Garlic Nun is a 4 piece punk rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The band formed in 2018 and sometimes describe their sound as power ghetto. This band might be new but they are always entertaining.
I asked the band about their origins and they spun the craziest story ever, it gave me a good laugh. Here it is …
“we’ve all known each other for fucking years when our old bands toured together back in maybe 2013? We played a show in Canberra and made a bunch of money so the next night when we were in Sydney we spent all that money and got a couple bags of Sydney bikie cocaine and snorted it off our hostel communal bible. Right there and then we knew that one day we had to start our own separate band…fast forward fucking 6 or so years later and BOOM Garlic Nun started.”\
Its been almost a year since the bands first release “III Pack” which featured “Shame Warne” “Stick On Tic” and “Urethane” this little gem is on bandcamp for name your price/free. Here’s a link … (Bandcamp Link)
The band released their latest singles “High Society” & “The Nunnery” on the 11th of August 2019.
“High Society” (3:53) starts with vocals, like a shouty chant but turns into a scream of “Its all the same to me” as the instruments join in sounding somewhere between eerie and out of tune, its actually a really well executed piece of music. The verse part consists of a vocal track sang with a bit of speed and urgency backed by bass and drums. Another stop/pause and the guitar starts making laid back rock style patterns. The vocal melody kicks up a notch in a build up to the chorus which packs a punch. The shouty vocal chant from the opening of the song returns, the line “there’s no bigger joke in this town than my sobriety” is gold. Lyrically this song seems to be about kinks and vices leaving you unable to fit in and people putting pressure on you to live a better life. A distorted power chord rings out as the song moves back into the verse. The song has a verse/chorus/verse/chorus pattern before a bridge part with drums, a chuggy bass line and some quiet background guitar parts then striking chords before a lead guitar part playing over an outro.
“The Nunnery” (1:57) this song starts at full speed full of more familiar punk elements with fast paced distorted power chords, chugging bass and in your face drumming. Following the high energy intro the song heads into a verse which has strong psychobilly vibes with an amazing bass line and some softer guitar embellishments. The song doesn’t loose any of its energy in the shift from intro to verse parts but is rather a softer/heavier soundscape. The chorus makes you want to sing along to the shouty vocal track and the bass is still blazing away, it feels like the driving force for the whole song. Heading into the second verse the guitar plays some leady stuff before the verse changes to a pre chorus/bridge type part where the guitar lets distorted power chords ring out, rapidly picking up speed with lead guitar style embellishments morph into a final chorus and the song ends the same way it started, full of energy.
The bands next show is Garlic Nun Presents Welcome To The Nunnery on the 6th of September at The Evelyn Hotel with support from Slim Jeffries, Party Vibez and Udder Ubductees. (Event Link)
Garlic Nun is Stevie “LOVES PEGGING” – vocals Cazzy “Red Foreskin” – bass Beautiful Mark – guitar God damn sexy Mort – drums
Facebook Link
Triple J Unearthed Link
Check out Garlic Nun at Spotify but if you really want to support the band and the scene be sure to buy merch/music and catch them live because without you there is no scene.
