Showing posts with label Cranebrook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cranebrook. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Josh McHattan

 

Josh McHattan

  • Given (1994-2018) - Drums
  • Aurelius (2024-2025) - Drums
  • The Ack! Ack!s (2025-Current) - Drums
REGION: Cranebrook, NSW
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Monday, December 23, 2024

Colden Locke

Colden 'Bundy' Locke

  • The Shenanigans - Guitar (1995-1996), Vocals, Bass (1996-2003, 2024)
  • The Bernie Lomax 5- Vocals, Bass (2002-2011)
  • Uncle John - Tambourine, Vocals (2010)
  • Fur Brain - Vocals, Guitar (2025-Current)
REGION: Penrith, NSW

 

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Thursday, September 12, 2024

National Beer Day

 

A brief history of 'National Beer Day'...

Let me set the scene for you. It was 1998, on the northern outskirts of Penrith, in the historical suburb of Cranebrook. A house perched on a hill, overlooking the then-newly-created Penrith Lakes, and a line of century-old olive trees between the edge of the suburb and the undeveloped land beyond... These were teenage years, the time of jamming in the garage on crappy $100 instruments, riding around all night long in cars because you were too young to go to the pub, and going to boozy parties in people's backyards where parents sent you packing by 9pm.

Enter Mitchell, a young enterprising lad with a dream. This dream was called 'National Beer Day', and it was to take place on the first weekend of November every year.

In reality, it was just a party. The first National Beer Day took place in my garage/backyard at Mitchell's insistence. My house was opposite the aforementioned Cranebrook olive trees on the top of a hill that overlooked the Penrith Lakes. I was crook as a dog and I didn't really want my mates coming over to drink a bunch of beers in front of me but peer pressure did its thing and I even forced myself to drink a beer to show solidarity with the 7 or so people who attended. It was a painful drink because my throat was so sore at the time. I then told everyone they should go out somewhere and leave me behind, so they did. And that was the first National Beer Day.

National Beer Day 2, 1999. South Penrith hosted it's only National Beer Day, a party of about 20 people or so at a rental house (hi Megan!).

National Beer Day 3, 2000. This took place in another friend's garage (hi Mick!) in Cranebrook and was also about 7 people or so. It was a little underwhelming, but Mitchell's passion did not die. 

[National Beer Day 2001, Left to Right] Pablo (Save Some For Daddy), Sean, James (Vanity Star), Marko, Adam (Barkode), Pat (Dyasphere)

National Beer Day 4, 2001. Back to Cranebrook as I now had my own rental property that I lived in alongside my brother Jon and my housemate George Fotakopolous. My involvement in the local music scene as part of The Shenanigans meant that this was now a bit of a happening party. National Beer Day was always meant to move around but, as few of my friendship group had their own place, it was decided by Mitchell that this rental house (colloquially known as the Ben Nevis Hotel, creatively named after its address on Ben Nevis Rd) would host subsequent National Beer Days for the forseeable future. 

The first of the NBD Games at National Beer Day 2002. Note the red and white NBD shirts.

National Beer Day 5, 2002. This is when things started to shift and it ceased to be a thing for just one group of friends. Yes, the name is generic and the idea behind it is paper-thin, but something happened in 2002 that transformed National Beer Day into something of a pre-internet meme. We made merchandise and people bought it to wear... in our backyard. We created games and events that people could watch... in our backyard. We put on food and it was generally a positive vibes-only party.

NBD 2003 - Snake Races involved racing without using one's arms or legs.

