When you have as big a celebrity fan as Stephen King, you must be doing something right! The three-piece from Finley, New South Wales, Australia, often jump genres from disco-pop (Stevie, Calypso) to mutant dance (Arse Huggin' Pants) - in the course of a single album, no less. And yet, they still manage to rock like mofos (Shazam!, Outta My Head, and - of course - their cover of Black Betty).
The three band members Mark Maher or "Kram" (drums and vocals), Damien Whitty or "Whitt" on guitar and Janet English on bass/vocals come from the small town Finley in southern New South Wales where they jammed together in their youth.
The band moved to Melbourne, Australia where Kram was studying at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music. The band played its first gig at a loungeroom for a friend's party. The band soon became part of Melbourne's punk scene playing gigs at venues like the Tote Hotel in Collingwood, Victoria. They released their first single Circle K on Au-Go-Go Records with an EP titled P'tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh! following in 1992. The band's first album Shashavaglava was released in 1992. 'Shashavaglava' means 'dickhead' in Croatian. This album featured the songs Old Man Sam and a cover of English comedians The Goodies' song Run.
Spiderbait signed with Polydor Records and released their first album with the new label, their second album overall, named The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake in 1995. The album reached #14 on the Australian charts with singles Monty and Jesus receiving extensive airplay on Triple J. The album title refers to an unfinished project by the Finley Rotary Club, which became a venue for teenage drinking in their home town.
Their third album Ivy and the Big Apples was released in 1996, reached #3 and sold over 180,000 copies in Australia. Their first single Buy Me a Pony received extensive airplay on Triple J resulting in listeners voting it as their favourite song of the year. The second single Calypso also achieved commercial airplay, and reached #13 in the Australian singles charts in 1997.
In 1998, Janet English and her then boyfriend Quan Yeomans of Regurgitator recorded an album as Happyland. Around the same time, Kram and Richie Lewis of Tumbleweed released their own side-project the Hot Rollers - so named as both member's mothers were hairdressers. The Hot Rollers only album (self-titled) was released through Polydor.
Spiderbait returned together in 1999 with the album Grand Slam which also debuted at #10 on the Australian album charts.
Despite good airplay for the Grand Slam singles Shazam! and Stevie, their 2001 album The Flight of Wally Funk was a commercial flop, only selling 20,000 copies. The album was recorded in Whitt's living room.
Spiderbait recorded the Tonight Alright album in Los Angeles with producer Sylvia Massy who had worked with acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Tool, System of a Down and Skunk Anansie. The first single Black Betty was a cover version of the old Leadbelly song which became a hit in 1977 when covered by Ram Jam. The single reached #1 after 10 weeks in the singles chart in May 2004 (after debuting at #12), and stayed there for three weeks, becoming their biggest selling single ever. The film clip featured a hot rod similar to the car on the ZZ Top Eliminator. The song also made the soundtrack to the Electronic Arts video game Need for Speed: Underground 2. Tonight Alright was released on 28 March 2004, and debuted and peaked at #14. The second single Fucken Awesome debuted in the top 30 on June 28 2004. Interscope Records signed the band in 2004 to distribute Tonight Alright in the US and UK.
At the 2004 ARIA awards, Kram performed as part of the supergroup The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian rock bands.
In September 2005 they released a Greatest Hits collection to reveal their back catalogue to younger fans who were caught up by Black Betty. This debuted at #6 and received a Gold Accreditation.
The band went on hiatus March 2005 after bassist Janet English gave birth to her daughter and planned a cycling tour across Europe. More recently Kram had announced plans of a solo album to be released sometime in 2006. On 18 November 2006 the band performed at the Queensland Council of Unions organised Rock the Vote! concert in Brisbane after a nine month hiatus from touring.
The band recorded a cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" as the main theme for the film Ghost Rider (2007), starring Nicolas Cage. A small excerpt is played during the film, and then in its entirety as the first song when the credits roll. The band's song "Glokenpop" is featured in the 2009 game LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation Portable. Kram released his debut solo album, Mix Tape, in March 2009. In 2010, Magnapop's album Chase Park featured a cover of Spiderbait's song "Jesus" from The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake. In December of that year, they supported Guns N' Roses at a Sydney gig. The band recorded a cover of "Rock-a-Bye Your Bear" for the compilation ReWiggled - A Tribute to the Wiggles.[41]
2013–present: End of hiatus and self-titled album
In an interview with Triple J in February 2013, Kram announced that Spiderbait were in the studio, working on their first album in seven years, saying "We're doing a new record and we're about halfway through. We're just writing demos at the moment and it's coming along well. We're back in our Motorhead and Metallica metal phase—I'm all double kick at the moment."
