Biography
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Like a out-of-control piece of sky-lab, NUNBAIT hurled themselves onto the early 90's Sydney OZ indie scene and made their presence known with their full-tilt no holds barred grunge-punk-psychadelic-thrash-noise rock band. First line up was Ivan Fraser (vocals), Shaun Butcher (guitar), Mark Guthrie (bass), and Jay Doherty (drums). Originally, Shaun, Mark and Ivan migrated down from Queensland and met up with Jay in Newtown, Sydney (who named the band after a nasty acid experience with a couple of christian flatmates) and NUNBAIT was born in 1989. Later in 1990, Matt Fante joined replacing Jay on drums.
Musical influences ranged from the Birthday Party to Pink Floyd, probably more akin to underground American and European record label artists at the time. (Helmet, Jesus Lizard , Killdozer, Sonic Youth etc. ). A sound that was pretty unforgiving but could lift you up and let you swirl in the clouds with twisted-aural delight then suddenly slam you face first into a cow pat. Lovely. They recorded several albums and EP's including "The Hub" (Waterfront), "Spinout" (Survival) and "Busted" (Full Length Album) on Cousin Creeps' Hippy Knight Records. Couple of singles "Blow Me Away" (own "Masterbait" label produced by Marek Ubanski), "Nowhere Fast" on Waterfront, (produced by Jack Endido (Sub Pop) and Mark Arm from Mudhoney). They had a reputation as a great live act in Sydney at the time, with a keen following particularly around Newcastle and Wollongong and down in Victoria in Melbourne and Geelong.
They toured with Mudhoney, played with Butthole Surfers, Einsturzen Neubarten, Nirvana, Beasts of Burbon, Tumbleweed, Celebate Rifles, Fugazi (to name a few), and played regular shows up and down the east coast of Australia. They disbanded in 1993 when Ivan upped and moved to the USA. They briefly got back together in 1995 when Ivan came back to Australia but by then the fuel was spent and they came to a grinding halt…aye, there's the rub. Check 'em out if you like music to assault, yet cleanse, your senses.
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