For anyone who hung out at the Arthouse for even an occasional amount of time in the nineties, the name NIHILSTIK VIEW would be somewhat familiar if not synonymous with the late, great haunt. A throwback to the rollicking, chaos punk ethos of bands such as EXPLOITED, CHAOS U.K. and BASTARD SQUAD (of which ex member, Johnny Bastard would fully back and nurture), NV and the influx of a younger, more suburban (for lack of a better word) crew/ clientele, fitted the defiantly D.I.Y. venue like a (studded) glove.
Formed in the outskirts of Melbourne in 95, Matty didn’t join the lads until their first demo dropped (self titled). One thing I and any regular at the Arty will attest to is their huge popularity. I can distinctly remember seeing them for the first time With Matties brother and some other crew.* Mohawks and cider punks a plenty! Buzzsaw guitars, tight as fuck drums and Wattie-esque vocals aside, what really caught my attention was the general age of the crowd. I’m talking straight out of High School type shit. Nonetheless, we were blown away. And so was Johnny Bastard. So much so that he released the debut full lengnth by NV on his NOISE POLLUTION label.
ÚPHOLD THE RIGHT’ drops and the chaos punx go nuts for the shit. AFL grand final day was traditionally the day of the ARTHOUSE pub crawl that would entail leather jacketed punk kids roaming the CBD, defacing public property with paint, textas or spit, and the occasional scuffle (who remembers the infamous ‘Riot at the Hyatt?) This would culminate in a fucking rawkus show at the Arty to cap off the leisurely day. The particular year NV played was bananas. Moshing, slamming and spew. Obnoxious, vile vomit all over the the dancefloor. No one gave 2 shits. NV was blasting! Imagine if that shit went down these days at a fucking DEEZ NUTS show? They’d probably shut the shit down!
The band would soon drop their split cd with fellow melbournites, HEADSORE. Not long after they call it a day. Despite this, the reverberation and influence, musically and stylistically would be felt for years. Bands like CHARTER 77, and GGF would continue the reign of cider punkdom whilst BASTARD SQUAD would reform (with the released from corrective services and O.G. vox, Jason Bastard)
Drummer Matt would go on to join street punk cohorts H-BLOCK as well as later forming POISON CITY RECORDS darlings, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY. Matty would form THRILLKILLERS with ex RUPTURE bass man Zombo and then years later with myself, form the crap we peddle now.
*...and if memory serves me correctly, Matty was wearing face make-up ala KISS!!!
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