WE STILL
HATE... - The Hymies (Wild Eagle)Brisbane's premier home of lo-fi rock vinyl platters moves into the digital age with this, its first CD, and who better to take them there than the Hymies?
There's something about the mindless, two-chord punk of the Hymies that makes me want to turn the fuckers up as loud as the sound system will tolerate. Maybe it's the buzzsaw abandon, the we-don't-give-a-shit attitude or the sometimes hopelessly formless and totally fucked-up solos that turn up in the funniest places. Poured out of the same mould as the Onyas, they have the same healthy disregard for convention and sick sense of humour. This is a band that hits you on the head after drinking you dry and says, "Thanks for the beers but I'm ducking outside for a technicolour yawn and it's all your fault!" Ill-mannered, for sure, but ya gotta laugh.
With titles like "Chainsaw Vixen" how can you go wrong? Most songs have an axe in them - or sound like the band is taking a hatchet to them. Tempos are (not unexpectedly brisk) and the songs simple, but there's enough edge to tunes like "Going to See the Onyas" (a bit of cross-promotion, if I ever saw it), "Light of Type 2", "Axehacker" and "Kipper Melting Man" (run that title past me again?) to keep interest levels up. There are 17 tunes here, too, so that's value for money.
Recorded over two years, it's been translated to tape without too much polish to sound suitably loud and raw. The credits tell us Ash Headmiles from Roll Cage had a hand in the mastering process, while Aamparellas/Strutter member Evil Dick guested on "Do or Die..." so there's two indications that sufficent quality control was applied to ensure things stayed raw.
Let's face it, it's a well-trodden path they walk down, but the Hymies' brand of cartoonish abrasive punk will always prosper when there's an audience that likes drinking to excess, shaking its collective head and getting down in the sandpit (watch out for the catshit).
- The Barman
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UGLY
GREASY DRUNK - The Hymies (The Hymies)The Hymies are a Brisbane-based band and appear to draw on influences such as Oz pub/punk rock bands such as The Cosmic Psychos, Bored!, The Onyas and US punk/hardcore bands such as The Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Danzig, Suicidal Tendencies; but prove to be fairly original and clever with their song titles and lyrics.
The tunes were recorded at Flyshakker Studios in Brisvegas in May and are a follow-up to "We Hate the Hymies", a few copies of which are still available from Head Miles Records in Sydney. On this one, the band seems to have energy to burn on tracks such as "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out", "Kipper Melting Man" and "Full of Shit". These ballblasting high energy tunes are mixed with more hard rocking tunes like "I'm Stressed", "She's got a Knife" (no doubt owing a great debt to The Onyas here). "Bodysnatcher" and "Do or Die" (featuring guest vocals fby Evil Dick from the Aampirellas/Strutter) are slightly less high energy tunes but allow the band to pull back the pace back and show more musicality and craft with their music, rather than the flat put atomic detonating as with other tracks.
All up one impressive CD, lasting just over 16 minutes. Coming out soon or mail the band for a copy. - Simon Li
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