Noise Levels: Headless Horsemen

Pic: Tristan Still

ORIGINS: Hornsby, NSW

GENRE: Hardcore

YEARS ACTIVE: 2001-2003

MEMBERS:

Chris 'Shortty' Shortt - Vocals
Damien Suplina - Guitar
Dave Seet - Bass
Alex 'Deano' Wood - Drums
Max Kohane - Drums [Live Fill-in] (2003)
Mitchell Bingemann - Vocals (2001)

RELEASES:

Split w/ Bjelke-Petersen Youth (2002) - Download Here.

1. Song of the Horsemen
2. Snotty and Sweet
3. Karma Don't Exist
4. I Don't Have a Girlfriend
5. From the Neck Down (Part 2)

Unconscious On Arrival (2003)

1. Back From the Dead
2. Are They Real?
3. Loaded
4. Born to Die
5. Think Globally, Act Locally
6. Painfully Obvious
7. UOA

The Millennium Rock Saga (2003)

Discography CD. Previously unreleased songs:

Fight At The Wedding
I Don't Have a Boyfriend [Guest vocals version]
Dying World
The Other side
Straight Faces Are Boring
I Don't Need You In My Life
Headless Horsemen Lonely Hearts Club Band
Born To Die [Alternative version]
Rave To The Grave
Shopping Mall Gangstas
Red Cordial
Planet Boatshoe
Brink of Summer

Unreleased Tracks

How Do You Know [Unreleased track from 2003 recording session]
Back From the Dead [Live track recorded in Erfurt, Germany, 2003]

SUMMARY: Combining members of previous Hornsby hardcore groups (Nintendo Police, Meataxe, Fistfull), Headless Horsemen burned bright and fast - releasing two 7"s and a discography CD in support of Queensland and European tours in the space of about a year. The band folded in mid-2003 and returned for a one-off reunion show in 2007.

SHOWS:

Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, Newtown - 2nd February, 2002
PCYC, Hornsby - 8th February, 2002
Green Square, Zetland - 16th February, 2002
Midnight Star Social Centre, Homebush - 23rd February, 2002
PCYC, Blacktown - 2nd March, 2002
Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale - 30th March, 2002
Midnight Star Social Centre, Homebush - 19th April, 2002
Green Square, Zetland - 19th April, 2002
PCYC, Hornsby - 29th June, 2002
Midnight Star Social Centre, Homebush - 13th July, 2002
Gabba Hotel, Brisbane - 17th August [QLD]
Unknown Venue, Brisbane - 18th August [QLD]
Midnight Star Social Centre, Homebush - 23rd August, 2002
Damien's Party, Gordon - 5th October, 2002
Club 77, Sydney - 28th November, 2002
Damien's 21st Birthday Party, Westleigh - 7th December, 2002
Unknown Venue, Leeds - 17th January, 2003 [ENGLAND]
Unknown Venue - 18th January, 2003 [SCOTLAND]
Unknown Venue, Essen - 22nd January, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue, Halle - 23rd January, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue, Erfurt - 24th January, 2003 [GERMANY]
Kunstverein, Nuremberg - 25th January, 2003 [GERMANY]
Bunker, Brussels - 26th January, 2003 [BELGIUM]
Unknown Venue, Paris - 27th January [FRANCE] - Shut down by police - did not go ahead?
Radio Station, Paris - 28th January [FRANCE]
Orbekoetxea, Laudio - 30th January, 2003 [SPAIN]
L'Etincelle, Angers - 30th January, 2003 [FRANCE]
Unknown Venue, Bordeaux - 31st January, 2003 [FRANCE]
Unknown Venue, Geneva - 1st February, 2003 [SWITZERLAND]
Unknown Venue, Lussane - 2nd February, 2003 [GERMANY]
Kafe Kult, Muchen - 3rd February, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue, Berlin - 4th February, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue, Potsdam - 7th February, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue, Magdeburg - 8th February, 2003 [GERMANY]
Unknown Venue - February [NETHERLANDS]
Unknown Venue, La Roca - 23rd February, 2003 [SPAIN]
Unknown Venue - 25th February, 2003 [SPAIN]
Unknown Venue, London - 28th February, 2003 [ENGLAND]
PCYC, Hornsby - 18th July, 2003
Maggotville, Marrickville - 5th January, 2007 - Reunion Show

ORAL HISTORY:

DAMIEN: Headless Horsemen was my little baby. The idea was to form a band with people who could actually play - it started with Dino and I just jamming and then we started recruiting friends, the first of which was Dave Seet. We actually jammed at the start with Mitch from VBS on vocals but he wasn't very interested... from there Dave and I convinced Shortty to sing.

