DOORS 7PM // KITCHEN OPEN // SHOW STARTS 8PM

THE VICTIMS - DAVE FAULKNER & JAMES BAKER'S LEGENDARY '70s PUNK GROUP - TO PLAY FAREWELL SHOWS IN MELBOURNE & SYDNEY IN DECEMBER
 
EAST COAST SHOWS FOLLOW HOMETOWN PERTH FAREWELL SHOW AND NEW ED STASIUM-MIXED SINGLE IN JUNE 
 
Legendary '70s Perth punk group The Victims, who introduced the world to both Dave Faulkner and his original drumming partner in the Hoodoo Gurus, James Baker (who also co-founded The Scientists, The Beasts of Bourbon and more), are set to say a final farewell with shows in Melbourne and Sydney in early December.
 
Since regrouping in late 2014 with #1 fan Ray Ahn of the Hard-Ons on bass, the Victims have released two new 7” vinyl records (an E.P. and a single), as well as an anthology of their '70s classics, on esteemed Los Angeles label In The Red, and played a handful of shows on both coasts. But now the time has come to say goodbye. A Perth farewell show, played in front of hundreds of heaving fans at the Rosemount back in June, was so great that plans were put into effect straight away to get the group over to Sydney and Melbourne. It just wouldn't have been fair to fans in both cities otherwise - including a new generation of '70s punk loving kids who need to see what the fuss is all about.
 
The Victims play Brunswick Ballroom in Melbourne Friday December 1, and the Crowbar in Sydney on Dec 2. And then they're done.
 
 Joining the band in both cities will be Wollongong's fantastic Chimers.
 
 In his liner notes for In The Red's collection of '70s Victims recordings, punk collector/Dirtbombs drummer/Third Man Records guy Ben Blackwell says: “So for a group of Australians, excitable as the frontline first wave of kids responding to both the Ramones and the Sex Pistols (yet still influenced by the New York Dolls and Stooges and Flamin’ Groovies), who existed for but barely for a year from 1977-1978 and wrote songs about serial killers, high school girls and hating disco…well, I’d argue they are the most perfect punk band ever.”
 
“Television Addict” - originally released by The Victims themselves in a pressing of 1000 - has long been a holy grail relic for ‘70s punk collectors. It’s been covered by bands in Europe, the US and Japan and probably places in between. Their follow-up EP, which includes “Disco Junkies”, the song that named hot young Melbourne garage-punks Disco Junk, is perhaps even more cherished.  Original copies of each go for four-figure prices these days. And for good reason. The Victims were ahead of their time back in the day – they had a velocity and reductive primitivism that preempted the earliest American hardcore bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat, and a bratty sense of humour and pop culture obsessiveness to match very early Redd Kross, a band with whom Dave Faulkner would form a kinship in later Gurus days. For the most part they were faster and harder - and their songs were shorter - than their contemporaries anywhere. Hardcore in all but name. Phenomenal for 1977.
 
The new Victims recordings - an EP from 2020 and a single "Girls Don't Go For Punks"/"Victim" which came out in time for their final Perth show (and which was mixed by Ed Stasium who worked with the likes of the Ramones and Talking Heads), capture the same energy, humour and relentless attack. Although the new stuff was all recorded over 40 years after their original recordings, it sounds exactly like The Victims. It’s a sound that should be inherently familiar to Gurus fans too. After all, the Hoodoo Gurus are rooted in punk, and the stuff that influenced punk, like raw ‘60s garage-rock.  And there’s also the distinctive Faulkner voice and classic Faulkner songcraft – both as instantly recognizable in The Victims as the Gurus – and the frenetic Faulkner wrist action, which still appears in the Gurus from time to time. And the primal Baker tub-thumping. The Gurus were known to do The Victims' “Television Addict” going back as far as when James was still in the band, and other Victims' killers like “Horror Smash” and” I Wanna Be with You” would work just as well in the Gurus' hands. But none of these songs are ever gonna sound as great as when it's The Victims themselves playing them.
 
You've got two last chances to catch them (Friday 1st December in Melbourne and Saturday 2nd December in Sydney) - don't miss out.

The Victims "Girls Don't Go For Punks" 
 The Victims “Horror Smash” 

 
 The Victims “Television Addict” (live at Hernando's Hideaway, Perth, 5th of Jan 1978)

 
 www.facebook.com/akaTheVictims/

https://intheredrecords.com/collections/the-victims

TICKETING INFO 

Please have a digital or printed copy of your ticket ready on arrival along with a valid photo ID. Acceptable ID includes a current and valid Australian Photo Drivers Licence, State Approved ‘Proof of Age’ card or Passport.

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VENUE INFO 

THE BALLROOM MENU
The kitchen will be serving The Ballroom Menu for this show.
You can view the delicious offerings available by clicking here.

ACCESSIBILITY
The Brunswick Ballroom is Accessible.
The Brunswick Ballroom has made significant improvements to accessibility by installing an Acorn Chairlift. (Model: New Acorn Indoor 180 Curved Stairlift.)

VENUE FAQS
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