Painters and Dockers
Encyclopedia
Painters and Dockers are a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1982. Their best performed album, Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art is the third studio album released by Australian rock band, Painters and Dockers, which peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association albums charts in September 1988. The album spawned four singles, "Nude School", "Die Yuppie Die", "Love on Your Breath" and...

, peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

 (ARIA) albums charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 in 1988. The album included two top 50 singles, "Nude School" and "Die Yuppie Die". Paul Stewart, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

 player, is the only mainstay in the band which was named for the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union
Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union
The Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was an Australian trade union that covered "mostly work associated with chipping, painting, scrubbing, cleaning, working in every size of tanks, cleaning boilers, docking and undocking vessels, and rigging work"...

 when they performed an early gig at a pub rock
Pub rock (Australia)
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and still influencing contemporary Australian music today....

 venue in Port Melbourne frequented by the union's members. Some members of the band went on to form the Dili Allstars
Dili Allstars
The Dili Allstars are an Australian and East Timorese reggae/ska band based in Melbourne. They are one of the leading voices of support for the East Timorese people and a popular musical group...

.

History

Painters and Dockers formed in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia in 1982 with five members, Vladimir Juric on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s and backing vocals, Andy Marron on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, Phil Nelson on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, Chris O'Connor on guitars and backing vocals, and mainstay Paul Stewart on lead vocals and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

. One of the earliest gigs for the unnamed group was at a pub rock
Pub rock (Australia)
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and still influencing contemporary Australian music today....

 venue in Port Melbourne frequented by members of the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union
Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union
The Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was an Australian trade union that covered "mostly work associated with chipping, painting, scrubbing, cleaning, working in every size of tanks, cleaning boilers, docking and undocking vessels, and rigging work"...

 so they chose Painters and Dockers for the event and retained the name thereafter. In their earlier years, they were the headline act at the Port Melbourne Community Festival, and in a government initiative called Rockin' the Rails, where they played songs from the back of a train, as it stopped at various Melbourne stations, including Ringwood, Camberwell and Flinders Street. Painters and Dockers first recording, "Mohawk Baby", appeared on independent label, Au Go Go records' compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

, Asleep at the Wheel early in 1984. Soon after, Marron was replaced by Colin Buckler on drums, and they released their debut album, Love Planet, which was produced by veteran hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

er, Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde , also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer....

 and released on Big Time Records in 1984 and contained the tracks, "Basia!", also released as a single in March 1985, and "The Boy Who Lost His Jocks on Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the heart of the city, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city...

". Joining after the album's release were Mick Morris on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

 and Dave Pace on trumpet / backing vocals, and with Stewart the horn section was called the Brassholes. Music historian
Music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is the highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time...

, Ian McFarlane, describes their sound as "adding an earthy R&B edge to the band's raucous, punk-infused power pop".

A four-track EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Kill Kill Kill was released in 1985 containing cover versions of "Kill Kill Kill" originally by The Sacred Cows on "The Groovy Guru" episode of US comedy TV series, Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

; Australian group Supernaut
Supernaut
Supernaut can refer to*"Supernaut", a song by Black Sabbath on the album Black Sabbath, Vol 4*"Supernaut", a cover of the Black Sabbath song, by the Finnish metal band Turisas*Supernaut, an Australian glam/punk rock band from the 1970s...

's "I Like it Both Ways"; The Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?" and The Saints
The Saints (band)
The Saints are an Australian rock band, which formed in Brisbane in 1974 as punk rockers. Founders were Chris Bailey , Ivor Hay , and Ed Kuepper . Alongside mainstay Bailey, the group has had numerous line-ups...

' "Know Your Product". Their first single, "Basia!", released in March 1985 on Big Time Records, was a paean
Paean
A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice...

 to Basia Bonkowski—lyrics include "B she's so beautiful, A articulate too, S sensual, I international, Ay Ay" and "She's sitting there with her multi-coloured hair / She's sitting there with that multi-cultured stare"—who was presenter of SBS' music television
Music television
Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from bands, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite or cable. Music TVs may host their own shows charts, award prizes. Examples are VIVA, Scuzz, MTV, JBTV, MuchMusic,...

 show, Rock Around the World from 1982 to late 1984. A live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

, Bucket, released in October 1986 on the band's own label Dock Records (distributed by Shock Records
Shock Records
Shock Records is Australia's largest independent record label. It helps distribute records from overseas records labels such as Epitaph Records, and also for small record labels designed specifically for that band such as Cement Records...

