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The Differences, remixed by Little John Guelfi

Little John Guelfi, the punk busker polyglot guitar shredding legend of Camden Town, London, has again applied his expert studio audio engineering skills, remixing the performance of anthemic “The Differences”, longest original track of The Chancres, as delivered in a live single take as usual at Canberra Irish Club, July 2022. Check this somewhat orchestral version at our Soundcloud link https://tinyurl.com/TheDifferences-LJGRemix 

Don’t agree

Can’t you see?

Don’t agree

Can’t you see?

Can’t decide

She’s inside

Can’t decide

In her

Where’s the thing I had

To notice the line and the differences

Where’s the thing I had

To notice the line and the differences

Didn’t you wish I’d lose

That dish, you approved

Didn’t you wish I’d lose

That dish, you approved

What you have

I don’t want

What you want now

I don’t have

Where’s the thing I had

To notice the line and the differences

Where’s the thing I had

To notice the line and the differences?

Early 2025 New Year Bonus – Futuro SPV

https://soundcloud.com/futuro-spv

Futuro SPV are an electronic/electronica studio group that makes electro versions of Chancres songs. Guy Morrison – original Chancres bassist – is the artist for this on behalf of the group. Futuro SPV came into being around 2015 when Chancres vocalist Clive Smith heard Guy’s Live in Paris group and asked if he could do that sort of thing for the Chancres. I (Guy) had a think and said I could do some Chancres songs with the DAW/VSTI gear I was using. Basically, I just plunged in headfirst with the Live in Paris gear and put together soundsets and made arrangements from there, also using Chancres vocals, guitar and bass audio.  The result is rather unusual though I think it is fairly true to the Chancres – but – importantly it is NOT the type of techno music I would envision to do for the Chancres myself. I would think much more hard edge/rad/dissonant electro music. I’ve done some of the latter more recently on keyboards and sequencers. There’s not much more to say but Futuro SPV are released to the internet shops such as Apple Music and what is posted at this site are remasters of those original releases.

The Story of Guy…

Which Guy? That Guy M. Morrison, original Chancres bassist, producer, and keyboardist aka The Gracchus.

The Chancres are one of several Canberra punk new wave groups from the late 1970s and are still worthy of an audience and the attention of fans.

Canberra, the Australian capital, has or had its own distinct culture and hence the punk/new wave rock scene and culture was likewise rather distinct, with groups such as the Young Docteurs, Tactics, Thalidomide, Vacant Lot and the Royal Family to name a few in the serious conceptual joke zone or mode. This collection of nasties basically meant we didn’t think people should have to suffer or be subject to repressive regimes or regimen.

The Chancres were side serve interlopers from then outlying Weston Creek near the Murrumbidgee River and Mt Stromlo. Most groups came from older more established parts of inner north Canberra.

Chancres members were the sons of relatively senior federal government officers and military. My father was Deputy Secretary of Education for the federal government at that time. Incidentally, when I joined the Chancres, I was unsure about my future as an apprentice Woolworths fruit and vegetables worker and window cleaner. Typical Canberra….!

I heard the Chancres at Stirling College in 1979 on a cassette recorder. Notable was the ‘Orange Tape’ session cassette. The song Stirling College was outstanding amongst a very good batch. I commented the performance was really good, powerful and convincing, with lyrics a witty reflection of our student experience.

Greg and Mark came back a bit later and asked if I wanted to try playing bass guitar for The Chancres: At that time, I was an electronic music and modern composition student who was also trying to catch up on piano skills. I had a quick think and decided to accept their offer, though I was somewhat daunted at the prospect of playing and performing for a rock group. Further down the track however I was confident to compose music for songs – but – remained doubtful about what the exact nature of the bass and music generally should be!

Off I went on a Japanese p-bass copy doing the Dee Dee Ramone style on the E string at first. We went into rehearsal and I filled bass nicely and developed some more complex and elaborate parts, initially playing one and two finger style and then with pick.

