Noise Levels: Spilt Milk

Showing posts with label Spilt Milk. Show all posts

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Waterloo Tavern, Sydney, 9th February, 1996

VENUE: Waterloo Tavern, Sydney

DATE: 9th February, 1996

TIME: 8pm

OTHER: $5 entry. Back Bar.

BANDS:

Monday, September 9, 2024

Wentworthville Hotel, Wentworthville, 24th June, 1995

VENUE: Wentworthville Hotel, Wentworthville

DATE: Saturday 24th June, 1995

OTHER: $5 entry.

BANDS:

Spilt Milk
CFBP
Shattered Silence

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Battle of the Bands, Hawkesbury Showground, Windsor, 8th April, 1995

VENUE: Hawkesbury Showground, Windsor

DATE: Saturday, 8th April, 1995

OTHER Battle of the Bands, Youth Week '95

BANDS:

Spilt Milk
Heifer
Unknown bands

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Frogys, Gosford, 1st August, 1997

VENUE: Frogys, Gosford

DATE: Friday, 1st August, 1997

OTHER: $12 entry.

BANDS:

Frenzal Rhomb
Quadbox
Spilt Milk
Force of Habit

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Samantha's, Richmond, 24th May, 1995

VENUE: Samantha's, Richmond

DATE: Wednesday, 24th May, 1995

BANDS:

Nitocris
Spilt Milk

Sunday, August 11, 2024

The Happy Shamrock, Five Dock, 16th May, 1997

VENUE: Happy Shamrock, Five Dock

DATE: Friday, 16th May, 1997

OTHER: $8 entry.

BANDS:

Spilt Milk
No Apparent Reason
Throwdown

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Pulling on the Boots, Iron Duke, Alexandria, 31st July, 1998

VENUE: Iron Duke Hotel, Alexandria

DATE: Friday, 31st July, 1998

TIME: 7:30pm

OTHER: Pulling on the Boots, $8 entry

BANDS:

Shrapnel
Dropzone
The Bigots
Groin
Bastardos
The Last Hemeroids
Spilt Milk

Thursday, July 11, 2024

The 1998-99 Melrose Hall Incidents

Penrith Star, June 23rd, 1998

VENUE: Melrose Hall, Emu Plains

DATE: Friday, 19th June, 1998

TIME: 6pm

OTHER: $5. Organised by Craig McVea.

BANDS:

Spilt Milk (possibly did not play due to disruption)
The Hassle Brigade (did not play)
Clobassi
Futile

Penrith Star, June 16th, 1998

The First Melrose Hall Incident:

In the years since, the 'Melrose Hall Incident' has become one of those hard-to-pin-down stories. In the last 8 months I've been researching this for fun (because that's the sort of person I am; tragically obsessive and a local history nerd). Today, while trawling old Penrith newspapers on the microfiche at Penrith Library, I finally found confirmation of when this incident happened and who was approximately there.

The difficulty in pinning this story down comes down to the probability of there being multiple incidents. In fact, there's likely a cause and effect chain between these incidents - it's not a coincidence that violence erupted multiple times at Melrose Hall, there was something akin to a territorial dispute happening, with a local gang (or gangs) taking exception to teenage punters enjoying alternative music in their 'hood.

Studying history is fun.

My guess is that this show on 19th June, 1998, was the first incident (and the one that included an actual shotgun). This fits with The Hassle Brigade's timeline, in which this was their first proper show after reforming. Anything earlier than June, 1998, would have been before The Hassle Brigade had gotten back together with a new drummer and bassplayer. The reason it's a struggle to make all the details fit (I've spoken to many people about this now) is that there must have been a later show that featured a different combination of bands in support of The Hassle Brigade. This later show may have included Speckled Foam, Below the Belt, Room 101, and/or Little Lunch.

[Or maybe The Hassle Brigade didn't play the other show and the Below the Belt-related violence happened earlier? I think this is less likely as I think the newspaper coverage I've included here would've mentioned that this incident was the latest in a long line, blah blah blah, that sort of thing.]

