Feedtime (stylised as feedtime) is an Australian

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

band from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, that was initially formed as a duo in 1979 by Rick Johnson on guitar and vocals and Allen Larkin on bass guitar and vocals. They soon became a trio with various drummers until 1982, when they were joined by Tom Sturm. This line-up issued four albums, '' Feedtime'' (late 1985), ''

Shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made ...

'' (February 1987), '' Cooper-S'' (May 1988) and '' Suction'' (early 1989), before disbanding in February 1989. They reunited in 1995 with Johnson and Larkin joined by the latter's younger brother, John Larkin, on drums for another album, '' Billy'' (April 1996), before disbanding again in 1997. The Rick-Al-Tom line up reunited again, in 2011.

History

Rick Johnson and Allen Larkin had met at a

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

secondary school in the early 1970s. They formed Feedtime, in December 1979, as a duo with Johnson on guitar and lead vocals and Larkin on bass guitar and vocals. The band's name is stylised with a lowercase 'f'. They were soon joined on drums by Dave Carter who was replaced, in turn, by Nella Mobbs and, in 1982, by Tom Sturm. The group's debut album, '' Feedtime'', was independently released late in 1985. Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, felt their "music mixed grinding guitars and driving beats with an unsettling ambience." John L. Murphy of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' opined that they "approached maximum if not R&B than blues-punk. Certainly raw, they reissued sound oddly spacious within unsettling digital clarity. Allen's frazzled bass, Rick's churning 'electric slide guitar', and Tom's primal drums thud like their names: no nonsense, no added frills." Ned Raggett of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the album, "From the opening hoarse crawl and gargle of 'Ha Ha,' feedtime on its debut sounds like its members were out to not merely perforate eardrums, but flat out bludgeon skulls." Their debut single, "Fractured", was issued in September 1986 via Sydney-based label, Aberrant Records. It presaged their second album, ''

'' (February 1987), which, along with the subsequent Aberrant albums, was also released in the United States via

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

. AllMusic's John Dougan felt it was "perhaps their best album, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Simplistic, crudely played, thuddingly repetitive rock muck punctuated by harsh vocals... ithsome of the most extreme music to be considered rock & roll ever conceived."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

opined that they were a "little slower and more old-fashioned than the IRT the Ramones/Dolls came in on, which definitely doesn't mean they're slow or old-fashioned. Just an art band cum power trio that's spent nine years perfecting its sonic wisdom." In May 1988 they issued their third studio album, '' Cooper-S''; according to McFarlane it "featured all cover versions done in the inimitable feedtime style of raw and heavy thrash." Christgau felt "Most cover albums trip over their own roots – self-conscious simplicity is too neat a trick to bring off a dozen times running." ''Trouser Press'' Andrea Enthal and Ira Robbins observed that it "applies Feedtime's noisy shredder to cover versions... with its tuneless spirited roar, feedback slide experiments and an occasionally untuned bass. Without casting aspersions on Feedtime, it's safe to assume that none of the songs' authors would be able to recognize their handiwork in these rumbling renditions." A fourth studio album, '' Suction'' (early 1989), appeared prior to the group's disbandment in February. Raggett opined that the "last album of their 1980s existence makes for one hell of a farewell. Whether or not it was the exercise of the covers album ''Cooper-S'' that found the trio letting its hooks come forward more than ever, ''Suction'' easily challenges (and often beats) the Jesus and Mary Chain when it comes to the 'melody + noise' equation." The group had been planning their first US tour when "emotional and psychological issues" resulted in their break up: Johnson "later admitted to have suffered a nervous breakdown." He recalled, "I got to the point where I would either kill myself or commit murder." He later clarified that Feedtime "broke up because I was having a breakdown, that's all. There was a lot of anger and darkness that underlaid a lot of feedtime's makeup. I had to remake myself or die. Allen felt that he might have to do some repair work as well. ... Some stuff about feedtime involves very hard stuff and needs to be left alone."Segal, Dave (14 March 2012)
"The Hardest Hard-Luck Band Ever"
'' The Stranger''. Retrieved 29 January 2013. McFarlane declared that they were "one of the most uncompromising and influential groups to emerge from ydneys early 1980s inner-city scene... there was only one other band that could match them for sheer sonic force and rhythmic density: the notorious X." Feedtime made four albums in the 1980s. Initially they recorded for Aberrant Records in Australia, but their second through fourth albums were released internationally by the indie label Rough Trade Records and by Megadisc in the Netherlands. The second album, ''Shovel'', received the greatest critical acclaim. The last of these four albums, ''Suction'', was produced by Butch Vig. Johnson told Steve Gardner of ''Noise for Heroes'' that "' he groupunderstands itself... we're not pushing a hype, we're not pushing a style, we're not pushing glamor, we're not pushing twinkly dinkly bloody little star how I wonder how sweet you are sort of shit.' Rick and Al have never played in a band other than feedtime." Feedtime's sound is heavily referenced rural American country and blues. A large influence from