Damien Suplina (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: It was spawned like many other bands out of sheer boredom and perhaps a little frustration. Damien got the whole thing together as he wanted to start a fast thrash-influenced hardcore punk band. He quickly drafted in Deano on drums... and a few other members floated in and out before Dave and I entered the picture on bass and vocals respectively.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Screaming Bloody Mess, 2002

DAVE: I was eager to play in a new band, to create something different with different people. I hadn't played in a band before with Damo or Deano. It was going to be fun. We practiced in Damien's parents' house, in their basement, which was stacked beyond imagination with boxes of golf balls. I think it had something to do with turning them in for cash. An old wog thing.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: Headless Horsemen was the brainchild of Damien Supplina (guitar ex-Meataxe). He asked me to front a new band he was putting together. He recruited Dave Seet (Nintendo Police) on bass and Alex 'Deano' Wood (Dot Dot Dot, Three Found Dead) on drums. I was about 21 years old at the time, working as a pizza delivery driver 6 nights a week. We would rehearse in the subterranean room under Damien's house in Westleigh. It was easy and fun. He was a pretty motivated guy and had taken on a more prominent role in organising/booking All Ages shows at Hornsby PCYC, lugging in the P.A. on the back of his dad's ute, etc. In 2000, there was an East Coast summer tour with Deadstare, Far Left Limit (Melbourne), and Bjelke-Petersen Youth (Brisbane). The impact of these shows further propelled momentum to get the band together. Once we started jamming the songs seemed to come together very quickly. I had only been in Fistfull and Gorebash prior to this as a pimply-faced teenager. I just knew I wanted to continue playing music.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: Damien wrote all the good songs. They were short, fast hardcore songs but in time this kinda cheesy rock sound started to emerge. My favourite was the song 'Karma Don't Exist', which was almost a Nirvana song sped up. I wrote some songs too. The better of those sounded more like Damien's. But I was also smoking more and more weed and listening to bands like The Melvins and wrote some weird and truly awful stuff. Unfortunately, the guys indulged me too much. Shortty and I wrote all the lyrics.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: I was still straight edge at the time but had exhausted the early Revelation and Dischord catalogues and moved past the corny youth crew revival bands. I found myself searching for more extreme, faster, and rawer hardcore punk. I was hearing bands like Citizens Arrest, Dropdead, Vorhees, No Comment, Heresy, E-150, Los Crudos, and Charles Bronson. It was exciting as they were more over-the-top and unhinged compared to stuff like Insted or Uniform Choice, which began to sound rather pedestrian. I was mailordering North American zines like Maximum RNR, Slug N Lettuce, and Heartattack. Reading and re-reading them cover-to-cover like religious texts. Studiously following the latest bands and trends in international DIY hardcore punk and latching onto buzzwords like 'bandana thrash'. At the same time, I was also getting deep intot the 1st wave of LA punk like The Germs, Avengers, and other Dangerhouse bands. I remember Damien was infatuated with the new wave of thrash/hardcore bands springing up at the millennium, especially the contemporary bands coming out of Japan like Jellyroll Rockheads, The Futures, and Fuck On The Beach. I reckon you can definitely hear those influences in his songwriting.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Original cover art for Split 7" by Fingers

DAVE: Our first recording was for a split 7" with Bjelke-Petersen Youth. Fingers did the cover art of a headless horseman holding a flaming pumpkin in the air. I didn't like the pumpkin so we photoshopped it out without asking Fingers. We didn't think anything of it at the time, but he was rightly offended when the vinyl came out. I'm sorry about that, Fingers. This 7" is such an artefact of my life now. The Bjelke-Petersen Youth side is great. They're well put together with wise and passionate lyrics. On the other side, we look and sound sillier. The art is slapped together. but the songs are fun and wake up old memories.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Deano and band, Pic: Karen Tran

