21 January 2011

Unearthed Review: The Henchmen. Four stars

| johnboy
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the henchmen

Today with our Unearthed Review hat on we bring you the filth and the fury of The Henchmen.

There are nearly 700 Canberra bands with tracks on the TripleJUnearthed website. In 2011 we’re going to explore them. (Previous reviews are available)

Today’s random selection is The Henchmen who apparently are not dead, but eternal lie. They describe themselves thusly:

in response to the rise of reality television & the emerging ban on all culturally seditious behaviour, a psychobilly pop band called the henchmen began hiring out halls & warehouses, putting on seditious showcases of reckless abandon disguised as ‘parties’. at first nobody came. even their closest friends and family disassociated from this reckless band of loners & outcasts. so in 2004 they moved from the relative safety of canberra and spread their ‘party’ across the national landscape, performing everywhere from brisbane to adelaide. after extensive australian touring, they scored themselves a month long residency in germany, performing with the likes of hubert von kunt and the merry go round cue jumpers. loosely based in canberra, the henchmen are busy running a warehouse venue in the inner city of sydney as well as preparing for their second feature length album.

An old favourite of mine but largely departed from the Canberra scene it was a pleasant surprise when the randomiser threw up these guys.

Vocals with a hint of Dead Kennedies combines with a tight rock combo and a folky sensibility.

That probably sounds mental, but that’s The Henchmen.

There’s three good tracks up here available for free download. Well worth a listen for a piece of Canberra music history.

Four stars.

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