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

is most easily heard on their covers LP ''Cooper S'' on which they covered the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and the

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

in addition to punk forebears like the Ramones and the Stooges. Bruce Griffiths of Aberrant Records said of his interaction with the group, "the most satisfying was feedtime, because they became extremely close friends as a result of working with them, and I guess part of the satisfaction with them was the fact that they achieved recognition; they were licensed to Rough Trade in America, they're now licensed to Vinyl Solution in England and Europe, to Megadisc in the Benelux countries in Europe, so I guess that was satisfying in the way things happened, and a lot of people as a result of my involvement and us working together came to appreciate this band that I thought was really special."

Reunions

Feedtime reunited in 1995 with Johnson and Larkin joined by the latter's younger brother, John Larkin on drums. In April 1996 the trio released their fifth studio album, '' Billy'' via Black Hole Records in Australia and Amphetamine Reptile in the US. They supported US group, Unsane for a tour of the Australian east coast, followed in April 1997 with an Australian support slot for UK group, the Damned, alongside fellow Sydney-siders, X. The mid-1980s line-up of Johnson, Larkin and Sturm reunited in 2011 for two shows in Sydney and one in San Francisco, for the tenth anniversary of S.S. Records, followed by a US tour the following year, in conjunction with

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

's reissue of their first four albums as the compilation, '' The Aberrant Years''. On 3 April 2012, they performed their first ever in-studio live radio performance on WFMU, a community radio station in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

.Brian Turner: Playlist from 3 April 2012
WFMU. Retrieved 5 February 2013. In October 2015, the reunited Johnson-Larkin-Sturm line-up recorded their sixth studio album, ''gas'', with Mikey Young of Total Control. The album was released on In the Red Records in March 2017.

Band name and logo

The band chose the name 'Feedtime' "because it had no obvious association with tough, fast, or punk, and it had no other associations or meanings". When asked why they spell it with a lowercase 'f', they said: "Looks better." The Feedtime logo is a cartoon

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

, created by Al, who based the design on a Japanese woodcut. It has been described as deliberately meaningless and "anti-punk". In the music video for "Melody Line", the band recreates the logo using motorcycle parts.

Legacy

Despite limited impact at home, Feedtime exerted influence in the United States, particularly in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, and is recognised as having "presaged or even helped create

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

".Masters, Marc (8 March 2012)
"feedtime: The Aberrant Years"
''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''. Retrieved 31 January 2013. Many bands in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

discovered Feedtime through the college radio station KCMU, where DJs and Feedtime fans Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman joined to launch the

record label. Mark Arm and Steve Turner, assistant DJs at KCMU and founders of the pioneering Seattle grunge band Mudhoney, cite Feedtime, alongside fellow Australian band

The Scientists The Scientists are a post-punk band from Perth, Western Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as the Exterminators and then the Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk rock, punk band of the late 1970s and ...

