Noise Levels: S*K*A*M*

Saturday, February 1, 2025

SKAM

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW

GENRE: Ska-punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 2000-2002

MEMBERS:

Sim Shame - Vocals
Dave Foy - Bass
Rick Kernick - Guitar
Dave Lawler - Drums
Peter Gould - Saxophone

RELEASES:

Eat the Worm (2002) - Download Here.

1. Bradley's Song
2. VD Blues
3. Rudeboy
4. 450
5. DT Patient
6. Thursday
7. Free Smokin'
8. Shut Up!
9. Chiapas
10. Bad Lieutenant

SUMMARY: Forming after the demise of The Last Hemeroids and alongside other Sydney ska bands like Riot City, S*K*A*M (standing for Subversion, Kaos And Mayhem) were a five piece band known for their energetic live performances. The band played predominantly in Sydney with a few shows afield (Melbourne, Lismore, Katoomba) and started work on an EP before breaking up.

SHOWS:

Green Square, Zetland - 12th May, 2001
Vic on the Park, Enmore - 18th May, 2001
Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills - 4th July, 2001
Green Square, Zetland - 7th June, 2001
Northpoint Tavern, North Sydney - 20th June 2001
Bar Broadway, Sydney - 29th June, 2001
Tartan Heart Nite Klub, Vic on the Park, Enmore - 14th July, 2001
Green Square, Zetland - 10th August, 2001
The Harp, Tempe - 17th August, 2001
Green Square, Zetland - 24th August, 2001
Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 20th October, 2001
Green Square, Zetland - 23rd November, 2001
Gearins Hotel, Katoomba - 30th November, 2001
Ska Bar, The Arthouse, Melbourne - 6th December, 2001 (VIC)
Mayfields, Melbourne - 8th December, 2001 (VIC)
Northpoint Tavern, North Sydney - 6th April, 2002
Green Square, Zetland - unknown date, September, 2002
Caringbah Inn, Caringbah - unknown date, October, 2002
The Harp, Tempe - 1st November, 2002
The Winsome Hotel, Lismore - 26th December, 2002

ORAL HISTORY:

SIM: I'd been a backup singer for a band called Hippagriff in the '90s, but I was essentially a folky who did a lot of busking and solo shows playing a mix of original folk tunes and Bob Dylan covers. I'd always wanted to front a ska band though. I'd travelled in the UK in the '90s and had some incredible experiences at punk and ska shows that really cemented that wish - I'd immersed myself in the punk/ska scene of Edinburgh as much as an outsider can and I promised myself when I got back to Oz I'd front a ska band. Rick and I had done a lot of acoustic folk sets and busking over the years and I'd met Little Dave in 1998 through the Inner West punk scene. It was the year 2000 when Davey and I started hanging out and regularly jamming at my place in Roberts St, Newtown, and causing regular chaos together. After introducing Dave to Rick, we three decided to start a punk/ska band and S*K*A*M* was born.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

PETER: I knew Dave Foy from tours with the Mad Dash with his band The Last Hemeroids. At some point in Sydney there was a Newtown Festival in the park near the cemetery just before the Sydney Olympics and I ran into Dave with some friends - Sim, Rick, and Paul. As the Olympics came, we all hung out at the open air events with a bunch of other people and at some stage the idea of forming a band came up. Rick is an exceptionally talented guitarist, which made it easy to put together some decent sounding songs.

Peter Gould (Saxophone), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

SIM: We had already written a bunch of songs individually which we shared with each other and kind of co-created into their final form. Once I met Dave, our drummer, at the Iron Duke later that year, S*K*A*M* was complete and we started jamming at Zen Studios on Friday nights. I believe Peter from The Mad Dash, our sax player, joined us a little while afterwards.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVE: They already had the band going - just needed a drummer. When I met and started seeing Sim, it was like the band was meant to be.

Dave Lawler (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SIM: Our first show was the very first Tartan Hearts Nite Club at the Green Square with Riot City and The Skam. I recall us being worried about playing on the same bill as a band that had pretty much the same name. It was actually 12th May, 2001, I remember this as it was my birthday. We all partied back at Martin Hemeroid's place in Enmore after the show. Fun night.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

PETER: Sim was really talented and a natural showman. We did quite a few pub gigs and a few small tours as well as a partial recording.

