SHITFEST
The time has for the BOSMC to take a breather. We are going on hiatus for an indeterminate length of time due to personal reasons but are gonna make sure we go out with a bang. SHITFEST is what we have organised as a way of saying “seeyah later, thanks for the drinks and good times.” We’ve organised some of our favourite bands to play a special gig on Australia Day at our home away from home, The Tote.
Playing on the day will be The Gooch Palms, Cut Sick!, Batpiss, Hierophants, Gentlemen, A.D. Skinner and The Pink Tiles. We’ll also be joined by DJ Homeless (Richie Ramone) and DJ Lex Dev (Dave Lang) who will be spinning obnoxious tunes from their bottomless pits of record collections. There will be free food, crate diggers stalls and plenty of merch to buy. I am also putting together a special compilation cassette for sale on the day featuring exclusive tracks from all the bands that appear on the bill. It’s gonna be a cracker!
So, if you don’t manage to make it down to the Tote on this special day, I’ll take this opportunity to say “Cheers!”. It’s been a fun time. We’ve met heaps of awesome people, played with some amazing bands and achieved a great deal more than I ever thought we would when we decided to call the band Bits of Shit all those years ago. Thanks to everyone that has helped us out over the years – I’m not going to name names for fear of leaving someone out – and stay true to yourselves.
This is not necessarily a good-bye but a see you later. Much later.
The Prez
MANCHES COUPEES
The French pressings of Cut Sleeves have arrived! This means that all you Eurotrash members of the BOSMC can pick up our longplayer for a reasonable price, and that’s gotta be good for everyone, oui! The record has been put out by Casbah Records in conjunction with Dangerhouse Skylab. It looks and sounds magnifique!
There are a few minor changes to the artwork but the recordings are the same as on the Homeless release. We changed the stickers in the middle of the record. The lyrics are now printed on the vinyl pocket instead of a separate sheet and, of course, the band name and album title are written in French down the spine as well as in Australian. It also comes with a download, but not one of those pesky cards. Casbah has opted for a sticker on the shrinkwrap with the code on it which we like.
If you Aussies want one we have a limited number we will be selling at gigs. If you contact us we could probably organise postage as well…for our rural members. Prices will be the same as the local release.
Viva la difference!
Viva la punk rock!
Viva la Morceaux de Merde!
Up-ya-date
Some new records have landed and we’ve been having a good time flogging them off. The Total punk seven sounds sick. Came out real well. Short blasts that I hope y’all will appreciate. You should be able to get it through Floridas Dying – there’s a link on our links page. We can’t sell you any as we have pretty much sold them all at gigs.
The Matador seven is with us now too and if you want a copy of that you can contact me through the blog. Three tracks and they came out nice. Slick artwork by Lauzbot too but I feel like a shitheel for not crediting her on the sleeve. What an asshole.
We also have some backpatches available if you want one. They’ll be about $10 ppd local, $15 for international customers. Once again, contact me through the blog and look sharp.
The French version of Cut Sleeves is being pressed as I write this and will hopefully be available for Chrissy. It’s pretty much the same as the domestic release but does have a few minor artwork and label changes that completists need to get on top of. I’ll let you know how much it will be when it arrives. It has been produced by a new label called Dangerhouse Skylab in conjunction with Casbah Records.
Apart from that, life goes on. We have a new government here in Australia, which sucks. George Bush stand-in, Tony Abbott has been elected Prime Minister and he has all the media support he needs via Rupert Murdoch. It truly is a dark time. A propaganda campaign worthy of the Nazis. I’m hoping that most of the pricks that voted for this guy because they wanted change will realise that not all change is good. Sometimes it’s better just to tweak an existing model. Anyway, we’re stuck with this paranoid jerk for a while and will surely be embarrassed on the International stage because of it.
We have played a few rocking local gigs and have a few more to look forward to. We did a couple of mini tours to Hobart and Sydney which were a blast. Good people, great times, but I’m too lazy to write about them here.
The Prez.
Keep on keeping on
Sunday May 12, 2013
Got some new rekkids in the pipeline which we’re really excited about.
