Band: Grong Grong
Album Title: To Hell ‘N’ Back
Label: Aberrant Records
Distributor: Clearspot
Release Date: 2009
Review: CD + DVD

If you can imagine a punk band, all of whose members were suffering from schizophrenia, then that is something like what Grong Grong sound like on the demented To Hell ‘n’ Back. To Hell ‘N‘ Back collects 20 recordings, 16 of which were recorded live, and a DVD with 17 more tracks, from Grong Grong’s first show to its last (period 1982-1984)

While their one and only album, Grong Grong was acclaimed at the time it was released in 1986, it is a much under-rated punk record and one that has been largely forgotten about now. Grong Grong formed in Adelaide of Australia in 1982. The group consisted of George Klestinis(drums), Charles Tolnay(guitars), Dave Taskas (drums) and Michael Farkas (vocals, sax and synth).
To Hell ‘N’ Back is a curious item, not really something that one would call a great classic, but nevertheless a reissue that is worth listening even years after its debut release. The music is authentic punk rock with unethical aspirations, including none tempo variations and none rhythm changes. It may sound slightly noisy at first, but within a couple of tracks everything starts to fall in place. The general tone is amateurish yet fairly compelling and authentic, and based on these MC 5 meets Birthday Party meets Rocket From The Tombs meets The Stooges tunes it is obvious that the amount of thought put into this fucked up material was well below average, but that’s the charm of it.

If you like your punk with a spastic edge, check these cats out.

Peter Brems.