CHRIS: The first recording we did was at Zen Studios in St Peters with Geoff Lee. I don't know why but lots of friends seemed to record there at the time. I guess because it was reasonably cheap and you could record, mix, and walk out with the finished tape all in one day... and we didn't know anyone else. Geoff seemed to be pretty disinterested the whole time and couldn't wait for us to get out of there! The songs from this session were used in the split 7" we did with Bjelke-Petersen Youth and various compilations.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

NOTES: I'm happy to announce that the Bjelke-Petersen Youth/Headless Horsemen split 7" will be available tomorrow at the Midnight Star Social Centre show for $6. The first 100 copies will have a limited edition BPY/HxH yo yo!

Gutless Records website, June 2002

Review, Screaming Bloody Mess, 2002

Review, Personality Liberation Front #4, 2003

LUKE: I first got involved with Headless Horsemen as I'd been friends with everyone in the band for a while. We'd all gone to shows together for a few years and lived around Hornsby. Dave was one of my best friends and I'd already released music by Nintendo Police (Dave's previous band) on my label, Set Fire To My Home. I was with the guys when they recorded in a weird house on the Central Coast - from memory, they recorded it all in one day. Damien and I both used to put shows on at Hornsby PCYC and I was always more the type of person to sell merch, do the door, and organise things. So I think by default I was just involved because I was around. Shortfuse organised the vinyl records (I had no idea how to do that) and I organised the CD version of the music.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Hornsby PCYC

CHRIS: Every Hornsby show was pretty raucous, as it was our home turf. Bands would play on the floor of the room downstairs. It probably could squeeze in about 80-100 people max, with tables selling records and zines at the back. Once the lights were turned off it transformed into this magical place to see punk music. We got to play with some of our Sydney heroes of the time - like Deadstare. We also played a number of shows at The Midnight Star Social Centre in Homebush. It was a squatted two storey building on Parramatta Road, but not just a place for people to shoot up. It was a well-organised and competently run autonomous community space. The Midnight Star hosted a range of events including movie nights, a Food Not Bombs kitchen, meetings for various anarchist, eco, and Indigenous solidarity groups - and of course had multiple rooms perfect to host punk shows and techno parties! One show we played got pretty gnarly when a crew of violent dudes tweaking on meth showed up unannounced, and were trying to kick the doors down and force their way inside (imagine Assault on Precinct 13 but without guns). Other memorable shows were held at the clubhouse under the tram tracks in Jubilee Park, Glebe.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Hornsby PCYC, Pics: Tristan Still

Midnight Star Social Centre, Homebush

DAVE: We had the pleasure of touring to Brisbane with Three Found Dead and played with Bjelke-Petersen Youth. I think that was the first time I'd been interstate with a band. I guess that was to launch the 7". We had a bit of an entourage and it was a fun and messy time. There were a few carloads of us. Luke and I were in the back of one car and we took e's on the way up. Lex was driving and he was in a bad mood because of a decision to stop for the night along the journey, but probably mostly because he was stuck in a car with two bums. I remember being high and listening to Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror'. That set the tone for the rest of the tour. We stayed at a motel in Ballina and then completed the journey the next day. It was a great crew. It was us, the Three Found Dead guys, Luke (Set Fire To My Home), Clint (Shortfuse Records), Simon Slaughter, Lex, Stace, Karen, Ramo, and Tim Hill. The Antics would be unstoppable. When we arrived in Brisbane we stopped at a house. I don't think we stayed there but maybe it was a meeting point or a place to drop off our gear. I remember our host being shocked and amazed at how many cones Deano pulled in the space of 15 minutes. Of course, he hadn't seen anything yet.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Shortty, Brisbane

Luke Logemann, Brisbane

NOTES: The Brisbane tour was a success! Thanks to Three Found Dead, all our friends who came along with us, and Chris Hunter and the guy with the big hair for putting everything together for us. We had a great time and the only bad thing was that we couldn't stay for long enough.

