1140. The Hard-Ons / I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken. 2021. 3.5/5

40 years is a long time to be around and still relevant, but one gets the feeling that the Hard-Ons have survived for as long as they have because the core of the band remains true, and their music essentially stays the same. They may not be as overtly energetic and hardcore as they were in the 1980’s, but that is also true of all of us. The band has maintained a constant stream of releases over the years, and is not just an Australian band. They have big followings overseas and they have charts in countries such as Spain and Greece.At the start of 2021 however, the band parted ways with their long term on-again-off-again lead singer Keish de Silva after an accusation of sexual misconduct against him. As a result a planned documentary on the band was also canned. More interesting more news was to come later in the year, as the band eventually announced a new album, I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken but the bigger news was that Tim Rogers, best known for his work in Australian band You Am I, had joined the band and would be taking over lead vocals for the group. Would it just be for the album or was this to be a long term gig? Whichever way it turns out, Rogers involvement immediately made this one of the year’s most popular releases.

If you’ve heard the Hard-Ons before then you will know what to expect overall. Perhaps interestingly enough though, the addition of Tim Rogers vocals actually pulls this back more into the mainstream than you would expect, though I’m willing to bet that when played in a live atmosphere there will be a more usual Hard-Ons pile on than comes across on these studio versions.
Songs like the opening track “Hold Tight” and “Lite as a Feather” are almost mainstream in themselves, enjoyable and with a modicum of angst within the vocals. On the other hand they are followed by songs such as “Fucked Up Party”, “Pucker Up”, “Back Pack Sweat” and “Frequencies” which in particular ramp up the aggression both lyrically and musically, with “Back Pack Sweat” and “Frequencies” especially being favourites for their fast and hard thrashing throughout. “Home Sweet Home” to me almost sounds like a Foo Fighters song, one of their mid-range songs that sit between their ballads and their hard core moments. Then we have “Humiliated / Humiliator” which has those 80’s skate punk tendencies throughout. This then leaks into “The Laws of Gossip” where the lyrics ramp up as you would expect from the title of the song. The conclusion of “Shove it Down” leading into “Shoot Me in the Back” are some of the best moments of the album, harsh yet humorous, bleeding yet raucous and tie up all the loose ends nicely to complete an excellently packaged album.

How many of you have ever seen the Hard-Ons live? That was an experience back in the late 1980’s I can tell you. It was loud and raucous and lots of fun – from my memory of it anyway. For some reason I have not seen them since then, which I think is probably an oversight, and given the lack of seeing live bands in the last two years, I would really like to see them on this tour, for several reasons. I’d like to see Tim out the front singing not only these songs but ones from the back catalogue. And I would also like to hear how this album is interpreted in a live environment. Because the Hard-Ons are a live band, that is where they are in their element. And I have enjoyed listening to this album over the last couple of months. But the studio version to me seems to be lacking something, and I do think it is the extra energy and perhaps loudness that a live setting will add to them. Certainly I’m not trying to suggest that this is an album that lacks energy, but I would never have thought to have a hard-Ons album playing in the background at a dinner party for instance, it just wouldn’t fit. But, for some reason, this album could actually fulfil that kind of requirement.

If you haven’t actually heard a Hard-Ons album – then why not? They are a massive part of the Australian music landscape, and while perhaps it would be better to start with one of their 1980’s hits, if you are middle aged and comfortable with that, then this album will probably work for you anyway.