National Beer Day 6, 2003: If one single National Beer Day could be described as the National Beer Day, I would say it was this one, the final one to take place at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Cranebrook and the final National Beer Day to not include bands. I decided, in an act of bold stupidity, to advertise the party online via the Bombshellzine.com forum which, at the time, was a great way for bands and music fans to network and talk nonsense across the states. It resulted in 250 people making the pilgrimage to Penrith and then to Cranebrook, people from Queensland and Sydney, lots of people who'd never met each other in person before but knew of each other via online ridiculousness. This party just about broke our rental house at the time, with someone running right into the fence and busting it open, which outraged the neighbours. There were more games, like Snake Races, Jelly Wrestling, and The Bounce Off. Some random guy fell asleep on our lounge and we simply walked the lounge outside and tipped him onto the lawn. The party was big enough for a shirtless stranger to come running in off the street... he attempted to blend into the crowd but was promptly tackled by the two police officers who had been pursuing him through Cranebrook that night. Again, for all its eventfulness, I seem to recall that it was a pretty chill night with positive vibes-only.

Click here for more about NBD 2004

National Beer Day 7, 2004. Mitchell and I became ambitious this year. It also didn't help that myself, my brother Jon, and my old flatmate George, did not live at the Ben Nevis Hotel any more. My dad had a mostly unused property up at Putty at the time so we convinced him to let us host the party there. Have you ever been to Putty? Or heard of it before? It's not really a place, just a vague location along an old trucking road that connects the Hawkesbury to Cessnock, and it takes forever to get to. We hired portaloos, a minibus to transport people, and a generator so bands could play in the middle of nowhere (Putty doesn't have any electricity, that's how remote it is). By this point it was expected that we would create T-shirts to help fund the party so I decided to help bolster this funding by creating a dodgy National Beer Day compilation CD. We sold a few of these... I'd hesitate to say they'd be worth anything now though as they were a burnt-CD home job. About 100 people attended the Putty National Beer Day and camped out. It was a good time. My main memory is that, when my friend Shane got back to Penrith, he fell asleep after consuming some ridiculously hot chili sauce. While sleeping, he wiped his eye, and then woke up to find it so swollen that he couldn't see out of it. 

Bands who played at NBD 2004:

Steppin' Razor at NBD 2005

National Beer Day 8, 2005. As fun as Putty was, it was also a logistical nightmare to organise, so we decided to put on National Beer Day as a show at the Gearin Hotel in Katoomba. Bands played, various online friends made the trek from as far as Forster (hi Bones!), and about 30 people crashed out in the incredibly run-down rooms above the bar. 

Bands who played NBD 2005:

National Beer Day 9, 2006. By this point myself and my old flatmate George were living in a sharehouse again. This was a hundred-year old rental house in Penrith that we'd imaginatively dubbed The Union (it was on Union Road). After a previous party with bands had gone relatively well here we decided to return to National Beer Day's house-party roots. Around 150 people attended and a big lineup of bands played in the loungeroom, including two bands who were on tour from Queensland at the time. It was very DIY - we set up a drum riser in the tiny loungeroom by placing some detached doors on top of some besser blocks. Lacking a proper microphone stand, we shoved a mop between some bricks and then taped a microphone to the top of it. The highlight was probably Rex Banner playing, which prompted some crowd surfing in the lounge room. Being an old house, the roof was one of those really high ceilings. This makes all the more impressive the fact that someone's footprints were left on it.

Bands who played NBD 2006:

National Beer Day 10, 2007. In the tradition of most things, National Beer Day's ten-year run ended with a whimper. People were getting older and no one was willing to hand over the use of their house for a party of this size, so we tried to turn it into a pub crawl in the Rocks. I think only ten people attended in the end, which is fitting considering how small this event was when it started. The highlight was National Beer Day diehard Matt Black asking the house band at a pub if he could sing with them, and then performing 'Mack the Knife' perfectly. We didn't even know he could sing... in those days we just knew him as Parramatta Matt. These days he fronts boisterous folk-punk band The Bottlers. 

