Hard-Ons
Hard-Ons | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Sydney, NSW |
| Genres | punk, thrash metal, power pop |
| Years active | 1982 - 1994, 1997 - present |
| Labels | Waterfront, Chatterbox, Feel, Vi-Nil, Cheersquad, Citadel, Boss Tuneage |
| Associated acts | You Am I, Nunchukka Superfly, Dead Rats, Television Addicts, WOG, Nazxul, Captain Cleanoff, T'N'T, Regurgitator, Front End Loader, Malibu Stacy |
| Members | Peter Black, Ray Ahn, Murray Ruse, Tim Rogers |
| Past members | Keish de Silva, Peter Kostic |
Band members
- Line-up
- Blackie (guitar)
- Ray Ahn (bass)
- Murray Ruse (drums)
- Tim Rogers (vocals)
- Former members
- Keish de Silva (drums, vocals) 1982 - 1994, 1997 - 2001, (vocals) 2016 - 2021
- Peter Kostic (drums) 2002 - 2010
Band information
Formed in Sydney in 1982 the Hard-Ons is one of Australia's most successful and revered independent bands. While more celebrated as a punk band, the Hard-Ons music often wavers into thrash metal territory, especially on their releases after 2001.
Known for a brief time as The Plebs after a short incubation period (without Ray Ahn) as Dead Rats, the Hard-Ons played school shows and parties until their first official gig at Sydney's Vulcan Hotel on June 20, 1984. Surfin' on My Face was released in 1985, establishing a precedent for the band as the first of 17 consecutive #1 alternative chart listings for the band. Hard-Ons coveted a fierce independent status, establishing close ties with other local independent bands from both metal and punk and mostly booking their own shows including regular under-18s and all ages events. Between 1985 and 1994 they toured internationally almost on an annual basis, selling more than 250,000 records worldwide during this time. Their 1989 album Love is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts gained a Top 5 spot in the annual NME reader's poll, only the third album by an Australian band (and the only one not then based in the UK) to do so. That year they recorded an EP with British punks The Stupids. In 1991 they achieved a minor commercial breakthrough when their cover of Let There Be Rock with Henry Rollins on vocals hit the lower end of the ARIA Top 100. On January 26, 1992, the Hard-Ons appeared at the first Big Day Out festival in Sydney with Rollins doing four songs with them. In November that year, they appeared at Metal for the Brain. Following the release of Too Far Gone in 1993, the Hard-Ons announced they were breaking up in early 1994.
After the split, Blackie and Ray formed Nunchukka Superfly with former Massappeal drummer Pete Allen and Keish de Silva formed Malibu Stacy but by 1997 the Hard-Ons had reformed, initially to play the summer festival circuit and do a one-off tour. That turned into a proper reunion and the Hard-Ons toured Europe in 1999 ahead of releasing This Terrible Place in mid-2000. Early the next year de Silva decided to leave the Hard-Ons. Blackie took over on vocals and Peter Kostic (Front End Loader, Regurgitator, Nazxul) joined as the band's drummer. This version of the band was a far more metal-oriented unit.
In 2003 the Hard-Ons played at the Big Day Out and toured with Foo Fighters ahead of issuing their ninth album, Very Exciting!, their first album without de Silva. During 2005 the band celebrated their 21st anniversary (of their first legal-age show) with a national tour on which they were joined by de Silva and play as a four piece with two drummers. Their next album was planned as a double album split between poppier songs and heavier ones but in the end they were released separately. 2009's American Exports EP was recorded with US comedian Neil Hamburger on vocals.
After the release of the compilation Eat Shit, Listen to Horrible Music in 2010, Kostic departed. Murray Ruse from Captain Cleanoff joined the Hard-Ons in early 2011. During that year the band began repackaging and re-releasing all their Waterfront-era albums with live cuts and non-album tracks included. While on a break between tours, Blackie was violently assaulted and received severe head injuries including a broken skull but within just three months had recovered sufficiently to do a solo tour and then a Japanese tour with the Hard-Ons.