The self-titled album, Spiderbait, was released on 15 November 2013. The band played a gig on the same day, for the opening night of the Jam Gallery, a new music venue in Bondi Junction.
On 11 March 2022, the band released "My Car's a A UFO", their first new song in nine years. The song was initially recorded for their fifth album, The Flight of Wally Funk and is the lead single from the band's third compilation album, 'Sounds in the Key of J, scheduled for released on 8 April 2022.
Studio Discography
Shashavaglava (1993)
The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake (1995)
Ivy and the Big Apples (1996)
Grand Slam (1999)
The Flight of Wally Funk (2001)
Tonight Alright (2004)
Spiderbait (2013)
Old Man Sam
Spiderbait Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A bad bad man
Yeah
A badder he was
Than ol' man sam
Ah
We're all having fun child
A smoking the plunger
So we may have to run child
We may have to run
I saw the peter tosh
And he was sloshed
I saw the peter tosh and he was sloshed
He was sloshed he was so much off his face
Jabba was big and fat
But don't tell him that
He ate the cat, he ate the rat
And then he ate, then he ate, then he ate the cricket bat
Oh ? yeah
? yeah
Now it's time for us to go
So don't be slow
It's time for us to go
So don't be slow, don't be slow, don't you be slow
Go!
The lyrics to Spiderbait's "Old Man Sam" are a bit nonsensical and disjointed, but it seems to be about a group of people having a wild time with drugs and alcohol. The first verse compares a man named Johnny to an "old man Sam," implying that Johnny is worse or more dangerous than whoever Sam is. The chorus is a bit harder to decipher, but it seems to be about the group of people having fun and feeling the effects of whatever they are smoking or taking. The line "We can't find the blond" could refer to a missing person or to drugs that they can't locate. The next verse mentions seeing reggae artist Peter Tosh, who was apparently highly intoxicated. The following lines are more absurd, mentioning a character named Jabba who ate a variety of animals, as well as a cricket bat.
Overall, the song seems to be capturing a chaotic party atmosphere, with random characters and events popping up throughout the lyrics. The driving rhythm and energetic vocals match the frenzied tone of the lyrics, creating a sense of reckless abandon.
Line by Line Meaning
A johnny was a man
There was a man named Johnny
A bad bad man
Johnny was a really bad person
Yeah
Yes, it's true
A badder he was
Johnny was even worse than
Than ol' man sam
An old man called Sam
Ah
Expressing realization or understanding
We're all having fun child
Everyone is enjoying themselves
A smoking the plunger
Using drugs
We can't find the blond
We can't locate someone with blonde hair
So we may have to run child
We might have to leave quickly
We may have to run
We might have to escape
I saw the peter tosh
I saw the musician Peter Tosh
And he was sloshed
He was very drunk
He was sloshed he was so much off his face
He was extremely inebriated
Jabba was big and fat
A person or thing called Jabba was large and overweight
But don't tell him that
But we shouldn't say that to him
He ate the cat, he ate the rat
Jabba consumed a cat and a rat
And then he ate, then he ate, then he ate the cricket bat
He also ate a cricket bat
Oh ? yeah
Expressing agreement or excitement
? yeah
Affirmative response
Now it's time for us to go
It's time for us to leave
So don't be slow
We shouldn't waste any time
Don't be slow, don't be slow, don't you be slow
We need to hurry up and leave
Go!
Let's go!
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ENGLISH, MAHER, WHITTY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
sally king
you can tell these guys are inventive in their style of music, so much variety, a lot of the time i think they must be smoking some good stuff to come up with the versatility. Awesome
Joel Peacock
seen spiderbait at least 5 times, every time....this was the first song of every gig!!!! BDO was the best when this was cranking
Nellie Silvers
Still pissed off BDO got canned. Just like Claremont Speedway and everything else the poxy buzzkills have fucked up for us😒.
orange avocado
RIP BDO. Spiderbait to me, were the epitome of the BDO
Nellie Silvers
Taught myself this on guitar first time I heard it..loved it straight away. Spiderbait kick arse🤘🏻👌🏻. I'm a Ford chic but fuck that GTS is hot asf😍
chainmatrix
I never thought I would see a flawless amalgam of Primus, Nirvana and Aussie freetime quirkies, but this is it.
deita551
God this film clip makes me bloody proud to be an AUSSIE!!! Thankyou Spiderbait!!!!
Dead End Lane
So glad this is out there, I think my VHS copy would be dead by now. Thanks for the memories.
jacinta
I'm 13. I know someone two months older than me and they know ALL the lyrics to this. Classic girl and classic song
D Taylor
LOL, LOL, LOL what a song!!! Love it love it. Everything was funny about this from the lyrics to the people in the film clip. I miss Spider bait :-(