Fred Negro

Fred Negro
Birth nameFrederick John Negro
Born1959 (age 64–65)
Richmond, Victoria, Australia
GenresRock, punk, country
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, satirist, cartoonist
Instrument(s)Vocals, drums
Years active1979–present
LabelsMan Made
Websitemyspace.com/frednegro

Frederick John Negro (born 1959) is an Australian satirist, musician, songwriter, and cartoonist. He has fronted numerous rock, punk and country bands.

Biography

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Frederick John Negro was born in 1959 and grew up in Richmond.[1][2] In 1979 Negro formed a post-punk group, The Editions, on drums with Roz Dear on vocals, John Durr on guitar and David Yob Hoban on bass guitar.[3] By the following year Dear was replaced by Sherine Abeyratne on vocals.[3] From 1981 to 1982 they issued three cassette albums, Aggression, Recession and Obsession, on their own label, Orgasm Records.[3]

Negro left The Editions in 1983 to form punk rockers, I Spit on Your Gravy on vocals and drums.[3] Initial line up included Jason "The Big J" Banner (Australia's 8th best guitarist) on guitar, David Yob Hoban on bass guitar, and Scotti "Stix" Simpson on vocals and drums.[3] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described their early performances as "shambolic, drunken affairs, replete with on-stage brawls and members barely able to stand upright, let alone play their instruments".[3] Negro was often "dropping his pants in public" and would deliver "other on-stage obscenities".[3]

In February 1985 the group issued their debut six-track extended play, St Kilda's Alright, which they co-produced with Paul Elliott for Man Made Records at York Street Studios.[3][4] It included a ten-page booklet, "Suck This Fred Nile", that local police declared was "obscene" and confiscated all available copies due to Negro's "debauched" cartoons and photocopied pornographic images.[3] As for the music itself, McFarlane declares it was "desperately inept and sounded like it had been recorded at the bottom of a dam".[3]

Also in 1985 Phil "Grizzly" Miles joined I Spit on Your Gravy on rhythm guitar and vocals.[3] They issued a studio album, Fruit Loop City, in June 1987, which was co-produced by Miles and Peter "Poyt" Walker for Virgin Records.[3][5] They disbanded in the next year, Negro and Miles promptly formed Gravybillies, as a country music, spoof band.[3]

Late in 1987 Negro and Miles formed a rock group, The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, with Phil "Good-One" Bryant on drums and Trevor Pennington on bass guitar (both ex-Corpse Grinders); and Terry Fosters on harmonica.[6] McFarlane described this group as "lager louts [who] were the ultimate charmless, inner-city party band".[6] In October 1988 they issued an album, Outlaw Death Lager Drinkers from Hell, on Virgin Records.[6] This group broke up in 1989; Negro and Fosters formed The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, which "continued the drunken hillbilly theme".[6] The line up included Paul Barnett on bass guitar, Garry Mansfield on guitar; and former bandmate, Simpson on drums.[6]

In 1988 he formed The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, a country-punk fusion group with Garry Mansfield (guitar), Paul Barnett (bass), Scotty Simpson (drums) and Terry Foster (guitar, harmonica); they disbanded in 1993. Punk-influenced I Spit On Your Gravy had also disbanded by the end of the 1980s but Fred has maintained a significant underground presence in Melbourne, Australia with regular appearances in his other bands, and today contributes a weekly 'Pub Strip' to the Melbourne street press, and until major renovation in 2009 MC'd the long running karaoke night at the Greyhound Hotel, St Kilda, Victoria.

Discography

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Albums

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  • I Spit On Your Gravy, Fruit Loop City LP (Virgin Records, 1987)
  • The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, Outlaw Death Lager Drinkers From Hell LP (Virgin Records, 1988; rereleased on CD by Turkeyneck Records, 2008)
  • The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, Desperate Football LP/CD (Shagpile Records/Shock Records, 1992)
  • The Fuck Fucks, ...Here CD (Shock Records, 1997)
  • The Fuck Fucks, Millennium Buggery CD (I Envy Us Records, 1998)
  • Shonkytonk, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter CD (Shonkytonk Record Company, 1998)
  • The Twits (without Fred), Albert Road CD recorded at The Espy on 30 June and 32nd (1999)
  • The Twits, The Twits Play Music CD (Pure Pop Records, 2002)
  • The Twits, She May Look Clean, But...You Can't Beat The Axis If You Get VD CD (Pure Pop Records/Inertia, 2005)