Long story short, the 19th June show was underway when a gang appeared on the scene through the back door. Some people may have been bashed and threatened. Police arrived after being called in by the hired security and they chased down some of the gang members, apprehending one who had a shotgun on his person.

Let's hear from some people who were there. I'll just add the disclaimer that it's sometimes difficult to figure out if people are referring to this show or the later one (which seems to have been more violent but without a shotgun). These are the comments that I think relate to the 19th June show:

JASE: I just remember them smashing a door down once the bands wrapped up.

Jason Percy-Spiller, punter, 2024

CRAIG: It was a bit weird. Cops were all over it. It all happened out in the oval away from Melrose. Also separately, there was a local footy team who used to roll and bash punters between sets outside. Often gate crashers would walk straight through, not pay, and be a problem. I met with the cops and council before every venue/event booking I did. Anyway, at this show the cops confiscated a 'home made gun'. Cops were definitely watching this guy. But yeah, there were a lot of 'homies' and baseball bats... so many close calls.

Craig McVea, show organiser, 2024

MATT: A mate of mine was telling the homies to fuck off at the door. It's a bit blurry... someone said one of them had a gun - I didn't see any gun or knife or even the people; the door was chained I think.

Matt Cleary, Futile, 2024

PRESTON: My mate defended my drums. Rae got a black eye, Jakob got a cymbal stand over the head. I recall a friend had a nose ring that one of the homies tried to pull out, which kicked things off.

Preston Peachey, Clobassi, 2024

ADAM: It was our first show back with 400 people there to see us but we never ended up playing. This still cracks me up to this day, Spilt Milk were halfway through their set. We were all out back just chilling when suddenly the power went off, then we heard people screaming and yelling. Turns out two rival gangs who I remember as the Penrith Boys and the Emu Boys were having a feud and chose our gig as a battle ground. A fight broke out in front of Melrose Hall and one of these nitwits produced a sawn off shotgun. Then apparently after police were tipped off they had cars mobilised nearby ready to pounce the minute the trouble started, next thing we know - about half a dozen cop cars and assorted paddy wagons turned up and the cops shut off the power. I remember walking to the side of the stage and Spilt Milk were still on stage wondering why their amps wouldn't work and why the lights were out... then the cops started rounding up the crowd, telling everyone to go home. Turns out the idiot with the gun shit himself when the cops arrived and did a runner, only to trip over and twist his ankle, hence he got pinched.

Adam O'Sullivan, The Hassle Brigade, 2010

IVAN: We set up the drum kit and we were kind of ready to go and then we were told to stay in the back room and we just hid there until police came and took the guy away. There was actually a bunch of them, it was when the Penrith kind of gang stuff was happening in the light '90s. Back then, Penrith and Emu Plains were pretty rough places comparatively to now. Two of the rival gangs were there, and someone had a shotgun and some machetes and stuff.

Ivan Lisyak, The Hassle Brigade, 2024

MATTY: That Melrose night... it was twice. The shotgun night, we were there. Whether we were on the stage when it happened; I can't remember that.

Matty Albert, Spilt Milk, 2024

-------------------

The interesting thing about the newspaper coverage is that both papers advertised this show a few days before it happened. Then, after the incident happened, one of the paper's (The Penrith Star) described it as a party with 400 people in attendance. See the image at the top of this page... they don't even mention that bands were there and they make it sound like the gang members were invited to this 'party'. If the writer of that article had simply looked at the previous issue of his own newspaper then he would have been able to write a far more factual account of what happened.

Penrith Press, June 16th, 1998

And here's the Press's coverage of what happened. They also call it a 'party' rather than 'show' or 'band night' but at least they mention that bands were there. I've included a transcript for this one due to the scan being such poor quality. You'll note that this article combines two evidently unrelated incidents as if there is a crime wave occurring across all of Penrith. In my 8 months of reading through about 2 years worth of locals papers from this time period, I do have to admit that Penrith crime seemed a lot worse back in the late '90s, however, this article has the typically alarmist hallmarks of hack journalism in its insistence of combining these two separate events.

