The Decline

A-E Bands — 21 February 2010

PUNK

No one was more surprised than Perth band The Decline when they were given the honour of opening for what has been rumoured to be the last ever show of Australian punk legends Frenzal Rhomb. Band members Pat Dolin - guitar/vocals; Dan Cribb - bass/vocals; James (Doody) Davies - drums; and then second guitarist Jimmy Bajrovic were all just 17 and playing the biggest show of there lives in front of 400+ dedicated punk fans.

Eight months later with new second guitarist Nathan Cooper, a swathe of shows under their belts and a new maturity to their sound, the guys have just finished recording what will be their debut EP with Perth punk recording legend Al ‘Dr Alien’ Smith at Begerk Studios.

Pat and Doody went to school together at the decidedly un-punk catholic John XXIII’rd college. Thankfully a Christian upbringing only added to their dislike of organised religion. After a few years they met Dan at a party and after trying a few other guitarists they kicked off as a 3 piece playing mostly covers at parties. 6 months after starting to take it all serious they decided to add some depth to the sound and along came Jimmy to add some extra loving. The next twelve months were test for the guys with regular shows, senior high school exams and the Frenzal show to get prepared for. Then in mid 2008 Jimmy decided to depart the band to pursue other paths outside music. In came long time friend of the band Nathan Cooper to pick op second guitarist duties just in time for a serious of shows and to get ready for the EP recording.

Amusing song titles like ‘No Way Jose’, ‘Red Chair’, ‘Pink Eye’, ‘Homophobes Are Gay’, and ‘Drop it Like it’s Ridiculously Sexist Crap (DILIRSC)’ don’t quite carry across the seriousness of the bands lyrics.

‘The Same Kind’, ‘No Way Jose’, ‘Life Sentence’, ‘DILIRSC’, and ‘Homophobes’ tackle some of today’s most serious social and political issues: The war on terror, racism, capital punishment, the exploitation of women and homophobia, whilst ‘That’s Incest My Friend’ and ‘Oh Fuck’ are both a blatant laugh in the face of religion.

Influenced by the likes of Anti-Flag, NoFx, Frenzal Rhomb, The Descendents and Propagandhi the guys are known for their serious lyrics, fast energetic punk sounds and crazy on stage sense of humour. The resulting sound is punchy and fast with a good mix of clean vocals and of the chart screams.

At this stage the band is preparing to self-release their EP “The Same Kind” for national distribution. The expectation being that it will be released in late 2008. Following that there are plans for mini-tour to take in SA, VIC. The guys will then spend the first half of 2009 ramping up to the recording of an album’s worth of material mid-year. This is already pencilled in for June/July with the legendary Bill Stevenson and Blasting Room Studios in Colorado USA.

The band is currently seeking interest from Australian and International labels to jump on board with them on what they expect will be a crazy few years ahead.