Standing Eight Count

 

ORIGINS: Wollongong, NSW

GENRE: Hardcore

YEARS ACTIVE: 2004-2008

 

MEMBERS:

• Glen Parker - Guitar
• Luke 'Beavens' Stephens - Bass
• Chris O'Dwyer - Drums
• Todd Griggs - Vocals (2004-2008)
• Dave Johnston - Guitar (2007-2008)
• Billy Johnson - Vocals (2004)

RELEASES:

• To the Grave (2005)
• 1. To the Grave
• 2. Blood of True Friends
• 3. Feeling of the Passion
• 4. Blessing in Disguise
• 5. Killing, Murders, and Massacres

• Down for the Count (2006) - Download Here.
• 1. Jury Duty
• 2. Fist to Your Face
• 3. Blessing in Disguise
• 4. Hit for Six
• 5. Feeling of the Passion

• Unfinished, unreleased album (2008)

SUMMARY: Starting in response to a lack of new hardcore bands on NSW's south coast, Standing Eight Count tapped into an older, more purist hardcore sound at a time when bigger hardcore bands were starting to move into metalcore territory. Hitting their stride with the release of a 2006 EP, the band lost momentum in 2008 and called it quits while halfway through recording an album.

 

SHOWS: 

• Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 4th February, 2006
• Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 29th September, 2006
• Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 22nd November, 2006
• Hamilton Station, Newcastle - 9th December, 2006
• Headquarters, Leederville (WA) - 1st April, 2006
• Rosemount Hotel, Perth (WA) - 7th April, 2006
• Black Box, Newcastle - 13th January, 2007
• Switch Skate Park, Port Macquarie - 10th February, 2007
• Harbour Cruise, Sydney - 24th February, 2007
• Bar Broadway, Sydney - 28th September, 2007
• Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 3rd November, 2007
• Oxford Tavern, Wollongong - 21st December, 2007

ORAL HISTORY:

BEAVENS: Me and Chris were in the same year at Bulli High School and we knew Glen from shows in early 2000s when he played guitar in Zero Tolerance. South coast hardcore had a solid scene back in the day but things had kinda cooled off in the 2000s. Griggsy had just moved down to Wollongong from Campbelltown around this time too. The odd punk or metal show was still happening but the punters weren't really out in force like they used to be. We just wanted to play old school hardcore for our mates and see how it would go. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

CHRIS: Luke and I went to school together and were at a show one night and ran into Glen, who we knew from his band Zero Tolerance. We were just chatting and it ended up with us getting together the following week to jam a few covers out and it just went from there. I was going to TAFE at the time with Billy Johnson (who played bass in Homewrecker) and I was telling him that week about a few covers we were playing and he was pretty keen to sing. Things didn't work out with Billy singing for the band - this was before we'd really written any songs. After a few weeks we had a few riffs down and Todd came in to have a listen and just picked up the mic and that was it.

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: I was pretty young; I'd moved to Wollongong when I was 17 and I started getting into hardcore after listening to to so much southern California punk like Bad Religion, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Face to Face, etc. My older brother got me interested in bands like Raised Fist, Agnostic Front, and Toe to Toe, and then that led to me and him discovering some local bands like Taking Sides and Last Nerve. So I'd moved to Woonona and met Luke in the surf when I was 18 - he introduced me to bands like Floor Punch, Madball, Ringworm, Youth of Today, Negative Approach, etc., and really opened my eyes to good hardcore music. He asked if I sang or wanted to sing. He was thinking of starting a band. I used to sing in some school punk bands when I was younger and thought that I had a good voice, so we started jamming it actually together really well. We were super influenced by New York hardcore like Madball and Agnostic Front but I always had a really strong connection to straightedge stuff like Floor Punch, Chain of Strength, and all the Revelation bands, as well as the new generation - Guns Up, Champion, Bitter End, all the Bridge Nine bands, etc.

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: We were inspired by Agnostic Front, Grim Reality, and Death Threat, and would practise at Wollongong Youth Centre - which was cheap and cheerful! Glen had riffs all ready to go and we kind of just hashed out a few quick songs and went to the pub to figure out what direction the band should take. We had no idea what shows we could play because there was no hardcore scene in Wollongong at the time, it had died down since its heyday in the '90s. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BIO: Started out of frustration with the general state of affairs in the south coast steel city of Wollongong: scumbag junkies, high unemployment... Standing Eight Count play straight up hardcore with real lyrics and no bullshit and put south coast hardcore back on the map.

