Monday, January 27, 2025

The Pact


ORIGINS: Wollongong, NSW
GENRE: Hardcore
YEARS ACTIVE:1997-1999
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES: 
 
  • Live Demo '98 (1998)
    • 1. Free Ride
    • 2. Lightswitch
    • 3. Lost
    • 4. Full of Rage
    • 5. Stop and Think
    • 6. 39 Beat Down Crew
    • 7. The Pact

  • It Starts Inside (1999) - Download Here.
    • 1. No Issue
    • 2. Full of Rage
    • 3. Low Act
    • 4. The Difference
    • 5. Through My Eyes
    • 6. Thinking Positive
SUMMARY: Usually stylised as xThe Pactx, this Wollongong-based youth crew hardcore band made their mark on the local Illawarra and Sydney scenes. They recorded an EP before breaking up.
 
SHOWS: 


ORAL HISTORY:
JYOTI: I was a teenager in a small town (Nowra) during the mid-'90s, so it started with indie music / grunge and being disaffected with the 'normal' way of life and wanting more. Through the people I hung out with I was slowly introduced to punk. I remember being at a house party and hearing Minor Threat and was really drawn to them. My brother, Hesh, was in a local pop-punk band, Frontside, with some guys even older than me (he was like, 14). When I was 17 I started dating the guitarist of Frontside (much to my brother's chagrin) who was straight edge and expanded my listening to other DC straight edge bands. I really liked the philosophy of political activism / veganism / no drinking or drugs (the latter of which I had already done a lot of since I was a disaffected teen in a small town).
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025
 
DAN: I was 16 years old in high school and obsessed with hardcore. I had a band called Two Right Hands with some friends from school - when we started it we were really into this band called DFL, as well as Bad Religion and Operation Ivy. Then we got into Minor Threat, Teen Idles, and S.O.A. I just kept getting more into straightedge hardcore; I loved the militant aesthetic and message of friendship and loyalty and discipline. I had one LP - the Chain of Strength discography. I'd take it to school in my backpack, I had to fold the corners down to stuff it int here, I took it just to pull it out at lunch time and read the lyrics and look at the photos with the other members of Two Right Hands (they were probably humouring me). I wanted to be in a band and world like that. Youth crew straightedge. Two Right Hands were shuffling members around and we asked Jyoti to sing and we made the new band explicitly straightedge - it was actually named XXXTHE PACTXXX. It was half-serious but also intentionally cheesy and, yes, cringe. 
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
ANTHONY: I got into more mainstream punk and hardcore music from the age of 13 or 14, partly from watching bodyboarding videos. It was through friends and live shows when I was 16 that I first got into the local and underground punk and hardcore music. I still love the power, energy and lyrics about meaningful topics and important issues. The Pact was my second band. Four of us were in a previous band together called Two Right Hands. The Pact had an extra guitarist and an extra vocalist. I played drums in Two Right Hands and bass in The Pact.  
Anthony (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
STEVE: The Pact formed when Two Right Hands ended. It was basically the same members with a couple of new additions. Two Right Hands was more of a punk band with saxophone, whereas The Pact was more influenced by Minor Threat and the Newcastle hardcore band Arms Reach.
Steve Wales (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

JYOTI: I was playing bass in a band called Eightfold and we had a gig (in Thirroul, I think). On the train back to Wollongong, where I lived for uni, I met Dan Stewart, who also lived n Wollongong, and we became friends. The 'Gong was a bigger city than Nowra but still small. Dan and his friends were also straight edge but listening to more 'youth crew' hardcore like Youth of Today, which was a lot more fun than the serious DC emo straight edge bands I liked... and it was really Dan's energy and motivation in wanting to start a Youth Crew band that got things going. He recruited me to do vocals, which sounded fun - any chance to write lyrics and yell them at people!
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025
 
JOEL A: The Pact was my first band. I wasn't originally in The Pact - I replaced Anthony who played on the live demo. Before The Pact they were called Two Right Hands, which was an Operation Ivy kinda influenced band. Jyoti and the other Joel joined them to form The Pact. We all met at Wollongong Youth Centre and while kicking around hardcore shows in both Wollongong and Sydney.
Joel Anderson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JYOTI: I just love the youth crew style because it's so positive. It's just what we live for. Without my friends I don't know what I'd do, so it hurts when they 'stab you in the back' and I guess when you're singing about it it's a way to let out all your anger. Most of our songs are a way for us to release our anger at things.
Jyoti Roy (Vocals,), Spirit Issue 2, 1998