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Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Kurt Reichel


Kurt Reichel

REGION: Cranebrook, NSW
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Friday, March 15, 2024

Given


ORIGINS: Cranebrook, NSW
GENRE: Hard Rock, Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1994-2013, 2017-2018
 
MEMBERS:
  • George Fotakopoulos (Guitar) (Vocals, Guitar - 2002-2003)
  • Gary Thomas (Guitar) (Vocals, Guitar - 2002-2003)
  • Josh McHattan (Drums)
  • Jai Pearce (Vocals) [1996-2001, 2004-2018]
  • Jason 'Colty' Coltan (Bass) [1995-1996]
  • Shane Wallis (Bass) [1996-2018]
RELEASES: 
 
  • Demo (1996)
    • 1. Imagine
    • 2. Down and Out
  • Self-Titled (1999)
    • 1. Down and Out
    • 2. Outfit
    • 3. Empty Room
    • 4. Twice Shy
       

  • Given EP (2002)
    • 1. Promises
    • 2. When You're There
    • 3. Mostly Me
    • 4. Reason
    • 5. Never Before
    • 6. Demist

SUMMARY: Given formed under the name Utopia while Josh McHattan, George Fotakopoulos, and Gary Thomas were in Year 9 at Cranebrook High School. Jason Coltan was recruited on bass but was replaced within a year by Shane Wallis, and singer Jai Pearce was the last member to be added after he left his previous band Watteva. The band played their first show at a bikers' club house (just prior to Pearce joining) and by 1996 they were playing under the name Exile and had recorded their first demo.
 
In 1999, after steadily gigging around Sydney with a mixture of originals and covers, the band changed their name to Given. During this time, around 2000, the band had their song 'Fade Away' picked up on the American college radio circuit and they became the house band at Richmond Royal jam nights. In 2001 they won the Great Western Bar band comp and used the money to record an EP, and toured parts of New South Wales in support of the Led Zeppelin and Doors show. Pearce left the band in ???? when he moved to Melbourne to work, prompting further name changes to Project (briefly) and Media Tramp, during which time Thomas and Fotakopoulos shared lead vocal duties. Pearce returned to Penrith in 2006 and re-joined as vocalist but the band's activity eventually slowed to a stop as members started raising families or playing in other bands. 

In 2017, the band re-formed as The Des-Men, in honour of their friend Des Thomas who had passed away in 2016. They have played a couple of times under this name at memorial events.
 
SHOWS:


ORAL HISTORY:
GARY: I remember how the band started like it was yesterday. We were in Year 9. It all came about from Josh sitting next to me in Maths. He knew I played guitar and I knew he played drums. Literally, that was all we knew about each other. And he chatted my ear off, suggesting I come over to his house for a jam. Our first practice was him and I with George playing one intro on acoustic and screaming into a shitty mic.
Gary Thomas (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JOSH: At the time I was looking for musos to jam with but the school drummer position was filled. George made a random comment, "I'll learn and play guitar". Not long after, he was given an acoustic and we were jamming... poorly, but it was jamming. I then met Gary in a Maths class. Someone mentioned to me that he played guitar. I asked him to join us. I was so impressed he had a guitar that looked like an Angus Young SG! He was in. Jason Coltan then said he could play bass.
Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
COLTY: We would practice at Josh's house and go up to Kingswood Park shops to get hot chips and Utopia drinks. And that's where the name came from, we saw that word and it was like, "That's a mad name for a band". 
Jason Coltan (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
GEORGE: Josh and I wanted to start a band in late 1994. He had drums and could play. I didn't have a guitar, couldn't play a note, but it still sounded like a good idea. By the time school went back in '95 we had recorded our first song and Josh had found out that Gary had an electric guitar so asked him to join. The issue at this point was that Gary and I didn't like each other but once you're in a band you get on with it. Colty then joined very reluctantly on bass. He wanted to play guitar but Gary and I are pretty stubborn and obviously we didn't want to play bass either. We had shitloads of fun with Colty but we needed a committed bass player 'cause we were super keen on improving. Shane had his own bass and amp, so he was in. 
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
COLTY: We were teenagers and no one knew what they were doing. None of us could keep time. I didn't fit in with what they were doing, which was very much an AC/DC or Metallica sound... I wanted to do something different, I wanted to get sounds out of instruments that you shouldn't be able to get out of them. And I didn't want to play bass. But it was so much fun. It was a fun time. They kicked me out of the band without really kicking me out of the band, which is how it's done when you're a teenager. They were just like, "Shane's playing bass now," and was like, "Yeah, thanks."
Jason Coltan (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
Year 9, 1994
 
