News (and Babeez) had always been a non-image band, playing
in jeans, T-shirts and leather jackets. On their side was a healthy
cynicism about punk itself, especially when rock & roll success
and fashionable interests encroached on the revolution. Julie
told The AGE: "Those trendy punks from South Yarra with the
tie-dyed haircuts and bones through their noses are as remote
from us as we are from the establishment superstars. The Sex Pistols
are already establishment - I suppose we could be one day"
[17.2.78]. News were also dismissive of many local bands: Radio
Birdman were the greatest bunch of fakers! "If they wanted
to follow what the Stooges and MC5 had done years earlier, why
not call themselves a cover band, rather than make up songs that
were almost the same?" [Gavin]. And Boys Next Door? "I
never liked them, I thought it was silly that people liked them.
I don't think their act had anything beneficial musically; you
could say it was backward". News were offering something
distinct and a belief in it was sustaining them: "We weren't
interested in compromise, either with the Fashion punk scene,
or the music establishment. We knew that what we were doing was
good. We were creating music we didn't feel anyone else was creating.
It needed to be created, these things needed to be said"
[Gavin].
But the music had to go further - hence the solid live work, the
next single assumed much importance. It had to be done in a proper
studio. Mid-April saw News cutting 'Dirty Lies' & 'Chop Chop
Chop' at Crystal Clear studio in South Melbourne. Gavin remembers
the engineer as not knowing what to do with a sound like theirs.
A whole eight tracks was an immediate improvement on previous
experience and Gavin over dubbed some vocals. After two sessions,
a classic of it's time was created. Production as such, was by
News.
Back at Faraday St, the four got busy silk-screening 750 covers,
in black with lurid green print and splatters. The lyrics to the
songs were on a typed sheet in the cover, with the title of 'Chop
Chop Chop' changed to 'Fuck Fuck Fuck' on some singles. They were
both Quinn/Wirth originals, in the live set for months.
In the midst of this activity came word from Bruce Milne that
a fifth issue of Pulp, due to include the flexi, wouldn't exist.
The magazine was having severe cash-flow problems. News announced
a Pulp benefit at Bernhardt's on 30th April, a six hour spectacular
including News (natch), Young Charlatans, Boys Next Door, Two
Way Garden, Fiction, and Spivs. An epic show, but for some reason
or other, it didn't resuscitate the ailing Pulp.
The month of May brought a standard 'Dear John' letter from Wizard Records in response to the demo left with them while News were in Sydney. Again this was of little or no importance to News, especially as the release of their own single was imminent. Gavin also began organising a tour of Tasmania through student union contacts. May also included three gigs at Bernhardt's; with Boys Next Door (16th), Fiction (23rd), & Young Charlatans (30th). By the end of the month, the single was out and picked up immediate air play on independent radio. In print, RAM was fairly positive, preferring ' Chop Chop Chop ' (AKA 'Fuck Fuck Fuck') "A nihilistic rocker with tremendously dumb lyrics" [14.7.78]. Most importantly, it started selling well. ' Dirty Lies ' was extremely topical, being angrily anti-nuclear. In context, the political character of News was exposed in songs being written and played then. While Jarryl had termed their work 'Bubblegum Punk' [Age 17.2.78], political lyrics loomed large in songs like ' Australia ', a scathing view of this country back then. ' Bomb Bomb the Vatican ' was anti-papist, while ' H-Division Bash ' was about violence in Melbourne's Pentridge Prison.
