So, things have been a bit quiet here lately. But what better way to break the Ugly ‘n’ Weird drought than by taking part in this ‘shuffle the music tag’ thingamy?
Continue reading “SHUFFLE THE MUSIC TAG – UGLY ‘N’ WEIRD STYLE”
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Tag: The Birthday Party
UGLY ‘N’ WEIRD UPDATE
Last month, I mentioned I’d been working on a collaborative piece with Ben Kooyman about the Australian film Ghosts… of the Civil Dead. That piece is now up on Ben’s website, Down Under Flix, and I urge anyone reading this to check it out.
PRAYERS ON FIRE (1981)
Artist: The Birthday Party
Label: Missing Link
Producer: Tony Cohen, The Birthday Party
Cover art: Jenny, Poly & Evan
Length: 42:06
WEARING NOTHING BUT a loincloth, and with the word ‘HELL’ painted on his chest, a skinny geek twirls around a stripper pole in a circus tent before emerging into a burning Melbourne trash heap, where he cavorts with his bandmates, several psychiatric patients, and a goat. Those only familiar with Nick Cave as Australia’s answer to Leonard Cohen might be shocked to see this video for “Nick The Stripper”, which perfectly captures the carnivalesque hysteria of The Birthday Party’s Prayers on Fire.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
We went from a raw garage band through experimentalism back to raw blues almost. It was kind of like that, we just ended up doing raw, violent experimental music.
Mick Harvey, Stranded, 1996
Formed: 1978 (as The Boys Next Door), Melbourne, Australia
Featured album: Prayers on Fire (1981)
