Circa 1979

Text: Gabriel Knowles Images: Modular


It’s a damn shame that us Aussies are always looking overseas for inspiration when there’s an abundance of talent that’s gone before us, particularly musically. And not just AC/DC or The Church or, ah, the Bee Gees. Bands like Severed Heads and The Reels have played as big a part in shaping the local soundscape as any other. With their foundations laid in the sonically rich era that was the transformation of the 70s into the 80s both bands set about paving the way for post-punk down under, consequentially leading into the synth driven tunes of the late 80s. Of course these days any number of Australian bands are at the forefront of their electronic genres. Just how much they owe to the avant-garde ways of Severed Heads or new wave exponents The Reels is hard to measure tangibly but if you can get down to Circa 1979 at the Becks Festival Bar in Sydney on Thursday, January 14 you’ll have a much better idea of just how special these two bands were and still are.





I Don’t Love You Anymore – The Reels (Right click and save to download)

We Have Come To Bless This House – Severed Heads (Right click and save to download)

Thanks to the good folk at Modular we’ve got a double pass for Thursday night’s show to give away. Drop us a line at prize@theblackmail.com.au and tell us why 1979 was such a good year.

SEVERED HEADS, THE REELS & STEPHEN MALLINDER
Becks Festival Bar, Hyde Park Barracks Museum
Thursday January 14. Doors open 8pm.

Beck’s Late Night – Free from 11.30pm
Stephen Mallinder of Sheffield electro pioneers Cabaret Voltaire and Sydney electro/tech DJ Mark Murphy round off the night.