I was a conspicuously long haired and bearded punk but was taken to an approved hairdresser and – bzzzzt – off went most of the hair though beard was retained a la Peter Hook. A vocalist was needed, and I suggested my good mate Clive Smith who certainly looked a part and had a declamatory “ham” actor vocal style. Clive was a skilled (Shakespearian) actor and his forceful vocals filled The Chancres bill, releasing Mark and Greg to concentrate on their instruments.

So, there we were, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, attracting some attention and gigging often. Young entrepreneur businessman Brian Evans, brother of Chief Chancrette Jane, was interested and thought he’d try managing us.

We started getting more gigs, went onto the Group Makers agency talent register and Brian even generously invested in some gear (I was happy to pay you back $$ Brian – thanks). I ended up with a nice Kustom bass amp with a 2 x 12″ box.

There were gigs at pubs, clubs and sleazy wine bars, birthday parties and a Hellenic Club support spot for NZ songstress Sharon O’Neill. There were also rehearsals, demo recordings, controversies about atonal punk rock, a radio interview and almost a brawl. Punk wasn’t all popular! We were looking good by early 1981 with recognition from the audience and a following.

Greg and I penned new less punky songs such as Faber Castell, The Differences and What You Said (I was a progressive rock fan e.g. King Crimson, Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and, modern jazz like Cecil Taylor). However, fiscal reality and the risk of starving and snake bite in a garage flat led to my decision to move home and resume university studies.

I suggested our mate Chris Paxman – another actor, general wit and Stirling College denizen – might want to try bass. That was the end of me and The Chancres Stage 1 but I do not regret doing it. At some point in the 1980s the Chancres discontinued. Greg, Clive and I relocated interstate and adult lives begun in earnest.

Between my departure and Stage 2 I did more music in Canberra and then Sydney: There was funk gothic metal band 1000 Plane Raid with fellow new/no wavers Marcus Flux and Mark Paxton in Canberra. I moved to Sydney with my then (female) partner, resumed degree studies and even started working in academia (while she’s got herself a career at the ABC). I was also hauled back onto bass in 1990 and played for local groups such as Graham Sandstrom’s Big Huge and Jason Chan’s Lovin’ Submission. I moved back to Canberra in 1994 and almost back to where I started – at Woolworths Weston doing night packing, oh no…….

Eventually I managed to get a Commonwealth public service job, bought some new music gear, and Chancres Stage 2 of my ongoing musical journey then begun: I can’t quite remember what happened but at one point we got together for some playing and made a studio recording with Greg’s Boss BR8 recorder. I then bought myself a Boss BR900CD recorder to record bass parts over drum programs. Greg, Clive and Mark were hauled in to do guitar and vocals and the result was an album ‘Mega Album Take 2’. There was a new piece by Greg and I called ‘Day of Shame’ and I made an epic slap bass meal of the not yet done Greg song ‘Extension Piece’.

Live recording sessions followed including two at Rob’s Garage Studio. The 250th anniversary gig at the Irish Club in July 2012 went well and I assembled an electro album of Chancres songs under the Futuro SPV label. In July 2022 there was 300th anniversary gig and I presented the latest phase of bass style, soldiering on despite a bad back and making several mistakes (never previously done that!). This is my tale over some four decades, now released into the wild by this website. 

These days I’m an electronic studio artist with a group arbitrarily called Live in Paris (links on this Home Page) doing lots of composing, keyboarding and production, although I’m back as a   Chancres bassist. I can assure you the Chancres style and playing continues to improve, evolve and develop to this day. However, (sadly for the Chancres) members have been geographically separated since the mid 1980s living in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, NSW South Coast and country Victoria. I’m not sure how the other members feel, but I’m a bit frustrated and disappointed at the loss of artistic progress by the Chancres. I’m wanting to go into the studio and record Mark’s drumming properly and make another album from there. Recently I’ve just finished a remaster of all Futuro SPV songs. Have fun with this site, the result of some 45 years musical effort, and watch out for updates from me and other Chancres.

