I made friends with this balding old (30 or so) pimply surfie-looking dude from my Arts course at uni, back in '87 or so. I mentioned I was in a hardcore punk band & he started bragging about how he was in the "First Ever Punk Band In Perth". I immediately thought to myself: "Yeah mate, whatever" – thinking that HIS idea of "punk" was some flowery "indie-pop" style of … well… "Perth Pop-Punk". No offence to him – I just thought I knew what punk was all about, and HA HA he (nor no one else) didn't.

I was in dreamboat-land. Ross lent me the ORPHANS studio tape from 1978 & it blew me away! I realized that these freaks were fellow fuck-ups who understood & appreciated fuzzed-out cranked-to-buggery punk-rock guitar & nasty rhythms & cunt-hole lyrics. Not to mention some of the BEST RIFFAGE I'VE EVER HEARD.

Fifteen years later, in Melbourne, I still had Ross's master tape. I dug it out one day, played it, and thought to myself: "Holy turds, I bet he's spewing about losing this tape!?"… So I rang around & eventually found his number, via a friend of a friend who knew James Baker. Great move! Not only did I strike up a sudden friendship with an old lost pal, but I got to hear his other cool (and earlier!) bands, THE GEEKS and THE HITLER YOUTH!!!

That's when it occurred to me: "Shit, this stuff's wicked! Let us release this classic gnarly shit!"… And the rest is history, brothers and sisters!

I sincerely think some of the world's BEST punk rock has come out of this inbred shit-city we all call "Perth". Perth has had some you-bewt punk/wave bands in its overlooked history - eg: Greenhouse Effect, the Tarantulas, Bacen Assagai, early Kryptonics, the Kansas City Killers, the Inseminators, the Scarletts, Die Monster Die, Swamp Monsters.  And it still continues! It would take an encyclopaedia to document it all comprehensively. So fuck off! You'll never know!!!

"STUMBLEFUCK" (Melbourne, 2006)

Matt Weiland was a member of notorious 90s Perth extreme hardcore punk misfits, Rupture (where he adopted the moniker 'Stumblefuck' - his best friends are allowed to call him 'Stumbles').  Rupture were notorious for pissing off just about everyone and being banned from every venue in Perth.  Then followed an exodus to Melbourne, and a similar fate there.  The band, now no more (surprise!), are well-known amongst hardcore followers for a rash of very nasty recorded offerings, with album titles including gems such as "Cunt Of God", "Boys, Nuns, Beerbottles & Cunts", "Freudstein's House" and "Sex, Drugs and Rupture".

Matt has played a vital role in bringing the perthpunk project to fruition, digitally remastering the original Geeks, Hitler Youth and Orphans tapes to CD, and utilising his considerable graphics software skills in translating my verbalised design concepts into the artwork for the "Burned" and "Exposed" CDs.  Most of all, his enduring enthusiasm and unswerving belief in the worth of the Geeks, Hitler Youth and Orphans material was largely responsible for motivating me to complete the project - so now you know who to blame.

Anyone interested in purchasing now-impossibly-rare Rupture CDs, vinyl and tapes, please email.

Ross Buncle, June 2006