Bio, Band's Myspace Website, 2006

CHRIS: We started at the Wollongong Youth Centre. They had a practice room that was real cheap and the sound wasn't bad. After a bit we then went to this small rehearsal studio in the industrial area of Wollongong. It was called Kickstart and the owner, Arnie, was an old rocker from England. Classic fella, he used to play the same Interpol record on repeat.  

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: Our first show was a messy backyard punk show in an industrial zone in Wollongong. Bands played in a halfpipe and it was the middle of  winter, haha. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: The first show was in a backyard in Wollongong. It actually got filmed - I would love to find the footage.

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

CHRIS: We played the first show at this house party - all the bands played in a mini-ramp 'cause the backyard wasn't big enough to set up in. The Wollongong hardcore scene had been pretty quiet for a few years before that but Wollongong always had a good music scene in general. There was a pub called the Oxford that always had live music so that place always kept  the music scene ticking along.

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: The hardcore scene was very dead. 2005 Wollongong was mainly shows with Topnovil and Brazen Hearts. We felt we needed to change that. We knew there was a change happening in Sydney. You could feel it. Resist Records was really starting to fire with some local bands. You could go to the Bat and Ball or the Arncliffe and watch Last Nerve, Perish the Thought, Strength Within, and so on. You could just sense something was happening. When we'd played out first show in Wollongong there were enough people there and enough old heads to recognise what we were doing and it really kicked off from there. It was a small community but we were respected and we were able to use that respect to get lots of shows in Sydney, mainly through the Bad Blood and Last Nerve guys. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: There were still good shows happening about the place with Mindsnare and Within Blood coming up from Melbourne, and with Resist Records putting shows on at the Green Square. We played our first Sydney show at the Green Square with Discussion With a Gun. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: My lyrics were mainly inspired by that small town mentality - Wollongong is not a big place and I had a lot of friends and a lot of family and I guess I was listening to a lot of Death Before Dishonour, Madball, Floor Punch, Stand and Fight, etc., mixed with old school shit like Cro-Mags and Killing Time. I loved all my friends and I loved all my family and hardcore. It was this male-dominated almost footy-style mateship that I just gravitated to. I was very young back then... when I listen to the lyrics now it's a bit cringe but then I think, fuck, I'm actually singing about pretty good shit. There's some pretty bad stuff on there too - I was an angry fuck and I swore a lot (and I still do) but I never would have hurt anyone. I never fought anyone. It was all just this kind of show, an act almost, but I wasn't acting. I really loved hardcore. I really loved singing to everyone and people liked it and that's we got a bit of a name in Wollongong. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: The local metal scene hated us and kept saying we were 'fake metal' and so on. We had a fight with some of these metal guys in the back carpark of the Oxford Tavern after a show. A few years later one of those guys burned a church down - no shit! These guys also hacked our myspace, writing 'hardcore sucks' and 'pits are fucking lame', etc. Jace (the original drummer from Grim Reality) is from Dapto and really good with computers - he helped us find out who the hacker was. One night, Chris and Glen were drinking at the Oxford Tavern and the hacker and his mates happened to walk in and started playing the pokies. Chris and Glen confronted them and there was some push and shove. The metal bros called some other friends to turn up and scare us or whatever so we all ended up out the back carpark and it was a bit of a punch-on, haha.

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: We recorded our demo free at Wollongong TAFE with a bunch of students. It wasn't the best demo, it's pretty rough. The EP is recorded much better. That was recorded in Sydney at Studios 301 with our mate Beau Sherrard, who did heaps of recording for hardcore bands. It was a great experience at a really good studio. We then mixed it at Turtle Studios and the dude was like, "what do you want it to sound like?" and we basically gave him Hatebreed and Madball CDs. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: We were playing Sydney, Newy, and the Gong most weekends. We got hooked up with plenty of mad shows and were able to play with some of the greats - Toe to Toe, AVO, The Dead Walk!, From the Ruins, Dropsaw, Stronghold, and heaps of others. We did a harbour cruise show that was killer. Newcastle shows at Hammo Station and the Blackbox were always mad too.

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: One of the highlights for me was singing Cro-Mags' 'Street Justice' with The Dead Walk! at the Wollongong Youth Centre. Luke Crew (The Dead Walk!) is like a godfather of hardcore in Australia. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

CHRIS: We played a heaps fun show down in Ulladulla. A mate of ours from down in Tuross also put a benefit show on at Moruya, which had a heap of bands playing. 

