Past Imperfect
THE WRECKERY were Melbourne’s kings of proto-gothic alternative rock in the mid Eighties, cramming rooms up and down the East Coast with their dark, twisted neo-blues. With a short career beset by label difficulties and a reputation for hard living, THE WRECKERY’S legacy has never been fully explored and their records have remained out of print for nearly two decades.
They were infamous, in a time when heroin chic was de rigueur, and Bukowski and Burroughs topped everyone’s reading lists, THE WRECKERY became the poster boys for the dark side. The band was tapping the seam of the old delta blues and the Flannery O’Connoresque imagery of a toxic, dilapidated world. They were living it for better and ultimately for worse.
Along with the Birthday Party and the Beasts of Bourbon, The Wreckery helped pioneer the particularly Melbourne-centric, ‘dirty-alt.blues’ sound made popular in recent years by The Drones, The Witch Hats, The Scare, Black Pony Express and The Devastations.
In July 2008, THE WRECKERY will return to the record stores with a new 2CD set entitled “PAST IMPERFECT”, a release on the MEMORANDUM label featuring 24 key tracks from the bands recorded output and is a comprehensive selection of songs that spans the entire career of the band. All of the tracks are completely remastered and are presented in a deluxe gatefold wallet with a 24 page booklet featuring a fantastic array of photographs and artwork. The booklet is enhanced by informative and entertaining liner notes from band-leader Hugo Race.
The band was formed by Hugo Race and Ed Clayton-Jones upon their return to Australia from tenure with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Europe and the USA. Robin Casinader joined on drums having played with Hugo and Ed in the Art punk outfit ‘Plays with Marionettes’. Nick Barker and Charles Todd finished the line upon bass and sax respectively.