Headless Horsemen Website, 2002

Pic: Skayt

CHRIS: About a year after our first recording we did another batch of songs at a studio on the Central Coast. I have no recollection of why we chose that place but I do remember having to record the vocals twice. Initially I recorded the high-pitched squealing vocals similar to what I did in the first session. I guess I was influenced by Mark McCoy from Charles Bronson but in reality I sounded like a fucking baby magpie being stepped on - just awful! So I re-recorded all the vocals in a lower register to not sound so shrill and annoying. Definitely worth the trouble. From these sessions we picked the best songs for our 7" Unconscious on Arrival that was released on Gash Records.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: Unconscious on Arrival is when we found our sound and locked in together as a band. All the songs ripped. Deano's drumming was incredibly quick on that recording and the rest of us were forced to keep up. The rock element was there. And we used lots of sing-along backing vocals which brought colour to our live sets.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Recording at Aphek Studio for Unconscious On Arrival 7"

Review of Unconscious On Arrival by Neil, In Till Stumps #3, 2004

CHRIS: Our mate Clint Chapman who co-released one of our records had moved to London. I think maybe Damien floated the idea with him? The European tour idea was manifested and became reality quite quickly.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: The Europe tour was lined up and the objective was to get the Unconscious on Arrival 7" pressed so we could sell them at shows, as well as a CD (The Millennium Rock Saga) with all the tracks from both 7"s (the other being the split with Bjelke-Petersen Youth), and T-shirts too. Apart from introducing people to our music, this would all serve the very practical purpose of making petrol money. We may have gone a bit crazy with merch, there was even a Headless Horsemen yo-yo. he extra songs on The Millennium Rock Saga came from the same session as Unconscious On Arrival. We had the gimmicky idea of recording another version of 'I Don't Have A Girlfriend' from the BPY split... it was meant to be an1them for unloved nerds and we did this other version with a girl singing and called it 'I Don't Have a Boyfriend'. Loryn Moore sang on the track. I think she may have gone to high school with Damien and was hanging out with us for a while. There was also one song from this recording session that was left off The Millennium Rock Saga, 'How Do You Know', because it didn't have the same rock sound that we felt the others had. But looking back, that was an absurd decision because it's a much better song than most of the U.O.A. extra session tracks that made it onto the CD. 'How Do You Know' is a challenge to certainty about an afterlife. "Prove it!" the crew exclaims. It wasn't our first song about the afterlife actually - 'Born To Die' expressed the same incredulity; "There's no reward at the end of this." I guess we were running out of things to be angry about.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Limited edition Headless Horsemen / Bjelke-Petersen Youth yo-yos

Blacktown PCYC, 2002

Damien's 21st Birthday party, Westleigh, 2002

Green Square, 2002

LUKE: I don't remember how we decided to do the European tour but I do remember being inspired by the book Our Band Could Be Your Life and the zine series Book Your Own Fuckin' Life, which were resources mostly for Europe and America. At some point, the feeling was that with enough effort we could make something happen. We mostly looked at it as a way to have an adventure. Damien and I planned to stay after the tour and travel a bit more as well, as were between jobs.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: We realise we are almost totally an unknown band in Europe so it's pretty obvious that financial reward is not the reason we are gonna play shows over there. The opportunity came out and we just couldn't knock it back. We see it as a challenge and possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity. Something that may never happen again. I guess our intentions as a band on the tour are of course to plays (IE. The ability to rock the fuck out on another continent!) but equally important is the chance to hook up, link up, and network with people on the other side of the world. I've already been talking to a few people and I'm very excited to be making all these new friends, people who are willing to invite us to stay at their houses after only contact via email. It's so fucking cool! ...I turned 22 last week and the furthest I've been away from Sydney is Melbourne or Brisbane so this is a massive thing for me.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Screaming Bloody Mess, 2002

DAMIEN: Well, I am off, touring Europe, underpants style! That's right, Europe, watch out, the Headless Horsemen - 'How the fuck did we end up here' tour - it's coming your way. It's hitting the shores mid-January, playing cheesy fast rock and woah's, dancing our way through England, Scotland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, and Switzerland. If we come back in one piece, hopefully we will all still be friends, and we can all dance once again, together, naked as can be.

