GRONG GRONG

Title: To Hell 'n' Back
Label: Memorandum (Australia)
Catalogue No: (mem06)
Format: CD (double album)
Release Date: March 2010
Price: $ 30.00

Hailing from Adelaide, proto grunge outfit Grong Grong bludgeoned Australian audiences throughout 1983-84, with their dark and aggressive take on punk rock. The band filtered its influences of Birthday Party, Cramps, Flipper and Pere Ubu through a suburban Australian mindset... sounding like no-one before or since.

In 1983 they supported the Dead Kennedys and impressed frontman Jello Biafra so much they became the first and only Australian band to release an album on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. Guitarist Charlie Tolnay later performed with King Snake Roost, Lubricated Goat and collaborated with Jello Biafra and Steel Pole Bath Tub on the Tumour Circus album.

This deluxe reissue features the band's postumously released 1986 self titled LP, plus two unearthed studio demos, expanded live cuts from the Seaview Ballroom show that featured on the flip of their LP, nuggetty rehearsal tapes and their infamous live to air on Adelaide's 5MMM 1983 radiothon 'Gonk Show'. All tracks have been digitally remastered from original source tapes and are available for the first time on CD.

The package also contains a DVD (NTSC Region All) with 17 concert and rehearsal tracks, displaying the band in all their noisy, chaotic glory. Presented in a deluxe gatefold wallet with a detailed 20 page booklet stuffed with liner notes photos and original art - this will be a highly desirable package for fans of this extremely influential band and and connoisseurs of the Australian underground scene of the '70s-80s.

Track Listing - Disc 1: (75:30 m:s)

1. Grong Grong (4:31 m:s)
2. Angels & Demons (5:11 m:s)
3. Club Grotesque (4:03 m:s)
4. Louie The Fly (3:32 m:s)
5. Black Hell (3:59 m:s)
6. Japanese Train Driver (3:20 m:s)
7. Poor Herb (2:57 m:s)
8. Vlad The Impaler (4:03 m:s)
9. Looking At You (3:14 m:s)
10. Who's Got It (3:43 m:s)
11. Hills Have Eyes (2:52 m:s)
12. Swine (3:55 m:s)
13. Human Fly (2:39 m:s)
14. Loose (2:59 m:s)
15. Hungry Jack McDonald (3:43 m:s)
16. Meat Axe (5:16 m:s)
17. Poor Herb (The Gongk Show) (4:37 m:s)
18. Loose (The Gongk Show) (3:49 m:s)
19. Grong Grong (The Gongk Show) (4:15 m:s)
20. Hills Have Eyes (The Gongk Show) (2:53 m:s)

Track Listing - Disc 2 (DVD - NTSC, REGION ALL)

1. Looking At You
2. Japanese Train Driver
3. Grong Grong
4. Club Grotesque
5. Swine
6. Life Stinks
7. Club Grotesque
8. Hills Have Eyes
9. Splitting Sides
10. Life Stinks
11. Human Fly
12. Meat Axe
13. Who's Got It
14. Grong Grong
15. Splitting Sides
16. Looking At You

    Tracks 1-6: Thebarton Town Hall, 1984
    Tracks 7-12: Rehearsal Room, 1993
    Track 13: Seaview Ballroom, 1983
    Tracks 14-16: The Sett Up, 1983

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