) and Big Time Records, featured one of their live pub rock
Pub rock (Australia)
Pub rock is a style of Australian rock and roll popular throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and still influencing contemporary Australian music today....

 performances.

The band's second studio album, Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art is the third studio album released by Australian rock band, Painters and Dockers, which peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association albums charts in September 1988. The album spawned four singles, "Nude School", "Die Yuppie Die", "Love on Your Breath" and...

, was released in August 1988 on White Label Records (a subsidiary of Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...

) and peaked at #23 on the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

 (ARIA) albums charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 in September 1988. The album spawned four singles, "Nude School", "Die Yuppie Die", "Love on Your Breath" and "Safe Sex", and the first two achieved top 50 chart success. and were accompanied with video clips directed by ex Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...

 Geoff Crosby. The album was again produced by Lobby Loyde, except for "Nude School" which was produced by Franswah.

Their next album, Touch One, Touch All, was released in December 1989 spawning the related singles, "Dirty Filthy Rock'n'Roll" in November, and "Eat Shit Die" in May 1990. Neither album nor singles peaked into the top 50. Morris left in 1989 and Darren Garth had replaced Juric on guitar by early 1990; the band undertook a Canadian tour promoting the album. In December 1991 they released the mini-album, Hickory Dickory Dock with its track "Merry Christmas, Carol" and the single, "New World Order". Nervous '90s appeared in June 1992 and contained six studio tracks and three live tracks recorded with the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 Brass Band. During 1992 they became involved in Performers Releasing Information about Clean Syringes (PRICS), which included running workshops and gigs on safe sex and drug use. In 1993, Garth left and Colin Badger joined on guitar and backing vocals, Painters and Dockers undertook the Australia-wide Return to the Love Planet tour and released a pro gay
Gay friendly
Gay-friendly refers to places, policies, people or institutions that are open and welcoming to gay people to create an environment that is supportive of gay people and their relationships, respectful of all people, treat all people equally, and are non-judgmental...

 CD-EP, I Know Better Queens than That in December which comprised four tracks, including an acoustic version of "I Know Better Queens than That" and two tracks taken from the live album "Bucket". An EP ``Hickoey Dickory Dock and the album, The Things that Matter followed in 1994. A mini-album, Advance Australia Where?, was released in August 1998. By that stage, original members, Nelson and O'Connor had left, mainstay Stewart now with Badger and Buckler were joined by Paul Calvert on bass guitar, Sonja Parkinson on trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 and backing vocals, and Jenny Pineapple on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 and backing vocals. This line-up appeared at Mushroom 25 Live
Mushroom 25 Live
Mushroom 25 Live is a live album, video and DVD by various Australian musicians and was recorded at the Mushroom 25 Concert held on Saturday 14 November 1998, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground...

 concert in November to celebrate the record label's anniversary, their track "Divi Van" appeared on the related VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 release, Mushroom 25 Live: The Concert of the Century.

The Painters and Dockers released seven albums between 1984 and 1994, which featured a selection of sarcastic and amusing singles, such as "Die Yuppie Die" from 1988's
Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art
Kiss My Art is the third studio album released by Australian rock band, Painters and Dockers, which peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association albums charts in September 1988. The album spawned four singles, "Nude School", "Die Yuppie Die", "Love on Your Breath" and...

and pro-queer and anti-monarchy "I Know Better Queens Than That" from 1994's The Things That Matter. Their greatest chart success was achieved with 1985's "Nude School" which received air play on a number of commercial radio stations and which was marked by its controversial lyrics and video clip. At one time, The Painters and Dockers even co-owned a vinyl record pressing plant.

Paul Stewart's brother Tony Stewart was a sound recordist in the Balibo Five
Balibo Five
The Balibo Five was a group of journalists for Australian television networks based in the town of Balibo in East Timor where they were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesian incursions prior to the invasion....