Damien Suplina, PC Records website, 2002

DAVE: The band was only around for a short couple of years but we had a lot of momentum. The way I remember it, Clint (Shortfuse Records) came to use with a tour proposal. He was living in the UK and would line up some shows for us there. Then he had a contact, I think Ralph, who would set up shows around Europe and hire out his beat-up little van. We played in England, Scotland, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, and Spain. We were serious concerned about Deano coming on tour with us. We felt awful about it but we all agreed at the time that he was just not reliable enough for the massive commitment we were about to make. So we trained up Max Kohane from Far Left Limit and he played drums on the tour. I'm sure that broke Deano's heart. We played one of two shows in Sydney with Max as practice shows before the tour.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: At the time, Deano didn't have the funds or capacity to tour. So Damien asked Max Kohane (Far Left Limit, Kissland, Brain Children, etc., etc.) to fill in on drums. Max came up from Melbourne and learned all the songs without skipping a beat. The tour was about 4 weeks over January/February 2003.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Max in Europe

MAX: I met the guys through playing similar gigs and being into the same style of fastcore/hardcore. My band at the time was called Far Left Limit and we got along well with the Hornsby crew and so it felt natural when Headless Horsemen needed someone for their European tour. I finished high school and then, within a week or so, I was up in NSW jamming at Damien's house. I was in Sydney for a little while at that point... it's not the norm to jump across state lines so casually but it made a lot of sense at the time. I was already touring a lot then and had no plans to go to school or to do anything but play fast drums, haha.

Max Kohane (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

LUKE: Booking the tour came about from a mixture of being a record nerd and trading zines with people all over the world. Just asking the DIY scene for help and stuff. Clint Chapman from Shortfuse Records was living in the UK and I know he was an incredible resource for us and gave us encouragement. He organised the UK shows for us and we did some shows with Scalplock who were a band he released a split record with Arms Reach on his label Shortfuse. We were all obsessed with Arms Reach, so it was a huge deal for us. There was a German guy called Ralph who hired his van to us. He booked at least half the European shows, and gave us all of these maps and stuff to get around.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: Clint's housemate in London, Paco, had recently started releasing records under the La Vida Es Un Mus label. Clint set up a London show for us and Paco helped organise a handful of shows in Spain. It kind of snowballed from there. Andy from Shank set up a show in Glasgow. This guy, Ralf Flowerviolence in Germany, rented us his van, which was kitted out with amps and a full drum kit packed in the back. He set up all the other shows in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Denmark. We were all bursting with excitement and couldn't actually believe it was happening. Pretty sure it was the first time I'd flown on an airplane! When we landed in London we stayed with Clint and Paco, who lived on the upper level of a housing commission tower in Hackney. I remember Clint saying they had been avoiding using the lift lately as someone kept smearing human shit all over the elevator buttons and walls. So we opted to take the stairs instead.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Draft Tour Itinerary, Headless Horsemen website, 2002

DAVE: Max was such a great guy. I'm speaking about him in the past tense because I haven't seen him in over 20 years. I'm sure he's a great guy now too. And he was able to play as fast as an enhanced Deano, which was very impressive. Back then he was just a kid. We were in our early 20s and he was probably just a teenager. I regret not looking out for him a bit more on the tour. Luke (Set Fire To My Home), Simmo, and Karen came along for the ride.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

MAX: The tour was kinda long and fun and chaotic. We played a large stint on our own and then a portion of the shows with the band Rambo. Was a good time!

Max Kohane (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

LUKE: We had a few shows with this band Rambo, who were touring from Philadelphia. I don't knwo how we got in touch, but they were awesome and the 4 or 5 shows we did with them were the best. We had so many types of supports. Youth crew, crust, grindcore, etc. I think there was a support band in Barcelona who did only American Nightmare and Carry On covers.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: For part of the tour we were supporting U.S. hardcore band Rambo. Those guys hated us from the start. I think it was because we took delivery of their albums and may have opened one of the boxes and then lied about it when they asked about it. And for another part of the tour we were joined by a Dutch post-hardcore metal band called Malkovich. Those guys were fun. They loved to drink and I remember being jealous of their big white van.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Max, Damien, setlist

