Thursday, January 22, 2026

The Faux Hawks


ORIGINS: Newcastle, NSW
GENRE: Hardcore
YEARS ACTIVE: 2004-2006
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES:

  • Rehearsal Demo (2004)
    • 1. Starry Eyes
    • 2. Wanting to Live Makes Me the Odd One Out
    • 3. Finding Faults
    • 4. Find Your Direction
  • Demo (2005) - Download Here.
    • 1. March of the...
    • 2. More Talk, Less Rock
    • 3. Nice Wardrobe
    • 4. Yes, You Are a Racist
    • 5. Wanting to Live
    • 6. Act Your Age
    • 7. General Pants Revolution
    • 8. What Now?
    • 9. Outro
    • 10. Strength in Solitude
    • 11. Left for Dead
  • Split 7" w/ Hard Luck (2005)
    • 1. Tits and Ass
    • 2. Not Positive
    • 3. Nice Wardrobe
    • 4. Private Boys Club
  • Self-Titled (2006)
    • 1. Intro
    • 2. Gotta Save Ourselves
    • 3. The Rats
    • 4. Cut the Cord
    • 5. Revenge
 
SUMMARY: A Newcastle hardcore throwback, The Faux Hawks settled in 2005 with a core lineup of Dan, Luke, Nic and Benny. The band released a split with Canberra band Hard Luck and toured interstate, though this tour would inevitably lead to some line-up shuffling. The band called it quits midway through 2006.
 
SHOWS: 
  • The Lucky Country, Newcastle - 2nd October, 2004
  • The Harp, Tempe - 31st December, 2004
  • Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle - 15th March, 2005
  • Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe - 26th March, 2005
  • Unknown venue, Sydney - 9th April, 2005
  • Bar Broadway, Sydney - 13th January, 2006
  • Newcastle Leagues Club, Newcastle - 14th January, 2006
  • Paint It Black, Enmore - 15th January, 2006
  • Rocket Bar, Canberra (ACT) - 18th January, 2006
  • Unknown Venue, Adelaide (SA) - 20th January, 2006
  • Post Office Hotel, Coburg (VIC) - 21st January, 2006
  • Albert Lake Sea Scout Hall, Albert Park (VIC) - 22nd January, 2006
  • 22, Enmore - 4th February, 2006
  • Empire Hotel, Annandale - 11th February, 2006
  • 22, Enmore - 5th March, 2006
  • Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe - 17th March, 2006
  • Sandringham Hotel, Newtown - 7th April, 2006
  • Maggotville, Marrickville - 21st May, 2006
  • The Jubilee, Brisbane (QLD) - 26th May, 2006
  • Visible Ink, Brisbane (QLD) - 27th May, 2006 [All-Ages]
  • Shed 5, Burleigh Heads (QLD) - 27th May, 2006
  • 22, Enmore - 8th July, 2006 
  • 22, Enmore - 5th August, 2006
ORAL HISTORY:
DAN: I'd grown up in Lennox Head, just north of Ballina. It was the very start of the Byron Bay hardcore scene - I only went to a few battle-of-the-band type shows before moving to Newcastle for uni, so it wasn't that formative. Luke and I were really keen to start a band after being spectators in the Newcastle scene for a couple of years. We poached Dylan and Joel from local band Drifting Over Brooklyn and started jamming with no clear idea of influences.
Dan Bolton (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: I grew up in Taree. Dan and I both moved to Newcastle to study in '98 and met each other at Newcastle Uni. We missed the peak of the Black Box shows but caught everything that came after. I was listening to a lot of Black Flag, Youth of Today, Left for Dead, The Swarm... and we used to see Conation just about every weekend. Newcastle hardcore was like its own thing. It was a great time and a great place to live in those years. It was also something to do, and it filled many of our weekends. Dan and I had a flat together on the beach in Newy, right near the skate park on Newcastle Beach. We didn't drink or party that much, and we decided to start a band. I'd briefly played bass in No Jazz Before the Rumble and then essentially learnt to play guitar to play in The Faux Hawks - not that I could really play, but I learnt enough to get by. I wrote some riffs and away we went. It was pretty simple but it worked for us. At the time the faux hawk hairstyle was highly fashionable in Newcastle, so the name fit. We got together with some guys from Drifting Over Brooklyn, who we knew just from going to shows. It didn't last long - that formula didn't suit and things evolved.
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

JOEL: Dylan and I played in Drifting Over Brooklyn and rarely missed a show in Newcastle. I met Dan 'The Body" Bolton at shows and we hit it off, had a few surfs together, and hung out a bit. It was around the time he was putting the Futile Recording compilation together. Long story short, we chatted about our music interests and he was surprised Dylan and I were into youth crew and fast hardcore punk as we played in Drifting Over Brooklyn, which was more of an early metalcore band. Dylan and I were lucky enough to grow up in the boom era of Newcastle hardcore - Found My Direction, Arms Reach, Conation, etc. We were into all sorts of stuff. Luke was playing in No Jazz Before the Rumble and that's how we met him. We had our first jams as The Faux Hawks in Dylan's loft as his parents' house in Maitland. We had riffs called '81'. We recorded a demo on a tape recorder in that same loft - it was fucking hot. 
Joel Edwards (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

