About 25 years ago there was a share house in East Street in the lower foothills east of Adelaide. It was like so many other Adelaide inner-suburban sharehouses: a stained brown couch, a few rickety chairs, dog eared copies of ‘70s philosophy texts, overflowing ashtrays, a battered fridge, piles of empty West End stubbies and a homemade bong or two.
There were parties held there, too, at least one of which was affectionately titled Eaststock. The Bedridden played Eaststock, probably to a backyard full of university students and unemployed existentialist philosophers. The Bedridden played an idiosyncratic brand of folk. Some might have described it as folk-punk, or maybe punk-folk – it was loud in a boozy, celebratory and irreverent Celtic sort of a way. The lyrics transformed the banality of ordinary existence into poetic wonder: trips to the country, walking through air-conditioned department stores, television soap operas, bogans (though in those days Adelaide had yet to acknowledge its seminal bogan role) and domestic animals.
The manic neo-pagan celebrations were punctuated with moments of reflection and tenderness: beautiful waltzes, sweet whispers of emotional yearning, lush harmonies, exquisite musicianship. The Bedridden existed beneath the cheaply polished surface of the dominant culture; the band’s punk aesthetic came from its resolute opposition to the strictures and structures of that culture. You can take your suburban mortgage, beige Holden Commodore and polyester office job and suffocate on it.
The Bedridden played together, broke-up, reformed, broke-up, moved away, got together again and finally faded from view after protagonist Baterz’s untimely death in 2002. The Bedridden reformed briefly a few years later and then moved away again. Listen to Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla – a compilation of unreleased recordings over the band’s sporadic 16-year existence – and you’ll hear not only some truly memorable songs but the spirit of one of Australia’s most fascinating underground musical acts.
BY PATRICK EMERY
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