EPs

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Singles

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Cassette-Only Releases

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Compilations

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  • I Spit On Your Gravy, "Violent Fluff"/"Done To Death" on Eat Your Head LP (No Master's Voice, 1984; reissued on CD by Au-Go-Go Records, 1997)
  • I Spit On Your Gravy, "Let’s Go Buy A Pizza" on Life Is A Joke Vol 2 LP (Weird System Records, 1986)
  • The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, "Tattslotto Song"/"Rubber Band Rave" on The Polyester Tape cassette (Polyster Records, 1986)
  • The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, "You Can't Speak To Me Like That" on SWAPO Benefit Recorded Live at Melbourne University 3/8/86 LP (Doc Records, 1987)
  • The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, "Dostoievski (I Wanna Be Clive Robertson's Dick)" on Lemon 3 cassette (giveaway with the third issue of Lemon fanzine, 1990)
  • The Fuck Fucks, "Hey Hey We're The Fuck Fucks"/"Hangin' Round The House"/"Happy" on Here Come Eleven Nuns (One With A Bucket Of Chips For Me) CD (Buggertoe Records, 1996)
  • Shonkytonk, "Brand New Appliance"/"I Hate Collingwood (But I Love You)" on Here Come Eleven Nuns (One With A Bucket Of Chips For Me) CD (Buggertoe Records, 1996)
  • Squirming Gerbil Death, "Up To My Brim In Rim" on Here Come Eleven Nuns (One With A Bucket Of Chips For Me) CD (Buggertoe Records, 1996)
  • Shonkytonk, "I'm Off Ya!"/"Soldering Iron" on Weened On A Pickle Soaked In Bile CD (Buggertoe Records, 1997)
  • Squirming Gerbil Death, "Catholic School"/"Peakhour Frottage"/"Squirming Gerbil Death" on Weened On A Pickle Soaked In Bile CD (Buggertoe Records, 1997)
  • I Spit On Your Gravy, "The Ballad Of Scotty Stix Simpson" on Drunks, Guns And Livestock In The Streets: Live At The Turkeyneck Bar & Grill 1979-2001 CD (Turkeyneck Records, 2001)
  • The Gravybillies, "Ballad Of Rockin' Gomer" on Drunks, Guns And Livestock In The Streets: Live At The Turkeyneck Bar & Grill 1979-2001 CD (Turkeyneck Records, 2001)
  • The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance, "You Can't Speak To Me Like That" on Drunks, Guns And Livestock In The Streets: Live At The Turkeyneck Bar & Grill 1979-2001 CD (Turkeyneck Records, 2001)
  • They Might Be Negroes, "The Legend Of Football Mouth" on Drunks, Guns And Livestock In The Streets Vol II: The Masked Wrestling Years 1978-2002 CD (Turkeyneck Records, 2003)

Published work

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Artwork appears in:

Piranhas in love / Fred Negro and Elizabeth Reale. Melbourne: Two Spaniards Press, 2018. ISBN 9780648125709

  • InPress Magazine. Pub: Dharma Media, ABN 54 078 943 003.
  • M.Walding and N.Vudovic (Eds). The Poster Art of Australian Popular Music Pub: Sept 2005 MUP, Miegunyah. ISBN 0-522-85168-1.

Honorary appointments:

Illustrations for

Film work

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  • Lesbo-A-Go-Go dir Andrew Leavold, Brisbane, 2003. B&W/Colour, 52 mins. Appeared as 'Vision from Hell'. IMDB reference
    • "More entertainment value in its minuscule budget than a hundred Matrix Reloadeds..." Boris Lugosi, Girls Guns And Ghouls
    • "Ugly, reprehensible and morally repugnant. And I made the film." Andrew Leavold, writer/director
  • Fred Sounds, dir. Rohan Pugh, 2003
  • Fred's Love, dir. Rohan Pugh, 2005
  • Sticky Carpet, dir. Mark Butcher, 2006 (I Spit On Your Gravy live footage)

References

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General
Specific
  1. ^ Donovan, Patrick (30 June 2009). "The Dark Side of the 'Toon". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  2. ^ "'Cute Little Kooka' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m McFarlane, 'I Spit on Your Gravy' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 August 2004). Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Suck This Fred Nile". St Kilda's Alright (booklet). I Spit on Your Gravy. Man Made Records. 1985. MM 007.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ^ Fruit Loop City (album notes). I Spit on Your Gravy. Virgin Records. 1987. VOZ 2005.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e McFarlane, 'The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 September 2004). Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
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