_{Matt Allison photo}

Superchunk
+ Smudge
The Sydney Crowbar, Leichhardt
Friday, December 13, 2024

1991 has gone down in folklore as “The Year That Punk Broke” and in many ways it’s true. A wave of underground music swept across music channels - in particular in the USA.

It’s also that there was a surge in guitars being bought and we can attribute this mostly to Nirvana. Scratch under the surface, and a crop of new bands had been springing up like green shoots across America for years. Releasing records on labels like Matador, SST and SubPop, they’d been criss-crossing America in broken vans, living on pills, booze, junk food and small shows  

All the action was being documented in fanzines and the underground bible Alternative Press. For me, it was even cooler than the British wave of punk as it was more street-level and organic. Names like Afghan Wigs, Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland, Laughing Hyenas, Mudhoney, TAD, Pixies and Lemonheads were the staple diet in the period prior to Nirvana releasing “Nevermind”.

_{Superchunk's Mac and bassist Betsey Wright. Matt Allison photo.}

I discovered a debut album bunch of collage kids from Chapell Hill. North Carolina, called Superchunk in the racks of Waterfront Records in Sydney in 1990. A sparkling diamond of a record that drew from late ‘70s Clash and Buzzcocks, with a blaze of guitars, pop and hooks.  

As an aside, I suspect I owned the first Superchunk T-shirt in Australia that I made from an iron-on transfer adapted from a picture in Spin magazine. Wearing T-shirts of obscure bands was always a sign of coolness, he adds, laughing at himself.

When Superchunk played Australian shows at Sydney’s Lansdowne Hotel in 1992, they were the highlight gigs of that year for me. I felt my handmade shirt was much better than the official tour version being sold that night.  

Superchunk were always a band that had a sense of detached coolness and credibility for an outfit barely out of their teens, and when the major labels came knocking and the opportunity for a massive cash-in presented itself, Superchunk refused to get involves in that circus. Their reaction was to reignite their own independent label into a full-time operation and sign a slew of local bands who remained purely on the fringes, far away from the cameras,

It's well over 30 years since those mid-week, underhyped shows at the Lansdowne. Tonight at The Crowbar is a sell-out with many of the Gen X- ers present owning all 10 of their albums.

_{Adam, Allison and Tom from Smudge. Jackie Lloyd photo.}

Smudge was in many ways the perfect choice as support, They were another band to emerge as teenagers around the same time. Tonight, we have the “Manilow” line up of Alison Gallaway, Tom Morgan and Adam Yee. Watching them was like being transported back to that scared space of the Hopetoun Hotel, a place that was home to devotees of Half a Cow Records and The Hummingbirds.

The sound was muffled but Smudge is up for this show and the sheer love of being on stage again. The chemistry is there with Alison Gallaway beaming. Smudge was always a band of lo-fi hipness with a batch of songs that leapt out at you with jangly guitars and off-beat sonic excursions with songs like “Divan”. 

This is a band that a vital part of Sydney’s ‘90s indie soundtrack. “Impractical Joke” is a stand-out with Tom broadly working that Dylan-ish phrasing. There is so much swing in Alison Galloway’s drumming, and it has that vibe of Cathy Green from X. She locks in with Adam Yee and Tom’s Jazzmaster twang is layered over the top.

Superchunk are touring to celebrate 30 years since the release of their fourth album “Foolish”. It was their breakthrough album and one that marked the end of the long-term relationship of members bass player Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan.  Bands are an intense organism at the best of times but break-ups of couples within them can be devastating. The album was marked by a more away from melodic punk and towards longer guitar workouts and introspection. Its sound is in a similar vein to the Dream Syndicate.

The well-appointed Crowbar is completely packed to its rafters and it feels like we’re in an oven as the band launches into “Stretched Out” from “Foolish” to open their set. It’s an explosive start with guitars blazing and ringing out. McCaughan has not lost any of his zeal as a frontman, bouncing around the stage with the guitar showmanship of Pete Townsend. He spars with Jim Wilbur whose hollow-body humbucker feedback fills out the twin guitar attack.  

More than any other song tonight, “The First Part” represents a departure from their earlier work with repetitive guitar lines and a sense of drama.

_{Matt Allison photo.}

The breakthrough single of 1989, “Slack Motherfucker”, explodes is still a shining light of melodic punk glory that it was in its heyday. It’s a cross between “Give ’em Enough Rope” period Clash and the raw guitar blare of Mudhoney, still sounding as fresh and as fuck you as it was when you took that record home that you’d bought from Waterfront Records all those years ago.

It’s followed tonight by “Hyper Enough”, a classic slacker anthem still laced with provincial indie cool.

” Everything Dies” is a new 7-inch single, and the rhythm section is sublime and powerful, with Laura King on drums and Betsey Wright on bass (from the band Bat Fangs), playing like they’re joined at the hips.

Superchunk are on stage for well over a hundred minutes and blaze through 20-plus songs.

Of course, the gig recalls memories of when Sydney had a vibrant underground scene where you could see bands almost every night of the week. Rent was still cheap and beer was $2.50 a schooner.  When there were no marketing executives and corporate barrister weren’t yet moving in next door to music venues to complain about obnoxious and loud music.

Maybe, tonight was an occasion to reminisce about being back there.  

Superchunk, however, show that they are still riding a wave of creativity and have no hint of being a heritage band.