The Other Mark, Author at The Chancres

The Chancres (circa 1978 to now) – Canberra punk band The Chancres is pleased to launch our new website on the Wide Wide World of Web, containing links to recordings of live performances up to July 2022, short videos, band history, lyrics and photos, from 45 years of economic punk and guff rock.

The Chancres was formed in 1978 by Weston Creek teenagers Mark Jarratt (drums and vocals) and Greg Powell (guitar and vocals). The duo was notable for tight and fast interplay and energetic drum and vocal performances, with guitar downstrokes, barre and power chords.

Prolific songwriters, now with around 50 all original tracks, some of which even sound musical, Fakery, Stirling College, Shark in the Carpark, Free Enterprise Fans and Royal Blood are a few of the many original economic punk songs the pair wrote in 1978-79.

The Chancres have a unique beat and style: fast, neat and jazzy hard rock with minimal lead and underlying driving drum line on many tracks known as the ‘3-beat-pounder’, with solid bass, dynamic guitaring, and overarching lyrics. The style of Chancres punk rock has been compared to the Ramones and The Saints.

The Chancres debut was as a duo for a Rock Against Boredom gig at the Griffin Centre in 1978, with a minimalist repertoire. In 1979 Mark and Greg enlisted fellow Stirling College students Guy Morrison (bass guitar) and Clive Smith (lead vocals) as new members. At a time when high school rock groups were relatively new, The Chancres gained some notoriety and interest as Stirling’s ‘unofficial’ and ‘unapproved’ act.

From 1980, the group started gigging at venues such as the Deakin Inn, the Captain Cook Hotel, the Wesley Centre and the Hellenic Club (chosen as the ‘odd-match’ to support NZ pop diva Sharon O’Neill). Guy and Greg began writing new material in a more progressive and less hardcore punk rock direction. Some of these songs were Faber Castell, The Differences and What You Said. Greg also wrote some more complex songs such as Red Spider and No Cupid. Guy left on hiatus in 1981 and was replaced by another ex-Stirling student – Christopher Paxman.

In 2008 the band reconvened in Canberra to record live, commemorating the premature decease aged 47 of long term fan and supporter Anna Warden. The Chancres have since reconvened on several occasions, doing a semi-public gig at the Irish Club in 2012 for the 250th Anniversary and again at the same acoustically tuneful venue in 2022 for the 300th Anniversary, on each member becoming sexygenarian.

The Chancres hope you enjoy exploring this site and welcome any comments. The audio file links will be updated as the band continues recording, now with the benefits of modern digital audio wizardry, and ability to reach far beyond our initial Canberra and southeast NSW audience.

Recordings: 1970s live cassettes: Chancres Bootleg Album Take 4, Orange Tape and Scottish Explosion. From 2008 to 2022 the band performed in numerous recording sessions, resulting in an extensive compilation album called Chancres Mega Album Take 2. They also recorded a live collection of songs in Rob’s Garage (Studio) in July 2011, and classic live performances at the Irish Club in July 2012 and July 2022, inspiring creation of this Chancres website. Navigate to Stream The Chancres (economic punk) music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud

L to R: Guy Morrison, Mark Jarratt, Clive Smith, Greg Powell, Erindale Centre 1981

At the Stakeout 1982 – Chris Paxman on bass

Done and Dusted, at Anytime

27/09/2023 by The Other Mark

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The Chancres (circa 1978 to now) five members came of age in late 1970s Canberra, then a rather dull small city with most employment in Australian Commonwealth Government and suppliers to government. The fathers of all Chancres members were public servants or military. Canberra is planned and quite “American”, based on the garden city landscaping movement, and is a suburban expanse of bosky mostly upper middle class bureaucrat burgher comfort, apart from the recent featureless Stalinist apartment buildings favoured by the toytown ACT Government, and certain pockets of poverty.

The entertainment culture in the 1970s to 1990s was to “make your own fun” as there was no Wide Wide World of Web for netizens to secrete themselves as now, playing endless video games while reinforcing anti-social habits and gorging on junk food. This anodyne environment contributed to the creation of a vibrant local live music scene, the milieu of The Chancres genesis as social commentators, with compositions often inspired by the quirky events of mundane Canberra life, well-illustrated by the classic semi-reggae tempo Dust Can Come at Anytime.

The weekly tradition of the “gathering” was for members of The Chancres to buy six packs or more of canned beer, depending on funds, at what was offensively described as the Wog Shop, a mixed groceries business owned by hard working Greek Australians within walking, cycling and skateboard distance of band instruments and equipment at Chancres Central.

The shop proprietor knew we were underage to purchase alcohol, but our money was as negotiable as anyone else, so he was not reluctant to engage in such underhanded transactions. On returning to Chancres Central with the ill-gotten gains and pouring the fermented beverage into suitable tankards, the beer was found to be flat as the proverbial tack, deceased as the Norwegian Blue Parrot in the iconic Monty Python sketch, over time, expired, turned, and not potable in the slightest.

A duly authorised band delegation in full dander marched upon the Wog Shop, advising the merchant aforesaid beer was devoid of bubbling vitality, and akin to the urine of a domestic feline, proving this by pouring a sample from great height into a Vegemite glass, producing not a trace of gaseousness.

The proprietor shrugged in studied nonchalance, claiming that consignment of the refreshing golden drop was only delivered the previous day. This claim was contradicted by the dust in the beer can rims, with the question “Why is there dust on the cans then?” resulting in the philosophical response, well grounded in Brownian motion theory and atmospheric particle physics “Dust can come at any time”.

This incident was a valuable learning experience for some members of The Chancres, and although the beer was not replaced nor money refunded, it inspired setting the tale to a track with unusual timing, and the lyrics are below.

The Wog Shop closed many decades ago, when the shopping mall Cooleman Court was opened, also the subject of a Chancres song (Cooleman Court, Cooleman Court, Where you can get what you sought) and featuring in crowd favourite Santa (There’s only one Santa that’s what I thought, but I saw seven at Cooleman Court).

Dust Can Come at Anytime

I went to the shop

To buy a beer

Philosophy was something

I never thought I’d hear

Chorus

But dust…

But dust…can come at anytime

A can of Fosters

Without a head

A can of Fosters

Flat and dead

Chorus with refrain

But dust…

But dust can come at anytime

I took the beer back

Back to the shop

To get a refund

From the shop wop

Chorus

But dust…

Breakout!

The beer was flat

But he didn’t agree

And he lectured me

On dust philosophy

He said to me

“It came in yesterday”

I said “There’s dust on it”

“And I ain’t gonna pay”

Instrumental

Chorus with refrain

But dust…

Dust can come at anytime

The moral of this story

If not already clear

Is to always be real careful

And never buy flat beer

Chorus

But dust…

Yeah dust…

Oh dust…

But dust…

But dust can come at anytime, yeah dust!

mark00

The Unforgotten

The Chancres launch new website

Done and Dusted, at Anytime