Vi-Nil Records

Founder of Vi-Nil Records; Mark Fraser

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW
GENRE: Indie / Punk
YEARS ACTIVE: 1981-1988, 2022-Current

BANDS:

• Suspect Device (1981-1983) - Guitar
• Stoneage T-Bones (1982-1983) - Guitar
• The 22s (1984-1985) - Guitar
• Good Guys Wear Black (1985) - Guitar
• Velveteens (1991) - Guitar)
• Kill City (1998) - Guitar
• Dirtstar (2018) - Guitar

ORAL HISTORY - provided by Mark Fraser in conversation with Noise Levels, 2025

Background

I got into music when I heard the first Ramones album and the Sex Pistols debut. I went and bought my first electric guitar and put a band together playing Pistols and Ramones covers. This band was called Suspect Device. Soon after this I started writing for Drum Media music magazine. I love playing and seeing live music. Growing up on the Northern Beaches in Dee Why meant there were a bunch of punk bands around at the time. There wasn't much of a scene though - it was more surf-orientated. Most of our gigs were at local surf clubs or backyard parties. I moved into the city in 1982 or so and that definitely had a big effect on me. Our band, Suspect Device, played The Sussex Hotel, Leichhardt Hotel, the Vulcan, etc. There were so many venues and so many bands. I could walk to gigs and we had a massive old three storey house opposite The Lansdowne. Our band practice room was underground and we could make as much noise as we wanted. We would do poster runs in the city at night. Fun times.

Record Label

I saw so many bands that I wanted to capture on record. Lots of great bands to do releases for back in the day - The Hard-Ons, Psychotic Turnbuckles (who I managed for a while), Labradogs, Stig Can't Clap... The record label was called Suspect Records at first. I released the debut single of The Conspirators on the label and was then approached by a guy who played in The Klerks. I knew him from The Sussex Hotel as we had both played shows there. Anyway, he had some rare Lipstick Killers tracks and was about to release them. He wanted me to merge with him and run a combined label. Thus Vi-Nil Records was born. No idea how the name came about. It's a bit of lazy name really, haha.   

We had a bunch of releases go straight to the top of the indie charts - Lipstick Killers, The Hard-Ons, Psychotic Turnbuckles, Conspirators. The covers for the Conspirators' debut single arrived printed but not folded or glued on the night before the launch. Myself and the band stayed up all night gluing 100 covers and putting them under heavy books and weights until they dried. A friggin' nightmare.

In the 1980s we did minimum runs of 500 because vinyl was massive back then. And singles were the go rather than albums. Nowadays it's completely reversed and singles don't move too well at all. Minimum runs are 100 now, so that reflects the change in record-buying demographics (at least at an independent level). Anyway, we'd cruise around to all the indie stores dropping off records at release time. Chatting with the store owners and managers was always cool - I continue to this today, and make a point of dropping into stores personally whenever I can, delivering records out of the boot of the car. 

The best thing about the '80s was the huge number of awesome live venues around Sydney. There was always a gig each night of the week, and plenty of places to launch a new record. We'd also rock up to the 2JJ studios to talk on radio about new releases with the Saturday morning crew - this was always cool, and a great way to promote new releases. 

Shows and Snowboarding

One day a week at both the Mosman Hotel and Elswick Hotel, I was booking shows there. Plenty of live options for bands. There was pretty much live music every night of the week back then. So many great venues in Sydney. 

In 1986 I went overseas for about a year or so and discovered snowboarding. I was one of the first snowboarders in Australia. I ended up starting the first snowboarding label in the country (Redback Surf And Snow) and basically snowboarded for the next 6 years in Australia, the US, and Europe. 

Today

I re-launched the label in 2022 when I owned The Link and Pin in Woy Woy. The relaunch saw an annual compilation release (Indie Sounds) focused on a different region each year. So far I have released bands from Sydney, The Central Coast, Newcastle, and Wollongong on different volumes of the Indie Sounds comps.    

                                                                                                                                             

Label Releases

• The Conspirators - She's Gone (7" Single) [1984]
• Lipstick Killers - Sockman (7" Single) [1984]
  
• Klerks - I Need as Pardon (7" Single) [1984]
• Gulf Klub - What's Cooking (7" Single) [1984]
• Psychotic Turnbuckles - Creeps (7" Single) [1985]
• Stig Can't Clap - Other Side of Midnight (7" Single) [1985]
• The Hard-Ons - Surfin' On My Face (7" Single) [1985]
• Howling Commandors - Walk On By (7" Single) [1985]
• Psychotic Turnbuckles - Psychotic Reaction (7" Single) [1985]
• The 22s - Cowboys of Soul (Cassette Album) [1985]
• Klerks - The Groove Tapes (7" EP) [1985]
• The Labradogs - Get Lonely (7" Single) [1986]
• The Conspirators - Expressway to Your Brain (7" EP) [1987]
• The Labradogs - Suddenly Last Summer (7" Single) [1987]
• When You Start - Spirits Who Began (Teach Your White Children) (7" Single) [1988]
• Lipstick Killers - Promo [2001]
• Unknown Quantity - x=ex10(ded) (Album) [2015]
• Indie Sounds from the Harbour City  - Compilation [2022]
• Shacked - Monkey Business (Album) [2022]
• Disgraceland - A Beginners Guide To... (Album) [2022]
• Rust - Double Denim and a Bottle of Bleach (Album) [2022]
• The Overtones - Port Girls (Album) [2022]
• The Crisps - Self-Titled (Album) [2023]
• Cousin Betty - Self-Titled (Album) [2023]
• Lion Island - Pilot Termination Kiosk (Album) [2023]
• Indie Sounds from the Cenny Coast - Compilation [2023]
• Shacked - Binate Globality and So Forth... (Album) [2024]
• Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter - Compilation [2024]
• Lion Island - Fudge (Album) [2024]
• Forklift Assassins - Ripsnorter (Album) [2025]
• Indie Sounds from the Gong - Compilation [2025]
• Outer Control - Attic Sandwich (Album) [2025]
• Sugar Beats - Self-Titled (Album) [2025]
• Dedway - The World Has Fallen (Album) [2025]