Hard Ons / I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken LP Black Vinyl

Hard Ons 'I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken' LP Black Vinyl

Cat #: CRT051
Barcode: 0716252033108
Format: 12" Vinyl Black
Label: Cheersquad Records & Tapes
Release Date: 8th October, 2021

Tim Rogers has joined record-breaking and trail-blazing Sydney punks the Hard-Ons as lead singer! Sydney group the Hard-Ons, who have been cranking out their own brand of punk rock for nearly 40 years now (yes, they started young!), have announced the addition of a new member, one Tim Rogers.

Rogers, who recently celebrated his best chart debut in 20 years when You Am I's new album The Lives of Others landed at #2, is not only a long-time friend of the band, but a long-time fan, having caught them numerous times in his teenage years and bought their records from the start. Never happy with less than a full plate, Rogers will of course remain with You Am I, and will no doubt keep doing all the other things he does, but as of now he is also the Hard-Ons' lead singer. Indeed, he has already written and recorded an album with them!

First single “Hold Tight” is a perfect, tearaway punk-pop number.

“Lite as a Feather”, the second single, is an absolute stomper that utilises Tim’s vocal talents brilliantly. Almost two songs in one, the crunching first half highlights a sing-along refrain of “You’ve got the weight of the world resting on your shoulders” before it changes tack and becomes something more melodic. It’s a brilliant track that highlights the band’s inventiveness.

The Hard-Ons’ Ray Ahn, has said, “I’m thrilled to have Tim on board, and I am loving his contribution!”

Bandmate Blackie concurs, "How fucking good is this!!"

Tim himself has said, “I was already the luckiest goof in rock’n’roll, and I get asked to make a racket with my hero’s? Strewth. Wake me up sometime, will ya?”

One of Australia’s most loved and influential bands from the mid- ‘80s through to now, the Hard-Ons came out of the multicultural South-West Sydney suburb Punchbowl and quickly won a large following nationally with their irreverent attitude and catchy, noisy high energy sound. Appearing on the Radio Birdman-influenced Sydney scene of the early ‘80s and preceding the punk-pop boom of the ‘90s, the Hard-Ons were a musical bridge and became a punk and alternative music sensation, blowing open doors by incorporating disparate elements - like a range of metal styles, from glam to thrash - which were previously unheard in Australian punk.  All the while they were forced to push through other barriers; barriers that appeared because of their mixed ethnicity and their wilfully transgressive and irreverent nature, which was typified by their name, and by Ray’s outrageous artwork.

“The Hard-Ons were and still are amazing” – Warren Ellis (Dirty Three/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

“(The Hard-Ons) should be in the ARIA Hall of Fame!” – Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus)

In their early days, the Hard-Ons shared bills with the likes of the Ramones and Nirvana and appeared on numerous Big Days Out. They scored a never-bettered 17 consecutive number 1s on the Australian independent charts and in 1989 were the only Australian band still based in Australia to hit the top 5 in the NME charts (the only Australian artists to have achieved that - Nick Cave and the Go-Betweens – had both been UK-based).  Despite break-ups and the formation of other bands (Ray & Blackie’s other ongoing band Nunchukka Superfly) and, in Blackie’s case, a solo career, the Hard-Ons undertook their 19th European tour in 2018, when they played the massive metal festival Hellfest, alongside Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Joan Jett. Soon to celebrate 40 years together, their new album with new kid Tim will be their 13th.

Over the years, the Hard-Ons have won the vocal support of artists like Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, and Jello Biafra. They’ve influenced subsequent generations of punk bands – from the Meanies to Frenzal Rhomb to Private Function – as well as a wide-ranging groundswell of Australian alternative artists – from You Am I to Spiderbait to Silverchair to Regurgitator to Magic Dirt to Powderfinger to the Dirty Three to the Chats – each of whom have been inspired by the Hard-Ons’ energy, free spirit and uncompromising dedication.

Tracklisting:

Hold Tight
Fucked Up Party
Pucker Up
Lite As A Feather
Back Pack Sweat
Frequencies
Home Sweet Home
Humiliated/Humilator
The Laws Of Gossip
Needles and Pins (sic)
Shove It Down
Shoot In The Back