Peter Gould (Saxophone), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAVE: It was freaking awesome. When you've got hard skinheads like Thomo, Aido (one of the best blokes I ever met and I miss him so much), Kiwi Lance, etc., all shoulder to shoulder and skanking down the front at gigs, singing along, you know you've got something special. Selling out the Green Square and Vic on the Park was amazing. We were blown away by the reaction at the Vic on the Park.

Dave Lawler (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SIM: We only gigged for about two years, sadly. But did plenty of rad shows in that time. Standouts are The Arthouse and Birmingham in Melbourne, the Annandale in Sydney, and our second ever show (at the Vic on the Park), which I recall being packed to the rafters. Tartan Hearts Nite Club was always a great show to play too.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

REVIEW: S*K*A*M play a loose mix of ska, punk and reggae and that night they played a wonderful set. The mix of girl and guy vocals was spot on and for me they were the highlight of the evening.

Review of Melbourne show by Glen Smyth, Skammunicator Issue #5, 2002

DAVE: We played in Victoria, Lismore, and a charity gig in Kiama Community Centre. We went down to Victoria to support Riot City - we did a lot of gigging with those guys. It was that whole Riot City / The Last Hemeroids / S*K*A*M connection. We also did a show in Katoomba where Sim and I were the only ones to think of booking a room for the night. That night we had 20+ people staying in our room! The Lismore show was organised by us as Sim's dad lived up there. We anted him to see us play live - around 4 people showed up, haha. We even did a cover of 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin at the end of the Lismore gig, which got some of the drinkers (who weren't there for the show) to come into the room - got us a raucous cheer.

Dave Lawler (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SIM: Our EP was supposed to be something of an album. We initially recorded in 2001 and finished mastering, I think, in late 2002 or early 2003, just before the band called it quits. It pretty much had every full original song we wrote on it, which was probably about 10 tracks. I recall it was gonna be called Eat the Worm or something like that.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

DAVE: My parents bought us a day in a studio under a house in Maroubra - bought it at a charity auction. We went and did the day and Rory (the owner of H.R. Productionstuff Studios) liked it so much that he offered us an extra day at next to nothing money-wise so he could do more mixing, etc. So we took him up on the offer. It was never completely finished in terms of production and after Sim and I split up they went and did more mixing somewhere else without me (don't get me wrong, I have no problem with that). Before we'd also done some recording under a stairwell at a mate's place for percussion and toasting, etc. Davey and I were pretty wrecked on the first day at H.R. Studio - we were constantly taking off to Maroubra shops when our services weren't required. Slowed the day down a bit, haha. That day had to be high 30s in temperature too.

Dave Lawler (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

PETER: One of Sim's good friends Paul was from another band called Pants, which were quite big in the mid-'90s and well worth listening to. The guitarist was pretty wealthy and had a home studio setup at his home in Bondi. We used this to record but I don't think the tracks were ever properly mixed or mastered. During this period I started commercial cooking and also got Dave a job in the cafe I was working at. Dave and I lived together for a few months in Rozelle while we were playing in the band and working together. Eventually Dave and I both moved on to larger restaurants to work in and Sim was moving on to become a teacher. So we were not really actively gigging or practising anymore by 2002.

Peter Gould (Saxophone), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

SIM: It's hard to say exactly why we broke up as it was no one thing. We all had a lot of our own individual issues going on, and of course it was a fairly intense time for all of us in the social landscape we inhabited. Like any group of close friends working creatively together, we had a few disagreements between us but it felt more like the stuff we all had going on in our own lives were bigger catalysts for the ending of the band. I know that from my personal perspective, I had some pretty traumatic family-related stuff going on which caused major disruption to my life. There were definitely rising tensions between, within, and around us due to a number of different social factors. At times it felt like we were heading in different directions. Some of us didn't want to play music anymore and had run out of steam. Others wanted to keep going. But it did feel like the unit wasn't as strong as before and that it was always gonna burn out quickly. It didn't feel disrespectful or unpleasant in any way. It just ended because it needed to.

Sim Shame (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Hippagriff, The Last Hemeroids, The Mad Dash, Sweat and Shame, Sunbud, Kevin, Slant 6, Army of Klowns, The Quarter Milers