The band's 13th album Peel Me Like an Egg was released in 2014 but overshadowed by the band's 30th anniversary tour with de Silva on vocals. During that year Ahn played in Television Addicts, a revival of the 70s Perth band The Victims with Dave Faulkner and James Baker of Hoodoo Gurus. In March 2016 the Hard-Ons announced that de Silva was now back as the band's permanent vocalist. 2019's So I Could Have Them Destroyed coincided with a national tour with Rose Tattoo and would prove to be the only album the Hard-Ons would record with that line-up. While preparing for a new album and just as a documentary about them was being finalised in early 2021, sexual abuse allegations against de Silva were revealed and he was immediately fired from the Hard-Ons. The documentary was also cancelled just as a public fund-raiser had been announced.
Six months later it was revealed that Tim Rogers of You Am I had joined the Hard-Ons and within weeks the album I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken was released, peaking at #4 on the ARIA albums chart, the band's highest position ever. Appearances at the Uncaged Festival in 2022 and a national tour followed.
Discography
Albums:
| 1986 | Smell My Finger | Waterfront |
| 1988 | Dickcheese | Waterfront |
| 1989 | Love is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts | Waterfront |
| 1990 | Yummy! | Waterfront |
| 1993 | Too Far Gone | Waterfront |
| 1994 | A Decade of Rock | Waterfront |
| 1999 | The Best of the Hard-Ons | Citadel |
| 2000 | This Terrible Place | Chatterbox |
| 2003 | Very Exciting! | Chatterbox |
| 2006 | Most People Are a Waste of Time | Chatterbox |
| 2007 | Most People Are Nicer Than Us | Chatterbox |
| 2009 | Suck and Swallow: 25 Years, 25 Songs | Boss Tuneage |
| 2010 | Eat Shit, Listen to Horrible Music | Insubordination |
| 2010 | Alfalfa Males Once Summer is Done Conform or Die | Boss Tuneage |
| 2014 | Peel Me Like an Egg | Citadel |
| 2019 | So I Could Have Them Destroyed | Music Farmers |
| 2021 | I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken | Cheersquad |
Singles:
| 1986 | Girl in the Sweater | Waterfront |
| 1986 | By My Side | Waterfront |
| 1987 | All Set to Go | Waterfront |
| 1987 | Busted/Suck N Swallow | Waterfront |
| 1988 | Just Being With You | Waterfront |
| 1989 | Sick of Being Sick | Waterfront |
| 1990 | Where Did She Come From | Waterfront |
| 1991 | Dull | Waterfront |
| 1991 | Let There be Rock (as Henry Rollins and the Hard-Ons) | Waterfront |
| 1992 | She's a Dish | Waterfront |
| 1993 | Crazy Crazy Eyes | Waterfront |
| 1999 | You Disappointed Me | One Way Street |
| 1999 | Shark's Head | Chatterbox |
| 2003 | Sunny/Scared of it All | Chatterbox |
| 2005 | There Goes One of Those Creeps (That Hassled My Girlfriend) | Chatterbox |
| 2009 | American Exports | Red Lounge |
| 2021 | Hold Tight | Cheersquad |
| 2021 | Lite as a Feather | Cheersquad |
| 2022 | Needles and Pins | Cheersquad |
EPs:
| 1985 | Surfin' On My Face | Waterfront |
| 1987 | Hot For Your Love, Baby | Waterfront |
| 1992 | Dateless Dudes Club | Waterfront |
| 1994 | Test | Waterfront |
| 1999 | Yesterday and Today | Citadel |
| 2011 | Shit-Pants-Shit-Pants | Boss Tuneage |
Splits:
| 1988 | No Cheese (split with The Stupids) | Waterfront |
| 1992 | Where the Wild Things Are (split with Celibate Rifles) | Waterfront |
| 2002 | Split! (split with Boom Boom Kid) | Unknown |
| 2016 | Split with The Manges | Unknown |