Sanity Room, remixed by Little John Guelfi

Little John Guelfi, the punk busker polyglot guitar shredding legend of Camden Town, London, has applied his expert studio audio engineering and Prima Donna guest guitarist skills, remixing the performance of Chancres wistful classic “Sanity Room”, as delivered in a fairly accurate live single take at Canberra Irish Club, July 2022. Check this version at our Soundcloud link https://tinyurl.com/Sanity-Room-Live-Remastered while enjoying the contorted visage of vocalist Clive, chained in the Sanity Room by LJG…until his ‘tude improves.

The Unforgotten

In commemoration of fans and supporters of The Chancres who are prematurely no longer with us. RIP.

Anna Claire Warden, born 1961, deceased 22 May 2008 East Dulwich, London aged 47, aka Wardface.

Andrew William Neil, born 26 September 1961, Butterworth RAAF Base, Malaya, deceased 6 July 2016, Hughes, Canberra ACT aged 54, Chancres photographer and graphic designer, aka The Droid.

Ian Harris, born 23 October 1961, deceased Xmas Eve 2023, NSW North Coast aged 62, aka Bear, Ian Harris bear no malice. 

 

A Few Simple Words, to Fill in the Spaces, by Clive

Clive D. A. Smith, eternal Chancres vocalist, also known as The Myth under band member naming conventions, submits this reminiscence. His by-line is “Clive Thmith talk like thith” in the Name Song.

The creative contributions of CDAS included inspiring guitarist Greg to write The Road to Hell (see Lyrics 22). Clive had laboured hard in the hot sun for hours laying paving stones at their verdant Yarralumla residence close to the official namesake residence of the Governor-General, telling Smith patriarch Rodney he would mow the lawn later. Rodney somewhat critically thundered “The road to hell is paved with good intentions!”

Clive also wrote lyrics for the classic semi-funk experimental “not punk” ballad San Francisco, the tale of Jimmy, leaving the Village on a Greyhound bus, with Persian socks (see Lyrics 16, they were only living), and ad libbed effectively, including with classic Airbus (Lyrics 18).

A dent in my face

Gaining secure employment in 1980 Canberra was very hit and miss. I did secure employment, but the job required sitting or standing for hours with almost nothing to do. I was an attendant opening the doors leading from Kings Hall into the Senate in Old Parliament House as well as running office errands. The attendants had recently been told they weren’t allowed to spend their afternoons drinking in the non-members bar. To some of them this seemed to be very unfair because that’s what they’d been doing for decades. I understand they may have even approached the union.

One Friday in late 1980 there was a Happy Hour at the old Hotel Canberra, now the 5 Star Hyatt Canberra.  Parts of the building were used for office space, but it was mostly empty and slightly dilapidated, with plenty of room to set up tables and beer kegs. The Chancres were playing at the Wesley Centre on National Circuit that night so I couldn’t stay long but nonetheless I’d drunk enough in the time I was there so that on the way home I rode my pushbike at usual breakneck Tour de France speed into the rear of a stationary car parked on Captain Cook Crescent, Griffith, near the rented 1950s puce brick band house. It was a Celica, perhaps Sillycar, I think, and the impact left a small dent in the bumper bar and a big dent in my face, with grazing and general lacerations. The bicycle was bent too, and I had to sling it over my shoulder as I staggered the remaining distance to seek succour for my wounds.

Chief Chancrette Jane took me to Woden Valley hospital, but they didn’t stitch one of the cuts or clean it out, leaving me with a lifelong blueish tear drop shaped scar next to my right eye, embedded bluestone road gravel. People have asked me if this distinctive scar is from prison time. Ask me no questions I will tell you no lies. I don’t remember much about that gig or the night but having fresh and real facial injuries did help add to the punk atmosphere, and from all reports the crowd went off like a firecracker. Performing in a bloodstained Senate attendant uniform shirt also established street cred with the local punters, symbolic of the backstabbing continuing to this day in the parliamentary chamber of unrepresentative swill.

Musical Achievements and Evolution toward The Chancres

Winning second place in the 1971 Canberra Eisteddfod at the Griffin Centre in Civic (under 11 boys singing) and a widely applauded performance at the end of year school concert at the Canberra Theatre in 1972 could have been the end of a promising singing career, had I not by pure happenstance been in the same Stirling College economics class as Mark Jarratt and Greg Powell in 1978.

