Recorded 25 years ago by Shane O’Mara at his studio Yikesville, ’Shutdown‘ is seeing the light of day for the very first time. It’s not your average bear as far as The Meanies usual sound goes but hey, a change is as good as a holiday and they can’t afford one of those right now. On the b-side of the 7” you’ll find Frenzal Rhomb and Perth punks Leeches! doing renditions of Meanies classics ‘Play This Song Each Night’ and ‘Scum’.
Link says “Shutdown is sonically The Meanies at their sexiest. Bono would say ” this record has hips” to which I’d reply, “piss off Bono you pretentious twat”. You can dance to this one. I can’t, I’m a terrible dancer.”
The single will be available on limited edition translucent red 7” vinyl and limited edition gold 7” vinyl (250 of each colour) through a joint venture between Cheersquad Records & Tapes and Fantastic Mess Records.
All covers will be hand numbered.
THE DIGITAL COPY ONLY INCLUDES ‘SHUT DOWN’ BY THE MEANIES, THE TRACKS PERFORMED BY FRENZAL RHOMB AND LEECHES! ARE NOT AVAILABLE DIGITALLY.
Released October 9, 2025
Words & music by Link McLennan
Recorded at Yikesville by Shane O’Mara
Produced by Shane & Link
Tas – guitar
Link – vox & guitar
RIngo – drums
Wally – bass
Cover art by Link and Glenno Art
Graphic design by Adele Daniele
Mastered for vinyl by John Ruberto at Mastersound
The Meanies are back with their first new music since 2020.
The double A side single ‘Zamboni/I Agree’ is another masterpiece from the brain of Link Meanie. To be released on Friday 11 October 2024, with pre-orders available from Friday 27 September. ‘Zamboni/I Agree’ will be available as a limited edition vinyl 7” and digitally, just in time before The Meanies head off to tour Japan. The 7” vinyl will be available in black vinyl and opaque eucalyptus vinyl.
‘Zamboni’ (a vehicle that cleans and smooths the surface of a sheet of ice, for those playing at home – it also rhymes with baloney) is about “the darkest side of pragmatism in politics. Imagine an outrageous, hypothetical situation as a politician where you support and defend a pathologically lying, hate mongering, rapist conman and then justifying it to your children knowing full well that you lack any real conviction.” – Link Meanie
Flip over to ‘I Agree’, do you have that friend that is an expert when it comes to politics and world issues? Rants at their friends about the atrocities out there, knowing full well that their friends agree and they may as well just be shouting at the wind?
Link says “This is about those people who want to throw the baby out with the bathwater; politically speaking that is. No babies were harmed in the making of this statement.”
Single artwork by Glenno Smith
Released October 7, 2024
Words and music by Link Meanie
The Meanies’ latest LP Desperate Measures is available for purchase now via Cheersquad Records and Tapes on special translucent purple vinyl, classic black vinyl, CD and digitally.
Desperate Measures marks the first studio album from the band since their victorious 2015 comeback record It’s Not Me, It’s You amassed a slew of standout album reviews across the country and reignited Australia’s longstanding love affair with the influential punk-rock outfit.
According to frontman Link Meanie, the album title Desperate Measures reflects the drastic strides we take to stomach the current state of the world.
“Desperate Measures is an album title for the times, whether it be applicable to the rise of right wing anti-intellectualism, the associated denial of impending environmentally apocalyptic disaster or the cultural lobotomy of today’s popular media,” says Link. It’s hard to see a way through this miasma of illogical negativity without… (drumroll)… desperate measures.”
Released July 8, 2020
Music by L. McLennan.
Drowning Tower by Lindsay McLennan / Jordan Stanley
Recorded at Hothouse Audio, St Kilda VIC Australia by Jez Giddings and Craig Harnath.
Mixed by Jez Giddings.
Produced by Link & Craig.
Mastered by John Ruberto at Mastersound.
Photos by Peter Wheeler Photography.
Art & Design by Ben Brown.
It wouldn’t be a Meanies anniversary without some new vinyl hitting the shelves, so to commemorate their 30 years, the band has unearthed a special live recording from their last birthday bash.
The result is 25 Live – a recording of their cracking 2014 set at The Hi-Fi Bar in Melbourne. Featuring an exhaustive setlist of bona fide Meanies classics, 25 Live features numbers from their earliest singles through to their most recent output.
released November 1, 2019
Recorded live at the Hi Fi Bar & Ballroom in 2014 by Greg Jard.
Mixed by Greg Jard at Time Flew Studio.
Mastered by John Ruberto at Mastersound.
Cover art by Ben Brown.