Penrith Press, June 23rd, 1998

Transcript: A dance party in Melrose Hall, Emu Plains, where several bands were playing, turned into a near riot on Friday night and was out of the control of the security men on duty. Several police units responded about 9pm to calls for help from the security man - police said two were on duty.

Police were told a youth at the party had been wielding a shortened 22 calibre semi-automatic rifle, creating panic among other guests. When officers attempted to talk to a man he allegedly fled and was chased by police. The young man ran across the Great Western Hwy and in the course of the chase fell and injured himself, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said a search of the backpack a suspect was carrying revealed a tomahawk and three knives. A man was taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment.

Across town on the following night, five men crashed an 18th birthday party with 100 guests int he Kingswood Park Community Centre, with one of them pointing a shotgun at a guest's head, police said. The five were asked to leave after they had assaulted one guest and harassed others but returned a short time later.

Party guests finally had enough and tackled the gatecrasher with the shotgun and chased him when he ran to nearby premises. It is understood the pursuers began taking defensive action in the form of hurling pot plants at their tormentor and possibly inflicting injury on him,

A police spokesman said all local medical centres had been alerted to look for and report to authorities a man of Mediterranean appearance, dark brown shoulder length hair, wearing a light blue sport jacket and light blue dress trousers. Two of his accomplices have been described only as of Mediterranean appearance while the fourth was Pacific Islander in appearance.

Melrose Hall, 2024. Built in 1934.

The Second Melrose Hall Incident:

Now that we've sorted that out, let's look at the second incident. This event doesn't seem to have included any guns and the police may not have been there for this one, however, from the recollections of those who were there it definitely seems to have been a much more violent altercation.

I don't have an exact date for this show but I think it probably took place in early 1999. This allows for a time period where both Speckled Foam and Room 101 could share a bill together. This event is much harder to confirm as there doesn't seem to have been any local newspaper coverage of it (believe me, I've checked). This is why I've also made the assumption that the police probably didn't show up at this show as it would be the police who would communicate with the local papers afterwards.

The bands on this bill were definitely:

And possibly:

The Hassle Brigade
Little Lunch

Here's some recollections from those that I think were most likely at this show:

CHRIS: I had loaded my amp into the car and left before the chaos ensured. I heard the homies got into the back room and picked up drum stands and started swinging. I think that one of the guys from Little Lunch got stabbed.

Chris Duckworth, Speckled Foam, 2024

MICHELLE: I remember being outside and a huge group of homies were tearing across the street with trolley poles and then I think they gained access to the back room of the Melrose where bands loaded in. I remember being outside and a chick was smashing my female cousin's head against the glass from the inside of the building... I feel like the thugs were trying to smash everyone's equipment. My boyfriend at the time went into the back room and dragged my cousin out and then the chick started bashing him, which was super gnarly. He ended up running away as he didn't want to hit a girl... I think we scattered before the cops arrived.

Michelle Catanzaro, punter, 2024

JOSH: Allan cracked a dude with a chair and then four of them jumped him. Was pretty messed up.

Josh Eivers, punter, 2024

ALLAN: I woke up on stage after getting dogshotted from behind. Went in to help Easton and Sharples (Below the Belt), they were going hammer and tongs with the homies.

Allan Stone, Below the Belt, 2024

EASTON: I got stabbed, had broken ribs and a fractured skull. I can remember the scuffle pretty well.

Daniel Easton, Below the Belt, 2024

KENNY: It was Room 101's first ever gig. My drum kit was used as a weapon!

Kenny Cowell, Room 101, 2024

PABLO: It was at the height of the 'Homies vs. Grungers' era, the hall got broken into by homies. They smashed the windows and jumped everyone, broke gear, stabbed kids. I remember it was just insane news across the scene. It kind of killed the scene for a year, to be honest. I remember there was just no shows for ages after that, it just wasn't safe.