LUKE: Initially we just recorded straight to a tape player.
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAN: I think we did a couple of shows with Dylan and Joel in '05 and on New Years Eve in 2004. We put together a rehearsal tape demo before parting ways with them over 'creative differences'. 
Dan Bolton (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

JOEL: It was just creative differences and a timing thing. Young men carrying on like young men. 
Joel Edwards (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAN: In 2005 we got Newcastle royalty Benny Temper and Nic and started proper. Luke had done a brief stint in No Jazz Before the Rumble with Benny. Nic was in the legendary NC Wolfpack and brought with him the historical artefact Spirit Bass. The Oath and 97a were our main influences. 
Dan Bolton (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BENNY: I was hanging out and occasionally surfing with Luke and Dan. After the falling out with the other two guys, I suggested that it would be sick to play the songs twice as fast (obviously an attempt to insert myself into the band) so the three of us started jamming under the Fotherington St house where I lived at the time. We pretty much wrote a whole new set and demo. We tried this bassplayer who I am certain was on acid the entire time and he left after it was set in stone that we weren't covering Green Day. Nic came next as the bassplayer; to increase speed and riptide peer pole history.
Benny Temper (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

NIC: I messaged Dan that I loved his band. I think that was literally it. The next thing I knew, Dylan and Joel were out, and me and Benny were in. I'd been in NC Wolfpack back in the '90s but after this I did my usual thing of disappearing for a little while. When I resurfaced that next phase of Newcastle bands were in full swing.
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Lyric sheet from 2005 split with Hard Luck

LUKE: We got Benny and Nic Wolfpack on board and that was that. We had access to a great rehearsal studio, so we just practiced and ended up playing heaps of shows. We also booked a lot of shows back then - venues were easy. Benny had an old tape player you could hook a mic into, so we'd do pretty effective demos on that. 
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

REVIEW: Do song explanations in the booklet make the band good or do good bands do song explanations? ...The booklet for this CDR demo could almost be a zine it's so good. 16 pages of cut and paste stuff with passionate, smart and well thought-out explanations to all the lyrics. The music is 11 tracks of fast, very unmelodic Newcastle hardcore with raspy almost punk-like vocals and covers of N.C. Wolfpack, Panic, and Left for Dead.
Review of Demo (2005), Screaming Bloody Mess, 2005

NIC: I kept telling the other we needed to play faster and it kind of fucked what they were, which was a great early '80s punk sound. We just morphed into a kind of generic thrash band. Don't get me wrong - I had a blast hanging out with those dudes (I don't think they'd say the same about me) and it was a really fun year or two for me. I just wish it had kept true to what it had started as. We had energy, and had a good bond for a while and I think that translated as a punk vibe. 
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: We did all our studio recordings with Geoff Mullard - he owned the studio we practiced in and has been around forever recording bands in Newcastle. He recorded lots of Newcastle hardcore hits - so he knew the sound, and he knew us. He owned that studio with Dale from Conation. I remember that more than anything - the community of it. Whether it was a small town thing, or a scene thing, it was just a big group of people playing and loving music. And they'd record us and dig it. 
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Faux Hawks comic, 2005

NIC: I got bored and did a Meatmen rip-off Faux Hawks comic. 
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: We connected with bands all over the place. We played a lot, and with Hard Luck in particular - we did a split with them. We played with loads of bands in our town and their's - whether it be Sydney or Canberra or Melbourne. The shows that stand out most were the ones at 22 (venue in Enmore) - it was small, tightly packed. Was awesome - great vibe.
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BENNY: Highlight shows were at the Newcastle Black Box and Disconnect Fest. The Black Box was ground zero for Newcastle hardcore - I used to skate there after school with my mate Stephen, who was later a member of the band Total Wreck with Dan. Everything good about my early days of hardcore came from Luke Crew and Christy Tate putting on all ages shows there. Disconnect Fest at the Newcastle Leagues Club was the biggest show (as in turn-out) that I've ever seen for an All Ages hardcore show. It was just insane and I got to play a song with my friends Go For Broke as well. Was just a rad time to be on the dole playing hardcore. 
Benny Temper (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

NIC: The Disconnect show at Newcastle Leagues Club was nuts and a highlight by a country mile. It was packed. Kids crowd-surfing with bodyboards. Just a fun show to play and be at.
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

