Spill Compilation Three
Released: 1995
The third Spill comp took about six months in late 94 early 95 - longer than I foresaw, but I was happy with the result - this was the best of the three in my opinion. Again it was mastered using synchronized twin dat players at CestCa studio in Collingwood. Fiona Walsh, a Melbourne painter who had performed with New Waver, painted the illustration on the front, and Dave Metcalfe, printer to the indie world at that time, printed the covers. I boxed them by hand with about an afternoon to go before our launch at the Punters Club. 24 songs on 74 minute CD. Click on songs to download, or grab the entire album.
1. SOLIDS .. pagan arc welder .. 2:58 .. mp3
Julian Williams ran this band during the mid 90s in Melbourne, with me on drums and Jad Larraway on synth. We started out doing JW's songs and ended up improvising a kind of jazzy prog rock, before losing Jad, gaining Dion and Dylan, and becoming the Hi God People.
2. SAN JOSE COW MUZAK .. mrs bronsons favourite .. 2:48 .. mp3
Hit SJCM song, recorded at the height of their powers, this version with Irene Krol on keyboards.
3. THE SEA HAGGS .. leather bat .. 2:42 .. mp3
Perth-moved-to-Melbourne indie band.
4. CLOWNS SMILING BACKWARDS .. experiment .. 4:08 .. mp3
This epic saw Bo, Robert, Steve and Julien moving from a live band to a more studio-focussed incarnation, presaging Bo's career as electronica producer.
5. THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE .. (i walk a) lonely avenue .. 3:23 .. mp3
The second IE contribution to this series of comps, this time featuring the unmistakable drone-rock sound of Brisbane's Greg Hilleard.
6. THOU GIDEON .. alive on earth .. 5:59 .. mp3
A dance floor filler from TG's "earth oriented techno" period.
7. RAMON STRAPADO HANDSHAKE .. r27 rampage .. 2:31 .. mp3
Solo project by Jim Mackay.
8. WONDROUS FAIR .. charmer .. 4:27 .. mp3
This final WF lineup featured on trombone Nicole Thibault, who had left Brisband Clag and was in the process of forming Minimum Chips. This WF had a sound that prefigured Deb Cavallaro's subsequent band Dragster.
9. SMALL WORLD EXPERIENCE .. vow of silence .. 2:54 .. mp3
A track from SWE's 1994 cd "Shelf Life", this lineup being Pat, Ian and Julian.
10. DEVOTION .. karja .. 3:19 .. mp3
Devotion moving inexorably from their hiphop beginnings to the more abstract sound they ended on.
11. FINK FINSTER .. om .. 2:54 .. mp3
Melbourne / Berlin band consisting of Mario Mentrup, Ewan Cameron, and Heiner Weiss.
12. MU-MESONS .. listen brethren .. 2:57 .. mp3
World-famous Sydney group of psychiatric patients (here, Steve Court, Jeff Urquhart, Max Hudson, William McCoy) led in live performances by their nurse Jamie Leonarder and later immortalized in a film about Jamie, recorded here live on public radio.
13. CLAG .. scum manor .. 1:34 .. mp3
Recorded on my 8-track reel-to-reel during Clag's 1994 Melbourne tour, before the band relocated here later that year. Clag recorded a few more times after this, and played live a lot, before splitting around 97. Bec continued to sing, in Above Ground Pool and BamBooSel. Guitarist Rachel pretty much retired from music. Alison went on to play bass in Sleepy Township and Panel of Judges. Keyboardist Mick played bass in Jaguar is Jaguar, and trombonist Nic joined Minimum Chips. Their Brisbane drummer Greg Brady stayed in Brisbane, while the various Melbourne drummers including Laura Macfarlane, Chris Gorman and I, have played in other groups here.
14. THE SUMP .. paralysis of a kind .. 4:55 .. mp3
This represents a point near the end of Paul Newsome's trajectory from outrageous noise/performance to dark, laid-back pop-rock. This incarnation features Michael Ison on vocals, and Jeff Wegner (ex Laughing Clowns) on drums.
15. VOLVOX .. lemon fritz .. 2:36 .. mp3
Classic Volvox from their final album "Damage Begins at the Mouth", which has now been released on cd by Spill and the Dual Plover label.
16. LEVIATHAN .. trancience .. 2:13 .. mp3
I got to know this industrial group through their being friends of the band Tedium, with whom I played for a few years.
17. SALLY .. i've got the blues .. 2:20 .. mp3
One of the last, and best, recordings from this Melbourne duo.
18. FIMO .. heiroglyph .. 3:26 .. mp3
A popular duet featuring then PBS announcer Keith Urquardt on sequencer and Jo Windred on vocals, these two let loose some remarkable recordings and live shows.
19. UNDECISIVE GOD .. secrets .. 2:25 .. mp3
Solo ambient guitar project of Clinton Green, who now runs the Shame File experimental label.
20. CRUNKLE .. afterlife .. 4:05 .. mp3
Christine, Clare and Janine, mostly ex Ruby Spleen, starts this band who produced beautiful and unusual music for an all too brief period in Melbourne. I remember at least one live show, at the Empress. I love a band who can be both unusual and accessible, and I thought these guys would be huge, but sadly they split.
21. NEW WAVER .. the realist .. 2:44 .. mp3
One of NW's schticks was to write original instrumental music and add to it voices sampled from radio documentaries and old teaching cassettes from the 70s. This is the voice of a patient suffering paranoid delusions, taken from a psychology cassette. Despite his American accent, he describes his life in Brisbane, making it irresistible for NW. I composed the music while playing with the first sampling keyboard I saw - it belonged to printer Dave Metcalfe who had recently replaced Adam Park as "voice player" in the NW live act.
22. GUS .. indie pop sock .. 1:15 .. mp3
Indie super group that included Bec, singer of Clag, Richard Forster (Salty and Delicious zine), Nic Thibault (Min Chips) and Guy Blackman, who now runs the Chapter label and writes for the Age. Recorded on four track in Brisbane.
23. WANK ENGINE .. 787 .. 2:16 .. mp3
Richard Hagen showing us what he could do with voice samples and a nice piano.
24. MINIMUM CHIPS .. walkman .. 2:45 .. mp3
An early live recording by this Brisband who later moved to Melbourne and released many hits over the years, before winding down around 2006 .. or did they? Time will tell .. Julian now mainly plays in Mum Smokes, Ian plays with various groups, and most of Nicole's time is spent on her young family .. see their website for more detail.
from Greg Wadley in Melbourne, Australia