SHANE: I remember Colty was the bass player but the guys wanted to play Metallica... They knew I had bought a bass and could play it so I was invited to practice at Josh's house and the first song we played was 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' and I nailed it. 'Enter Sandman' was next if my memory serves me correctly and I played that as well. I don't think anyone officially asked me to join... I just played with them from then on. 
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JOSH: Our first show was most likely the jam night that used to be in the old Reactor room at Panthers Leagues Club. We tried to play a cover of Faith No More's 'Gentle Art of...' without a singer. Most that track is bass chug and hi hat.
Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

SHANE: One of our first shows was either the jam nights at the Royal in Richmond or maybe a Bikie Club in Southwest Sydney. George's neighbour was the Sergeant-at-Arms of that chapter. 
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOSH: We had no singer forever. When Jai finished with his current band we asked him to join. We jammed and our line up was complete.
 Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
JAI: I remember watching the boys play on a Sunday afternoon at Panthers when they used to play jam nights. I was singing with Watteva at the time and thought I would love to have a jam with them. I knew Shane as our Dads used to work together, and I knew of Gaz through rollcall at school. I asked them if I could sing 'Pure Massacre' as they had jammed on it the week before. We played it and I thought it was awesome. I think I got invited to a jam at Shano's hosue the following week and we just kinda started there.
Jai Pearce (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SHANE: We got kicked out before we even played at Cronulla because we were all underage and our mate Mitchell tried to buy a beer. 
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
GEORGE: I rarely play the pokies but for whatever reason, after we played a show, I went halves with Shane and we had a $700 win. We split the winnings but basically spent it all on screwdrivers, which is basically vodka and orange juice. Neither Shane or I have ever had one again after this night. Anyway, we ended up at Great Western Bar in Penrith and our kind of potential manager at the time, Tony Le Rhodes (The Choirboys), saw us and introduced us to his bikie friends. One of these bikies gave me a fucking massive bunger and said it would be really funny if I lit it up inside. Penrith used to be really rough and you did yourself no favours doing dumb shit like that inside a fucking rough pub. In a split second, I decided it would be really fucking funny to throw the bunger at the bikies that gave it to me. Before I did this, I turned to Shane and told him to run. I must've had that look in my eye because he didn't ask me why, he just did it. I wasn't far behind him and halfway across the street you could hear the massive bang and we ran all the way to Shane's house in the next suburb over, Lemongrove. We were wanted for a little while. In fact, I think Gary was pulled up about a year later and he wasn't even there at the time!
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SHANE: We were pissed out of our brains after a night at Panthers drinking vodka and orange. And half of the Penrith bikies threatened to beat the shit out of us.
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOSH: I used to really enjoy playing with the Led Zeppelin Show at the Richmond Royal. The drummer, Theo, was awesome and I got to play his kit a few times, which I thought was incredible. They also had a massive PA, it was way overkill for the venues but gee, that sound was huge. In terms of a great show, we also played the Mona Vale Hotel. There were actual punters there and it was a taste of having a half-decent crowd.
 Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 

JAI: My favourite memories were practising at Adrift Studios, playing the various jam nights and university gigs. Playing the Bikie gigs. Just hanging with the guys. I look back now and they were the best days ever.
Jai Pearce (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


SHANE: The first major recording was intimidating because I knew if I stuffed up it was there forever. I remember on one recording there was one song that I had a bassline worked out that I thought would be great but it really didn't sound good. I wanted to re-record the part but time was running out so it had to be left in. It's always made me cringe when I listen to it again. But I do love the recording the process... I like to adlib a lot when I play live so the pressure is on in the studio and sometimes you play the wrong note but it turns out to be the right note that really takes the song to another level... it's a good feeling. 
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GEORGE: Our song 'Fade Away' was the title music for a surfing show on Fox. Jai was always pissed that it cut out before the singing came in. I suppose this also kicked us off playing original songs in better places. 
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JOSH: We had a gig at this dive pub in the back of Tempe somewhere. There was no one there except for the bar staff and one single guy. He later approached us and said he was a cinema photographer of sorts and he would like to film a music clip if we were keen. We were. And so we did a film clip at the Maroubra Beach military tunnels and bunkers. It was a crazy day. Then we never heard from the guy again and, sadly, we never got to see any footage. I often think about it.
 Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 


