Punk | 4PR – Voice of the People

How Punk music ‘made the world a better place‘

In memory of the Brisbane Devotee, John Reid

[Paradigm Shift 4zzz fm 102.1 3 Sept 2016]

Listen @ http://ondemand.4zzzfm.org.au/paradigm-shift/2016-09-02

Andy and Ian speak with guests Peter McGrath, Cass Bradshaw, Peter and Ian does an interview with Michelle McIntyre about punk. How did punk culture mesh with left wing politics and vice versa.

This Paradigm Shift came out of a funeral for an organiser of punk gigs at local halls in 1977/78 and manager of bands like Razar and The Leftovers. He was called the ‘Brisbane Devotee’ aka John Reid. We pay our respects to John, family and friends.

Peter ‘V2’ McGrath was born in Beaudesert and grew up in Sandgate, his family and friends worked either at the Golden Circle Cannery at Northgate or Arnott’s Biscuits on Coronation Drive. As a 13 year old, V2 and Ed Wreckage painted the Deagon Railway Station pink. They formed a punk band called The Leftovers. Golden Circle cannery ‘was a terrible place to work ... but that was the only life people had‘. ‘Poverty was a way of life in Sandgate’.

Cass Bradshaw was born in Tamworth and grew up in the western suburbs and on finishing school was drawn to the inner city ‘such as it was’ and the music scene, in Brisbane in the late 1970s. Her sister Lee played in a band called The Supports. Gigs were held at AHEPA hall in West End, Caxton Street and Griffith Uni.

The other Peter grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and was an observer of the punk scene in Brisbane.

Michelle McIntyre grew up in Boondall and joined the punk scene at the age of 16 in the early 1980s.

Punk Scene in Brisbane
Poverty was a way of life in Sandgate. Casuals were picked out and paid 20 cents to the SDA union and if they were rejected they had to go home and come back tomorrow. Going to a gig was like running a gauntlet. Toombul, the Valley, there were always fights at the railway stations.

Task Force
Punk is about the music as well as the politics. Young people having fun, playing rock ‘n roll … Task force would been the violence. The violnce was caused by the police. Very little violence inside the punk scene.

Was it a media beat up?
Sunday Sun did a big article on the punks in Brisbane in 1978. To instill fear into people? Any one involved in the gay scene, feminist, International Socialists, right-to-march were targeted. Punks stood out in the march against Joh and the country party. Mum’s and dad’s were often liberal voters but could not believe what Joh did back then.

Expression of freedom
Attempts to get liquor licences were difficult. John got a liquor licence for the Hamilton Hall gig yet cops still smashed it up. They came in with batons drawn.

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Playlist
Razar – Task force
No Mercy – Caucasian guilt
Channel 3 – I’ve got a gun
Death Sentence – The push
Death Sentence – Anti apartheid
D.R.I. – Violent Pacification