Bare Bones

27 June 2013 | 12:48 pm | Carley Hall

"We probably went to Sydney a little early I suppose because we’d just developed a really good following in Brisbane, but we weren’t able to be put into a box like a lot of other bands at the time were."

Last year guitarist John Mitting and his punk band The Skeletones took over the Spring Hill Hotel to host Spresserfest, a mini festival of almost gone but not forgotten bands from Brisbane's punk heyday, in honour of Skeletones guitarist John Spresser. Spresser now resides in Young Care, long-term care for young people, due to a debilitating workplace injury.

Now the group has reformed for a second time since their initial parting-of-ways in the late-'80s for Coxfest, a benefit to raise funds for drummer Brad Cox and his daughter Toyah, who are now both receiving medical treatment for their illnesses.

“We're hoping Brad will be able to play,” Mitting tells of the reunion. “His health's not great at the moment so Cameron [Howe – younger brother of bassist Noel] is gonna sit in for us, so hopefully we can make a few bucks to help Brad out. Brad's daughter is ill, too, so it's to pay for hospital and medical services while he's not able to go to work. You try to look after your mates, you know?

“They're always a really good occasion because you get all the folks that used to come and see us in the early-'80s gigs, so you're looking at people who are still having the same amount of fun but we're all just a little bit older! Some of them will bring their kids and say, 'We used to go and see these guys!' I remember one fella saying, 'You're just as good as my mum said you were!'

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Brisbane's late-'70s and '80s punk rock scene was an enviable one, the output flowing. With a steadfast and exuberant following from blue-collar ratbags from the inner-city hum-drum and the repressed outer suburbs, bands like The Saints, The Upsets, Toy Watches and dozens more ensured the city was known for more than just a dodgy premier.

Enter The Skeletones, a bunch of young upstarts in their twenties from Ipswich. In the mid-'80s, the band played around the usual south-east Queensland traps off the back of a handful of releases that encapsulated that intangible, suburban-sprawl tone with an occasional nostalgic throwback to the sunny '60s in songs like POW Sunny Day. Despite success largely eluding the lads, they never seemed short of a following, chasing that elusive but ever-present Brisbane sound.

“It has its own thing. I came up in '79 and didn't really know much except for The Leftovers, but there was that sunny, poppy Riptide sort of sound,” Mitting muses. “It does have its own flavour. There was some rivalry among some bands but there was that common factor that produced that individual sound.

“We probably went to Sydney a little early I suppose because we'd just developed a really good following in Brisbane, but we weren't able to be put into a box like a lot of other bands at the time were. In Sydney they couldn't really put us in any sort of category.”

They'll favour fans old and new with the classics at Coxfest, and playing such shows with their never-say-die attitude will keep The Skeletones busy for quite some time, according to Mitting. “I guess there's still a lot of people kicking around that want to see that kind of music,” he muses. “We've got a song that's called Shake Them Bones and the chorus line is basically 'Rock until you rot', so I guess that's what we plan on doing really.”