SERIOUS YOUNG INSECTS

Serious Young Insects were a three-piece band that emerged out of Melbourne’s post-punk scene. Formed in 1980 with Peter Farnan on vocals and guitar, Michael Vallance on vocals and bass guitar and Mark White on vocals and drums, Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described Serious Young Insects as a "quirky, three-piece Melbourne new wave band". The sound of the band was an amalgam of their UK influences (Wire, The Cure, The Jam, XTC, Magazine, Joy Division) shot through with a 1960's British-explosion pop aesthetic (Beatles, Zombies etc). Their brief two-and-a-half-year career falls into two phases; the first centred around inner city venues like the Crystal Ballroom; the second involved a record deal and relentless six-gigs-a-week interstate touring.

In 1980 at the Ballroom they opened for their heroes, The Cure, Magazine and XTC amongst many other acts. Although high energy the Insect’s aesthetic eschewed anything ‘rockist;’ they had no ‘moves,’ no lead singer as such. Like much post-punk music they attempted to create a new musical vocabulary using none of the conventions of the 1970s. Serious Young Insects wrote and sang their own songs and recorded at Richmond Recorders with Tony Cohen and then with legendary Australian engineer/producer John French.

The album 'Housebreaking', although being slicker than expected, had none of the perk or fury of the band’s live performances. Lisa Perry of The Canberra Times praised the album "several times I had to check the cover to see if there were not also some session musos or others contributing to the sounds I was hearing. For a three-piece combo, these lads sure make a good sound". In a move that both made them and finished them they became a touring band and moved out into the 'burbs' of the capital cities of Australia playing six nights a week. The band was created outside of the rock industry but eventually they were absorbed and ground down by it. The band released three singles: ''Trouble Understanding Words'' (1981), ''Be Patient'' (1982) which charted at #63 and ''Faraway Places'' (1982), all of which could be found on their sole album, ‘House Breaking’ (1982). Future Boom Crash Opera member Richard Pleasance, a classically trained guitarist, was a fan and briefly joined the group before it broke up in the following year.

Members

Peter Farnan (vocals, guitar), Michael Vallance (bass, vocals), Mark White (drums, keyboards), 

Richard Pleasance (bass)

SINGLES
''Trouble Understanding Words / On Time'' 1981 Epic 
''Be Patient (#63) / Nerve'' 1982 Epic 
''Faraway Places / Music To Watch Girls By / Unsafe'' 1982 Epic 

ALBUMS
'Housebreaking' 1982 Epic

References

http://www.punkjourney.com/serious-young-insects.php

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/