GEORGE: I think we were all a bit lost when Jai left to work in Melbourne. Gary and I had to relearn how to play the guitar because we weren't used to playing guitar and singing at the same time. Playing riffs and intricate bits is easier when someone else is singing. We could've changed the way we played guitar but it wasn't our style. We liked to be a bit more intricate. So around 2002-2003 we were working through all that.
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SHANE: I suggested at one stage that we call our ourselves The Kumquats.
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JAI: When I came back from Melbourne they had found a different sound/style and from that the song 'Drive' was created. I remember a week after recording it just blasting the absolute fuck out of it in my car. When George's solo kicks in, I'm in Heaven.
Jai Pearce (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GEORGE: I remember us playing a headlining show at the Kelts Bar in 2004 on a Saturday night, playing all original songs. The main band, Persian Rugs (a Screaming Jets side project), didn't show up so we got to do a double-set and got all the cash too... about $2000. 
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GEORGE: A special memory for me is when Gary and I were jamming with Jeff Martin (The Tea Party) after he'd done a solo show in Windsor. I just used his guitar upside-down (since I'm left-handed) to play 'All Things Must Pass' (George Harrison) while he sung. 
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
JOSH: We never really broke up, at least from a formal perspective. I'm not sure actually what happened. We just never could get a time together with everyone's jobs, commitments, etc, and we gave up trying. But it's still alive as The Des-Men. We will always make an effort for Des, to come together as our way of celebrating and remembering him in our own way. 
 Joshua McHattan (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

SHANE: We don't play anymore unless it's for a special occasion but the band is still essentially together. Exile, Given, or whatever we were called... it was the time of my life. Mates before the band and brothers afterwards. I really think the band brought us all closer together. 
Shane Wallis (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

GEORGE: We love each other too much to ever truly break up. I suppose to us if we left the band it would be like leaving a friendship.
George Fotakopoulos (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Watteva, The Shenanigans, The Bernie Lomax 5, Circle of Gin, The Windjammers, And Laments, Aurelius

















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Monday, March 4, 2024

Tocata


ORIGINS: Cranebrook, NSW
GENRE: Metal, Nu-Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1994-2007
 
MEMBERS:
  • Andrew Kounelis (Vocals) [1994-2006] (also Guitar) [1994-1997]
  • James Young (Guitar) [1994-2001, 2003-2007]
  • Chris 'Frosti' Tar (Bass) [1999-2007] [ (Drums) [1994-1996]
  • Wesley Baiada (Drums) [1997-2007]
  • Daryl Russell (Guitar) [1997-2007]
  • Nathan Clarke (Bass) [1994-1998]
  • Russel Young (Guitar) [2002]
  • Patrick Orriss (Vocals) [2006]
RELEASES: 
  • Self-titled (2000) [as Porndrug]
    • 1. Denatured
    • 2. Week
    • 3. In(va-lid)
    • 4. My Pain
  • Unearth This (2001) - Obzine Compilation [as Porndrug]
    • Denatured

  • Tulpas (2002) - Download Here
    • 1. Stab
    • 2. Drowning
    • 3. I_O
    • 4. Son of God
    • 5. Bipolar
    • 6. Saiyan
    • 7. Stab (Remix) [Bonus Track - Multimedia Version of CD]
    • 8. Punk Song [Bonus Track - Multimedia Version of CD]
  • Damaged: Music to Skate To (2002) - Obzine Compilation
    • Son of God

