Thought Criminals
The THOUGHT CRIMINALS were formed in 1977 by Roger Grierson and Rocking Riq… Read Full Bio ↴The THOUGHT CRIMINALS were formed in 1977 by Roger Grierson and Rocking Rique Lee Kendall (aka Matt Black), bass player of punk Canadian band the Skulls (singer? Joey Shithead) after RRL answered an ad RG (aka Jack Boots) placed in the foyer of the Paris Cinema, a regular Walter Burley Griffin punk hang which was on the site of the Connaught in Liverpool St Sydney. Quite quickly they roped in charismatically over-endowed Bruce Warner (aka Kit Identity), whom Roger met at the markets and bought some X Ray Spex, Adverts, Saints and Stooges singles from, then realised he had a punk clothing shop called Treatment in Glenmore Rd, Paddington.
Their first gigs were at Blondies in Bondi Junction, also the first public shows of Crime and the City Solution, who emerged at exactly the same time. A succession of drummers came and went, including briefly Mark Kingsmill from the Hoodoo Gurus (aka Jim Boots) - but not before cutting their first E(L)P "Hilton Bomber" with Ross McGregor, a blind engineer, at Ross's Axent Studios in Sydney's south (16 track no less!)
Inspired by the exhortations of the classic Desperate Bicycles track "Xerox Music" ("if you can understand, go and form a band") and the instructions on the DB's cover re DIY records ("it was easy it was cheap go and do it !") - the band launched their own Doublethink label to release it.
RRL departed to join the Last Words (who signed to local label Wizard and also Rough Trade) and The Thought Criminals retaliated by stealing their drummer, the immaculately talented Ken Doyle (aka Derik Wapillspoon) Derik brought with him his whirligig guitar buddy Stephen Philip (aka Vivi Sector), RG switched to bass.. And that was that...
Everyone in the band wrote, so a frenetic period followed of writing, gigging, recording , graffiti-ing, searching for loud guitars and louder people, jumping up and down and pogo-ing to the latest UK sounds and learning how to do all the things one needed to do to be a Thought Criminal.
The first track the band recorded was "I won't Pay (for Punk Records)" as in the heady days of 1977 they believed music should be free. However the economics and the practicalities of making it so proved more complicated than expected. They printed posters, stuck them up, loaded the PA, learnt the art of mastering and manufacturing and distribution and generally did everything themselves because (a) they wanted to be independent and (b) no-one else was interested in helping. Realising there was strength in solidarity, they began organising gigs and paying for recording sessions for other bands (in some cases being unable to fund their own) and accidently Doublethink became a label / agency / PR / whatever.
Overheard making a racket in the mastering suite of EMI Studios with their first EP, they were invited by in-house engineer Gerry Nixon to record some tracks, but the "free time" concept is a torturous process and the band impatiently ran off and recorded four tracks on a four track (at Now Studios), which they joined with an EMI - recorded track "More Suicides Please" to form their second release, another EP called "Food for Thoughtcrimes".
The band were arrested on some trumped up charge of having supposedly flashed some school girls and some nuns, when in fact the charge should have read "looking different on a Sunday night when you should be home in bed". The nuns and the cops swore blind our heroes had swastikas and knifes and had abused them. The whole thing got quite serious when Kit (who wasn't even THERE at the time of the "offence") was sentenced to two months hard labour. Fortunately the whole fiasco was buried on appeal.
The band ploughed own, playing city dive after city dive - and building a small but (as was the tone of the times) ennui - ridden crowd. Bigger crowds followed, with less ennui... A memorable show featuring the band dismembering an effigy of Wendy Saddington, filled with raw meat which was then thrown at the audience, earned the band a certain notoriety, not least because the show was a benefit for Wendy, an old hippie, who had fallen on self inflicted hard times. Ironically Wendy's mum used to feed the band at her legendary late night spot, Oddys, but our heroes always knew how to bite the band that fed them - and finished up the proceedings with a friend dressed as Australian actor Leonard Teale reading the immortal Australian poem "Wendy of the Overdose" to the tune (sic) of "Clancy of the Overflow". The band held the house record at the Civic for quite some time. However that wasn't enough to stop Derik being beaten up by the bouncers, who threw him down the stairs and broke his arm. Enter Steep D'Scent, drummer from the (original) Urban Guerillas (nb: UG featured the legendary Bob Short from Filth) who manned the kit while Derik practised his in-built ninja recovery skills.
Occasionally the band got a mention in the paper, sometimes they even made the listings (for these were the days before gig guides) but their name soon spread far and wide (even to Adelaide!) with the release of their first album "Speed Madness and Flying Saucers", on Doublethink, naturally. Then the band, who despite being musically semi - literate, decided they wanted to explore the possibilities and hunted for a saxophone or keyboard player, before the statesman-like genial genius that is John Hoey (aka The General) agreed to join the gang. A single followed "Edge of Time / Equidistance" and the band started to delve deep into the suburbs in a mistaken quest for life beyond the snug confines of Cleveland St and Darlinghurst and the rest of the inner city squalor, adrenalin and intelligentsia that made up their lives.
The band had never played better, and more writing and gigging followed. Then the band who wanted to push the envelopes, decided to play the opening of them instead. Always keen to open a new venue for themselves or other bands, the band launched their "Spreading Themselves Thin" tour, which was prophetic and aptly named.
The band were not enamoured of the Music Business and had made a pact that when it wasn't fun they'd call it a day - so when it wasn't, they did. "Exit Thought Criminals slamming unsound industry" was the headline that did our heroes proud. Retiring into the creative confines of the (now legendary) M Squared studios, the band recorded their musically adventurous, bold and ignored second album "You Only Think Twice" and then reformed to play a final show in 1981 in front of a thousand people at Chequers, some of who had even come to see the Thought Criminals .