JYOTI: Our lyrics were inspired by all the fun youth crew topics, like having fun with your friends, being loyal and true to your crew, etc. Nothing super deep! Well I guess there was an aspect of being anti-consumerism and being against the ways that blinded you into being a 'sheep' (drunk and full of meat and destroying the earth). I don't remember our first show but we played many times at different people's houses and at different youth centres around Wollongong, Sydney, and Newcastle. They were pretty much all the same - dancing, a mosh circle, people grabbing the mic to sing along, and big fat Xs drawn on hands (oh, and hoods up!)
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025
 
DAN: We played almost every other weekend for a year between Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle, and Melbourne. Sydney meant everything from Engadine to Hornsby. Mostly All Ages shows as we were in high school. I don't remember most of the shows - most of the bands we played with were not worth remembering. I don't have fond memories of being in high school and aside from Arms Reach and the violent Hornsby hardcore bands, I can't say much. I will say this - Three Found Dead's 'Ghost Car' is the best Sydney hardcore song. I'd also like to emphasise the importance of Newcastle band Arm's Reach - they were our heroes - pretty early on Luke Dolan (of Arm's Reach) made fun of us in his zine because of the aforementioned cheese/cringe factor. It was devastating. I would say outside of the band and a couple of friends from down the coast in Jervis Bay - The Pact was a band you made fun of. Eventually even the Jervis Bay lads started making fun of us too. We manage to unify the scene, which was our stated goal... every court needs a jester.
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


REVIEW: The Pact were great... last time they weren't much good but today they seemed tighter and more energetic. Dan tried his best to get the crowd involved and as a result they got heaps of sing-a-longs and a bit of dancing. The Wide Awake cover was really cool, as was the Project X one. They were the best on the night in my opinion.
Review by Luke Logemann of Wollongong show, Counter Attack 2, 1999

REVIEW: The Pact played and got the crowd into a self-induced tizzy - sing-alongs a-plenty.
Review by Maris of  The Barbwire Ball, unknown zine, 1999

JYOTI: I found fun and energy from those "youth crew" bands... At the time, I did not really see the male dominance inherit in this form of hardcore. I just liked the energy of the mosh pit and circle pit and it was a great way for me to express anger and feelings and not play the part of a "good girl"... I, like most women, had experienced a lot of sexual harassment when I was younger - having developed really early - so I was happy for male attention and (seemingly) acceptance as an equal. But there was a lot of internalised sexism at play. There were a few other girls around me at the time who were also straight edge and into the same music, but not in bands.
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Orstralia Volume 2, 2024 (reproduced with permission from T. Clark)


ANTHONY: We obviously played most in Wollongong. The main venues back then included Wollongong Youth Centre, Bulli PCYC, and house parties. We also played in Sydney - I remember playing at Newtown PCYC. Toe to Toe were the headline. The Pact got a better reception and following than our previous band, Two Right Hands.
Anthony (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOEL A: The show that stands out the most was playing with Mid Youth Crisis at Wollongong Youth Centre. We were all huge fans of them from when they were One Inch Punch and were very excited to play with MYC. A short trip to play at The Arthouse also stood out too, it was kinda funny because we stayed at The Arthouse and Jyoti and I were the only members over 18! Frontside, Arms Reach, Mindsnare, Ceasefire, Not For You, Toe to Toe, and FMD were all bands that we loved and we got to play with them at that show.
Joel Anderson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAN: The Wollongong Youth Centre was the hub of everything. They offered a space where bands could practise and charged very little for the room and gear, they put on shows almost every night with local bands and it was really easy to get a show happening. The room sounded great, there was a vast area out front where you could skate, and a wall out back where people could paint. They had a kitchen where they taught kids how to cook, they had computers with internet access and printers so you could make a zine. They put a lot of effort into spaces where bored teenagers could meet up and collaborate on something that wasn't heroin.
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025
 
