Boards, Shins, and Vans: The Massappeal story.
"I'll send you some more info on the 'Jazz' period later," says MASSAPPEAL front man Randy Reimann from his Australian abode, "Right now, I've gotta finish a mix for a local metal band - I sometimes produce/record/engineer stuff for others now. Then, I wanna get a quick surf in before sundown."
I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, as all I had to look forward to at the time of this feature was doing some laundry, and unusually cold, wet April weather. But at least I had this opportunity to piece together some history on a band I'd been curious about for years.
The mid-1980s saw quite an explosion of great crossover punk bands, appealing simultaneously to skateboard-wielding punks, denim-clad longhairs, and many in-between. The names you've heard many times, DRI, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, THE CIRCLE JERKS, JFA, and…MASSAPPEAL?
Despite the band's name, talent and raw intensity, MASSAPPEAL isn't exactly a household word outside of Australian punk circles. "Brett already had the name, MASSAPPEAL in mind before we had our first jam," Randy explains. Having taken it from some graffiti spray painted on the wall of the Tooheys brewery on Broadway, inner-city Sydney, it was an irony of sorts. The idea that MASSAPPEAL, could generate 'mass appeal' was of course, ludicrous. But then again, the fact that Adolf Hitler, Ronald Reagan, MADONNA and even WHAM! could generate the same appeal was just as ironic. This was the point of MASSAPPEAL. I remember not liking the name much at all and now after all this time, I'm still not really big on the name."
The band was formed in 1985, resulting from an alliance between Reimann and bass player Kevin Mclaer. After meeting future drummer Darren Gilmore at a Sydney skate park, and guitarist Brett Curotta (a semi-professional surfer) at a HARD-ONS gig, the original lineup was complete. Darren played in two local punk bands, CLIMATE OF FEAR and ROCKS. All of them shared a fascination with the 'new' and 'heavier' punk rock sounds of bands like SS DECONTROL, UK SUBS, BLITZ, THE RUTS and DISCHARGE. In 1986, a local record store, Waterfront Records, asked the boys to play a show supporting a Detroit-style combo THE EASTERN DARK. The show went so well, the band was asked to record an impromptu split record with TED right there at the record store.
In May of 1986, the band's first demo was recorded, and in September, the sessions for their debut full-length, "Nobody Likes a Thinker" ensued. "All I really remember about the sessions is riding my skateboard through the city late at night at top speed, trying to catch the last train home," Randy recalls. "My ears were ringing so loud, I couldn't hear my wheels on the sidewalk. I also remember that on a train ride home, I started writing down the song order. My ears were still ringing, and I couldn't even hear the abuse that a bunch of skinheads were yelling at me until they were standing right over me. It was the last train home, and no one else was in the carriage. 'What the fuck are you? A fucking skate punk?' I said nothing, just noticing that we were about to pull into the next station. I rammed the end of my skateboard into the closest set of shins and then barged through the others onto the platform. As that last train to Fairfield pulled away from the station, I began the longest skate home of my life, 5 hours! I got home for sunrise."
"Nobody Likes a Thinker" is a surprisingly tight and powerful recording, rooted in lyrical themes not uncommon for the genre and time period. The lyrics are rooted in alienation, anger, inequality, and boredom. Tracks like "Forgiving" are superb examples of the band's flair for grinding, midpaced riffs that erupt into speeding chaos in the blink of an eye. It's a necessary disc for any fans of BAD BRAINS, POISON IDEA, or early DRI. "I haven't listened to 'Thinker' since about 1987," Randy says. "I was pretty fond of 'Can't Forget' and 'Rat in a Hole'. We still play some of the tracks live and 'Fun Again' is always intense." (The disc was recently reissued by Relapse Records, including the band's original demo and many live tracks mentioned in this article.)