  • Self-Titled (2006) - Download Here.
    • 1. Promise
    • 2. Reap and Sow
    • 3. The Sacrifice
SUMMARY: Starting as a high school hard rock/grunge band called Mud Puppy, the band was initially a four piece comprising of Kounelis, J. Young, Clarke, and Tar, jamming on cover songs and playing school concerts. Original drummer Chris Tar changed schools, prompting a line-up shuffle that brought in Baiada and Russell. The band became heavier as they began to write their own songs, changed their name to Porndrug, and recorded their first EP in a studio in St Marys. The band stopped playing for a year when they finished school, then re-starting with Tar returning on bass to replace Nathan Clarke, changing their name to Tocata in 2002.  

By 2001 Tocata were playing a lot of Great Western Bar jam nights and began playing a range of local shows and gigs in the city, as well as embarking on some East Coast tours, with Daryl Russell acting as band manager a lot of the time. James Young's career commitments meant that he had to take a break from the band around 2002 and his brother Russel filled in at this time. Further EPs were recorded with Dax Liniere at Puzzle Factory Sound Studios. 
 
Eventually around 2005, Kounelis was replaced by former Cherub Mafia vocalist Patrick Orris. Tocata played a couple of shows with this lineup before both Orris and Tar decided to exit. The rest of the band decided to call a day a few months later.     

 
SHOWS: 


ORAL HISTORY:
"The band started around 1993/94 in high school. We all loved Pantera, Sepultura, etc., but we weren't good enough to play that, so Nirvana covering was all we had for a short while. I was one year ahead of the other guys but Wesley, I grew up next door to him, so he introduced me to the other guys. We practiced hard with a different group of players. I was always on guitar and vocals at high school. It was a high school concert night that we were closer to the band we became... maybe 1996 or 1997. The school brought new instruments so we used them everyday. Destroyed them. The high school Music teachers were very nice but hated us after 2 or 3 years of that."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
As Mud Puppy, left to right: Andrew Kounelis, James Young, Chris Tarr, Nathan Clarke

"When the band KoRn came out, that was when we started writing our own songs, and played them at a high school concert night. We got in some trouble for playing Pantera's 'Suicide Note Part 1' because the school didn't really want us playing a song with that title."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I started working at Pizza Hut at 16 when Andrew was doing delivery driving. We started talking about music, etc., and we started hanging out after work, talking more music, and doing delinquent things. After a while he just asked me to join the band. Don't think he even asked any of the other members or anything... just that I was suddenly in the band. The band felt like it was kind of over around this point as they didn't jam or anything but I started taking my guitar to school and James and I started jamming together at lunchtime. I played the high verse guitar part and James latched onto it, wrote a chorus, and then 'Denatured' was born."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I started to play drums around the same time that Daryl joined the band. We changed to 'Porndrug' at this stage. We were still playing mostly covers of Nirvana, Silverchair, but started to progress to heavier music - playing some Korn and Deftones covers. We started to write our own songs and were playing the odd gig here and there - school concerts and some parties."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I stopped playing guitar to focus on vocals around maybe 1998. The guitar was way too much stuff for me to drag around... And I had sold all my stuff because I found marijuana in Year 12."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 


"It's hard to say exactly when, but we wrote a four track EP and recorded and released it. We didn't print covers properly in order to save on costs... just printed covers at Wesley's place and put them together ourselves."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Mostly James would come up with stuff. The heavier stuff was usually James, melodic stuff usually me. Frosti wrote the main riff in 'The Sacrifice'. Each member owned their own instrument. It wasn't until after pre-production recording for our EPs that we started tweaking other stuff. Like, Wes came up with awesome idea for 'Reap & Sow', where the guitar goes high but drops to half time... was so good! I still try to implement it now in music. The high part in a song from one of my more recent bands only exists because of that part from Wesley."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"My favourite memory of playing was being able to preach the good word with people thinking it was just heavy metal... I was going through hard drug times. And all my writing was about spiritual division - Jesus vs. Satan. And unfortunately my Satan was drugs. It was definitely a cathartic experience performing on stage but after a while I refused to repent and decided to do it for all the wrong reasons. We had some great stuff that wasn't properly recorded - all with very nasty insides."
Andrew Kounelis, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
Shirt design
 