LUKE: Newcastle was an industrial town originally but by 2000 the steelworks was winding up. It was, historically, a place with a big working class. Maybe that makes for people having certain thoughts and feelings that lead to music as an output. In our case, doing a band was accessible - rent was cheap, you could exist on the dole or a student allowance then, so you had time. Venues were easy to come by, they were free or cheap to hire. It would cost like $800 to press a record - split it between a few people and it's nothing. You can't do anything for that now. 
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Review of Split 7", Ampallang Issue 6, 2005

DAN: We booked a couple of Canberra bands to play with us at the Lucky Country in March, which led to our connection with Hard Luck. They then invited us to play their first show in Canberra, which led to our split 7" with them and a tour together... which was fun and full of chaos. It was ten early 20s dudes in two rented vans for a week. We drove from Canberra straight through to Adelaide on a 40 degree day, which was absurd. The town of Hay had a free swimming pool and the locals looked pretty confused at the sight of us. Some fun shows, some mischief. Good memories and friends came out of it. In Adelaide we played with Stolen Youth and Robotasaurus. We ate lots of food and jumped off a pier into sharky waters. I think we nearly bailed on the gig due to the ridiculous drive but it ended up being really fun. Then we drove to Melbourne the next day, which is another heinous drive. 
Dan Bolton (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

From Faux Hawks website, 2006

LUKE: We drove to Adelaide to play release shows for the split 7". It was hot. Our windscreen cracked in the heart and we then drove to Melbourne after Adelaide to play there too. 
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

REVIEW: Faux Hawks hit the stage and fail to disappoint. So much heart and anger in their music, vocals and lyrics; pretty intense band to watch. A Left For Dead cover is played to a good response.
Review of Canberra show by Billy Frank, Piece of Cake Issue #1, 2006 

Faux Hawks/Hard Luck tour, Piece of Cake #1, 2006

Tour Diary by Billy Frank, Piece of Cake #1, 2006

REVIEW: Faux Hawks rip it up, Adelaide seem to be into this band. I mosh till I can't breathe properly, 22nd glass of water that night. Benny receives a golf ball to the eye while playing, courtesy of Doug E. 
Review of Adelaide show by Billy Frank, Piece of Cake Issue #1, 2006 

NIC: The Adelaide tour was the beginning of the end for me. The others are all fairly easy-going dudes, and I'm just not, haha. To be honest, I wish I'd never joined. Those Melbourne/Adelaide shows just ended me in the band and really killed off friendships largely. That's not on the other three so much, I'm just a hyper-anxious and autistically focused person; it was never going to end well. There were three moments on that Adelaide/Melbourne run of shows where I knew it was falling apart for me. First - they hated the mix tape I put on. A classic early '80s who's who of punk. They just wanted their current hardcore favourites. Then when the police pulled us over and threatened to raid the car looking for drugs - the other three were being super nice to them where as I just wasn't in the mood for their overreach of authority and was pretty blunt to them. It pissed the cops off, and the other three more. 
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

NOTES: One hour before we get to Melbourne and we are being questioned by the police. The other car was holding up signs to other motorists that they did not approve of. Nic gives the cops some lip while I get a vegetable pastie for breakfast. Later that night, Faux Hawks once again prove that they what hardcore is all about, everyone moshed it up and sang along.
Tour diary by Billy Frank, Piece of Cake Issue #1, 2006

NIC: After the Melbourne show I'd had enough and just drove, and the other three, particularly Dan, wanted to take it all in - eat, take it slow, etc. I was just on a different planet to them. All three are good dudes, I just shouldn't have been in a band with them.  
Nic Wolfpack (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BENNY: After the Nic / Swansea hardcore blow-up mid-drive home that resulted in a driving strike, we asked Zephyr to play bass. This was because he had a metal zone and a bass and we were fucking heavily with Mind Eraser, which was not at all evident on the subsequent Rats EP. 
Benny Temper (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

LUKE: After the tour we had some tension with Nic and booted him. We asked Zephyr to join, who we knew socially and had seen play in Strength Within, and we recorded the last EP with him, which is probably my favourite recording and set of Faux Hawks songs.
Luke O'Mara (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DAN: Zephyr used to ride his BMX to shows and practice, and he never, ever had an amp, haha.
Dan Bolton (Vocals), Noise Levels discussion, 2026

BENNY: The band ended because we were just over it. It went on for so long. We were all starting new bands and were forced to get jobs and shit. I'm pretty sure I stopped being straight edge around this point and became a full time menace too.
Benny Temper (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

RELATED BANDS: Hockey Temper, NC Wolfpack, Drifting Over Brooklyn, Demolition, Repoman, Fattura Della Morte, Black Coffee, Terry, White Male Dumbinance, No Jazz Before the Rumble, Strength Within, Black Fucking Eye, Total Wreck, Mod Con, Taipan, Precious Rest, Work?, Fear Like Us, Wait Til Dark, Every Word, Violent Abuse, Reeperbahn, Spite, The Godless Shark


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