Be Kind to Beavers

ORIGINS: Bondi, NSW

GENRE: Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1984-1987

 

MEMBERS:

• Juliet - Vocals
• Kol Dimond - Bass
• Alec Smart - Guitar (1984-1986)
• Libby - Guitar (1986-1987)
• Bill Quarry - Drums (1984-1985)
• Dinny - Drums (1985-1986) 
• Malcolm Gibson - Drums (1986-1987)

RELEASES:

• Wide Eyed with Alarm (1986) - Download Here.
• 1. Stop the City
• 2. What Me
• 3. Who Cares?
• 4. Old Man
• 5. Tube Disasters
• 6. Guinea Pig
• 7. Perverse of Nature
• 8. Snakes and Ladders
• 9. There's No Excuse
• 10. Someone
• 11. Make a Stand
• 12. Union Jack
• 13. Beings
• 14. Unknown Fear
• 15. After the War
• 16. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
• 17. T.O. Blitz
• 18. Reluctant Alfie

SUMMARY: Born out of the early Sydney anarcho-punk movement, Be Kind With Beavers were heavily involved in the protest and squatting that characterised the scene in the mid to late '80s. The band released one album on cassette and went through some line-up changes before members moved on to other projects in 1987.

 

SHOWS: 

• The Gunnery, Wolloomooloo - 31st December, 1985
• Music Cafe, Sydney - 4th June, 1986
• Palace Hotel, Sydney - 6th August, 1986
• Lismore Hotel, Sydney - 7th August, 1986
• Racecourse Hotel, Randwick - 9th August, 1986

ORAL HISTORY:

KOL: I gravitated towards punk when I was a kid - I'd always hated war and when I was 15 punk exploded in the UK. I went to see the Sex Pistols and The Clash and The Damned and that was it. I met a girl in the UK, we got married and came to Australia, and then we started the band in Bondi Junction. We lived in a house called Beaver Lodge and put a fanzine out called Be Happy. We were anarcho punk heavily influenced by bands like Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Conflict, etc. Beaver Lodge in Bondi Junction become a subversive headquarters for anarcho-punk activities, and we'd join up with crew from the Black Rose Bookshop to organise and carry out many events and shows. 

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ALEC: I'd been in a few bands that didn't get past rehearsals and Be Kind to Beavers was my first band that played gigs. Bruce Griffiths, who ran Aberrant Records, introduced me to Kol. I used to live above the Black Rose Anarchist Bookshop in Redfern and Kol had told Bruce he was looking for a guitarist who was into Crass anarcho-punki ideology. We were a four piece consisting of a married couple (Kol and Juliet), drummer Bill Quarry (who also played in goth band Box of Fish) and myself on guitar. I wasn't a very good guitarist but I was hyperactive - I wanted people to remember our band as the one with the crazy guitarist who jumped around. 

Alec Smart (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BILL: I'd played bass in a band called Box of Fish, and Kol was a mate of a mate from those days. Be Kind to Beavers was my only time drumming in a band.

Bill Quarry (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

KOL: The band's name came from a Canadian conservation issue that Juliet was passionate about. We played mostly benefits for one cause or another with bands like Toys Went Berserk, Happy Hate Me Nots, Massappeal, and The Exserts. We set up the first Sydney anarchist protest called Stop the City, which was a huge success in closing down banks and mega-companies from trading for the day on the stock exchange. 

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ALEC: Lyrically, the songs were inspired by Crass - political but very serious. The anarcho-punk genre at the time wasn't known for having a sense of humour!

Alec Smart (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Kol Dimond with Kev (Massappeal) at the Gunnery

KOL: We were one of the first punk bands to play at the famous Gunnery in Woolloomooloo after we squatted it. We ran an open community weekend, built a skate ramp in the band room, and played that night at the Gunnery with Sydney hardcore mob Massappeal. 

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BILL: It was great. I have fond memories of these days. It was very much an underground scene so we felt separate from the normies; making noise and creating music with friends was exciting. I don't think I did more than three gigs though - which included playing at the Gunnery.

Bill Quarry (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ALEC: I played six gigs with Be Kind to Beavers, two of them during a punk New Year's festival at the Gunnery. That space is now a successful art gallery and studio, but back in the mid-'80s it was a big abandoned warehouse squat where I lived with about twenty other social delinquents. It was called the Gunnery because it was a former Australian Navy training centre during WW2 where Navy gunners practiced aiming at enemy aircraft (simulated by films projected on a domed ceiling in one of the rooms of the two-storey complex). We converted the theatre room into a performance space and a load of Sydney and Brisbane punker bands played over two nights. Massappeal played their first gig there during the festival. 

Alec Smart (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BILL: I left because I wasn't a very good drummer and it was around this time that my new band, Toys Went Berserk, was starting and I was committed to that. Be Kind to Beavers wanted a permanent drummer too. 

Bill Quarry (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

MALCOLM: I answered an advertisement that was pinned on the wall at Venue Music in Sydney. It mentioned Husker Du, and Simon & Garfunkel. It also said ability to play drums was not essential. We had a lot of fun. It was a small but dedicated crew that came to our shows. We played at pubs like The Lismore, The Racecourse Hotel, The Evil Star... We also had some nights at the Yugal Soccer Club and played at parties and benefits. 

Malcolm Gibson (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

KOL: The Wide Eyes With Alarm cassette was recorded all in one day and night during a drunken session at the rehearsal rooms on King Street. The only overdubs were a second layer of vocals.  

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

MALCOLM: We recorded a tape in White Rooms in a day. By then Libby had joined us and she played guitar very well. We used a friend's 4-track and played all day.

Malcolm Gibson (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

KOL: We hung out with Radio Skidrow on 2SER and ran radio shows on Monday nights to promote events. The ABC show Game of Life came to Beaver Lodge and interviewed us about youth and drugs. 

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

MALCOLM: One night we ended up on top of this building down in Haymarket. It was a party. Another highlight was a benefit show we did for a kid (an actual kid) who was on death row in the U.S. We did a lot of things like that back then. We played with some great bands too - Itchy Rat, Examplehead, Skate Demons, Toys Went Berserk, Tutti Parze.  

Malcolm Gibson (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ALEC: Kol and Juliet's marriage was breaking up, which was why I left and joined another band - the short-lived Sydney hardcore band Nuclear Disgrace. 

Alec Smart (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

KOL: The band finished when Juliet and myself went our separate ways, leaving room for my next band Snoid International to form.

Kol Dimond (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

MALCOLM: It was magic for me because I was a bit lost and I'd entered this parallel universe. It wasn't just a band. Kol and Juliet were really committed to the music and politics that we were into.  It was all very new and exciting - there were no egos in Be Kind To Beavers. 

Malcolm Gibson (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RELATED BANDS: Box of Fish, Nuclear Disgrace, Stigmata Party, Van Gogh's Ear, Toys Went Berserk, Hideous Wound, The Magnificent Five, Doppleganger, Snoid International, Fred Nihilist, Non-Bossy Posse, Fatty Acidz, Organarchy, Economy Class Syndrome, PuSs, Fatty vs. Mo, Sniffer Dog, The Fester Brothers, Burnt, Majestic XI, Trinity

Credits from the cassette album

Liner notes / Lyrics