Fear and Loathing is a punk band from Adelaide that was founded in 1981.
History
Harry Butler and Agravaine McLachlan (both formerly from the band VOID) and one Mr Chris Wiley (lighting technician for Agent Orange) disillusioned by the state of the alternative music scene at the time, decided to conduct a series of rehearsals inspired by early British and American punk music (mainly wanting to sound like Discharge). After months of practice (usually at Harry's place) they managed to acquire a 2nd guitarist by the name of Steve Honeyman in February 1982, unfortunately he only lasted a month, which left F.A.L. as a three piece again until June '83 when Andrew Cappo and Dave Williams joined F.A.L., it was then that the band had it's first full line up with Harry on guitar, Agravaine and Andrew on vocals, Chris on bass and Dave on drums.
By Jan '84 Andrew and Dave went their separate ways leaving F.A.L. to practise among themselves. Wanting a 2nd guitarist, F.A.L. auditioned a few Adelaide personalities to no avail, so it was decided that Chris Wiley (who had been teaching himself dodgy guitar at the time) would take over pole position on lead guitar therefore leaving room for his old school buddy Hermann Lauss (ex Faith By Force) to take over Bass duties. Both Chris & Hermann would alternate on playing bass, Chris playing on the old set while Hermann played the new. By May '84 F.A.L. recruited Marek Urbanski (Vocals) and Mark Ferguson (Drums) both formerly of the band Ribcage Wrestlers, from this time forward the band played constantly around the pubs and clubs with this line-up 'til December '84 when Agravaine finally had enough of the riotous antics of the band scene and decided on a more artistic pursuit. Mark also left the band that year after he developed R.S.I. The band kept the same line-up until Jan '86 despite the fact that they were going through a new Drummer every couple of months (Paul Smith, George Klestinis,Steve Amos,Justin Butler,Martin Bland,etc,etc,etc, Marek handed in the towel in January that year and moved to Sydney (to become a music entrepreneur). Much confusion as to who will do what followed,
It was at this time a young Roadie (and beer wrangler) called Dave Ormsby was kidnapped by the band and forced to play rhythm guitar while Harry took over the Vocal duties, Chris went to Lead guitar/Vocals and Hermann took over all the Bass duties. In August '86 John Scott (ex King Bees) joined the band on Drums creating it's first ever stable line up, it was also in that year that F.A.L. released "A Box Full of Fluffy Ducks" on a dodgy cassette complete with lyric book. During the time of John Scott F.A.L. toured Sydney with KING SNAKE ROOST and it was there that they got their first record deal with Waterfront Records (even though the guy who offered them the deal got spat upon by the rest of the band 'cause they thought he was full of shit) it wasn't until they got back to Adelaide did they find out he was serious, and by 1989 F.A.L.s First full album was released ("Wait 'til the Cat Licks It Up"). During that time also, three more cassettes ("7 Garden Slugs on a Dinner-plate","Beer Fat is Good Fat...."and"An Army of Thalidomides Armed with Axes....")and three contributions to compilation albums (Raw Cuts Vol' 4, The Not So Lucky Country and Are We Still Here?)were also released. By March '89 John decided to leave F.A.L. and pursue his own band interests by forming a band with his brother Kym called The Mark of Cain. It was also that year that Harry Butler had finally had enough of nursemaiding a bunch of stoned degenerates and quit the band, leaving its only original member Chris to guide the band onwards.
In July '89 F.A.L. managed to kidnap yet another soul who strayed too close to the band by the name of Terry Rowe, he was way too young (15 or 16 at the time) and impressionable, which meant that he was the perfect choice to become the best Drummer Australia has ever seen. Waterfront also asked F.A.L. to release another album that year but wanted F.A.L. to release it under the bands own label (Thalidomide Octopus). By May 1990 the album "Odyssey of the Trojan Meatball" was released and Waterfront went down the gurgler soon afterwards (coincidence????)
Without a singer now since Harry left, Chris took over the main Vocal duties as well as playing Lead Guitar and the "Core Four" (Chris,Hermann,Dave & Terry) remains the same to this day. During this time though F.A.L. has had a few singers go through the ranks....ie Ian Thomas who was 16 at the time sang for the band for a few months until Hermann moved to Smellbourne but as soon as Hermann moved back, Jonas Dawson (ex Bardle My Clistoid) joined the band on Vocals from Dec. '93 to Nov.'98, during that time Jess Fisher was recruited to play Didge & Harp for the band (bizarre for a punk band I know), after Jonas left to pursue a career in teaching Tim Jarrett joined as one of the most colorful members F.A.L. has ever had, unfortunately after 3 years both Tim and band parted company leaving Brother Jess to take over on Vocals. But Jess was taken from the band soon afterwards to study in a career in Glass Making in Smellbourne.
Fear And Loathing remained a 4 piece with Chris singing until Jess returned 5 years later in early 2007 to rejoin the band.
Members
- Jess Fisher - Vocals/Mad Monkey
- Chris Wiley - Vocals/Lead Guitar
- Dave Ormsby - Rhythm Guitar
- Hermann Lauss - Bass
- Terry Rowe - Drums
Discography
CASSETTES
1. "A Box Full Of Fluffy Ducks" (cassette) '86.
2. "7 Garden Slugs On A Dinner Plate" (cassette) '87.
3. "Beer Fat Is Good Fat, But Cider Fat Is Better..." (cassette) '88.
4. "An Army Of Thalidomides Armed With Axes And Aardvarks" (cassette) '89.
VINYL LPs....
5. "Wait 'Til The Cat Licks It Up" (Vinyl LP) '89.
6. "Odyssey Of The Trojan Meatball" (Vinyl LP) '90.
C.D.s....
7. "Moneyshot" (CD) '00.
8. "Pig On A Spit" (CD) '01.
9. "Full Mongrel" (CD) '02.
10. "The Waterfront Albums" (CD) '02.
11. "Repeat Offender" (CD) '02.
VINYL LP COMPILATIONS....
12. "Raw Cuts Vol 4-Australian Nitro" (Fur Burger & B.F.A.) '87.
13. "The Not So Lucky Country" (44-VD) '88.
14. "Are We Still Here?" (Steam Shit) '88.
C.D. COMPILATIONS....
15. "Anomalous Silencer 3" (Mystery Bag) '98.
16. "Now I Wanna Be Your Stooge" (Funhouse) '02.
CLEAR VINYL LIMITED EDITIONS....
17. "Moneyshot" (LP) '01.
18. "Pig On A Spit" (Double LP) '02.
19. "Brutal" (7" Single) '02.
20. "Party Time" (LP) '02.
21. "Doggy Waste Bag" (7" EP) '02.