got married too. Jamie left the band after our first European tour, pffft. We toured Melbourne and Queensland regularly, every 6 weeks for a while. We just loved playing.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JAMIE B: It's quite good for me playing in a band where it's got musical and lyrical quality. I'm excited to play and I'm going to throw in my bit and hopefully go a long way with the rest of the crew.
Jamie Brusard (Guitar), Loaded to the Gills Issue 8, 1995
 
ZIAD: Jamie Brusard was a young kid from Byron Bay who had moved down to the big smoke... he recorded Feel This with us and an ACDC song that was part of the all-Australian tribute comp Fuse Box. He spent about 6 months with us then decided to go back home. After he left we decided to continue on as a four piece. It was easier to manage and we got used to the one-guitar sound. In some ways it opened up more dynamics and tightened up our sound. Kinda forced the band to evolve, mature, and be more resourceful. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


ZIAD: Our friends in Melbourne pop-punk band Game Over referred us to a new record label, One Foot Records. We eventually signed a one record deal with them. This led to some very challenging obligations. The record was meant to be written and recorded and released by September, 1996, and we were then meant to be on our promotional tour of Europe by February. We had four songs at the time... Grant our drummer contributed two songs, Errol wrote the riffs to the two others. But the rest of the record was written by me - that would amount to another ten tracks. There was a great satisfaction in writing, composing and rehearsing these new songs but there was also an immense amount of pressure to get them out asap. My wife at the time was pregnant with our second child. My first son was two years old. I was very frustrated, worried, busy, frantic, but somehow functioning... and writing and composing every opportunity I could get, including in lunch breaks at work while I worked as a metal machinist, and as soon as I got home and as soon as I woke up on weekends. Joanne was between relationships at the time and starting new jobs, so her usual support and co-writing with me was very limited at this time. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
REVIEW: In 1996, Blitz Babiez played a couple of concerts in Serbia (Subotica, Belgrade, and Kraguyjevac)... The lineup led by the charismatic Joanne won the hearts of a large hardccore punk crowd.
KST Planeta, Serbian Pop Culture Website, 2020
 
ZIAD: By June, 1996, we booked time at Paradise Studios in Darlinghurst. This studio was owned by the guys in Midnight Oil, it was very lavish and professional. We contracted Lien Chew to record the album, he was the same engineer that recorded our Feel This EP. On that EP, Lien had produced a very high octane sound, especially with the guitars and drums, and we thought that this was his signature production. But it turned out that this was an absolute fluke... he found it very challenging to produce that sound again. We pushed on and the finished product was very different to all the previous recordings. The songs were still high in energy but darker and more sombre. Joanne's vocals were more refined and articulate. Even the guitars have a weird tone, they are loud but somehow have a softer edge. Playing those new songs live had them sounding a lot more punky and thrashy - kind of a retribution to our regretful decisions while recording them. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOANNE: I liked the rawness of the first album. The second album was okay, haha.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

ZIAD: After Blitz Babiez released the second full-length CD Thought Spawn in '96 we did our second European tour. In '97 we did more gigs around Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and finally got included in the lineup for the Big Day Out (in the New Zealand festival), and were playing more international support spots back in Australia. This included shows with Sick of It All, No Means No, DOA, Agent Orange, and many others. We recorded a track called 'Nuf Snuf' for a feature on a skateboard magazine compilation CD based in Germany. We also a recorded a 7" Try Hard. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
Hornsby PCYC, 11th February. Pic by Anna Cridland.
 
ZIAD: We were aiming to go back to Europe in July '97 but a few months before we could book our flights, the booking agent (Solar Penguin) went missing, owing many previous bands something like $100k. So our booking schedule turned out to be fake as well. We tried to salvage some gigs but in the end it wasn't worth forcing the tour to go ahead. Joanne wanted to travel indefinitely and Grant was having his first child and moving to the UK. So we kinda knew it was the end. I didn't want to accept it, but we had to. 
Ziad Beydoun (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOANNE: The band ended because Grant was having a baby and moving to London. Ziad already had four kids. We couldn't confirm the third European tour before Grant left. Then I went travelling with a friend in Europe for a while and ended up in Amsterdam and London.
Joanne Bowditch-Lanzon (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
GRANT: To me, Blitz Babiez is something where I get a sense of achievement from the things that we're doing. I've always wanted to be in a band that is doing something because all I've ever wanted to do is play. Everything about Blitz Babiez is a bonus because we're getting the chance to play, we're also not doing something meaningless... it's great to be able to get some message across. When you can see people know the lyrics to the songs and they understand them, you're achieving something there as well. Plus all the little things... like having a CD out. It's something that I always wanted to do and the fact that we made the effort... it's great.
Grant Dirckze (Drums), Loaded to the Gills Issue 8, 1995
 
JOANNE: I always wanted to get a message across to people about something that I felt strongly about and because I like listening to music so much, punk music, it was the best way for me to do it. I've always loved to sing too. I never expected Blitz Babiez to turn out the way it did. When Ziad and I started it off we just wanted to play something that we couldn't see and I wanted to say something that I really wanted people to hear... I didn't expect for us to have an audience. It just grew from there. But it's taken a whole two years from my life.
Joanne Lanzon-Bowditch (Vocals), Loaded to the Gills Issue 8, 1995
 
BAND BIO: The music of Under Pressure is a mixture of old British punk-rock bands (Addicts, P.&T.T.B.) and the new bands (Blitz Babies, Bellrays,...).
A bio of a Serbian band from 2001, featured on Punk Rock Demonstration, a webzine.
 
RELATED BANDS: Dream Riot, Deep Dish Action, Hindsight, Gwylo, War Rages Within, Headlifter, Life Adjustment Disorder, M!dget



Hornsby PCYC, 11th February. Pic by Anna Cridland.






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