the SPILL label

New Waver !

15 minutes of fame, 50 years of filing

The members of New Waver met in the early 80s as new recruits to the Canberra headquarters of the Australian Tax Office. Over coffee and 500s the teenagers soon discovered their shared passion for popular music, and from there it was a short step to forming a band. They bought and learned instruments, and by the end of their first year on the job were regularly getting up at departmental social gatherings, playing the hits made famous by their musical heroes. Within a few years the members of New Waver had released an album, been promoted to Acting Clerk Class Three, and even been invited by the Under-Secretary of Administration to play at the combined federal public service end of financial year boat cruise. But sadly marriage, increasing job responsibilities and the secondment of their lead guitarist to the Adelaide office found the band unable to devote the time and energy necessary to maintain the competitive standards their colleagues had come to expect. It was time to give up the night job: the New Waver dream was over ...

But now their music can live on, thanks to the Dual Plover and Spill labels who have brought this retrospective collection to the compact disc format - so convenient to play while computing or commuting! We're excited about this cd, and hope that listening to it distracts you from your tasks as much as making it did us. File under "rock and roll" !

New Waver's 2006 best-of "Neuters" is available from Synaesthesia, Missing Link, Readings, and V/Vm.

Read the press release, download the inspirational desk poster, or listen to sample tracks Chadstone, Techno Man and Monday Morning's all right for Working while the boss is in a meeting.

"Boring folks from the tax office singing boring songs from the 90s sounding tired, bored and beaten down by society. ... After all these years of take, take, take finally the ATO are giving something back in the form of New Waver: Neuters"
InPress, 26 April 2006

"This cd compiles the pick of New Waver's hilarious work. Key Track: Chadstone - in this remake of June Carter and Johnny Cash's Jackson, a suburban couple use their favourite shopping centre as a sex-life replacement."
The Age, 23 April 2006

(Spill is donating proceeds from the sale of this cd to Amnesty.)

previous New Waver releases ...

Compilation tracks:

Albums and EPs:

2001 Computer World (techne remix)

1999 The Defeated (50 min cd)

(sample tracks)

1998 Bohemian Suburb Rhapsody (30 min cdr)

1997 Darwin Junior High (7" vinyl)

  • I'm Good
  • Tough Guy's Paradise
  • Magic Doesn't Happen
  • At Seventeen
  • We're Gonna Get You After School
  • The Headmaster

1996 Mr Loser-Boozer Goes To Town (30 min cassette)

  • We Will Rock You
  • Start It Up
  • Just Can't Get It Up
  • I Got You Babe
  • Don't Go Breaking My Heart
  • The Office Seat

1994 Aspects of Loserdom (30 min cassette)

  • You've gotta Fight for your Right to Party
  • Tea Break
  • Gotta Get Up
  • Erotica
  • Loss Loops
  • Gene Machine
  • The Candyman

1994 What A Man (cassingle)

1993 Live 'n' Lossy (30 min cassette, live at the Empress)

1992 Low Self Opinion (30 min cassette)

  • Oh God
  • All You Need is Pain
  • Low Self-Opinion
  • I Am Loser
  • Monday On My Mind

1990 Middle Class Man (30 min cassette)

  • I'm Good
  • Middle Class Man
  • Phys-Ed and Fitness Advisor
  • If You're The One That Wins The Fight

1991 Perverted by Wheat (60 min cassette)

1991 Hard Drivin' Beat (30 min cassette)

Collaborations:

Video:

from Greg Wadley in Melbourne, Australia