Pablo Andres, punter, 2024

-------------------

Obviously a lot of time has passed since 1998/1999 and some of the recollections are going to contradict each other due to adrenaline, alcohol, the memory-crystalising nature of violence, and the fact that the above stories have no doubt been told and retold many times in the decades since. If you have a memory of either of these shows or want to set the record straight on something, post in the comments below.

Monday, April 15, 2024

Spilt Milk

ORIGINS: Mt Druitt, NSW

GENRE: Punk

YEARS ACTIVE: 1994-1999

MEMBERS:

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar)
Warwick 'Wokk' Mckee-Wright (Guitar) [1994-1995]
Daniel 'Patto' Patterson (Bass) [1994-1995]
Dan Wright (Bass) [1995]
Stephen Kitney (Drums) [1994-1995], (Bass) [2024]
Marty Durkan (Bass) [1995-1999]
Lee Graham (Drums) [1996]
Damien Elliott (Drums) [1996-1999, 2024]
Adam 'Checky' Check (Guitar) [1999]

RELEASES:

Justin Time (1995) - Download Here.

1. The Simpsons
2. Sandwich
3. Kissing Cousins (Incest)

It Would Suck to Be a Duck (1996) - Download Here.

1. Service Station Food
2. Nah, Fuck It
3. Exploit Me
4. Wanker

Bust a Move '96 (1996) - Download Here.

Hot Stuff

Damien Gerard's Grow Your Own Volume 2 (1996)

Sex Me Hard

The Lost Sessions (1997) - Download Here.

1. The Simpsons (Radio Version)
2. 30 Seconds
3. Millionaire
4. Whore (Radio Version)

What For Do You Look At Me? (1999) - Download Here.

1. Square Peg Round Hole
2. Lucky Dip
3. Sex Me Hard

SUMMARY:

1994: Matty Albert forms Spilt Milk after leaving his previous band Hatetrip.

1995: Spilt Milk plays their first show in support of Nitocris. They also play a band comp at Windsor and win the first place prize of $500, which they use to record the Justin Time demo at Zen Studios. Patterson and McGee-Wright both leave the band after around 6 months or so. Dan Wright from CFBP joins on bass briefly before Marty Durkan joins the band.

1996: Stephen Kitney leaves and is replaced by Lee Graham on drums. The second demo, It Would Suck to Be a Duck is recorded. Graham leaves after about 6 months and is replaced by Hatetrip drummer Damien Elliott. Spilt Milk records songs for the Bust a Move '96 and Grow Your Own comps.

1997: Durkan starts managing the band, organising a series of Blacktown Youth Services Association shows. Several unreleased demo tracks are recorded, including a radio version of 'The Simpsons'. Spilt Milk undertakes their first interstate tour, going to Melbourne with the band Groin.

1998: Adam Check joins the band as a second guitarist. Spilt Milk tours Melbourne again, this time with Turtle Slime and Dropzone.

1999: Check leaves Spilt Milk and the band goes back to being a three-piece. A promo demo What For Do You Look At Me? is recorded around this time. Spilt Milk decide to call it a day - Durkan moves up north to Queensland and Matty Albert and Damien Elliott form Sucker Punch (later to be called Unpaid Debt).

2024: Matty Albert, Damien Elliott and Stephen Kitney reform the band for a reunion show.

SHOWS:

Hawkesbury Battle of the Bands, Hawkesbury Showground, Windsor - 8th April, 1995
Samantha's, Richmond - 24th May, 1995
Wentworthville Hotel, Wentworthville - 24th June, 1995
Punk and Disorderly Chapter 13, Street Level, Blacktown - 17th November, 1995
Waterloo Tavern, Sydney - 9th February, 1996
Punk Files, Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 27th November, 1996
Lewisham Hotel, Sydney - 21st December, 1996
The Happy Shamrock, Five Dock - 16th May, 1997
Frogys Leisure Centre, Gosford - 1st August, 1997
Punk Files 2, Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney - 30th August, 1997
Melrose Hall, Emu Plains - 19th June, 1998
Pulling on the Boots, The Iron Duke, Alexandria - 31st July, 1998
Glenbrook Park, Glenbrook - 15th November, 1998
St Marys Memorial Hall, St Marys - 11th June, 1999