, as one of their main musical influences.Prato, Greg. ''Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music''. ISBN ECW Press, 2009. Describing Feedtime's sound, Arm said: "I liked the reduction—the sonic reduction that was only promised with The Dead Boys, but this was the real deal".Cohan, Brad (28 March 2012)
"The Resurrection of feedtime"
'' Village Voice''. Retrieved 30 January 2013. Feedtime's use of slide inspired Arm to use the technique on songs such as " Touch Me I'm Sick", and "the delay on the vocals and maybe even the slide guitar" on "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More" was modelled on Feedtime's "Curtains". Nirvana's frontman,

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

, was also a fan of Feedtime.Curran, Aaron (15 September 2011)
"Icons: Feedtime"
''Mess+Noise''. Retrieved 31 January 2013. In 2012, Al stated that they were unaware of any interest overseas: "the band were a bit socially dysfunctional, not really tuned into the world. 'Laughs''... it's great to think that feedtime might have had some role to play in the work of those US musicians". The title track of the band's 1996 album ''Billy'' is featured in the 2010 book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download''.

Reissues

During a 2008 interview on Triple J,

co-founder Jonathan Poneman listed Feedtime's ''Shovel'' among the five albums he wish he'd released. Rowe, Zan (26 September 2008)
"Jonathan Poneman from Sub-Pop takes five with the albums he wishes he'd released..."
, ''Mornings with Zan''. Retrieved 4 February 2013. This prompted Bruce Griffiths of Aberrant Records to offer Sub Pop the chance to reissue Feedtime's albums. In 2012, Sub Pop released ''The Aberrant Years'', a 4-CD/LP reissue of the first four Feedtime full-length records.

Discography

Studio albums
(discography, Grunnen Rocks) *'' feedtime'' (1985, Self-released) *''

'' (1986, Aberrant) *'' Cooper-S'' (1988, Aberrant) *'' Suction'' (1989, Aberrant) *'' Billy'' (1996, Amphetamine Reptile) *'' Gas'' (2017, In The Red) Singles *''Fractured/Safari/Rumble'' (1986, Aberrant) *''Don't Tell Me/Small Talk'' (1987, Aberrant) *''Buffalo Bob/More Than Love'' (split single with King Snake Roost) (1988, Aberrant) *''Weekend Warrior/No Soul'' (split single with Unsane) (1996, Black Hole) *''flatiron/stick up jack'' (2015,

) Compilations *''Suction/Cooper-S'' (1989, Megadisc) *''feedtime + suction'' (1989, Rough Trade) *'' The Aberrant Years'' (2012,

) *'' Today Is Friday'' (2012, S-S Records) Appears on * ''Why March When You Can Riot?!'' LP (Aberrant Records, 1985): "Don't Tell Me"/"Small Talk" * ''Trousers In Action'' EP double 7" (Aberrant Records, ACT-13/MX211861, 1986, with ''Trousers In Action'' fanzine No. 13): "Plymouth Car is a Limousine" * ''Away From The Pulsebeat'' No. 2 7" (Red Records, AFTP 002/TR-520845-7, 1988; with ''Away From The Pulsebeat'' fanzine No. 2): "Take the Buick" * '' Bucketfull of Brains'' "Freebie Compilation" Flexi 7" ('' Bucketfull of Brains'', 1988; flexi with '' Bucketfull of Brains'' fanzine): "Trouble" * ''Hard To Beat'' double LP (Au-Go-Go ANDA 70, 1988): "Ann" * ''Howl!'' No. 5 7" (Howl! Magazine, HOWL!-5, 1989): "Don't Tell Me" * ''Scumbait No. 2'' 7" (Treehouse Records, 1990, TR 023; yellow or black vinyl): "Plymouth Car is a Limousine" * ''Amrep Equipped Sampler'' CD (Amphetamine Reptile, 1997, AMREP-097): "Billy"

References

External links

* "feedtime Biography & History"by AllMusic's Mark Deming. * Profile and short interview in ''Swellsville'' No. 7 * Interview in ''Adderlaid'' magazine (referenced in the ''Swellsville'' piece)
biography at Sub Pop site
{{Authority control Australian punk rock groups Australian blues rock groups Australian noise rock groups Australian garage rock groups Australian garage punk groups Punk blues musical groups In the Red artists Rough Trade Records artists Sub Pop artists Black Hole Recordings artists Amphetamine Reptile Records artists Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Musical groups reestablished in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 1997 Musical groups reestablished in 2011 1979 establishments in Australia 1989 disestablishments in Australia 1995 establishments in Australia 1997 disestablishments in Australia 2011 establishments in Australia