Wally Meanie Spins Us A Few Yarns From The Meanies' Three-decade History

An anecdote from 1989-1999

So much happened. Maybe too much happened, which is why it had to stop for a while. Lost count of the amount of gigs The Meanies did since the first one in May 1989 and what was potentially going to be the last one in late January 1996. It wasn’t planned like that. But in the van on the way back to our accommodation after a shocker at a festival-type show in Wollongong with many bands including Celibate Rifles and Reef (!!) that January, both DD and Link left the band. "No, I’m leaving!" "No you’re not, I am!" I got back to Melbourne the next day and headed to the Showgrounds to do an Even gig at the BDO and when folks asked about the weekend, all I had was bad news. 

Fast-forward a coupla years and I toured the Japanese band The 5678's in September 1998 and they insisted The Meanies rekindle their 5678’s association from 1992 and play with them again, this time at the artist formerly known as The Hi-Fi Bar & Ballroom. It was a lovely ‘lost in translation’ moment when the ladies from Japan just couldn’t grasp the notion that The Meanies no longer existed, so I ran it up the flagpole and surprisingly every Meanie saluted. "Just this one" Link said, "can't hurt," he said, "might even be fun," he said... The gig went exceptionally well and as a result, we got added to that year's Meredith Music Festival, which also went great guns and by then we’d gotten the taste back. Been together ever since for shits 'n' giggles and have had a great old time.

The Meanies and The 5678's in 1998.

Another one from 1999-2009

After hitting the road again we decided to do some recording. Link had demoed a bunch of great tunes back in 1995 but with the apparent break-up in early 1996, they got shelved. So we whipped them out again once back on deck and local hero Shane O’Mara had just finished building Yikesville Studio in his backyard so he offered to have us in there as his recording studio guinea pigs. Free recording time? Fuck yeah, if it turns out shit we’ll go elsewhere. Thankfully it turned out great (we were never in doubt of Shane O’s ability really) so everyone was happy. Except that some of the songs have gone missing since, but that’s another story...

Twenty-two songs were recorded and they were all fucking fabulous, varied in approach, a rather diverse collection of tunes one might even say, but in the end very Meanies. That Link guy sure can pen a tune... Sadly our label and illustrious leaders Au-Go-Go Records were by now-defunct so we 'shopped it around' as they say in the biz. 'Tried to find a record label to release it' to us normal folk. But unfortunately the song diversity of the recording freaked a whole bunch of narrow-minded fucktards out in label land and no one wanted to release it. At least not under the name The Meanies. "Can you change your name?" they’d ask. "'Cos we love it but it’ll confuse people." Fuck off! Only forward-thinking types like Munster Records in Spain and Richie Ramone’s label Full Toss locally were gutsy enough to have a crack and they both released mini-album-type scenarios from that collection of songs. The rest we’ve been releasing sporadically as 7” singles with our mates doing covers on the B-side. One of them actually came out last week.

The Meanies circa 2006.

And finally, one from 2009-2019

Time flies when you’re having fun. One of the great things of being in this band is the travel. Every now and then we’ll get to nick off somewhere exotic like Geelong, Newcastle, Townsville, or maybe even Spain. In 2010 we headed over for half a dozen shows only, mainly for a festival called TurboRock! which sadly only lasted a few years. Amazing concept, not too different to the mega '90s line-ups that A Day On The Green, Hotter Than Hell, etc are doing here now. That Spanish festival happened in Santander and Valencia with sideshows in Madrid and Barcelona and had The Meanies, Redd Kross, Hoodoo Gurus, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Muffs, Mudhoney, Young Fresh Fellows, Los Chicos, Autoramas and many more. It was unbelievable. We went back to Spain in 2016 and took Money For Rope with us for a 20-date tour of Spain alone that culminated in both bands being on Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. Not a bad way to end a tour. 

In this decade we also decided to make our first album in 21 years, as we’d not released a full length since 10% Weird. Half of the album featured brand new tracks from Link, the other half consisted of old tracks from the early '90s that Ringo and I had loved to death but we’d never gotten around to recording. We called it It’s Not Me, It’s You and it turned out great. And thankfully Meanies fans seemed to really dig it. It’s about time we made another one I reckon. Link’s got a bunch of new tunes ready, so look out.

The Meanies circa 2015.