Three decades is a long time for anything to last really but especially a punk rock band in the uncertain world of music. THE MEANIES have somehow weathered many a storm to still be not only around but being more relevant now than ever before.
With labels across the globe wanting to release old product as well as new, THE MEANIES are happy little Vegemites, although maybe not so little anymore. For a band who used to dine out on how ugly they were, they’ve grown up to very handsome men indeed.
LINK and RINGO kicked it all off with fellow MEANIES, DD and VB in 1989. A handful of pub gigs later, tongues were wagging about this maniacal front man backed by a bunch of hairy reprobates. Six months in and VB decided to follow another dream so KINKY stepped up to the plate on bass duties. Thankfully that stage moniker didn’t stick and his usual nickname of WALLY was enough.
A three-way split 12″ with fellow Melburnians The Throwaways and Nice Girls From Cincinnatti was recorded and played to Bruce Milne at Augogo Records and a long association was commenced. A string of limited edition 7″ singles, now very hard to find and rather costly, set things up rather nicely for the band with new releases arriving with much anticipation from that point on. A few eps, a couple of albums and many, many shows both here and abroad with many a merch item sold (at one point more people had a Meanies t-shirt than they had the bands’ records) we fast forward to the summer of ’95/’96 when the lads decided they’d worked pretty bloody hard the previous six years and needed a break.
THE MEANIES kicked back into gear late ’98 and have been motoring along at a slow but steady pace ever since. The thrill hasn’t gone but the band being the be all and end all, maybe not so much. A couple of new recordings (one resulted in two eps and two singles, the other is still in the making), a few overseas tours (Japan in ’99, UK & Spain in ’02, Spain again in 2010) and a bunch of memorable shows at home have kept the fire burning and will no doubt continue to do so for some time to come.
In 2015 THE MEANIES released their first full length album in 21 years, a classic punk rock opus called “It’s Not Me, It’s You” available on cd and vinyl thanks to Melbourne label Poison City Records. Cargo Germany decided they’d distribute for Europe and the Spanish fans once again rose up and a twenty date of Spain was completed in mid-2016.
Poison City Records were also kind enough to reissue a lot of The Meanies back catalogue on 12” vinyl in late 2014. Buttercup Records in rural Victoria released a brand new 7” and Tym Records in Brisbane did a reissue of the “Never” 7” coupled with an old t-shirt design and a skate deck. The same label then went on the release THE MEANIES ep “Cruelty’s Fun” on 7”, its first time on vinyl.
In 2020 the band released a studio album for the times. Desperate Measures marked the first studio album from the band since 2015 and reflected the drastic strides we take to stomach the current state of the world.
LOCAL RELEASES:
Boogie Wonderland
Darkside Of My Mind 7″
Lyin’ 7″
The Reason Why 7″
Paranoid 7″
Probe TV 7″
Never 7″
Gangrenous EP
Come ‘n See album
In Search Of… EP
The Meanie Of Life album
Cruelty’s Fun EP
Conan cd single
10% Weird 7″ & cd single
10% Weird album
Ton Of Bricks cd single
Six Suitable Tracks EP
Secrets of the Ancients Revealed EP
Battle of Wax 7″
If I Say Uncle 7″
It’s Not Me, It’s You 12” & CD
Gravity 7”
Cruelty’s Fun 7”
Desperate Measures 12” & CD
OVERSEAS RELEASES:
Scum 7″ (Sympathy For The Record Industry, USA)
Them 7″ (Jukkim Records, Finland)
Inside 7″ (Lance Rock Records, Canada)
One Right To Grieve 7″ (Munster Records, Spain)
Rhyming Logic 7″ (Merge Records, USA)
Televolution CD (eMpTy Records, USA)
Come ‘n See + Gangrenous + two songs sung in Japanese (Time Bomb Records, Japan)
Gangrenous + In Search Of… (Vince Lombardi High School Records, Germany)
10% Weird (Munster Records, Spain and Subway Records, Germany and Frontier Records, USA)
SOME OF THE TERRIFIC BANDS WE’VE PLAYED WITH:
Bored!, Hard Ons, Cosmic Psychos, Exploding White Mice, Lemonheads, Nirvana, The 5.6.7.8’s, Beastie Boys, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Pearl Jam, Hoodoo Gurus, Frenzal Rhomb, Bodyjar, Tumbleweed, Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Radio Birdman, Mudhoney, Los Chicos, Young Fresh Fellows, The Muffs, Los Coronas, Redd Kross, OFF!, Money For Rope, Even, The Fireballs
COUNTRIES PLAYED IN:
Australia
Japan ’92 & ’99
America ’93
Europe ’93 & ’95
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Belgium
France
Italy
Spain & ’02, ’10 & ‘16
England ’02