After the tour for "Nobody Likes a Thinker", MASSAPPEAL embarked on a national tour with THE HARD-ONS. "On that tour, our drummer hooked up with a girl in Melbourne and soon after we found ourselves putting 'drummer wanted' flyers in all our favorite record stores." Randy remembers. "Enter Tubby Wadsworth. Tubby came from the Sydney metal scene and was quite a character! At that time (80's) in Sydney the punk/hardcore and metal scenes were totally separate from one another, when Tubby entered the band, it was a culture shock for all of us. Tubby was (and still is) an insane drummer but his attention to detail (especially about his hair) drove the rest of us nuts! I remember a playing a gig at a venue that had large mirrors on either side of the stage, soon after we started playing, Brett, Kevin and I noticed that Tubby was unusually off with his playing, we all looked back and saw our rock star drummer checking himself out in the mirrors while he was playing!"
"We recorded a 7" single with Tubby which is now included on the 'Thinker' re-release," Randy continues. "We also toured with DRI around the same time and Tubby was on fire! One of the shows from that DRI / MASSAPPEAL tour is also included on the 'Thinker' re-release. By the time the tour got to Melbourne, Tubby was driving us all insane, we played really well but Tubs was always 'too rock n' roll' for the rest of us and after the last Melbourne show I don't think we were talking to each other. Back in Sydney the following week we had a show at the St James Tavern. It was a packed house and we were to go on at any minute. Tubby didn't show up. He was still down in Melbourne, sulking about how mistreated he felt. Exit TubbyWadsworth. I must inject right here that Tubby and the rest of MASSAPPEAL are all great friends now and Tubby is on the guest list to all our Sydney shows. We love our Tubby, he's a really great guy."
The search for Tubby's replacement yielded old Melbourne skate buddy Dave Ross, who was former drummer for local Melbourne bands. For a short time period, all of the band's money from shows went to pay for Ross' air fare back and forth from Sydney to Melbourne. Eventually, Ross relocated to Sydney to be with the rest of the band."During that time period, our practices were just as intense as our gigs. We could not just 'run through' the songs at practice; the music was just too loud and physical, and by slowing the songs down, we created extra space between the beats and chords, exposing a deeper power within them. As I leapt around the rehearsal space, swaying, screaming and flinging my limbs about, it exposed hidden spaces within me."
It was this deliberate change of pace that would make the upcoming "Jazz" album such a monster. "The feedback from Brett's amp defied the tiny space of the rehearsal room," Randy says. "When I closed my eyes, the bending noise turned into vast wormholes burrowing deep into my brain. At the time I new nothing of meditation or what the word 'epiphany' meant, but these new songs absorbed me and my thoughts, as I got lost in the new rhythms--it was trance like. Walking out of the rehearsal space, I always felt clearer than when I walked in, like I had exercised demons or at least, shook off the mundane, noisy surface of my life and got a glimpse into a quieter place within me. It made me look at my life differently too, but trying to write about it was next to impossible."
"Most punks were angry at the world, finger pointing at their partners for bad relationships," he continues. "Or they were just jaded with everything. That wasn't where my head was at; but I felt lyrically constipated. I couldn't point the finger at my girlfriend for the dysfunctional relationship we were experiencing, as I saw I was as much to blame as her, if not more! I wasn't angry enough at the world to write about it. In fact I wasn't that angry at all. During these MASSAPPEAL practices/meltdowns, I realized that any difficulty, un-pleasantry or negativity I experienced was usually of my own doing. I wasn't into drugs or alcohol either so there was no inspiration coming from that place. I did manage to write a bunch of lyrics though (I cringe now every time I have to listen to 'em) and Brett, Kevin and even Dave helped out with the rest. "
Prior to the "Jazz" sessions, bass player Kevin Mclaer left to form a band called SUCCOTASH, unhappy with the slower direction of MASSAPPEAL. He was replaced by Sean Fronti, bass player for Sydney band MY HEART BLEEDS FOR YOU.
