On 30 December 1982, Damian Cowell ("Humphrey B. Flaubert" – drums and lead vocals), Jack Holt ("Jock Cheese" – guitar, bass and backing vocals) and Eugene Cester ("Eugene de la Hot Croix Bun" – keyboards and backing vocals), recorded a nine-song session called 'Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance' under the name This Is Serious Mum at the home of friend Peter Minack ("Ron Hitler-Barassi"). Minack, Cowell and Cester were members of a group called I Can Run, which slowly evolved into This Is Serious Mum (TISM).
The band's first concert was on 6 December 1983. The Get Fucked Concert at the Duncan McKinnon Athletics Reserve in the small suburb of Murrumbeena was considered a complete failure which caused the band to split up. They reformed in February 1984 and returned to their recordings, experimenting with dark ambient and industrial music, before returning to their rock style. They consider every subsequent performance a "re-union gig".
By 1985 the band were playing regularly around Melbourne and soon released a 10-track demo composed of selections from their recordings followed by their début single, "Defecate on My Face" (1986), a 7" vinyl record packaged in a 12" sleeve with all four sides glued shut. This song is also found (but is unlisted) on the EP 'Form and Meaning Reach Ultimate Communion' as a country version. Their next single, "40 Years – Then Death" (1987), was released on transparent vinyl in a clear plastic sleeve with no cover art or labels. This Is Serious Mum's first radio-friendly single, despite the obscure packaging, was received well.
The début album, 'Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance' (1988), is a double vinyl release in an embossed gatefold sleeve. The first record contained twelve of TISM's most popular tracks, and the second was a pastiche of interviews, bedroom recordings and live diatribes. Despite this odd combination, 'Truckin' Song's entered the lower reaches of Australia's mainstream Top 50, as did the single "Saturday Night Palsy". Later that year, The TISM Guide To Little Aesthetics, a book compiling lyrics, interviews and press releases, was published. Even though the physical books were printed in 1989, they could not be released until 1990 due to TISM being required to hand-censor the book with a mixture of white-out and permanent marker, as well as place "CENSORED DUE TO LEGAL ADVICE" stickers on each copy of the book. Some uncensored copies of the book do exist, however.
In 1990, TISM entered negotiations with CBS Records and Phonogram Records and were signed by the latter. In April that year, the band began work on what would become their next album with producer Laurence Maddy. When Phonogram released 'Hot Dogma' (1990) it failed to reach the commercial charts, and TISM were fired six months later due to management issues, despite owing the label tens of thousands of dollars. 'Hot Dogma' is the first release to use the acronymic form of the band's name exclusively.
Over two nights in May 1991, the band were filmed live and released the video Incontinent in Ten Continents (1991). These performances were the last for guitarist Leek Van Vlalen. In mid-1991, independent record label Shock Records signed TISM and re-issued 'Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance', as well as the EP 'Gentlemen, Start Your Egos' (1991), a compilation of tracks previously unavailable on CD. TISM, with producer Tony Cohen, then released the EP 'Beasts of Suburban' (1992). A new guitarist, 'Tony Coitus' (later 'Tokin' Blackman') joined the group onstage for the first time on 23 January 1992.
The next EP, 'Australia The Lucky Cunt' (1993) was TISM's most controversial release to date. Courts issued an injunction order of the CD when the Ken Done Society threatened legal action over the artwork, which parodied Done's signature style and depicted a koala sucking a syringe. The matter was settled for an undisclosed amount of money "fairly close to the amount that Radiohead spends on buying friends" and was re-released with new artwork as 'Censored Due To Legal Advice'. During 1994, TISM sometimes played under the names "The Frank Vitkovic Jazz Quartet", "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons" (which would later be used as an album title) and "Late for Breakfast".
TISM's biggest success was the 1995 album 'Machiavelli and the Four Seasons'. The release was a shift from alternative-rock to synth-driven techno and dance which retained vocal melodies and loud guitars. The album was certified gold and won an ARIA Award for Best Independent Release. Three of its singles reached Triple J's Hottest 100, two of them in the top 10. On 27 April 1995 the band appeared on the RMITV show Under Melbourne Tonight and performed "Protest Song" and "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River".
Success exposed TISM to mainstream Australian radio and television, most of which was perplexed by the band's guerrilla approach to interviews and lack of interest in the music industry. A four CD box set of early albums was released and steady record sales allowed extensive tours of Australia and New Zealand. In 1996 TISM toured on the Big Day Out, during which Ron Hitler-Barassi was either absent or wheelchair-bound due to a detached retina and broken arm caused by a stage dive he performed at the Pacific Hotel, Lorne, Victoria prior to the tour. Later the same year, TISM toured England, the group's sole Northern Hemisphere excursion.
Taking a year off from touring, TISM spent 1997 working on their next album with producer Lachlan Magoo. The album, 'www.tism.wanker.com' (1998) was announced via a series of live Internet chats and webcasts. The first official music video for the album, "I Might Be A Cunt, But I'm Not A Fucking Cunt" was rarely broadcast. Returned and Services League of Australia head Bruce Ruxton wrote a letter of complaint to Shock Records describing it as "... Dropping Australia's standards through the floor into the proverbial sewer." The letter was published on TISM's website at the time.
'www.tism.wanker.com' sold reasonably well, thanks in part to an extensive Australian tour with Regurgitator, then at the height of their popularity, and The Fauves; however, sales were low compared to 'Machiavelli and the Four Seasons's' success and TISM's contract with Shock ended by mutual agreement.
Finding themselves with no record label again, TISM returned to touring. In late 2003, a special one-off concert was filmed and released on DVD as The White Albun (2004) by Madman Entertainment. A documentary and full length album were also included, making it a 3-disc set which received good reviews; however, the release was not eligible for ARIA chart tracking. The concert DVD is presented as a telethon at which TISM breaks up. Ironically, TISM performed after that concert in order to promote the set.
For six years, TISM's final release seemed to be the German CD-single "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me" (2005). It was TISM's first non-Australian release: Sony/BMG Germany expressed interest when the song's animated clip was an Internet hit thanks to bloggers and sites such as YouTube. The single reached the German commercial charts. At the band's penultimate concert on 13 November 2004, Ron Hitler-Barassi delivered a diatribe saying that the band had "lost the election" and made references to Guy Sebastian winning the year's season of Australian Idol. This opening remark can be interpreted as the band announcing their breakup.
In a 2006 interview with Triple J, when asked about the current status of TISM, Flaubert remarked: "we are slowly moving towards our deaths". In early December that year, Flaubert contributed to the ABC's "My Favourite Album" program, where he stated his favourite album as "Any album – as long as it's by Nickelback!" Later the same month, TISM were inducted into the EG (The Age Entertainment Guide) Hall of Fame, at which they made an appearance and "a hilariously irreverent speech".TISM's final concert was at the Earthcore Festival on 27 October 2004. For all appearances, it had appeared that TISM had split, with no announcement or fanfare. On 9 April 2008, guitarist James Paull (Tokin' Blackman) died of cancer.
Members
Genre B. Goode, Ron Hitler-Barrassi (vocals), Humpherey B. Flaubert [Damian Cowell] (vocals, drums), Jock Cheese (bass, vocals), Eugene de la Hot Croix-Bun (keyboards, programming, vocals), Jon St. Peenis (saxophone), Les Miserables (vocals), Leek Van Vlalen (guitar),
Tokin' Blackman [aka Tony Coitus] (guitar)
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TISM
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