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the venus fly trap

  • religious overdoseStrung Out On Heavens High, 1980-1982 - Religious Overdose (Optic Nerve Recordings/Glass Records)

    Nope, never heard of Religious Overdose. So I put it on. And suddenly, that weird Adelaide time from about 1978 to 1981 was back.

    Bands like Nuvo Bloc, Systems Go, The Lounge. You sort of knew some of their influences. And rather than be like so many other bands smitten with the underground music movement currently sweeping the globe, they'd deliberately avoided mimicry to produce something both damn strange and damn good. 

  • venus fly trap  lucy cover
    horse feathers yesterday repeating

    Mars - The Venus Fly Trap (Glass Modern) 
    It’s Not a Competition But I Win! – Lucy  (Lucy)
    El Bendito Y El Maldito - Horse Feathers (Polar Bear Records)
    Yesterday Repeating - The Smart Folk (Self-Released)

    The Venus Fly Trap? Never heard of them.

    On investigating a little on the Interwebs, it seems that not only have I heard of them, I’ve probably heard them, but forgotten them.

    Well, it was about 30 years ago, back when the UK was still reeling in the bass-centric aftershock of bands like Killing Joke, the Fall and the Gang of Four, but more importantly, the Second Australian Wave (you know, The Birthday Party, the Moodists...).

    Let’s not forget the impact of The Scientists either... Certainly the Jesus and Mary Chain were heavily influenced by the BP and Kim Salmon’s mob of hairy ruffians; the JMC emerged, screaming like babies with diaper rash, in 1983. Also, around 1986 Big Black were making an impact on the UK (which would lead to a short-lived “subgenre” the UK inkies dubbed “arsequake”; there was another daftly-termed subgenre as well but you get the idea).