Thursday, September 5, 2024

Meataxe

 
ORIGINS: Hornsby, NSW
GENRE: Hardcore
YEARS ACTIVE: 1997-2001
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES: 

  • Violent Hornsby Straightedge (2000) Compilation
    • 1. Asshole Drug
    • 2. Lukecrew vs. Kevindefence
    • 3. Drunk Fuck
    • 4. Thought You Were SxE
    • 5. Spy vs. Spy

  • Straightedge Thrash Violence (2001) - Download Here.
    • 1. Defensive
    • 2. Before We Die
    • 3. Look At Me
    • 4. Thank You
    • 5. Ecstasy Raid
    • 6. This is What We Do For Fun
    • 7. SxE Violence
    • 8. Go!
    • 9. Little Boys
    • 10. Take Hold of Your Life
    • 11. Drug Abuse
    • 12. One of These Days
    • 13. Join the Trend
    • 14. Lack of Reason
    • 15. The Junction
    • 16. Thought You Were SxE?
    • 17. Outro
SUMMARY: Forming as part of the wave of hardcore that came out of Hornsby in the late '90s, Meataxe were a three-piece band who reached their peak with the release of an album and a tour to Adelaide, both in 2001. The band faded out shortly after this, with a reunion in 2011. 

 
SHOWS: 
  • Hornsby, PCYC - 22nd January, 2000
  • House Party, Sydney - unknown date, 2011

 
ORAL HISTORY:
DAVID: My first band was Meataxe, with Damien who lived down the road from me. I started listening to Nirvana around '94, probably because of Kurt Cobain dying, then I was hearing punk played on skate videos. I met other guys at high school who were into punk as well and then it started from there. When we were first learning to play, it was just Damien and me in his parent's basement. After a little while we got Ward to play bass. We probably would have got Chris Shields to play bass in Meataxe as Ward was really a guitarist and Chris was a bass player, but by the time Meataxe had about Shields was dead.
 David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVID: We played a lot of Hornsby PCYC shows. They were always great. Despite the death of my friend (Chris Shields) weighing heavily on my mind at the time the shows were such a fun thing to be a part of. And the fact that we kind of did it all ourselves was a cool thing too. No internet and shit around back then really - just word of mouth and a few flyers. The older guys from the city scene were there too alongside us younger guys. I'd be drumming looking out at the crowd trying to remember how to play some shit two-minute song we made in Damien's basement, and I'd see a guy whose band I'd listened to and looked up to, and they'd be nodding along to our songs. People travelled from Wollongong and Newcastle to get to those shows. Damien's mum and his old Italian grandma would often come too and stand off to the side to watch. Who knows what his grandma made of it! When Chris died in May 2000, a lot of those older guys from the city scene - Jay Blurter, Hedge, Fingers, Dave Thommo, B.E. - they all turned up to his funeral. I didn't even really know them all that well at that point, I'm not sure any of us did, but I felt like it cemented the bond we all had together. I've always had time for those guys ever since then.
 David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVID: One time at one of the Honrsby shows, there was a solo Japanese hardcore guy that had stumbled across a flyer and turned up to the show that was on. We used to do a cover of a song by a Japanese band called Assfort, a hardcore band from Tokyo. We ended up getting the guy to do vocals on the song. Who knows if he even really knew the lyrics but at least it sounded authentic for once!
 David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVID: Damien had this contraption where he taped a microphone to a stackhat and used to run around and scream and play guitar while wearing it. It was a funny gimmick. Well, not even really a gimmick, just a practical way of being able to move around. But of course, it would always fall off, get knocked off, etc.
David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


DAVID: We recorded at Zen. I hated recording - some audio guru having to sit through fifty takes of our horseshit, haha. At the time I wasn't a huge fan of the samples Damien used - fucken Russell Crowe in Gladiator. That was like the biggest fucking film in the world at the time; I liked the idea of samples being obscure and a bit mysterious. Although, hearing it again now, it's not so bad and oddly nostalgic and fitting.
David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVID: Some time in 2001 we went to Adelaide and played a show there on a two-day metal festival type thing at a pub. I think it had something to do with Simmo, I feel like he had a hand in organising it or getting us on the bill. We flew down and stayed in this super hostel, haha. Neil from Undinism was a legend, he helped us out at the show. He was playing with his other grindcore band, The Kill, and they lent us their gear to use.
 David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAVID: I don't recall why we finished. It wasn't for any real reason, it just kinda stopped. I was living in Kings Cross and selling porn, and I guess our lives just kind of went in different directions.
David Mangnall (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Headless Horsemen, S. Van, Bad Skate Unit, Nintendo Police, Arkanoid


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