Following on from my look back at some music history recently, in this week’s column I focus on a unique little piece of Wollongong music history that happened in the early 2000’s. On a Sunday afternoon in mid-December each year, longtime Mount Kembla local Marty Doyle would borrow his mates truck, convert it to a stage, park it on Mount Kembla Oval and curate a line up that featured some current local favourites mixed in with some of Marty’s favourites in the world of garage rock, psych and cool country. It was called Kemblastock and was a long way removed from the festivals we know today, this was extremely DIY and totally free. It was just an extended gathering of family and friends, soundtracked to great live music in the lead up to the festive season. For this week’s counter culture I look back at some of the mainstay local bands of the time that made the line ups so much fun.
Babymachine are celebrating twenty-five years of being a band this week with a gig at the Servo and back in the Kemblastock days they were a favourite of the festival. If you have never seen or heard Babymachine yet they are a band that has led to Riot grrrl spirit in Wollongong and Australia. With a sound equal to their international peers such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, the trio would always bring the volume and energy to the Kemblastock stage.
Rockafella were one of the most exciting bands around Wollongong in the early 00’s, now located in Melbourne and just about to release their first new album in a couple of decades. The five piece channelled the spirit of Detroit rock’s finest The Stooges and MC5, mixed it up with Scandinavian punk rock kings The Hellacopters and Turbonegro, then wrapped in some Australian tongue in cheek lyrical content to bring the most high energy show possible to the stage in the tranquil Mount Kembla setting.
The the late 90’s Steve and Paul from Tumbleweed formed Monstrous Blues, Steve was a huge part of Kemblastock, basically running it with Marty, so most of the years, one of his bands would be on the line up (The Unheard were another regular). The Monstrous Blues released and ep and an album during this time, and their thick and fuzzy sounds fit perfectly on the Kemblastock stage. They are another band that if you haven’t heard before, you should go and dig into their catalogue.
Another one of the bands featuring Tumbleweed members at the time was The Pink Fits, this quartet included Lenny alongside members of local favourites Shifter (see more about them below). They played a furious brand of garage rock that hinted at past bands such as the Oblivians and Compulsive Gambers, sat alongside friends at the time like Eddy Current Suppression Ring and preceded what would come from bands later on like Royal Headache. The band played a later edition of Kemblastock and members have since gone on to play in Chimers and The Escarpment, but The Pink Fits catalogue definitely deserves a listen!
Shifter (also for a time known as The Dead Set) were a local favourite in Wollongong since the mid nineties. The four piece band from the northern suburbs took on the influence of bands like the Stooges and mixed it up with some more harder hitting punk sounds such as The Dead Boys as well as angular post punk of Fugazi. The band would always bring intensity to the stage and since calling it a day (although the return every now and then for reunion shows), members have gone on to join bands such as Radio Birdman, Tumbleweed, The New Christs and The Escarpment.
The Dead Set on the Kemblastock stage. Photo by Karena Hoyer.
Mutton (and later members became part of The Nice Folk) were the guys front and centre of every local show at the time that made their way on to the stage. Inspired by British street punk, the bands leader Dave (RIP) was Wollongong music’s number one fan at the time and would be standing front of centre at nearly every show around Wollongong, so it’s no wonder they became friends with most of the artists that would play Kemblastock and end up taking to the stage themselves.
Stu from Mutton/The Nice Folk. Photo from Kemblastock Facebook Page.
As I mentioned at the start, this was such a DIY festival, there was no industry as such locally, I co-owned the High Beam label at the time and released music from some of these bands, I also booked the Oxford but there were very few people ‘working’ in music around me and this was never the intention of Kemblastock. Bands played for free, the festival had a laid-back vibe and it was a safe space. Unfortunately the looseness of the operation, changing liability laws and council regulations at the time meant that it could no longer proceed as it was, so rather that try to make it in something it was never meant to be Marty called time on it. Kemblastock is a special time capsule of an event that could only exist when it did.