REFORMATION:

Elton Chong, Penrith - 4th May, 2024
Inner West Skatepark, Sydney - 28th September, 2024
Elton Chong, Penrith - 2nd November, 2024

ORAL HISTORY:

MATT: It was pretty well agreed that I should leave Hatetrip... a common theme, drinking too much, and I was just a lout in Mt Druitt at the time. I was 17. Anyway, I decided to start a band for myself and I had a mate, Warwick, who lived down the road... I really liked You Am I at the time and I was kind of looking at something kind of like that, and I'd written a couple of songs in that style. And my mate Patto (Daniel Patterson) said we're going to a show, some band called Frenzal Rhomb, and I was like, "Never heard of them, don't know what you're on about" and I was a metalhead at this stage. So Frenzal Rhomb played and that just changed everything... I went home and those two songs became fast. I sped them right up.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

WOKK: I was pretty much in between bands. I just finished with a band called Lestat. Prior to that I was with a band from Riverstone called Insayne. Matt Albert and I had been good friends for a while playing on the same bill in different bands. Matt approached me and asked if I'd be interested in joining him. I remember he mentioned a guy he knew as a potential drummer that turned out to be Steve Kitney - one of the nicest guys on the planet.

Warwick Mckee-Wright (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

STEPHEN: I'd bought a cheap $200 drumkit off a mate about 6 months before and Daniel (Patterson) rang me up and said "Do you want to come join a band?" and I was like, "Yeah, sure"... so we got together, I think our personalities kind of matched, as well as our inexperience. Except for Matt, he was very mature as far as his business savvy went, he was the one who entered us into a band comp and got us recording Justin Time. He was always very forward-thinking in that aspect.

Stephen Kitney (Drums), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: I was working for Nitocris, I was their roadie for quite a while, and I was seeing a lot of new and different bands... I did the UTS Stomp, which was the album launch for Frogstomp (Silverchair's first album), so I got to see a lot of really cool bands, y'know? And once I heard NOFX, I was with Nitocris when I heard NOFX, I thought 'Wow, I want to do that'... it was kind of like Frenzal Rhomb, they were a little cleaner and a little more polished.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

WOKK: Our whole thought process was to practice, practice, practice. No gigs for at least 6 months or so. Then this band comp came up and we were like, why not? It was at Richmond Park. There were some really talented bands that played. I remember we started with Steve on guitar and Matt drumming for the first song, then switching back to Matty singing on guitar for the rest of the set. We were pretty loose but our energy was high. We never expected to win it.

Warwick Mckee-Wright (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MATT: The Windsor Band Comp... we only had 3 songs and the sets were ten minutes each, and I remember being really hungover, I was nearly throwing up on the grass. We won it because the three judges were young and hip, you could tell they liked Frenzal and stuff like that. We beat some pretty good bands that probably should have won it, like Heifer. So we won this comp and then got really drunk again and went to a Nitocris show at Narrabeen Sands. We got smashed and were like "Yeah, we won a band comp!" It was cool. Then we recorded our demo with the money. The prize was $500 and Zen had their old ads in the back of the Drum Media and it was a deal where you got a hundred cassettes printed with the recording and posters.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

WOKK: We got $500 and a place supporting Nitocris at the night club in Richmond. I remember it was funny because the gig was: Spilt Milk (opener), another band called Milk (I don't think they liked us very much) and Nitocris.

Warwick Mckee-Wright (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

STEPHEN: I remember we played Samantha's, we opened for Nitocris. Matt was a roadie for Nitocris at that point and he managed to get us in, playing with them.

Stephen Kitney (Drums), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

WOKK: The recording is a bit of a blur. If I recall correctly, we recorded just the rhythm first with vocals and lead separately. The experience was great. I'd recorded previously with Insayne where it was a little more complex. I enjoyed the straightforward raw sound of Spilt Milk.

Warwick Mckee-Wright (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MARTY: I think they'd been together about 6 months and then I joined. They needed a new bassplayer and there I was there at the right time so it worked out pretty well.

