This page celebrates the life of one of this countries most rockinest individuals, who led a life of music involvement, creativity and passion, & who left us not only decades worth of audio magic, but also some great documentation as well with his writings from an incredibly young age. Tim was an absolute RABID FAN, soaking up music across a wide range of genres, always found down the front at gigs & constantly up for a discussion on topics all across the board ! There were many times when he used to pop into the Record stores where I used to work ( Au-Go-Go and Missing Link ) & engage with the staff in a very in-depth way, then find himself chatting to a customer ( young or old ) about a band or artist which would be like a mini history lesson where said person would often walk out with a fresh record ( New or Old ) under their arm and a smile on their face. His history, output & mega DIY attitude remains a BIG influence in my life and those thoughts & memories of our times spent together are held tight & with special respect. Enjoy these writings.
The following article was written by me (Scotti) and originally appeared in the 10th Issue (Aug 2003) of the Missing Link Records Newsletter.
Tim Hemensley - Local Rock’n’Roll roustabout and good pal to many died on July 21st 2003.
Tim’s history is incredibly rich in achievement & bare bones passion within Australia’s underground music scene, being one of this town’s original- true punk rockers! From his time at local inner city alternative schools ( a wonderful parential choice of free spirit nurturing) to his very early involvement in Melbourne’s Punk Rock and Independent Music and Art scene, Tim was one of the Do-er’s not sayers and incredibly, at not even ten years old (the very early 1980’s) fronted the local Punk Rock combo ROYAL FLUSH & was performing live as an 11 year old-belting out cuts like ‘Coppers round the Corner’ , ‘Christain Bullshit’ , & ‘Teacher’s Gestapo’ (Roman Tucker of Rocket Science was also a member of the band). As the years progressed he would end up in a later line-up of his fave nihilistic heroes THE SICK THINGS and sonic teen ratbags GOD (Tim, Sean, Matty & Joel would, at a moments notice switch instruments and take turn on vocal duties on a whim), MORBID DREAD, prime era BORED! and finally, the longstanding, hard livin’ ballsed out wrecking crew that was THE POWDER MONKEYS.
I have many of my own spine tingling memories of Tim’s tenure in half of these bands, the latter two especially where his songwriting, delivery, vitriol & attitude would all come together into one amazing rush of sonic adrenalin as his equally awe-inspiring band members burned up a stage. But this was just the band member side to Tim, there was much much more -all tackled with the same rabid desire, wide eyed enthusiasm & deep deep love of an underground subculture. Tim published his own fanzine in the early 80’s ‘Punk Purge’ - words of manic fandom, venom, and real opinion were chugged out on an old clicky clacky typewriter & copied and stapled together.
Here is a sample of some of his rush of words from December 1982:
The Killayoni Scene: I thought I’d use this last page to remember a club called The Killayoni Club, one of the best non pub venues for new music (New Wave or Rock, not strictly commercial) in the last 3 years. When I was interviewed on the ‘Behind the Shelter Sheds’ (a program for kids on Radio 3CR what else could it be ?), I named the club as one of 2 places kids (under 15’s) could get to see live New Wave or Punk. A few months later the Killayoni Club was gone and the bands scattered to other places far and wide. The Killayoni Club was located in Flinders Lane and bands such as the Incredibly Strange Creatures who stopped living and became mixed up zombies, Plays with Marionettes, 3 Toed Sloths, Daughters of Charity & Voix would be the right’s entertainment. The first time I went there was NYE 1981. Meeting Kathy Buck (manageress) at the door was a surprise (as I thought it was a Polish nightclub) and later on actually meeting the performers was something rare and something which probably hasn’t happened since the demise of the first wave of Punk in this country in 1980. Let me point out that the club was not strictly a Punk club. This Zine isn’t strictly just a Punk zine. I am a Punk, Punk is the music I love and therefore I give considerable coverage to Punk. But the music and bands who perform at TKC hardly ever get any mention in the rock press & most of the gigs they do are publicized by word of mouth, so there should be some zine or magazine that talks about them. One of the bands who (to me anyway) represents the true Killayoni sound was 2D. They played very sixtiesish garage post punk rock, very heavy, very psychedelic (ie. garage psychedelia like late PRETTY THINGS, MASTERS APPRENTICES, SHADOWS OF KNIGHT, KINGSMEN etc..) very good. Even though 2D are gone now & Ifs Buts and Maybes have taken their place, the energy etc...still remains. THE band of the club was The Incredibly Strange Creatures… who were thoroughly improvisational and seemed to alienate most of their audience rather than attract them (Kathy Buck lying on the stage screaming and Jim Buck monotonously saying ‘She Says/’She Says/’She Says/’ while other musicians have arguments through Saxophones was hardly fun or a good night out). Punk was supposed to be Anti-Music-Music but the person who said that would probably be choking on their words when they saw the Incredibly Strange Creatures…. Another band who sometimes appeared there was Three Toed Sloths consisting of Jim Buck on heavily distorted guitar & Terry Shannon on Bass with songs such as ‘ I’m gonna bust yer ass you son of a bitch’, Johnny Cash’s ‘Angel from Vegas’ and ‘ I wanna be a worm’ . Of course, no history of TKC would be complete without mentioning ROYAL FLUSH (plug!!) who played the club on ‘The Final Fling Killayoni Thing’ final night. Oh I don’t know what to say now !! alas, poor Killayoni, I knew it well!
