Subverts

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW

GENRE: Crust, Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 2005-2008

 

MEMBERS:

• Nick Pelley - Guitar, Vocals
• Lewis Ciddor - Bass, Vocals
• Luke Vitale - Guitar, Vocals
• Trent Finn - Drums (2005-2006)
• Jacqueline Dalziell - Drums (2007-2008)

RELEASES:

• Self-Titled (2006) - Download Here.
• 1. World Decay
• 2. Howard Youth
• 3. Cashflow Control
• 4. You're Already Dead
• 5. One World
• 6. Never Surrender

SUMMARY: Subverts were a young crust punk band that came up through the Sydney scene in the mid-00s, playing venues like Maggotville, Punx Picnics, and Lafranchi's. Members moved on to other projects after their second drummer left. 

 

SHOWS: 

• Punx Picnic, Sydney Park, St Peters - 25th February, 2006
• Maggotville, Marrickville - 29th April, 2006
• Maggotville, Marrickville - 27th August, 2006
• Maggotville, Marrickville - 9th September, 2006
• PCYC, Hornsby - 15th September, 2007

ORAL HISTORY:

NICK: I got into music when I was pretty young. I was a snowboarder and a skater living in country Victoria, so first got into punk music early on, through skate and snowboard videos. I got into punk punk through bands like The Dead Kennedys and then just moved mostly through the anarchist stuff. 

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: I was ten years old and obsessed with Blink 182 and dreamt of being a rockstar. At around the same time, I became friends with a teacher's aide. He was a guy in his early 20s - I think he might have played bass in a band or at least wanted to, and he taught me how to play air guitar and air bass in the playground. And it then seemed like it would be fun to play the real thing. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LEWIS: Nick and I had met and connected over a mutual interest in anarcho-punk bands like Crass, Zounds, and Rudimentary Peni. We talked about starting a band so I bought a bass and the rest was history.

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TRENT: We were a Sydney band - Nick was in North Sydney, Lewis was in Haberfield, and Luke was in Roselands. I was in Ambarvale, Campbelltown. We were kids, about 16 and 17, and we would all meet in Sydney for shows. There was a whole bunch of us from the Central Coast to Penrith going to the same shows. There was a lot happening around that time in 2004-2005 - psychobilly, crust, ska, punk. There was a lot of variety. We loved Anarchoi and Chaz. H. Scally, Smash 'n' Grab, ABC Weapons, Vae Victis... We'd go to Maggotville shows, the Compound, Punx Picnic. 

Trent Finn (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NICK: The Subverts was more or less my first band. It started with me and Lewis I think - we met on some online punk forum. The band was originally called Juvenile Delinquents. It was all based around those punk anarchist venues in Sydney at the time - Maggotville and Club 22, and things like Punx Picnic. Crass was probably our biggest inspiration. I then got way more into crusty bands like Ekkaia, Conation, Behind Enemy Lines, etc. I definitely stuck to the anarchist side of things, so I was a big Propagandhi fan too. We also had all these amazing local bands who were super inspiring - Scum.System.Kill, Pure Evil Trio, The Thaw, Anarchoi, Eucalypt. I was obsessed with Eucalypt - still listen to them now. It was a cool scene at the time - lots of different bands, people doing all kinds of cool shit.

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: It was my first real band. I'd been playing and writing songs with a bunch of different friends for a couple of years under the name Infested Perception but this didn't really go anywhere. Lewis and Nick were going through the same thing under the name 'Juvenile Delinquents' and when we met through mutual friends on Myspace we decided to combine the latest of our respective failed bands into something with a new name. I failed to convince my younger brother to play drums so we asked Trent to play - we'd met him through Myspace as well. Trent and I had already jammed together in another band that hadn't lasted. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TRENT: It was the end of 2005 when we formed. Nick, Lewis, and Luke started the band and I was already playing drums in Cartoon Violence, who had played their first show at the top of Judges Carpark with New Justice Team and Chaz. H. Scally in '05. I joined later, at the end of the year. The band name came from a Zounds song, 'Subverts'. 

Trent Finn (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LEWIS: When we were naming the band we weren't really sure about going with 'Subverts' because it was so close to Subversion, which were an earlier Sydney hardcore/punk in the '90s. We were really inspired by anarchist politics and wanted to capture that anti-establishment ethos. 