Both had a distinct fashion style, Greg wearing Hard Yakka shirts and shorts channelling perhaps a golf course groundsman or nurseryman while Mark’s attire had more militaristic themes, with crewcut, highly polished boots and army surplus courtesy of his dad. This stood out in the sea of blow-dried long hair, windcheaters, grey Levis “Californians” jeans and running shoes worn by most at Stirling College including yours truly (except for our ginger nut mate and bassist Christopher Paxman; his preferred clobber was sort of Kalgoorlie Rajneeshi orange person). They were also writing original music, a distinct style, forged in Weston on the slopes of Oakey Hill. If the words to the first Chancres songs were not written by Mark and Greg they were written by Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy or Kenneth Slessor or in one case Sham 69 (but then only some of them), subject to poetic licence for musical coherence.

Gradually, although with the effluxion of decades I can’t recall all the details, Guy Morrison and later Chris Paxman found themselves playing bass to the unique Chancres economic punk music while I found myself shanghaied into singing behind a microphone. I think I would describe my delivery less as singing and more declamatory poetry slam. Listen to our live recordings and pass your own judgment.

Welcome to Chancres WWW Central, by Jane Evans

In my role as a band supporter of over four decades, photographer of many early shots on this site, Chief Chancrette and fan club president, I am pleased to write these few words noting the launch of The Chancres fine punk heritage website.

It’s funny how friendships form.  What chemistry or elements come together to enable friendships to endure?

My earliest memory of Chancres drummer Mark Jarratt was the time we spent a few hours in the back of my brother’s orange VW Beetle on our way to Goulburn Gaol. Okay, so now you’re interested!  The social psychology department at Stirling College, the alma mater of all Chancres, took all year 11 and year 12 students on an excursion to Goulburn Gaol. I still can’t figure out what knowledge we were expected to gain from the experience, other than to keep nice and be upstanding.

The following year (1979), Mark, Chancres guitarist Greg Powell, the late Anna Warden, RIP, soon to be bassist Chris Paxman and others were together in Year 12 English class.  We became friends from our term together in that class, and the broader Chancres friendships became apparent and developed.

I first saw the Chancres perform in a lunchtime concert in the Stirling College auditorium. Acknowledging that the line-up of college talent was mostly heavy rock/stadium rock genre, playing known classics – which was popular – Mark and Greg had to negotiate hard to get a slot in the line-up. I recall Mark played on the kit of fellow drummer Brian Carey, and borrowed drumsticks after shredding and snapping his, as he and Greg throttled their way through a handful of classic Chancres songs – much to the horror of drumset owner Brian!

The Chancres tribe grew from then on – some musically involved, others idealistically aligned, and others fascinated, amused, entertained, while recognising that The Chancres stood for something other than mindless thrash, shown by their thoughtful literary lyrics. They had something to say! Chancres “songs of complaint” were, in fact, considered observations of society – or poetry – put to music mostly by Greg although the Chancres creative process was always shared and cooperative. No punk bad ‘tude.

Over 40 years has passed, and I am pleased and proud to acknowledge our enduring friendships. I count Mark, Greg, Guy, Chris and Clive as other brothers, not forgetting birth brother Brian, former Chancres manager.  These guys were never punk ratbags; they were a notable part of the Canberra Punk movement in the late 70’s to early 80’s, a time when there was little else for young Ken Behrens as entertainment.  Getting together in the Weston Creek community centre and other venues on a Saturday afternoon to write songs and play music with their close friends was as good a use of time as anything else, followed by energetic performances continuing to this day.

Enjoy this site and I hope you too join the global legions of Chancres fans.

The Chancres launch new website

Done and Dusted, at Anytime

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…

But dust…

But dust…can come at anytime

V2

A can of Fosters

Without a head

A can of Fosters

Flat and dead

Chorus with refrain

But dust…

But dust…

But dust…

But dust…

But dust can come at anytime

V3

I took the beer back

Back to the shop

To get a refund

From the shop wop

Chorus

But dust…

But dust…

But dust…

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…

But dust…

But dust…

But dust…

Dust can come at anytime

V4

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!