1989 and 1990 were big years for MASSAPPEAL. In January of 89, they supported the ROLLINS BAND on their first Australian Tour. "This was a huge blast for me as their 'Life Time' LP was on high rotation in my walkman as I pushed a filing trolley around the beige aisles of an insurance company," remembers Randy. "Oh yes, I did time as a filing clerk. The tour took in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay. The Byron Bay show stood out because it was such a contrast to the show at Surfers Paradise, where upon entry to the venue we were confronted with trails of blood on the floor and walls, leather clad punks ( it was the middle of summer), and skinheads already very drunk and on edge. The sun hadn't set yet, there were people just outside the venue swimming, the first band hadn't even started, but inside the venue, people were passed out, fighting or somewhere in between the two. The irony was that the gig in Byron was in an old slaughter house, and yet the night was void of any violence. The biggest drama at the Byron gig occurred when I was confronted before the show outside by three hippies who told me they couldn't get into the show as they had no shoes. I told them "Just go home and get 'em", and one said that they had hitched from Nimbi (a good 2 hour trip). I took off my brand new pair of vans (skate shoes) and one by one, the hippies made it through the door in my shoes."
The recording of the "Jazz" record took place at studio 301 in Sydney, funded primarily by the sales of "Nobody Likes a Thinker" t-shirts, thanks to the artwork of Ben Brown. "A friend later sent me a post of James Hetfield sporting a 'Thinker' T," Randy remembers. "We made a dollar per shirt, and around 5-7 grand of that money went to 301. I may have been the singer for a band that played conventional rock instruments and played them very loud and fast, but I was still quite naive when it came to the world of rock and roll. The term actually meant zero to me. So walking into 301 was like walking into an alien reality, and, remember now, this was the 80's! The studio was like an elite club, and if you were inside, you must be someone special. "Oh look, how cute, they come with their skateboards" giggled the receptionist as she leant over the desk flirting with a somebody of an up and coming pop supergroup that had just been put together by A & R industry heads. They all seemed to be floating around the studio in in-penetrable bubbles too, with a powder-white sheen of indifference across their faces."
Most of the sessions for 'Jazz' were late at night. One of Randy's prominent memories of the sessions includes a trip to King's Cross to score some "hammer" for a non-band member in the studio! "I remember quietly asking Sean, 'What the fuck is 'hammer''?" But the mission was a success. "After wandering the streets of King's Cross for a couple of hours, Sean I returned to the studio with the 'hammer', and found Brett at the controls attempting to mix a song. He had no idea what he was doing! It was pitiful. Sean handed the drugs to the creature sprawled on the couch and we were soon back in business."
"The release night for 'Jazz' was held at the Petersham Inn in Sydney's inner west," Randy says. "Although it was not unusual for Brett's fingers to bleed and spray blood over the body of his guitar while he was playing, this night was especially fine and brutal as Sean also shaved the skin off his knuckles and I chipped off a bit more of my teeth, as stage divers knocked the microphone into my mouth. It wasn't that I enjoyed seeing my teeth gradually chip away, but the vortex in that room was like being transported back to primal, primitive ritual far, far away from the modern world outside the doors of the Petersham Inn."
To put it simply, "Jazz" is a mindblowing record for fans of punk/metal crossover. From the chromatic DISCHARGE / BROKEN BONES guitar wails of "Balance" and "Last One" to the crawling gloom and angular changes of "Cactus", the album shows MASSAPPEAL at the height of their creative powers. The disc is currently available only as an import, but it's money well spent for a crusher of this ilk.
The band went on to release more records in the early 1990s, namely 1991's "The Mechanic" (Survival), and 1994's "Nommo Anagonno" (Shock). Both albums are recommended, as they continued the band's migration from simplistic hardcore punk to their signature jagged, start-stop crossover style.
So what does the future hold for these Aussie gods of punk? "We've been gigging around the country a bit over the last couple of years," Randy explains. "We've also recorded 10 new songs for a new LP (but not completed yet). Kevin, Peter and I all play in other bands, everything from country, jazz, electronica, and more hardcore, so MASSAPPEAL get together when we all feel like making a lot of noise! We're all still very passionate about it and our live shows are just as intense as they ever were, maybe even more so."
Chances are if you've made it this far through the feature, your next step is to rapidly dig through the web and try to find some sound samples. Well, we've saved you the trouble (with Randy's permission, of course), including an entire song below from the "Jazz" album below. Crank it smartly, and then go seek out some of the band's other works. Here's hoping that yet-unreleased album hits the shelves soon! Many thanks to Randy Reimann for the full scoop on the MASSAPPEAL story.
OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/massappealhc
MP3 SOUND SCRAP: What I Want
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