LUKE: We had put up some MP3s of songs for a free download. That really helped and you could see that people at the European shows knew the songs that were up for download. That was awesome. It definitely made you feel like you were part of a worldwide community. The fact that people were rocking up in the same T-shirts we loved, and bands covering the same songs bands did back home... There was a really awesome energy about all of that side of it.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: One thing we didn't plan for the tour was actually having enough songs. As a touring band we'd often be headlining or sharing the headline. And to our amazement people were coming out to see this novelty hardcore band from down under. So they expected us to play for at least 45 minutes but we played so damn fast we could blow through our entire set in under 20 minutes. There were more than a couple of times when people were visibly and vocally pissed off when we were thanking them and putting down our instruments, so the only thing we could do was play the songs again. What a relief that hardcore songs all sound the same anyway and we could get away with it.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: It sounds quaint, but it was just before smart phones and social media... We just had a bunch of printed-out instructions of how to find each venue and physical maps of each city. We'd be checking our emails at internet cafes for updates and rescheduling.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Eiffel Tower

Show in Basque Country, Spain, 2003

LUKE: The internet was in its early stages. There was no Google maps, and no wifi or anything. It was all internet cafes, and paper maps with drawings all over them. And we were so young - like 19 to 21 years old, with no real touring experience. Everything was so DIY. Half the shows were in squats, and a lot of people didn't speak English. I actually think if I'd known how sketchy and loose everything was, I'd have been a lot more worried. But I didn't know how much I didn't know, so it was just awesome. The language barrier was really hard, and also the cultural one. But I think the spirit of the punk scene was somewhat international, which was cool.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: The language barrier in Europe was difficult and often we'd be completely in the dark about what was going on - what we'd be eating, when we'd be playing, where we'd be sleeping. There were a lot of hand gestures. Sometimes there'd be someone who spoke some English and that would help. It didn't stop us from being able to find weed or hash anywhere we went though. The gestures for a smoke were universally understood. One time I fell into a hash-induced slumber in the van and when I woke up I asked what country we were in. The guys refused to tell me. Simmo thought it was hilarious, mocking me in his Statler and Waldorf way, "Haha! You don't know what country you're in!" We would stay at people's houses but mostly we stayed at squats. Squatting is a way of life many in the punk and crust scenes in Europe, but it's also a way of life for many that have nothing to do with music culture. Wherever we stayed, and despite the language barriers, the hospitality was always extraordinary. The food, mostly vegetarian, was abundant and delicious. It felt strange to us middle class suburbanites to be eating so well from the kitchens of abandoned buildings.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Geneva Squat, 2003

Squat sleepin'

Squat show, Europe

CHRIS: It was mid-winter in Northern Europe and absolutely freezing. We stayed at a squat after a show in Copenhagen. The room was like an ice cave - the only source of heat was an open fire in the corner but it kept burning down to the embers. We devised a system where we would each take a turn to crawl out from the protective layer of our sleeping bag every 30 minutes to throw a fresh log on the fire so it wouldn't completely burn out.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

MAX: My biggest memory of the European tour was getting mauled by dogs at a concentration camp/gas chamber in the freezing cold somewhere close to the Polish border in Germany. We were trying to find a venue in the dark and I went into the wrong area, which was being guarded by dogs. I was wearing about three layers of warm clothing due to it being freezing so I was lucky to escape with just cuts and bruises.

Max Kohane (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

In the van

Damien driving

LUKE: I was always directing from the passenger seat and Damien was always driving, because he was the only one who could drive this crazy old manual van we were in. Most of my memories involve sitting in the van with actual maps and getting lost and trying to find places. Or really weird truck stops where the only vegetarian food was a bag of chips or some fries. There was a show we were meant to play in Copenhagen... But when we arrived, they hadn't heard of us. It was at a squat and it was really cold (-14 degrees) and we were so miserable all night. Then, while driving back to the ferry to go to Germany, a huge storm hit right as our windscreen wipers broke. I remember driving in a storm and I was using a handheld wiper to wipe the screen for Damien while he drove. The band later broke down completely on the way back to drop it off. The engine just shat itself on a freeway and we rolled off to the side and sat there for hours trying to get in touch with the guy we hired it from. It was so cold and so weird.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

"Breakdown!"