The first is a “Singles going home alone” singles club release on Matador Records. That’s right. We’re gonna be rubbing shoulders with, or sharing a bargain bin with some of the World’s indie heavyweights. Kurt Vile, Catpower, Pavement, Bits of Shit. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. (Don’t think too hard) Anyway, bullshit aside, this record is due for release later this month. We’ve recorded three songs for it, and if you’re not a member of the club, I don’t know how you’ll be able to get it. We’ll have a few to sell so your best bet is to catch us at a gig. The cover was drawn by the amazing Lauzbot. Get onto her Tumblr page. It’s good shit.
The other single is two songs we recorded for Total Punk, a really good DIY label out of Florida. This should be due for release real soon. The test pressing is on the way and I can’t wait to hear how it sounds. You’ll be able to order it through Repressed locally, I think, or go to Florida’s Dying to get all of their stuff. I highly recommend this label, and Florida’s Dying, for all your Punk Rock vinyl essentials.
We are also involved in the Anti-Fade Records release “New Centre of The Universe – Volume 2”. We’ve got a live version of “F” on it. There are some launch nights planned for this in August in Geelong and in Melbourne. Excellent label, excellent people.
We’ve been pretty sluggish lately due to outside influences, but are keen to get onto the gigging circuit again soon. Hopefully we’ll get to New South Wales in the near future (July) and we’re planning on heading to Tassie later that month with our buddies, Batpiss. Check out the Upcoming gigs page for more details. Also, the Links page has been updated and worth a look. There’s some good stuff on it now and I’ll try and update it as often as I can be arsed.
Stay Gold,
BOSMC
USA! USA! USA!
Hey shitheads, we’re back in Oz from our funfilled trip to the United States of America. It was a good time. Good people. Good shows. Good food – well, most of it. I’ll give you some more details when I can find the time and get motivated enough to write it all down. I’m hoping to write up a tour diary so I can give y’all a blow-by-blow description of our week down south. In the meantime, check up on us on The Facebook.
Here are some snaps taken by a guy called Icki. It was at our first gig in San Francisco. Fresh off the plane from a 20 hour flight we went guitar shopping then played this gig. It was the first time I had ever really played this guitar – as with Eli – but the gig was awesome.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, TAKE OFF!
It’s launch time and it’s gonna be great. We’ve got some solid line-ups and we’re really looking forward to playing these shows. If you’re in town, make sure you come on down. Not just to see us, but also for the supports. It is also your only chance to snaffle one of those sweet blue vinyl copies of the new record.
Also, for a taster, tune in to 3PBS.FM on Wednesday night – around 8pm. We’re gonna be playing live on Big Kevin Lobotomy’s iconic radio program “Shock Treatment”. It’s an honour and a privilege to be doing this and we are psyched!
Stay brown
It’s landed
Well, the moment that we’ve been waiting for is finally here. Bits of Shit’s debut, full length LP has arrived – and we’re pretty happy with it. Looks good, feels good, is good. I don’t wanna go on about it too much but I’m glad that it is in my hands at last…and doesn’t totally suck.
We’re playing a couple of launch nights in August. Check the “Upcoming Gigs” page for details. Blue vinyl will only be made available at these nights (except for a few that snuck on down to Memphis via The Easter Bilby) so I apologise to out-of-towners and people that are unable to attend either of these nights. I know – elitist pricks – I get it. Anyway, there are only 500 of these things so get in fast. They also come with a download, lyric sheet and that sweet Rona Green artwork on the front. Track ’em down through “Homeless Records” on Fakebook or Goner Records.
The other good news is that The Shitters are going to the USA. The original impetus for this was hopping on the Gonerfest bill – a festival run out of Memphis, Tennessee based around the Goner Record store. Lotsa good toons and quality company. Anyway, we decided to make a micro tour out of the whole thing. We’re gonna start in San Fran, head South through Austi and New Orleans, play Memphis, head to DC and finish up in Noo Yawk Citay. I’ll give y’all more details later, but it’s gonna bostastic.
Another event we’re looking forward to is playing live to air on 3PBS-FM. It’s gonna happen on Wednesday the 1st of August around 8 o’clock in the PM. If you’re not a local you can probably listen to the podcast via the interweb. I’ll set up a link once it happens.
