Providence begat them a drummer one day when a 14-year-old boy came jumping over the fence for a ball. He became enlisted as Donny Manson, later changing his name to Donny Anarchy. The line up now consisted of Harry Manson on vocals and wig wearing, Monkee Manson on guitar, Curlee on bass and Donny on drums. They played their first gig at the Grand Hotel on the 26th of September 1981 supporting another Novocastrian band, the Nonchalence, later embarking on a series of pub and club gigs that are now legendary.
They were the only band ever to be thrown out of Norths Leagues Club, (which had the reputation at the time of totally supporting the fringe punk and alternative music), because of an altercation one night between Harry and the club manager, along with several huge bouncers. "I still don't know why we set up on the floor that night, as opposed to the stage" recalled Monkee in an interview in 1995, "it happened at the end of the night and we all thought we were going to die." They were thrown out, told they would never be Newcastle's foremost punk band, and told never to return.
With no place to play, the band was forced to go under a series of alternate names such as "Harry M" , "Tate's Mates" and the "Beatles" to get work. With no wives and kids to feed, it didn't really matter. Finding themselves at a loose end one day they decided to record a single entitled "I Died Four Times" on the Angelwood label. The initial inspiration for the song came from a phone conversation with a old school chum, Greg 'Chook' Coleman, who was lamenting that a mutual friend was taking far too long to die of a series of diseases, "You know he's died four times...but he doesn't want to talk about it!", and so the song was born.
The song became notorious, being played by the famous John Peel on Radio London who was rumoured to have announced that it had just as much chance as anything else at achieving success. It even reached top ten in Yugoslavia, or so it was reported by Kerb McCorrison, who became the Mansons de facto manager during those turbulent times. Kerb became manager after he persistently said he would from the back of a bus one rainy day. They met on a magnificent trip in a double decker bus carrying The Mansons and most of the Newcastle punk scene (almost like a magical mystery tour), through the beautiful Hunter Valley to bring 'punk to the people'. Kerb later toured Europe and was never seen again.
They played some great, and some not-so-great gigs around town. Highlights included fantastic shows at Belmont 16 footers, The Castle, South Newcastle Beach Pavilion and many parties. Some rare recordings came to light after almost 20 years and display the rare energy and fun of the period. The Mansons continued for a time to progressively fragment and later disintegrate until the end came at the beginning of 1983, just prior to Donny Anarchy leaving Australia for a solo tour of Europe. They were officially pronounced dead on the 13th March 1983 closing transmission on Sunday night at 11:08pm precisely.
Harry was to later re-emerge in the Ramjets and the Marones with Newcastle fun king Pucko, finally becoming a schoolteacher. Curlee set about populating the earth with his seed and political science and Monkee became a Hipslinger, an Elvis impersonator, a Wooser Bottom, librarian and archivist. Donny performed from time to time with various punk acts such as Skazoo, Raw War and Cash From Chaos. The Mansons finally received International recognition in 1997 with their inclusion in the punk exhibition "Punkulture" at the Australian Museum along with Sex Pistols and the Clash. The band reunited in 2016 for a one-off gig in Newcastle.
Members
Harry Manson (vocals), Monkee Manson (guitar), Curlee Manson (bass), Danny Anarchy (drums)
''I Died Four Times (But I Don't Wanna Talk About It) / What Is Her Name ?'' 1982 Angelwood
References
The Mansons - Newcastle's Foremost Punk Band (geocities.ws)
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