Stephen Philip ended up in Do Re Mi. Roger Grierson ended up as a manager, promoter, publisher and record guy for many Australasian bands. John Hoey ended up in Died Pretty. Bruce Warner became an animator. Derik Wapillspoon became a computer expert.
Their first gigs were at Blondies in Bondi Junction, also the first public shows of Crime and the City Solution, who emerged at exactly the same time. A succession of drummers came and went, including briefly Mark Kingsmill from the Hoodoo Gurus (aka Jim Boots) - but not before cutting their first E(L)P "Hilton Bomber" with Ross McGregor, a blind engineer, at Ross's Axent Studios in Sydney's south (16 track no less!)
Inspired by the exhortations of the classic Desperate Bicycles track "Xerox Music" ("if you can understand, go and form a band") and the instructions on the DB's cover re DIY records ("it was easy it was cheap go and do it !") - the band launched their own Doublethink label to release it.
RRL departed to join the Last Words (who signed to local label Wizard and also Rough Trade) and The Thought Criminals retaliated by stealing their drummer, the immaculately talented Ken Doyle (aka Derik Wapillspoon) Derik brought with him his whirligig guitar buddy Stephen Philip (aka Vivi Sector), RG switched to bass.. And that was that...
Everyone in the band wrote, so a frenetic period followed of writing, gigging, recording , graffiti-ing, searching for loud guitars and louder people, jumping up and down and pogo-ing to the latest UK sounds and learning how to do all the things one needed to do to be a Thought Criminal.
The first track the band recorded was "I won't Pay (for Punk Records)" as in the heady days of 1977 they believed music should be free. However the economics and the practicalities of making it so proved more complicated than expected. They printed posters, stuck them up, loaded the PA, learnt the art of mastering and manufacturing and distribution and generally did everything themselves because (a) they wanted to be independent and (b) no-one else was interested in helping. Realising there was strength in solidarity, they began organising gigs and paying for recording sessions for other bands (in some cases being unable to fund their own) and accidently Doublethink became a label / agency / PR / whatever.
Overheard making a racket in the mastering suite of EMI Studios with their first EP, they were invited by in-house engineer Gerry Nixon to record some tracks, but the "free time" concept is a torturous process and the band impatiently ran off and recorded four tracks on a four track (at Now Studios), which they joined with an EMI - recorded track "More Suicides Please" to form their second release, another EP called "Food for Thoughtcrimes".
The band were arrested on some trumped up charge of having supposedly flashed some school girls and some nuns, when in fact the charge should have read "looking different on a Sunday night when you should be home in bed". The nuns and the cops swore blind our heroes had swastikas and knifes and had abused them. The whole thing got quite serious when Kit (who wasn't even THERE at the time of the "offence") was sentenced to two months hard labour. Fortunately the whole fiasco was buried on appeal.
The band ploughed own, playing city dive after city dive - and building a small but (as was the tone of the times) ennui - ridden crowd. Bigger crowds followed, with less ennui... A memorable show featuring the band dismembering an effigy of Wendy Saddington, filled with raw meat which was then thrown at the audience, earned the band a certain notoriety, not least because the show was a benefit for Wendy, an old hippie, who had fallen on self inflicted hard times. Ironically Wendy's mum used to feed the band at her legendary late night spot, Oddys, but our heroes always knew how to bite the band that fed them - and finished up the proceedings with a friend dressed as Australian actor Leonard Teale reading the immortal Australian poem "Wendy of the Overdose" to the tune (sic) of "Clancy of the Overflow". The band held the house record at the Civic for quite some time. However that wasn't enough to stop Derik being beaten up by the bouncers, who threw him down the stairs and broke his arm. Enter Steep D'Scent, drummer from the (original) Urban Guerillas (nb: UG featured the legendary Bob Short from Filth) who manned the kit while Derik practised his in-built ninja recovery skills.
Occasionally the band got a mention in the paper, sometimes they even made the listings (for these were the days before gig guides) but their name soon spread far and wide (even to Adelaide!) with the release of their first album "Speed Madness and Flying Saucers", on Doublethink, naturally. Then the band, who despite being musically semi - literate, decided they wanted to explore the possibilities and hunted for a saxophone or keyboard player, before the statesman-like genial genius that is John Hoey (aka The General) agreed to join the gang. A single followed "Edge of Time / Equidistance" and the band started to delve deep into the suburbs in a mistaken quest for life beyond the snug confines of Cleveland St and Darlinghurst and the rest of the inner city squalor, adrenalin and intelligentsia that made up their lives.
The band had never played better, and more writing and gigging followed. Then the band who wanted to push the envelopes, decided to play the opening of them instead. Always keen to open a new venue for themselves or other bands, the band launched their "Spreading Themselves Thin" tour, which was prophetic and aptly named.
The band were not enamoured of the Music Business and had made a pact that when it wasn't fun they'd call it a day - so when it wasn't, they did. "Exit Thought Criminals slamming unsound industry" was the headline that did our heroes proud. Retiring into the creative confines of the (now legendary) M Squared studios, the band recorded their musically adventurous, bold and ignored second album "You Only Think Twice" and then reformed to play a final show in 1981 in front of a thousand people at Chequers, some of who had even come to see the Thought Criminals .
Stephen Philip ended up in Do Re Mi. Roger Grierson ended up as a manager, promoter, publisher and record guy for many Australasian bands. John Hoey ended up in Died Pretty. Bruce Warner became an animator. Derik Wapillspoon became a computer expert.
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