Anyway, I’d better go. Sorry it’s been so long between drinks. I’ll have more for you soon.
Stay Brown,
Prez
a LONG player will arrive…eventually.
Alright motherfuckers. We have been working, and working, on getting this goddamned record finished, and we’re nearly there. I’m catching up with label head honcho, Richie Ramone, and layabout guru, Onya Rigid Stabber, tomorrow! YEAH!
The artwork is done. The recording is done. The mastering is done. It’s time to put it all together and ship it off to Pirates Press so we can get on with our lives.
The cover artwork has been drawn by the incredibly talented and stylish Rona Green. The back cover has been shot by Bits of Shit legacy member Cimony Vanderpol. All other artwork has been done by the BOSMC new original 4. So, even if you think it sounds like shit, you cannot say that it looks shit!
I’m excited about this record. it’s coming out in glorious 12″ vinyl with the first 100 on limited edition denim blue. It features 13 songs, a lyric sheet/insert and download code! Hopefully you’ll see it early to mid June.
Anyway, due to all this anxiety, we are taking a breather. We’re playing a couple of shows in May and then resting up until July. If you’re in town, come and check it out. The line-ups are solid and the gigs are just getting more and more fun. Checkout the Upcoming Gigs page for more details.
Adios for now,
The Prez
All Good in the Wood
Bits of Shit headlined their first festival a couple of weekends ago and it was a blast! The event was organised by the lovely folk at Broken Glass Records – a new record store that only stocks local releases. It’s located on Johnson Street just down from the Tote and Anchor BMX.
The festival was called ALL GOOD IN THE WOOD referring to CollingWOOD which is where it was happening. It was kind of like an urban guerilla type of thing. The first band started in the backyard of Anchor BMX, then we moved to Broken Glass, then to someone’s backyard and so on. Two bands usually played at each spot so we were able to clear out before the cops cleared US out. By the time we got to the second last house where the fabulous Spinning Rooms charged the crowd the vibe was very high indeed. It felt like the house was gonna burn down. Electric!
Anyway, we all mosied down to the last house. A share house of immense proportions and history. Hotel Wrecking City Traders had their set cut short due to the lateness of the event which was running slightly behind schedule and had to finish by 9pm. This meant Bits of Shit only had about 15 minutes to play. That was plenty of time. Check out the video below to see what it was like. Click the link – I’ve forgotten how to add Youtube videos.
This is coming up too. Get on down.
Back in the saddle!
After a brief hiatus I reckon it’s time to get back where no one wants us – on the stage of a dingy pub. I’m looking forward to getting back into it and the band has been working on some new material which we can hopefully showcase soon.See the “Upcoming Gigs” for a more detailed listing.
I’ve been in India for the past month, hence the Hindu inspired poster, and have come back with a hatred of all things religious – except the imagery. The hypocricy of organised religion is probably no more apparent than in third world countries and other places where there is a large division between rich and poor. It seems people are able to switch on and off when their fundamental beliefs apply. So called “Holy Men” forcing their views onto tourists, claiming good karma when it is obvious they are only serving themselves. Scammers wearing the signs of spiritual faith that see no problem in the fact that they are openly ripping off innocent people for their own personal gain. Broken, homeless people lining the streets being stepped over by the elite in their designer duds and European cars.
Religion should not only be ignored, but I believe it should be actively opposed for all the injustice, war and damage it has done in this world. All for the sake of fairy tales. My god is bigger than yours. I say “FUCK RELIGION!” and that’s about as political as I get. Prez
Goin’ Orf!
Yep, it’s true. Bits of Shit are gonna play the hardcore ball of the season. Teaming up with the mighty EXTORTION we get to play host to the hardcore supergroup OFF!. It’s hard to believe we’re gonna be sharing the stage with a couple of my childhood heroes – Black Flag/Circle Jerks screamer Keith Morris and Redd Kross bass guitar genius Steve McDonald! And it’s gonna be an all ages show held at the place where the Bits of Shit finally decided to kill off Galeforce and grow some balls! Get fuckin’ on it!
