GRONG GRONG

Grong Grong was a punk rock band from Adelaide. They formed in 1982 with Michael Farkas on vocals, synthesiser and saxophone, his half-brother Charlie Tolnay on guitar, George Klestinis on drums, and Dave Taskas on bass guitar. The band's name Grong Grong was named after Michael Farkas consumed acid on a road trip from Adelaide to Sydney. After losing his grip on reality, he arrived in the rural village, Grong Grong, which Farkas found hilarious. While in Sydney trying to get in a club for free, he pretended to be in a band, Grong Grong, to gain access. The ruse worked and he decided the name was lucky.

They drew upon influences of the Birthday Party, the Pop Group, the Stooges and Pere Ubu. They made their performance debut at a party in February 1983. Their harsh and brutal sound met with extreme reaction. In May of that year Grong Grong won a free recording session during a local radio telethon. They recorded four tracks meant for release as a demo.

After supporting Melbourne band, Corpsegrinders, Grong Grong took a support slot for the Dead Kennedys at the The Barton Town Hall in 1983. They impressed that group's singer, Jello Biafra, "I lay awake for about two nights after seeing them, still wondering if I actually saw what I really saw." Biafra signed Grong Grong to Alternative Tentacles and financed their first album. He later collaborated with Tolnay on the album, 'Tumor Circu's, and he signed Farkas' later band, Hack, to Alternative Tentacles.

On Christmas Day 1984, Farkas went into a drug-induced coma, which lasted nine months. Though he recovered, the band had split up. As of 2013 Grong Grong are one of two Australian bands to sign with Alternative Tentacles (the other is Hack). Klestinis and Tolnay formed King Snake Roost in Adelaide in 1985, they were briefly joined by Taskas in 1987. Farkas recovered and worked in other bands including Hack.

Their self-titled debut album was released posthumously in 1986. It comprised a studio side of four tracks recorded from July to October 1983 and a live side of five tracks recorded at the Seaview Ballroom, Melbourne in October 1983. An expanded, remastered version of 20 tracks, with an additional 17-track DVD disc, was issued in 1998 via Memorandum Recordings. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, observed, "they were the original post-punk, grunge noise terrorists... their brand of psychotic, swamp rock was akin to a Mac truck driving slowly through a china shop while the Cramps' 'I Ain't Nothing but a Gorehound' blasted out over a nearby PA system!"

In 2009 original members Farkas, Tolnay and Klestinis reunited with the assistance of Nathan Dale on bass, a former member of Farkas' band Hack. Memorandum Records released a compilation album, 'To Hell 'n' Back'. The reformed group embarked on a tour of Australia's eastern states. On return to Adelaide Klestinis returned to his career as a DJ and film maker and was replaced on drums by Michael Wilczek, a collaborator with Dale in Peterhead, White Tiger and Glamville. Wilczek performed his first gig with the band without rehearsal and improvised his way through a 15-song set, the next night week departing on tour to Melbourne.

Since 2009 Grong Grong has played across Australia, with gigs in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Newcastle and Geelong, and supported Biafra and his Guantanamo School of Medicine, re-establishing their connection after 30 years. A live performance by Grong Grong at 3D Radio on 27 October 2013 was issued posthumously in the following year as Live at the Sound Lounge. Grong Grong are an influence on noise rock, they were one of the first bands to refer to the term, grunge. They contributed to the Australian "Swamp Rock" genre, which later influenced/mutated into the Black Eye scene in Sydney and is a contributor to the Pigfuck sound popularised in the United States. Guitarist Charlie Tolnay died in Pennington, South Australia on 15th September 2017.

Members

Michael Farkas (vocals/synth/sax) Charlie Tolnay (guitar) Dave Taskas (bass)
George Klestinis (drums), Nathan Dale (bass) Michael Wilczek (drums)

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grong_Grong_(band)