"Porn Drug, a heavy metal/hardcore act from Werrington, really got into it and got a little most going at times. Songs like 'Denatured', 'My Pain', and a song which seemed to be an anti-punk punk song (singer Andrew introduced the song as 'Who wants to be a hardcore punk?'), got the crowd going like no other band of the day. Every song was tight and the crowd really got into it. Porn Drug are definitely a band to look out for."
Review of show at Emu Plains Community Centre, Obzine Issue 5, 1999
 
"The name came from an artwork I saw called something like Toccata 27. It was always supposed to be (tocata), all lower case with brackets, which we went to after the phonetic logo we did [tə ká tə] was a disaster to put in press... It was just too painful to get consistency across different media."
Daryl Russell, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
"Our Newcastle trip was a great time, and recording with Dax was also great fun. In the early days of Tocata we used to have a great time jamming at my parent's place in the garage and playing Goldeneye on Nintendo 64. Probably spent more playing this game then jamming... best game ever. Just hanging out with each other was great."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
"A standout memory would be The Shenanigans tour to Newcastle. There's a photo somewhere of Russ with a beer case on his head next to a passed-out guy at the bus stop across from the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle. The passed-out guy adjusted the beer case on his head first before taking it off."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Recording one of the EPs... during the gang vocals of 'The Sacrifice' everyone yells out 'Cattle'. I yelled out 'Kettle' and its all I can hear when I listen to it now."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"It was clever, powerful and played with so much passion. The live shows were always full-on, with Daryl often egging the others on to put on a good show... The cleverness and diversity developed with time, which made them a band you didn't get tired of hearing and seeing."  
Dax Liniere (Producer), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 
"I was speaking to a guy from the U.S. for about 6 months, maybe in 2005. He was a producer and he had all our stuff up to that point. I got in contact with him through a friend in Baulkham Hills. He wanted more of our stuff and he would get things started. I never told the guys... I was going to leave it as a surprise. But then my mother passed away, the guys fired me from the band. Maybe I just became a lost soul... I didn't even call that producer back, I just dropped all the music stuff."
Andrew Kounelis, Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"Towards the end we were looking to invest more money into the band to try and play more interstate shows but Andrew didn't always have a lot of funds. We all had a big chat meeting about it and it's then that we made the decision to let him go from the band. Probably the worst decision we made."
 Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"The band I was in previously, The Black Arts Movement, and Tocata both rehearsed out of the one place in Seven Hills. Andrew went one way and I left my band and it was a natural progression of things for me to join Tocata as singer. We were all pretty good mates."
Patrick Orris (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
"I think Patrick played a show or two and he and Chris then decided to leave. Daryl, James, and myself continued to practice for a few more months but we agreed to wind it up."
Wesley Baiada (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024 
 
"Tocata were a different beast. Totally raw and no bullshit one second and then quite technical and deep the next. I enjoyed it but at that moment in my life I kind of fell out of love with singing. That was why I left Black Arts Movement. There were other issues in that band that ultimately led to why I started to feel that way but I won't get into that. I was pretty upfront with the boys with this. I was only ever gonna be interim. My focus was more on writing the music instrumentally."
Patrick Orris (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024


"I would say that life essentially happened, we had been trying to push it as much as we could. Looking back, we probably could have made it work, it wasn't really the same without Andrew."
Daryl Russell (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

"I'm a school teacher now and I'm joining a seminary in 2 weeks to become an orthodox priest. I am the bass voice in my church's choir... all Russian though, no screaming."
Andrew Kounelis (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

RELATED BANDS: Lynchmada, Tolerable Enemies, Cherub Mafia / Hardkore Pawn, Many Ions Apart, Drytime, From Valley Ruins, The Black Arts Movement, Dyasphere
 










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