Marty Durkan (Bass), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

WOKK: I was in the band for around 12 months. Daniel was the first to leave. I can't recall the reason why. I've run into him through mutual friends a couple of times after but I don't think we ever talked about it. I had a lot of time for Daniel. After Daniel left, it was a strange period. Steve was also looking to move. For me, I just felt like I needed to move on also. Mind you, I'd continue to support the band and show up at their gigs. Even driving Matty to some of them.

Warwick Mckee-Wright (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MATT: Wokk and Steve went off to do something by themselves, they were doing more gothic type of stuff. Patto was just Patto... we'd go to pick him up and he just wouldn't be there. So we just stopped picking him up. So he kind of disappeared and we got Dan in from CFBP. He did one show with us, left his bass at my place, and then I never saw him again. So I'd already lined up Marty because we'd played in Lestat together.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

STEPHEN: I was once at Matty's house and had a jam with Marty and Matty and I left not long after that. For no reason, really, I just kind of wanted to do something else. I used to go see the band after, when they had Marty and Damien. I used to see Damien in Hatetrip and far out, what a drummer. He's just so solid, his playing, he's brilliant. So I left the band but became a fan, so to speak.

Stephen Kitney (Drums), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: We had a mate called Lee who was working in a Sanity store in Plumpton. He played in a death metal band called Cenotaph... he came over and that's when It Would Suck To Be a Duck was recorded.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

LEE: I had known Matt from Hatetrip. And he would come to Plumpton Shopping Centre and I used to work there. I guess he needed to replace the last drummer quickly and I was willing to do it.

Lee Graham (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MARTY: We'd play anywhere we could. I ended up managing the band and getting all the gigs for us. When we started we were kind of tied in with BYSA (Blacktown Youth Services Asssociation) and I was helping, I was volunteering there as well. There were a lot of young people there into music so we set up a gig every month, just to get people to form bands and come play. We played there a few times to get the ball rolling.

Marty Durkan (Bass), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

LEE: I wasn't a punk guy. I respected Matt cause he was a guitar guy that played bass like it was a guitar. No one did that. But it wasn't one of my favourite bands at the time cause I didn't understand or fit in with the crowds they drew in. Looking back, the DIY gigs and artwork was iconic to the Aussie scene at the time and I should have enjoyed it more but I didn't. I was only in the band for maybe 4-6 months... just enough to record the second demo then bounce.

Lee Graham (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

MARTY: I wasn't into the punk rock as much as the other guys... I was more into Mr Bungle, Primus, Faith No More, Chili Peppers.

Marty Durkan (Bass), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

DAMIEN: I came to be in the band because me and Matty had been in Hatetrip together. He went off to start Spilt Milk and I was still doing Hatetrip and that band kind of fizzled out in '95, maybe at the beginning of '96. I think we played our last show at the Axolotl. So I was just hanging out and going to Spilt Milk shows. Lee dropped out and I started filling in. I was only 'filling in' because Hatetrip was kind of still going at that time.

Damien Elliott (Drum), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MARTY: Matt wrote 95-99% of the music. He'd just bring in a guitar riff and some lyrics and that's just how it was. Then we'd add our stuff and there was a song. It was a really good chemistry. It worked. And we'd improve on each song, if we weren't drunk. There was a lot of drinking back in those days.

Marty Durkan (Bass), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: We played Melrose Hall a couple of times... one night, we left early and there was a fight with some homeboys. And I remember the guy from Below the Belt, he told me he picked up a piece of the drums and he bashed one of the guys with the drums... but then the second night we played there they all apparently came back and that was the shotgun night, we were still there, I remember playing and our instruments cut out.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

DAMIEN: Our sound kind of evolved. It started out as a pop band, but then seeing Frenzal Rhomb and speeding it up. Then there was the Suck to Be A Duck era which had more of a metal influence mixed into punk rock. So each recording, you know, had a different kind of flavour. The ones that were never released, recorded at Troy Horse, has a song on it called 'Millionaire', which is really mid-paced, kind of poppier song. The stuff on What For Do You Look At Me?, you could tell we were listening to Frenzal and Propagandhi.