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: Once Trent joined, all the parts were in placed and we were all on the same page as The Subverts. It also helped that Trent had experience playing in a real band before, Cartoon Violence, and could guide us through the process a bit. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 202

LEWIS: I was pretty lucky in that the others kinda knew what they were doing. Trent had played in some bands before and Nick and Luke were pretty good on guitar. They wrote a lot of the music early on, including the bass parts, while I was still learning how to play. I seemed to pick it up quite quickly though and wrote some more of the melodic-crust inspired stuff that we did towards the end of the band's time. I wrote a lot of the lyrics too.

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TRENT: It was such a sick time. Going to shows and meeting other people who were drawn to punk, finding a place in the subculture, being exposed to new bands and ways of thinking. We weren't good enough to sound how we wanted to sound but we had heaps of fun trying. We used to jam at my place in Campbelltown and we spraypainted the whole room. One night we jammed and everyone stayed over but we accidentally left the door unlocked, so we got robbed that night, haha. They stole some digital cameras and Mum's handbag. We started putting wooden rods in the sliding doors every night after that!

Trent Finn (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: Our first show was at Minto PCYC. Cartoon Violence, Chaz. H. Scally, and Deathrider also played. I have strong memories of the band getting around Sydney together to play shows - going back and forth between Campbelltown, pushing our amps on skateboards onto trains and buses, having random old guys ask us to play some Powderfinger, and just jamming unplugged on whatever punk songs we liked for ourselves. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LEWIS: The scene was really supportive. Spider from Smash 'n' Grab heard we had started playing and. without even hearing us, he put us on at a Punx Picnic at really short notice. It was pretty funny early on since we were just kids and none of us drove. There were a lot of shenanigans pushing amps around in shopping trollies and on skateboards. I rode my bike from the Inner West to North Sydney to practice with my bass and a little practice amp strapped to my back. Who knows how long that ride took me - teenage angst is a hell of a motivator I guess! We had to beg and borrow amps and drum kits for shows but everyone in the other local bands were always happy to support us. It just really cool to play the Punx Picnic and venues like Maggotvile - we'd been going to shows at these places for a few years, and now we were getting asked to play with bands that we really looked up to.

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TRENT: Lachlan at Maggotville recorded us. We recorded to tape on there, on the Maggotville stage - played each song live about two or three times. 

Trent Finn (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NICK: We recorded a song for a compilation called Punx Against the Gold Mine and also recorded a few other songs before the band ended. We also had some demos too of our early stuff. 

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NICK: We played a Punx Picnic where Trent quit on the day of the show and so Jake, who at the time was in a band called The Solid Beam (later in Ausmuteants, Alien Nosejob, etc.), filled in for him at the last minute - but he didn't any of the songs. 

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

TRENT: I think I couldn't play a show that was booked at Jura Books and we fought or something. I moved to Wollongong after that and joined Darkest Day. 

Trent Finn (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LEWIS: Someone introduced us to Jac after Trent left because we were looking for a new drummer and she was looking for a band. 

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: Our show at Lanfranchi's in Chippendale always comes to mind as a set that felt really good. This was after Jac had joined on drums and the energy between the four of us and between us and the crowd surrounding us on the floor was particularly memorable. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NICK: We played a really fun show towards the end of the band's time at Maggotville. We loved that place. Was amazing to play there. 

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LEWIS: Jac told us she was leaving the band and it kinda came out of nowhere. So when we played our last shows we didn't really know they were gonna be our last shows. We couldn't really find anyone else to drum after that so it kinda just fizzled out.

Lewis Ciddor (Bass, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: After Jac left we didn't have a drummer again. We tried looking for another one but after a while it felt like the whole thing just lost all momentum.

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NICK: The band finished because we were all just moving in different directions and different circles. I don't remember any big break up or anything. 

Nick (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: Everyone was so kind to us. We were young and the older punks really helped us out. For example, I think the only reason some decent recordings exist of our songs is because Sophie (Scum.System.Kill) wanted us to put a song on a compilation and she organised for Lachie (Crux) to record that song for us that then turned into a whole EP. I don't think we even had to pay for it. Just to be treated as a peer by adults is something I remember fondly. 

Luke Vitale (Guitar, Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

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