One must remember how young Tim was when documenting the local scene (barely a teenager), and all through Tim had amazing support from his literature soaked, warm & beautiful parents Retta and Kris (who had released books of poetry himself for years), and with them being both being very longstanding figures in one of this town’s tucked away Bookstore treasures ‘ Collected Works’. Fellow GOD member Joel Silbersher was also a early teen fanziner -publishing his ‘ Man connot live on eno alone’ zine in the mid 80’s and covering all sorts of interesting music, from Eugene Chadbourne to Civil Dissident. This was actually quite amazing for it’s time, as back then, all this stuff was TOTALLY underground and for the most part existed well under the radar of the mainstream media and money greedy Oz rock scene so I think that these achievements and willingness to explore the true alternatives should be celebrated and appreciated twenty plus years down the track, where access to information now is served on a plate & subcultures exposed and glorified for quick gain be ever present leeches chasing their time in the sun.
Tim Hemensley was very well read with music history, was someone with whom you could talk indepthly with on a wide range of topics, from Politics to Photography, The Arts, Film, Melbourne history and Architecture to the to’s and fro’s of the technology age, to the environment to personal goals and back to the state of the Rock’n’Roll scene. When, in the early 90’s Tim gave me his written diaries for BORED!’s European Tour for my own Fanzine publication (Resistant Harmony Issue #5 1992) it was an absolute treat to see the detail and care he’d gone to & the way in which he offered up commentary on all sorts of other things besides the music. Tim’s own photo’s of the Berlin Wall being dismantled by truck & crane to lush scenery…it was all an engaging and thorough overview, right up until the very last moment in the van enroute to a European Airport where 7 weeks of R’n’R overload came out loud ‘n’ clear….all over the van, all over the gear, all over the luggage, and all over his band mates! Tim Hemensley left us with many amazing living and breathing documents from Pre-teen clippings in trash mags to the two totally raw and raucous cuts on the 1984 Melbourne Punk Compilation ‘Eat Your Head’ with Royal Flush, through to some lasting moments of teen energy in GOD to his amzing songs, playing and heartfelt deep down deliveries with BORED! and THE POWDERMONKEYS to his involvement with Lucy De Soto and Peter Wells of ROSE TATTOO to eloquent film interviews detailing his love of music…
It’s true documentation of a life led and left behind, and as we’ve seen time and time again within this local independent music scene, there is nothing whatsoever ‘Cool’ or ‘Glamourous’ in and around the drug lifestyle which takes so many and leaves many questions for those left behind to soldier on and deal with it in real terms. For me personally, I feel proud to of been around for many crazy God ,Bored! and dynamite Powder Monkeys shows (whether at The Great Britain Hotel or the Jaw dropping Prince of Wales residency shows-so many of which will stand as easy some of the most explosive live bouts of adrenalized soul baring music blasts I’ve seen in 20 years of underground music viewing). From just coming back from Tim’s funeral, it was fitting to see a wide cross section of people there to celebrate his life and to hear Tim’s voice come out of the speakers in the opening lines of ‘Wasn’t Born Yesterday’ as the music kicks and pummels it’s way through was a spine tingling feeling and something those in appreciation should always hold true, as Tim Hemensley had for his 30+ years a voice born for R’n’R which held melody, delivered power and spat inner fire in a way that wiped the floor of so many others who tried their hand on the Rock’n’Roll party line but instead drew blanks. This man was the real deal and there is lots to learn and admire in being able to project passion in such a raw and naked way. Images of bleeding Bass rattled fingers and vomiting mid song stage right without missing a beat comes from a belief, a dedication, and a love of the power of music and it’s importance to those who live and breathe it.
The fact that the documentation remains and will stand as white hot Australian music mastery forever is a wonderful thing indeed. I’m one who usually avoids funerals of friends who have fallen like dominos in this way as I find it hard to hold back my feelings of the always present individuals who I feel help perpetrate a cycle of sadness, but this is something that I wish not to delve in too deeply right here and now… I came to celebrate a life, remember times past and present and to embrace care. I think I can speak on behalf of my fellow Record Shop buds when I say that we’ll sure miss those weekly visits of the Lil’ fella and his opinions, joviality, spontaneous customer interaction, gentlemanly manners and enthused eyes seeking out new sounds whilst offering up eloquent snapshots of magical musical moments of his heroes. Tim always made sure to wish us a warm farewell each and every time he walked out of the store with his partner Marisa and we say a final farewell to him…Tim…. A true individual, Punk Rock to the core, Rock’n’Roll to the core and someone who played hard & left powerhouse lifelong impressions on many of us.
Scotti - Late July 2003
Background photo of Tim Hemensley by Jason Williams, 1994