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: We went interstate to Brisbane to play some shows with Provoke and Third Strike, and also to Perth for From the Ruins' final show in '07. Brisbane was made - the Provoke lads were good mates so we stayed at Brenden Provoke's place and raged in the Valley (Fortitude Valley). We played at the Phoenix Club, which is where we met Byron and Third Strike. The Third Strike guitarist Nick now lives in Bali near me - he's a top chef here; we surf occasionally or go to local Indonesian hardcore shows together. Small world ay? Anyway, we loved Brissy and went back up later that year to see Madball for their Legacy tour and to see The Dead Walk! support Against... killer show. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAVE: I was in a band called Mary Jane Kelly and Chris O'Dwyer heard I wasn't playing in this band anymore... Standing Eight Count were looking for a second guitarist so our mutual friend Liz Davies introduced us and it just went from there. Chris and I became pretty fast mates and he very much played a big brother role to me - to this day he's my best mate. My first show with Standing Eight Count was at Bar Broadway with Dropsaw and The Dead Walk! for Luke Crew's birthday. 

Dave Johnston (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: We played Port Macquarie and took a van up with Life Sentence. We were a bit rowdy by the time we got there for this mini-fest and we got the plug pulled on our set. We all got booted because Todd was swearing in-between songs and it was a Christian-operated venue. The manager was watching our set and they stopped us and said 'Limit your swearing'. Todd replies into the mic, "Well, fuck ay"... cut. 

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

CHRIS: The Port Macquarie show was a bit of a short set. We had the mic plug pulled 'cause Toddy didn't know that that particular venue bands weren't allowed to swear - which Toddy done a whole heap of. It was a really cool show though - the venue was an indoor skate park. We drove up there with Toddy's brother's band (Life Sentence) - it was probably one of the funniest road trips I've done. I drove the whole way and the boys from Life Sentence were in the back of the 10-seater Hiace... just listening to the shit they would come out with was fucken hilarious. Their basslplayer Glady was an absolute bonglord and was ripping the thing the whole trip. As we pulled into Port Mac he was steaming and just jumped out of the bus and ran towards the beach. The boys fully lost him and he was missing until it was about 5 mins before they were meant to play the show. 

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: We drove up to Port Mac with my brother's band Life Sentence and when we got to the gig the organiser was asking us not to swear, which is just a fucking red flag for me. If someone tells me to do something I'm obviously gonna do the opposite. Like, punk rock is going against the grain and I fucking slammed that grain hard. The guy at the venue had a go at me and I told him to get fucked. Then we just went and got pissed. Hardcore is aggressive. There's swearing. What the hell did they expect? Haha. It was a goods show though. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

BEAVENS: I wasn't around for the last year of the band. I was finishing up my stint with state rail and I wanted to travel. I loved Europe, snow, and seeing bands overseas, so I just had to bail for a bit. The rest of the band recorded and didn't play any shows for all of 2008.

Luke Stephens (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAVE: I recorded some tracks with the guys that was going to be on an album but it never saw the light of day as the band slowly stopped around that point. 

Dave Johnston (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: We started to record a full length but it just never came. We broke up. I basically lost the love for the music. I just felt like I needed to branch out and listen to different stuff. Hardcore is still in me but it just doesn't burn as bright. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

CHRIS: Towards the end we started recording a bunch of songs for an album. We had about five songs done with vocals, drums and guitar - Luke was overseas at the time so we never got the bass parts done. Around that time the band had started to run its course so it never got finished. 

Chris O'Dwyer (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAVE: It was great for me as a younger bloke playing in a band that was drawing on influences outside my age bracket. I was 17 or 18 at the time and my gateway to hardcore had been Parkway Drive and some other metalcore stuff. The Eight Count guys put me onto the NYHC stuff as well as Cleveland Boston hardcore. It really gave me a good idea of the roots of the music through to the current day. They also put me onto some cool stuff outside of hardcore like Face to Face's Ignorance is Bliss, which is one of my top five records to this day. Chris and Luke were like older brothers to me and really influenced me both musically and personally.

Dave Johnston (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TODD: Standing Eight Count was a great time. We became really good friends with the guys from Prevail up in Brisbane - stayed at their house, played Brisbane. We also flew over to Perth to play with From the Ruins; that was good. That was our biggest tour. The scene around that time - damn. I feel like that was the best time in Australia music for hardcore. No doubt. Like there was always Mindsnare, Toe to Toe, Arms Reach, Grim Reality, etc., but that period with Resist, Trial and Error, and when Champion came through, when Internal Affairs came through. Bands like Last Nerve, Hitlist... oh man, so much power. It was aggressive but it was subdued. The guys in these bands were all good fucking dudes. They weren't cool for school. 

Todd Griggs (Vocals), Noise Correspondence, 2025

RELATED BANDS: L.O.W., Zero Tolerance, Ill Brigade, Had It, Mary Jane Kelly, Homewrecker