Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Melbourne punk supremos Depression hit the Prince of Wales stage on Friday October 26th. This will be the first time the band has ever played Brisbane. Belting out their own unique brand of punk, hardcore, metal, thrash
Depression these days, is now made up of original members Spike and Smeer, along with Grant & Bomber (Mindsnare / Within Blood).
Depression formed some time in 1982 in Melbourne, Victoria, on the East coast of Australia. Smeer, who had been playing in the early Australian punk band The Desert Rats, met up with two locals called Liddy and Spike. After only a short while, Depression started to play regular shows at “The John Barleycorn Hotel”. After about a year of playing there, Depression began playing at “The Seaview Ballroom”, a venue which became a mainstay of the Melbourne Punk/Hardcore scene. Around this time, the Dead Kennedeys toured Australia, and talks between the band and Jello resulted in Depression being part of the legendary Welcome to 1984 compilation on Maximum Rock’n’Roll Records.After being approached by Phil MacDougall of Reactor Records (Perdition, Vicious Circle, etc.), the band went into a studio and recorded three songs for $120. These songs, “Money Chain”, “Soldiers Never Cry” and “World Leaders”, became the Money Chain EP and the first record for Reactor Records.In 1985, the band went into a “good” studio to record material for a full length. November 1985 saw the release of the band’s next full length, Australia, Australia. Again on Reactor Records, this album recieved good reviews in the US and UK. Depression appeared on the famous Not So Lucky Country double LP on Reactor Records. In the meantime, Depression headed in a more metallic direction, releasing the Ultra Hardcore, Mega Heavy, Punk, Metal, Thrash live album, the Thrash Till Death album and finally in 1989, the Hardcore History album which was made up of demos and early cuts..