CHRIS: We were speeding up and down the autobahns to different cities in this old red 1980s Mercedes van while it snowed outside. The windscreen wipers stopped working at one point. We were careening down the freeway having to lean out the front of the passenger window...I'd be wiping snowflakes off the windscreen with my scarf and gloves so Damien could see the road in front of us. The van eventually broke down and died for good. We were stranded on the side of the freeway for hours. Luckily we were driving to the last show on that leg of the tour.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: Squat culture was interesting but by the end we had had enough of squats. Some didn't have running water or proper facilities. We met a lot of cool people and a lot of characters, but many of them were obsessed with squat culture. It was all they talked about, like a sickness. I remember towards the end of the tour staying in a large and icy cold squat in Denmark. We were over it by then. And we asked one of the squatters what sites he could recommend in Denmark as we had some time to explore the next day. In broken English he began to describe a 'squat city' some kilometres away that he thought we should check out... We also stayed for a night at a squat in Paris and we were hosted by another squat enthusiast. This guy was also a militant of some kind and had plenty of stories about fighting the cops. He was really intense. Some of the squatters lived in makeshift quarters behind curtains. One of them was a woman, attractive and probably in her 30s, and she had vampire fangs. Maybe it's my vanity infiltrating my memory, but I think she tried to seduce me. I should've made love to that strange vampire woman behind that dirty curtain, that would've been one for the books.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: We encountered a lot of bizarre characters across the squats of Europe. We stayed at this place on the outskirts of Angers in France. There was this lady from Eastern Europe also staying there. I think she was from either Estonia or Romania. She was friendly but had piercing eyes and unusually long and sharp canine teeth. Actual fangs. I'm not sure if they were natural or if she had them surgically modified to look like a vampire. She was staying in this ramshackle cubby structure on the floor made up of various sheets held up with chairs. She would be crawling out of there, then disappearing back inside, and drinking what may or may not have been red wine. Dave Seet and myself were both slightly nervous about falling asleep in the room next door, half-joking and half-frightened while pulling our sleeping bags tightly above our throats in the darkness.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Squat show, Spain

Playing in the UK

With the Dutch band Malkovich

CHRIS: We played a sick live set in Paris in a community radio station. I got so excited while playing that I jumped up and kneed myself in the mouth and chipped three of my teeth. The majority of shows were in punk squats and the remaining in youth centres. There were endless encounters with local crust punks every night who were drinking home-brew and playing foosball. It seemed like after every second show there would always be one Polish guy coming up to us, feeling personally offended that we didn't book any shows in Poland. This became a bit of a running joke in the van.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: We engineered a week or so in Amsterdam without any shows. At the time it was completely novel to buy weed legally and to pick whatever you fancied from a menu as if it were a fruit smoothie. The first night we found a cafe and made the stupid choice of buying the strongest variety on the menu, the white widow, and then continued to make the stupid choices of continuing to smoke it for the rest of the week. I was gone to the world, I don't even think it was fun.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

European tour art by Ray Ahn

LUKE: After a week in Amsterdam we went to Spain for some shows where we travelled by train between cities. We booked those shows during the tour from connections we made, and we had Ray from The Hard Ons making the poster because we heard they were huge in Spain. Then, near San Sebastien, the tour ended and we had a few days off. They let us stay at the venue in a little bunk house next to a skatepark. The house was full of weed and beer, and we had the place to ourselves. It was also the first warmth of the tour so we loved it.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Scotland, 2003

CHRIS: Every day was an adventure. I was young and unburdened by the cynicism of adult life. Even when we got completely lost and missed the show altogether - nothing could dampen my spirits. We played with so many bands whose records I owned and was excited to see. Y in Berlin, Face Up To It in Bordeauz, Scalplock in London, Shank in Glasgow, and Deadstop in Brussels.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: I'm sure that after the Europe tour we were all content not to see one another for a while. We were in close quarters in the van for long days, day after day, and eating and sleeping side by side. Everything anyone of us did affected everyone else. A choice of music, a selfish decision, a fart. In particular, I remember Shortty was really annoying me by the end. I was completely intolerant of his idiosyncracies, and that was because of my own lack of compassion and self-awareness of how I might be annoying others in similar ways. I think overall though it created a bond between us that will last forever. I hardly see any of the guys now but when I do I can feel the enduring presence of that arduous and precious experience of the tour.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

London - Left to Right: Max, Shortty, Karen, Dave, Simmo, Luke, Damien

Simmo, Shortty, some guy from Rambo

London, with Clint Chapman

LUKE: After the tour, Damien and I stayed for a while in Europe. The whole time I was just thinking, "I want to do more of this". I loved travelling and seeing music communities around the world, loved putting together tours and keeping things organised. I'd always been obsessed with record labels like Revelation, Epitaph, and Equal Vision. I started thinking about my record label and how to make it something that would help build community like they have in Europe and America. Dreaming basically. So I went home and got a job and put all that money into Set Fire To My Home. I started working with Staying At Home, Sans Chavelle, and Horsell Common, and I guess it all snowballed into becoming my job for 20 years. The tour was where I realised it was all possible.