My favourite part is that the Bits of Shit name finally appears on an official Raymond Pettibon penned poster! If only my seventeen year old self could see me now. All grown up…on the outside.
Anyway, here’s a random selection of photos.
- BOS – Boss of Scandinavia. The only place to eat true viking food in Newtown, Sydney
- BOS MAN – check the dribbling fools buckle. Sydney was full of BOSMEN. This guy was from the Street art expo at Cockatoo Island
- CANDYMAN – tape art in the toilets at The Gaso – The President in a previous guise
- BIN MAN – The pallbearer after a toughie – Gaso
- BITSA1 – Satan drives a Mazda
Keeping On
Well, we had a ball in Sydney but I’m not gonna write anything about it here because I’m not feeling too crash hot at the moment. All I can say is, is that the folk in that part of the world looked after us, all the bands were great, and Bits of Shit gave it their best shot. Cheers Timbo for organising this chaos.
This gig is coming up on Thursday as part of the Tote’s 30th birthday bash. I’m looking forward to playing with what was one of my favourite bands growing up.
Good Times
Well, the house arrest of the glorious Tote has come to an end and I must say, it was a fuckin’ good time. The staff treated us really well…kept the beer flowing, and the crowds just got bigger and rowdier and crazier and uglier and friendlier. It’s hard to pick a highlight as all the shows were completely different.
Total Control brought in a huge crowd. You couldn’t get to the the toilets for love nor money and thankfully, most of the crowd stayed. They pretty much left the keyboards alone for their set and blew evryone away with their complex paradiddling style of spastic rock.
Manny Fox Hangman’s Club brought in a more sophisticated crowd but they were just as lively once the music kicked off. A highlight of that night was when Danny took to crawling along the bar. I have a feeling that was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.Their version of “Just a Gigolo” brought memories of Mum’s brief fling with solo period David Lee Roth flooding back. Soopoib.
Pneumatic Slaughter commanded a small, intense group of ragamuffins with their brand of crust. I was personally very impressed by singer Pete’s heckling during our set. I love a bit of two and fro between the band and the audience…it helps break down the barriers and allows everyone to relax and get stupid.
King Leghorn are pretty much cut from the same cloth as us…and the same generation. Their hysterical energy was infectious and ploughed the way for a really fun, relaxing gig. Real nice.
And it all kicked off with the glorious Murdered Birds. Hillbilly, bluegrass wopface of the highest calibre that paved the way for a month of beer-soaked Satdee arvos at one of my all time favourite pubs.
July was a great month for us, and August is shaping up to be a good one too. Get on it.
House RULES!
Bits of Shit began their residuncy at The Tote on the weekend which got off to a cracking start. The Murdered Birds set the tone for the day with their stylish, backward ways. Top harmonies. Finger pickin’ goodness. Whole lotta love.
The mood was set…ready to be destroyed. I hope we achieved this. Check it out for yourself on the sample of clips submitted to Youtube by an unnamed source. Thank you Source.
There are a few more videos from that show on Youtube. You can get most of them by following us at our “Bits of Shit Youtube Channel”.
All and all a top start to our stay at our new digs. Come on down. It’s gonna be a fun month.
PS: A big Thank you to the crew at The Marquis of Lorne, Per, Stanners and of cource the always brilliant Terry McCarthy Special for the dinner show on Sunday. We had a ball and the waft of shit emanating from the cellar made it an extra special evening.
Confederacy of Dunces – July Residuncy
So, Bits of Shit have a redundancy, sorry, residency at the glorious Tote during the month of July. I probably should have thought this one through before blindly accepting the last minute offer from Amanda. A band had obviously pulled out, left her high and dry so we came to the rescue. Unfortunately there are a few things working against us in taking this gig that I didn’t consider at the time it was offered to me. They are:
- It’s in the middle of winter and most people are too precious to leave the warmth of the living room at this time of year.
- A lot of my friends are old, have kids and want to spend the mid-year school break with their family. Some of them even want to get out of town! (selfish bastards)
- As it is last minute, I’m having trouble finding support bands, especially considering most of my friends are old etc – see above.
- There are five Saturdays in July.
- The football’s on.