Damien Elliott (Drum), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: We played the Arthouse with Walsh Street Copkillers and it was great... it was a learning experience for all of us. We were learning this craft as we went, there's no book on it. Sometimes we'd play two shows in one night. We'd play the Green Square with Heifer and then we'd pack our gear up and go play the Iron Duke on the same night.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MARTY: We were young and restless and we just didn't care. We were going strong, we were doing pretty well. I always wanted to put out a CD and we never got around to it. At the time of 'Sex Me Hard' we were on fire... we could do it blindfolded. We did some demos at Troy Horse, some recordings at Damien Gerard's, we did two songs at Zen as a four piece with Checky.

Marty Durkan (Bass), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: We saw Checky playing and he was an amazing live performer, he had a lot of energy, and he's a talented prick. We watched him and he was awesome so we got him to join the band. It was only shortlived but it was a good fun. We played a band comp at Tattersalls, we nearly won that.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

ADAM: I would have been 17 or 18 I think. I was in Detox Unit and we ended up doing a show at Blacktown Youth Centre and we finished playing and Matt came up and saying that he loved our cover of Descendants' 'Coffee Mug'. Then Spilt Milk playing and they were like... wow. I remember Marty on the bass, he had a Music Man and it was covered in denim.

Adam Check (Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: We did try out singers and we did have that singer for one day and then he disappeared. Fish was one of the Party Pig boys, now he's a tattooist at Death or Glory, a tattoo shop in St Marys on Queen Street. Anyway, he came in and he did 'I'm So Happy I Could Shit'. He sung it and I said, "Man, you did alright", and he said, "I just wanted to sing that song" and he dropped the microphone and walked out. He had no interest in being in the band. He could've been the singer. You gotta remember, I had no vocal training, I can't remember lyrics for the life of me, so you've gotta thank the drunken Maori scene for that because I learnt to sing sitting around the fire... I come from a heavily Maori background, singing's always been part of it, I've just never really been good at it. But I did it. It was punk rock... the work that me and Damien did together... Damien taught me how to harmonise, he taught me how to sing. At the start I was just a young kid yelling shit into a microphone but it was Damien who taught us how to do harmonies... A lot of credit's gotta go to Damien, especially in that later stuff that started sounding more professional. He wrote 'So Happy I Could Shit', he wrote 'Comfortably Dumb'.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

ADAM: I left the band and I was gonna get Detox Unit back together... at that time I was really good friends with Tim Flaherty and Scotty Woods from One Dollar Short, and I got the phonecall from Tim Flaherty. It was funny, at that time, I still had a massive connection with Matt and Damo, I still spoke to them heaps and was lucky enough to play shows with them a lot during the early days of Unpaid Debt. It was good that after Spilt Milk did end they transitioned into Unpaid Debt, it was phenomenal.

Adam Check (Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

MATT: Checky decided to move on... and the band kind of died pretty quickly after that.

Matty Albert (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

DAMIEN: There wasn't much time between Spilt Milk and Unpaid Debt. We recorded that first Unpaid Debt EP in the same year as Spilt Milk finishing.

Damien Elliott (Drum), Noise Levels Podcast Episode 2, 2024

ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Special thanks to Todd Rhind for the pics and Chris Duckworth for uncovering some of the demos.

RELATED BANDS: Mystro, Sinus, Lestat, Hatetrip, Lost Souls, Barney, Danakil, Cenotaph, Carnage Flail, Detox Unit, Twilight of Effigy, Theme Park, Shadowkill, My Volcanic Mind, CFBP, Playground, Headcage, Insayne, Speedball, Groin, The Last Hemeroids, Beaver, Staunch, Unpaid Debt, Badanga, One Dollar Short, Columbia's Pain, Insult to Injury, Horrible Men, Toe to Toe, Between the Devil and the Deep, Pandora's Theory, Blackjaw, Crude Heat, Revenge Body, Headbutt, Two-Faced

BAND TREE: