They're My MySpace Friends

Looking around the Internet a couple of nights ago, I found a site called Triple J Unearthed, which I thought I should share.

Triple J Unearthed is an Australian music site whose function is to support that country’s bands and help them get exposure. According to the site, they’ve “unearthed” more than 100 artists from all over Australia and launched the careers of artists like Missy Higgins, Killing Heidi, Grinspoon, and Endorphin – all of whom I assume are popular down under. The site features all genres of music, from electronic to punk. And it also has free downloads!

I mention this because it was partially through Triple J Unearthed that I found a band called Punxie and the Poison Pens.

Punxie and The Poison Pens play the sort of guitar-driven music I’ve pretty much come to expect from Aussie rock bands. They’ve been described alternately as “catchy, entertaining, and socially relevant in the true punk tradition,” and “hilariously offensive.” I’d describe them as somewhere between the Distillers and the Divinyls. Punxie’s voice occasionally veers into sneering punkette territory, but a lot of the time it’s mixed down and not so easy to hear. The Poison Pens, led by guitarist Matt Poison, is a gang of Australian punk veterans: Matt, drummer Brad Cox, and bassist Budge all hail from locally popular underground Brisbane (Australia) bands of the Bjelke-Peterson era including Scruff the Cat, The Bystanders, and The Skeletones.

Punxie’s career began as an amateur stand-up on Brisbane’s open-mic comedy circuit in 2004-5 where she made a name for herself as “that girl that does all the arse-fucking jokes.” In late 2006 Punxie and Matt combined their talents and, on MySpace, released the single, “You're My MySpace Friend.” Their effort met with an admiring Internet audience, shooting Punxie into the Top 10 Comedians on the Australian MySpace. After successfully releasing more music via the Internet, Punxie and Matt recruited Brad and Budge to round out the band.

Punxie and the Poison Pens released their debut album, Banned, last year, and a follow-up EP, Gagged, came out this past June. Check out the Poison Pen Website for ordering info and for some free downloads.

Tonight’s music is a couple of tracks from Banned. The first is the aforementioned “MySpace” song; the second is a song that generated a little bit of controversy when it hit the MySpaces.

You’re My MySpace Friend.mp3
My Pussy is the Bomb.mp3

Labels: garage rock, pop-punk, punk

posted by aikin @ 10:05 PM