Anyway, we will soldier on regardless. It’s gonna be a hoot. I’m really looking forward to it and I think it’s starting to shape up as a really interesting and diverse month for us, and The Tote. Plus we get paid and free beer to jam in a pub! Check out the listings in the Upcoming Gigs page for more details and for God’s sake, GET OFF YOUR ARSE AND COME AND SEE US AT THE TOTE THIS JULY!
Retreat…while you can
What a fuckin’ ball we had playing in the heart of Brunswick County last Friday night. I was a bit nervous beforehand. You get some unsavoury types at The Retreat. By unsavoury I mean suburban boneheads that come to the big smoke for a night on the turps, get freaked out by the inner-city types and then start lashing out in anxiety driven anguish. I also invited a group of my workmates, who all turned up, so I was a bit apprehensive about leaving myself so exposed to them. Worlds were colliding.
Thankfully everyone was relaxed, well lubricated, and simply wanted to have a good time. And we did. Once the pallbearer put on his protective clothing we were away. Jammin’. Jazzin’. Experimenting our fuckin’ heads off.
Cheers to Ralph, Duncan and Eliza from the River of Snakes for organising this one – I never would have imagined playing at The Retreat but it worked out fine. Here’s a few snaps.
Brunny
Had a fun time at the Brunswick Hotel the other night – especially with the older crowd. Here are some snaps.
Don’t forget to come down to the Retreat on Friday!
Stuff
We had a crack at a recording on the weekend but it turned into a comedy of errors – a very BLACK comedy. Pete discovered he was missing his microphones so I drove to his place in Footscray to pick them up. This meant driving through Saturday afternoon, chickenhead, knuckledragging, backpackingarsehole Queen Victoria Market traffic. A mere 15-20 kilometres round trip ended up taking close to two fucking hours! As if this wasn’t bad enough, when we finally started recording, with the hour and a half we had left, the bitching bass amp decided to give us all the silent treatment. FARK!
So, it wasn’t the most successful session and tempers were frayed. However, we are the mighty Bits of Shit and we will arise from this headfuck a stronger and meatier unit. Unfortunately it means I haven’t got any new tunes to share but we should have some for you soon. If there’s one thing I learnt, it’s that pressure cookers sometimes explode – great art takes time.
Andrew from 3-toed sloth sent me down some photos from the righteous Clovelly Bowls Club gig with the staunch feedtime. This was truly a highlight of my amateur musical career to be able to share the stage with these childhood idols of mine. There were three main influences on my musical aspirations as a youngster and they were all bass players: Ian Rilen from X, Steve McDonald from Redd Kross and Al from feedtime. The industrial grunt that Al achieved on such a simple instrument is a thing of beauty. He makes the bass sing. It leads the show with a heart the size of Pharlap. Golly gosh I love the way he plays bass, and we were there. Sucked in!
Here are some photos from the night – none of us. Left to right: 3-toed sloth, feedtime, Meat Thump.
While I was updating the blog I noticed this clip on youtube. It made me proud. Kinda like the President of The Orphans in The Warriors when he shows them the news clipping recounting some of the ‘heavy shit’ they’ve been doing. Pathetic pride.
It’s alive!
After getting sick to death of Myspace and its many shortcomings, I decided to start the Bits of Shit blog to keep all you members informed. Hopefully this will be a better medium for us.
Got a few gigs coming up but this is the only one that I have made a poster for so far. Playing at The Retreat Hotel with the fantasic River of Snakes. They feature Raul from Magic Dirt fame and play a pretty straight forward, hard hitting grunge. They are a Geelong band after all. Really looking forward to this gig. It should be a bizarre experience playing in that cowboy themed bandroom they have there – hence the flyer.
We’re also playing at The Brunswick Hotel on Thursday the 26th of May with our bruddas the Buftie Boys as well as the very well travelled King Leghorn. Looking forward to catching these guys again. I don’t think I’ve seen them since the early nineties. Also joining us on the night are the Red Twenties – should be fun.
Anyway, there you have it. The first entry. Stay tuned for more shitty news in the coming weeks.
Stay brown,
The President.
B.O.S.M.C. 