THE HARD-ONS Release New Video for “Ride To The Station” And Announce 2025 US Tour
THE HARD-ONS RELEASE NEW VIDEO FOR SINGLE “RIDE TO THE STATION” AND ANNOUNCE US TOUR – WITH POISON IDEA’S JERRY A ON LEAD VOCALS!
NEWS FOLLOWS MASSIVE 40TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR AND ‘BEST DOCUMENTARY’ PRIZE FOR THE MOST AUSTRALIAN BAND EVER AT THE LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL PUNK FILM FESTIVAL
The Hard-Ons have followed a massive 2024 with the release of the new video for “Ride To The Station” – the single take from their new album I Like You A Lot Getting Older – and the announcement a May/June US tour with old friend Jerry A of legendary Portland punks Poison Idea!
The “Ride To The Station” video was produced by Sydney based studio Kapow Pictures. Director Mark Gravas has said, “I have been a fan of the band for almost 40 years. We have produced several videos in the past for The Hard-Ons and were very happy to produce this one for their 40th anniversary. I was inspired by my favourite zombie film ‘Train to Busan’ and my own experiences on public transport. We animated the video using Quill a software primarily used in VR.”
Kapow has also produced a poster of the video which is available to purchase on their website.
The US tour with Jerry A from Poison Idea on guest lead vocals will see The Hard-Ons joining the heavy weight double bill of Napalm Death and the Melvins for shows across the Mid-West and Western states in the USA. The complete run of dates is listed below.
The Hard-Ons first toured with Poison Idea back in the late ’80s, and first recorded with Jerry A as guest vocalist back in 1993 – Jerry wrote and sung the track “The Blade” on their Too Far Gone album. The track recently resurfaced on Jerry’s solo album From The Fire Into The Water. The Hard-Ons are set to release an album with Jerry on vocals later in 2025.
In addition to the new album, 2024 saw The Hard-Ons celebrating their 40th anniversary with extensive European and Australian tours and enjoying numerous screenings of (and international acclaim – including the ‘Best Documentary’ prize at the International LA Punk Film Festival 2024 – for) their feature length documentary, The Most Australian Band Ever, directed by Jonathan J. Sequeira for production companies Living Eyes and Play Vintage.
I Like You A Lot Getting Older was the third album by the band’s current line-up of Blackie, Murray, Ray and Tim, and follows 2021’s ARIA top 5 debuting I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken and 2023’s the Top 30 debuting Ripper ’23.
The Hard-Ons’ first two shows for 2025 are February 8 at Selinas in Sydney with the Hoodoo Gurus and February 14 at Mary’s Underground in Sydney with NZ’s rocking The D4.
Buy I Like You A Lot Getting Older via Cheersquad Bandcamp
https://cheersquadrecordstapes.bandcamp.com/album/i-like-you-a-lot-getting-older
Buy/stream via digital providers
https://bfan.link/i-like-you-a-lot-getting-older
For more info on the feature documentary, The Most Australian Band Ever, go to
www.livingeyes.com.au
The Hard-Ons (with Jerry A) appear as guests of Napalm Death and the Melvins as part of their Savage Imperial Death March Part II tour at the following shows:
- May 22 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
- May 23 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
- May 24 – Kansas City, MO @ Madrid Theatre
- May 25 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
- May 27 – Denver, CO @ Summit
- May 29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
- May 31 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM
- June 1 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory Spokane
- June 2 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
- June 3 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
- June 4 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
- June 6 – Reno, NV @ Virginia Street Brewhouse
- June 7 – Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone Berkeley
“I f*cken love the Hard-Ons!” – Eamon (The Chats)
It’s been a long and punk-rocky road for our heroes, who formed the band while still in highschool in the multicultural South-West Sydney suburb Punchbowl. Reflecting that multiculturalism, the core band (despite members come and gone) comprised three kids of East Asian, South Asian and Eastern European parentage – not your typical punk rockers of that or any other era. Weened on high energy rock’n’roll (Kiss!) and then the early punk and post-punk eras (with a focus on local Australian sounds, in particular the ’76/’77 punk of The Saints, Radio Birdman, Victims, Psycho-Surgeons and News, and the anarchic noise of The Birthday Party), the new group appeared on a Sydney scene that took itself fairly seriously. With one foot in the Ramones/Radio Birdman-influenced garage-punk scene and the other in the spikey-haired punk-inspired scene of the early ‘80s, the Hard-Ons found a common denominator of noise and energy and appealed to a young crowd who was open to anything. With their youthful and unforgiving band name, transgressive and hilarious graphics and diverse ethnicity, they also found plenty of resistance.
Following the release of their first EP in 1985, the Hard-Ons quickly began to build a large following. Not content to repeat themselves, new elements entered their sound, including thrash metal and psychedelia, which were previously unheard in Australian punk. Their unruly and un-stylised look, which soon came to involve shorts, thongs and bare torsos, became something of the look de rigueur in punk circles as the decade wore on. The Hard-Ons had become trendsetters and were welcomed with open arms in international punk circles.
In their original incarnation, the Hard-Ons shared bills with the likes of the Ramones and Nirvana and appeared on numerous Big Days Out. They scored a never-bettered 17 consecutive number 1’s on the Australian independent charts and in 1989 were the only Australian band still based in Australia to hit the top 5 in the NME charts (the only Australian artists to have achieved that – Nick Cave and the Go-Betweens – had both been UK-based).
Despite a break-up, the formation of another band (Ray & Blackie’s other ongoing band Nunchukka Superfly – that band’s original line-up recently launched the long-lost album Nunchukka Superfly ’95 in August!) and, in Blackie’s case, a solo career, the Hard-Ons regrouped in the new millennium and found a whole new audience – kids who knew of their influence on subsequent groups like the Meanies and Frenzal Rhomb.
New recordings ensued, and in 2018, by which time fans of another new generation of bands, including Clowns and Private Function were onboard, they undertook their 19th European tour, when they played the massive metal festival Hellfest, alongside Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Joan Jett. In 2021, the core pair of Ray and Blackie and “new” drummer Murray found themselves a new front person in the form of longtime fanboy, Tim Rogers of You Am I.
Over the years, the Hard-Ons have won the vocal support of artists like Dave Grohl, AC/DC’s Malcolm Young and Jello Biafra amongst countless others. They’ve influenced not only subsequent generations of punk bands but a wide-ranging groundswell of Australian alternative artists – from You Am I to Spiderbait to Silverchair to Regurgitator to Magic Dirt to Powderfinger to the Dirty Three to The Chats – each of whom have been inspired by the Hard-Ons’ energy, free spirit and uncompromising dedication.
“The Hard-Ons were – still are – amazing. Musically, but also for what they were. This multi-cultural band. They were fearless. Ray and Blackie always came to Dirty Three shows in Sydney early on, and I always felt that we were somehow aligned attitude-wise. They were awesome live, with that power that only a trio can have. They also wrote the best singles! Beyond that, they always did whatever they wanted. “ – Warren Ellis (Dirty Three/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
“(The Hard-Ons) should be in the ARIA Hall of Fame!” – Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus)
Social Media:
Facebook | Bandcamp