Luke Logemann (Record Label), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: We played some of our best shows when we returned. The Europe Tour had been gruelling. Shows in Europe started late, like the first band was on at 9pm. Sometimes we didn't play until after midnight. And because we were often staying with the people that organised the show, we had to hang around until everything was packed up and then drive to wherever we'd be staying, which wasn't always close by. We could be up early again the next day for a long drive, 8 or 12 hours. And that was day after day without many breaks. It could be several days in between without a hot shower, and all of the sweat from the show congealing over the sweat from the previous show. But this regimen meant our playing as a band got better and better. It became easy. And when it was easy we could really lose ourselves in the performance. So by the time we got back to Sydney we were in the best shape as a band we'd ever been in, and people had heard the songs from the Unconscious on Arrival 7", so those shows after the tour went off. Deano was back on drums for those.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

The Advertiser, 2003

PC Records website, July 2003

REVIEW: My favourite set of 2003 turned out to be Headless Horsemen's last ever show. It was a crackling atmosphere in the confines of Hornsby PCYC as they started with the trademark 'Song of the Horsemen' and twenty minutes of utter chaos later, it was over. The classics were all there, 'UOA', 'Born to Die', and the brilliant 'Shopping Mall Gangstas', as was the band's always eclectic stage presence. Shortty was mobbed on vocals at every opportunity and the rest of the band looked as though they were enjoying themselves as much as everyone in attendance.

Live Review by Mike Tuckerman, Drink Drank Tuck, 2003

CHRIS: After we got back from Europe we played maybe one more show? Then I was done. Personally I felt like the band had run its course. I told the other guys I wasn't feeling it anymore and was ready to move on. This may have come to a bit of a shock to them. In my mind, the act of singing in a hardcore band was this ritual that required absolute devotion. You had to commit to it 200%! Merely 'dialling it in' seemed insulting to everyone involved and was not an option. I also wanted to learn to play a musical instrument instead. There may have been other ways to continue but I had made up my mind. I have always been a bit of an impulsive person.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

Chris Shortt, Headless Horsemen website, 2003

Dave, Hornsby PCYC

DAVE: I don't recall how the band ended exactly, but I think we were all ready to leave it behind. I did write some new songs though, with blazing youth crew riffs that I was really proud of. I showed Shortty and he wasn't impressed. He was right, they didn't have that rock character that made us Headless Horsemen. I hope I didn't destroy the band with my stoner youth crew riffs.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: We did play a one-off reunion show a couple of years later with Limp Wrist came over to Australia. The show was at Maggotvile, a warehouse space I was living in at the time. It was a sick show but I remember working the door and it was significantly over-capacity. Maybe 400 people squeezed into the room. You could actually feel the concrete slab wobble and bounce under the weight of everyone moshing to Limp Wrist. A bit unnerving thinking back to it now.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

DAVE: Some years later we played a reunion show at Maggotville with Limp Wrist from the U.S. and New Justice Team. Deano was instrumental in getting the band back together for the show. I think his strategy was to call each of us and say the other guys want to do it. I'm glad he did, that show was one of my favourites of all time. The place was absolutely packed and full of energy. It was a perfect coda.

Dave Seet (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2026

CHRIS: What's rewarding for me is the simple act of creating something. Just writing songs and playing them. It's something nobody else can touch because they're ours. Whatever type of artist you are: be it musician, writer, painter, or whatever, the basic act of self expression is universal and is one of the best things we can do as human beings. Who knows - it could give you something to live for?! As much as hardcore gives me the shits sometimes, I suppose it's been beneficial in providing a DIY community for likeminded people to network, exchange ideas, make friends, etc. I don't want to even slightly pursue this if my heart isn't totally into it. It just wouldn't be right.

Chris Shortt (Vocals), Screaming Bloody Mess, 2002

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