ASH WEDNESDAY

Love And Other Numbers 1980-1984 (Sorcerer)

BRUTE FORCE & HIS DRUM

The Weird & Wonderful World Of… (Sorcerer)

RON RUDE

The Borders Of Disgrace (reissue) (Sorcerer)

Reviews by Ian McFarlane

The world of reissues for arcane obscurities from the 1970s and 1980s is alive and thriving. Dave Lang, of Melbourne-based label Sorcerer has been busy of late, offering three new LPs that present a snapshot into the life of the pioneering, left-of-field artist.

 ASH WEDNESDAY is a synth/electronica musician who had been prominent in groups such as JAB, Models, The Metronomes, Modern Jazz, Crashland and for many years as a touring member of German experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten. He took early inspiration from the likes of Eno, David Bowie and certain German electronic artists such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, Faust and Can. As a pivotal member of the original Models line-up (circa 1979) Wednesday looked mysterious on stage, wrapped in a black leather jacket, hunched over his synthesizer, teasing out otherworldly sounds while singer-guitarist Sean Kelly projected thrilling, accessible new wave pop.

 You could describe Wednesday’s solo music as post punk synth pop, or minimal synth, with a distinct experimental edge. He’s had a treasure trove of record and cassette releases over the years, and in 2012 fellow electronic musician David Thrussell (Snog, Black Lung, Soma) put out a 20-track CD compilation on his own Omni Recording label. The current Sorcerer LP, Love And Other Numbers 1980-1984, cherry picks 12 tracks for easy access.

 Thrussell explained to me, “We thought it was a good idea to represent the songs on LP. Ash’s music is not that well known, so we wanted to give it a new lease on life. I love the songs. Ash is an interesting cat. He has a great sense of humour that comes through in the music. He has an elfish mischievousness about him. The music has many layers. There’s the synth pop layer, with the emphasis on listenable, enjoyable pop. Below that there’s a wry, almost gallows humour happening, then an ironic, sci-fi, dystopian, kinda cartoony humour going on. And that’s just what I can easily identify.”

 Songs such as his 1980 single ‘Love By Numbers’, Modern Jazz’s ‘Eighteen Creature’ and The Metronomes ‘A Circuit Like Me’ still cut through now by way of their timeless pop vigour. And the music can just be enjoyed as accessible, early ’80s synth pop. He was definitely a pioneer in that field here in Australia yet rarely recognised for it.

 Thrussell: “One great thing we added was the original demo of ‘Cold Cafe’ with singer Karen Marks, from 1980. It’s a great song but we couldn’t get the rights to the single version. The demo sonically fitted better with the other material. It’s less well known but has an essential position on the record.”

 The mysterious (at the time) duo BRUTE FORCE AND HIS DRUM issued one rare (now highly collectable) 45 in 1974, ‘Weird And Wonderful’ b/w ‘Strange’ on the Copperfield label. It eventually came to light that they were singer songwriter John J. Francis and drummer Jim Duke-Yonge (ex-Pirana). ‘Weird And Wonderful’ is exactly that – an oddball, stylistic collision of pounding funk drumming, squealing synth and wacky spoken word interjections. It reminds me of a more primitive version of the Incredible Bongo Band which featured legendary drummer Jim Gordon going wild over funk covers of ‘Apache’ and ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.

Francis was best remembered for his brilliant song ‘Gentle Ben’, which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1972 surfing movie Morning Of The Earth. He’d recorded four excellent solo albums for Warner records - Rock’n’Roll Refugee (1972), Breaks, Works and Thoughts (1973), Open Fist (1974) and Wassa Matta (1974) - which combined a sensitive singer songwriter vibe with outstanding bluesy, proggy folk rock. So Brute Force And His Drum was a different kettle of fish.

 The Weird & Wonderful World Of Brute Force And His Drum is a 6-track mini album compiled by David Thrussell. It’s the single sides plus four extra tracks which were never released at the time. He explained, “John J. was managing Copperfield studios in Sydney and he had access to the studio in downtime. They just cut these sides for their own amusement. They’ve got this prehistoric, Flintstones meets analogue synth tribalism going on. Jim’s drumming is key to the whole thing, with that synthesizer wailing away in the background. The vocals are hilarious. A friend had given me a copy of the single years ago, I loved it. I used to play it when I’d DJ and people responded to it. I got in touch with John and he was keen to get it reissued. We spoke many times over the phone, sadly he passed away in 2022. It was just John exploring the caveman side of ‘Gentle Ben’. I’m glad we can expose them to a wider public.”

 RON RUDE (real name Ron Stecher) was an eccentric figure on the Melbourne DIY little bands / Crystal Ballroom scene of the late 1970s-early 1980s. He’d recorded The Borders Of Disgrace independently in his egg carton studio in the wilds of semi-rural Belgrave. He was a classic DIY outsider figure, guiding his raggle-taggle band The Unforgettables on his visionary quest. It was a kitchen sink, rock and roll cottage industry approach that is still appealing to certain listeners today. The music is a mix of lo-fi new wave rock and electronic elements, tapping into a primitive Lou Reedesque energy with echoes of maybe someone like Wreckless Eric.

 Rude explained, “The Borders of Disgrace was borne out of frustration. You knew that you couldn’t get a record deal. The only way was to do-it-yourself; build your own studio, form your own record company, be a rock and roll communist and seize the means of production (as Dave Graney put it). We got the thing out, pressed up 500 copies, sold most of them and broke even. That’s pretty good under the circumstances. I was able to pay back the guitarist, Stephen Clarke, who lent me $1000 dollars off his bankcard. Yes, I think people are genuinely interested in the record.”

 Tracks such as ‘Films Of Ecstasy’, ‘Sixteen In Melbourne’, ‘Digging My Grave’ and ‘Orgasm On A Saturday Night’ have a definite Melbourne-centric vibe. Rude says, “I wrote about what I knew. People like Lou Reed wrote about their environment; he wrote about New York. Iggy Pop wrote about Detroit. It seemed logical that I would write about Melbourne. It’s really quite simple. I put myself into the shoes of a disenfranchised Melbourne teenager. I’ve had young kids tell me that ‘Sixteen In Melbourne’ meant something to them.”

 Rude also took part in the legendary hunger strike at the Missing Link record store, whereby he wasn’t going to capitulate until local commercial radio station 3XY played his record. There were a couple of other stunts and the station eventually played excerpts but Rude had clearly made a statement.

 “Keith Glass at Missing Link seemed to think that I was a difficult case to promote and that I really should do some publicity stunts. I was up for anything. We were so down there at the bottom of the barrel so that anything was justifiable. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with drawing attention to myself but I did it in good faith and it was fun. People thought I was a pioneer in self-promotion; I’d rather people had paid more attention to the music. There was one headline that read ‘Former Punk Stunt Man’ which made me think of me in a crash helmet, on a motorbike, going over a line of burning buses while waving to the crowd. I don’t want to be remembered as a stunt man, I hope this time people will listen to the music.”