JYOTI: The Wollongong scene was fun and close-knit, but with many different types of punks - from straight edge to gutter punks and everything in between. Lots of us were at Wollongong Uni and lived in share houses so gigs and band practices happened at each other's houses and we put on shows at Wollongong Youth Centre. It was very, very DIY. Probably less than 30 folks total in Wollongong but we were only a train ride away from Sydney and Newcastle, which had big scenes. And then of course Brisbane and Melbourne too. Lots of zines, bands, and community. 
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025  
 
ANTHONY: The Pact wasn't a Christian band but I wouldn't call it an anti-Christian band either. There were some openly Christian bands at that time such as Embodiment 12:14, Ceasefire, and Golgotha Method. There were also some zines devoted to promoting Christianity or that included positive articles. I think one such zine was called Meat and Three Veg. There were some bands that made anti-Christianity a major part of their focus or identity, such as album covers and lyrics to numerous songs. I recall a hardcore punk show in Wollongong on Good Friday one year that had an anti-Christian theme. There were also some bands and zines with the odd song or article against Christianity or the behaviour of Christians. I decided to leave The Pact partly due to working in Sydney and partly because one vocalist wanted to write and a play a song criticising Christianity. I suppose in hindsight we could have arranged something different, EG. If it was only one song, someone else could have played bass for that one song during shows. 
Anthony (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAN: The Melbourne trip is memorable because this was how I first met Emily, who later asked me to play with Straightjacket Nation. Twenty years later we are still playing music together. Built to last.
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

Pic by Elissa Fletcher.

JYOTI: Some random guy in Wollongong recorded our demo in his house and we recruited as many people as possible to sing the youth crew ensemble backups for the choruses... and then recording multiple tracks so it sounded like we had 100+ in the crew!
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025  

JOEL A: We recorded It Starts Inside in early 1999. It wasn't supposed to be a second demo but we were young and broke, and dubbing cassettes was cheap. We recorded at a uni student's makeshift studio in Wollongong.
Joel Anderson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAN: We would take the train with heaps of mates from Wollongong for shows. There was always drama on trains from Wollongong - we were hiding in toilets from ticket inspector and I remember several fights and confrontations too (and I'm sure I've forgotten 99 more). We would travel three to four hours by public transport to play and would arrive without guitars or drum sticks and we'd have to borrow everything from older responsible bands who hated us not just because we were scabs and young, but also because we talked shit on them in our zines or lyrics. We would then play for fifteen to twenty minutes to the bemusement or boredom of everyone but the crew who came with us. Then we would go back - another three to four hours; job done.
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


JOEL A: My favourite songs were definitely 'Full of Rage' and '39 Beat Down Crew'. The first was fast with two step and breakdowns, and our friends really liked us playing it. '39 Beat Down Crew', on the other hand, just makes me laugh - it was about a bus route in Wollongong and it was written before I joined the band. I liked singing along to it.
Joel Anderson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DAN: Much like many other bands that incorporate straight edge slogans and logos into their image, we aren't an all-sXe unit. I think it's comfortable to say the band would encourage the straight edge lifestyle - we all feel the same way about drugs, and our lyrics and personal lifestyles promote abstinence from drugs as a way of life. 
Dan Stewart (Vocals,), Spirit Issue 2, 1998
        
Spirit Issue 2, 1998
                                                                                                          
JOEL A: I think for the most part we were pulled in different directions both in life and musically. Our age ranges were 17 to 20 during that period and a lot changes in that time. For some it was study and uni. Others were into literature and activism or joined other bands. I moved and started putting on shows with my friends in Sydney under ScreamingBloodyMess.com.
Joel Anderson (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JYOTI: I honestly don't remember the exact reason why or how the band finished. Growing up... moving on. Oh and I stopped being straight edge at some point!
Jyoti Roy (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAN: The band finished not with a bang but with a whimper. There was no real excitement after a while, it just ran out of fuel. In between having beef with every second person at shows and finishing high school, the naive idealistic energy that the band ran on got exhausted. It was definitely not something built to last.   
Dan Stewart (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
                                                                   
RELATED BANDS: Enkara, Deadhands, Seppuku, Two Right Hands, Kamikaze Harry, Black Arm Band, The Plague, Straightjacket Nation, UV Race, Total Control, G2G, KX Animal, Station Model Violence, Eightfold, Black Arm Band, Things Fall Apart, Eidelweiss Pirates, Aphra Behn, Scum System Kill




 


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