The Hard Ons
| Hard-Ons | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Dead Rats, Plebs, The Three Sinners |
| Origin | Sydney, Australia |
| Genres | Punk rock, power pop, hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1981–1994, 1997–present |
| Labels | ViNil, Chatterbox, Bad Taste, Waterfront, Alternative Tentacles |
| Associated acts | Feed the Horse, Blackie, WOG, Nunchukka Superfly, Front End Loader, Regurgitator, Nazxul, Neil Hamburger, The Stalkers. |
| Members | Peter "Blackie" Black Ray Ahn Murray Ruse Keish de Silva |
| Past members | Peter Kostic |
The Hard-Ons are an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1981. Founding members included Keish de Silva on guitar, vocals and Peter "Blackie" Black on guitar, Ray Ahn soon joined on bass guitar with de Silva switching to drums. The group issued eight studio albums before disbanding in 1994. They reformed in 1997 to release further material. In 2002 de Silva was replaced on drums by Peter Kostic, who was replaced in turn by Murray Ruse in 2011. De Silva returned as a guest vocalist in 2014 and permanently rejoined the band in 2016. During their first 12 years, the group issued 17 consecutive number-one hits on the Australian alternative charts. During that time they became Australia's most commercially successful independent band, with over 250,000 total record sales.
Australian music historian, Ian McFarlane, described their music as "cheap and potent, their appeal selective. Yet never has so much been owed by so many to so few chords ... fused punk tempos, hardcore attitude, heavy metal riffs and surf-pop melodies into a seamless ball of energy".
The Hard-Ons' origins are traced to Western Sydney's Punchbowl Boys High School, where three founding members were students. In 1981 the first version of the band, then-known as Dead Rats, included Peter "Blackie" Black on guitar, Brendan Creighton on drums and Shane Keish de Silva on guitar and vocals. In 1982 Creighton left to form Thrust and Raymond Dongwan Ahn joined on bass guitar with de Silva taking over on drums, the group began playing as The Plebs before being renamed as The Hard-Ons by the end of the year. Initially being too young to play in pubs, the band featured at birthday parties and school dances. On 20 June 1984, The Hard-Ons played their first official show at the Vulcan Hotel in Ultimo. Black later recalled "We wanted to be punk rockers ... We didn't want Keish's parents to see so we had bags full of these jackets and chains and stuff and went around the corner of the street and put all these clothes on. Keish's dad busted us". Quickly gaining a considerable following, in August 1985 the band released its debut extended play, Surfin' on My Face, on ViNil Records. This was the beginning of a series of releases for the band that netted them a run of 17 consecutive No. 1 listings on the Australian alternative music charts.
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