, a group of five journalists, killed in 1975 in East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

. Painters and Dockers members, Buckler and Stewart, went on to form the Dili Allstars
Dili Allstars
The Dili Allstars are an Australian and East Timorese reggae/ska band based in Melbourne. They are one of the leading voices of support for the East Timorese people and a popular musical group...

 in early 1990s with East Timorese musicians. The Dili Allstars, together with various artists, released Liberdade: Viva East Timor in 1999. In 2009 Stewart featured on the ABC Compass religious program following a liver transplant with the episode featuring Painters And Dockers songs ``Nude School and ``Die Yuppie Die.

On 20 November 2009, early members, Paul Stewart, Chris O'Connor, Colin Buckler, Vladimir Juric, David Pace and Mick Morris reformed for a one-off show at the Prince Bandroom in St Kilda, Melbourne, where the band was also inducted into the Age newspaper's EG Hall of Fame.

In 2011 former members of the band are performing under the moniker Painters and Dockers trio - composed of Paulie Stewart, Colin Badger and David Pace - more details are available on their Facebook page.

Members

Painters and Dockers members:
Member Instrument Years Active
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Vladimir Juric guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, backing vocals
Adam Marron drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

Phil Nelson bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

Chris O'Connor guitar, backing vocals
Paul Stewart trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, lead vocals
Colin Buckler drums
Mick Morris tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

David Pace trumpet, backing vocals
Darren Garth guitar, backing vocals
Colin Badger guitars, backing vocals
Paul Calvert bass guitar
Sonja Parkinson trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

, backing vocals
Jenny Pineapple saxophone, backing vocals

Albums

  • Love Planet — Big Time BT7046 (1984)
  • Bucket – Dock/Big Time DOC-R002 (October 1986)
  • Kiss My Art
    Kiss My Art
    Kiss My Art is the third studio album released by Australian rock band, Painters and Dockers, which peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association albums charts in September 1988. The album spawned four singles, "Nude School", "Die Yuppie Die", "Love on Your Breath" and...

    Mushroom
    Mushroom Records
    Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...

     MUSH32274.2 (August 1988) AUS #23
  • Touch One, Touch All — Musicland MUS LP2011 (December 1989)
  • Hickory, Dickory, Dock (1991)
  • Nervous '90s — Mushroom (30 June 1992)
  • The Things That Matter — Dock DOCKCD6000 (1994)
  • Overt and Deliberate (Live at the Gluepot Auckland 1988) (2009 released as part of The Age 'EG' Hall of Fame)

Extended plays

  • Kill Kill Kill — Big Time BTB-910 (1985)
  • Nude School Limited Edition, Mushroom Records (1987)
  • Hickory Dickory Dock (December 1991)
  • I Know Better Queens than That (December 1993)
  • Advance Australia Where? — Dock/Shock
    Shock Records
    Shock Records is Australia's largest independent record label. It helps distribute records from overseas records labels such as Epitaph Records, and also for small record labels designed specifically for that band such as Cement Records...

     DOC10000 (31 August 1998)

Singles

  • "Basia!" — Big Time BTS-1448 (March 1985)
  • "Bend Me Shape Me" Dock (1985)
  • "Die Yuppie Die" — White Label K 411 (1987) AUS #49
  • "Nude School" White Label K265 (1987) AUS #29
  • "Love On Your Breath" White Label K495 (1988)
  • "Safe Sex" White Label K603 (1988)
  • "Dirty Filthy Rock 'n' Roll" — Musicland MUS SP 2012 (November 1989)
  • "Eat Shit Die" — Musicland MUS SP2016 (May 1990)
  • "New World Order" (December 1991)

External links

  • Painters and Dockers discography @ Australian Rock Database
    Australian Rock Database
    Australian Rock Database is a website with a searchable online database that lists details of Australian rock music artists, albums, bands, producers and record labels. It was established in 2000 by Swedish national, Magnus Holmgren, who had developed an interest in Australian music when visiting...

     by Magnus Holmgren
  • Painters and Dockers discography @ Discogs
    Discogs
    Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...

  • Painters and Dockers discography @ MusicBrainz
    MusicBrainz
    MusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...

  • Painter and Dockers discography @ Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR)
  • Painters and Dockers Facebook page
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK