Saturday, January 23, 2010

Xiro - Cassette releases - Half The Profits / Religious Wars


A re-post of Xeros 2 casette releases now I have the
art work thanks to Mat Mawson and Ian Thomson.
Ian to has copies of the JFK cassettes which I'm
really looking forward to.
Thanks guys.

Xero (also known as Zero, Ziro and Xiro) was a Brisbane band from
the early 1980s.When bands like Whirlywirrld and the Primitive
calculators were doing the electronic punk thing in Melbourne,
Xero were doing a similar thing here in Brisbane.
The band is said to be named after the character
Xero from the book The Atrocity Exhibition by J G Ballard
but that seems to be incorrect

I don' think the ballard reference is accurate -
it was zero as in the anarchist thing, and then
when we needed to change it it became the
shortening of xerox (the artists' friend of the early 80s).
then xiro was just indulgence i guess.
that's the way I remember it anyway . . .
JW

The initial lineup was Irena Luckus, Deborah Thomas, Vic Allen and
Lindy Morrison, soon joined by John Willsteed.
Lindy Morrison was later replaced on drums by Steven Pritchard.
The band split when Irena left Brisbane.
Lindy's involvement predates her joining the Go- Betweens,
and as far as I know this is the first band of note that
John Willsteed is part of, John goes on to join bands such
as the Go- Betweens and The Apartments
One of the most popular bands of the era,
they existed between 1978 and 1983.
The band went through many different phases:
starting off as an all-girl anarcho-feminist punk band doing
covers of Patti Smith and Slits songs, to developing their own
sound that echoed the likes of The Pop Group.
This was when the band were under the spelling of Zero.
As Zero folded after the Dayboro Music Festival show,
Irena and John came Xiro, releasing a cassette a week for two weeks,
Half The Profits and Religious Wars.
With the subsequent addition of Toe Suckers drummer
Clare McKenna, they became Xero. With McKenna's departure,
in 1981 they added a bassist in Tony Childs
and ex-Swell Guys drummer Steven Pritchard to
record for Sydney's M Squared label.
The end product became a 12" EP entitled Lust In The Dust,
the first independent Brisbane outfit to do so.
Sorry no artwork , if anyone can help.



Xiro
cassette compile 1980






"Religious Wars"
1. Say It Before The Music Stops
2. Behing The Chagall
3. A Little Slip Of Paper In Mid-Air
4. The Confessions...



"Half The Profits"
1. Just A Nite At Another Party
2. O.D
3. D.K
4. 2,4-D Pelaco

Their album Lust in the Dust has been posted a while back
so that leaves these two recordings to track down which
are talked of in some discographies.

  • Leaving Home For The Party On The Roof cassette (independent, 1980)
  • Xiro Live At The Cement Box Theatre CD (Ten Of Cups, 1998)
If you can help with this I'd be very happy

Matt has posted this video of the band live at Easts Leagues Club,
Brisbane, 1986, performing as part of the IMA's
"Know Your Product" retrospective

Download Cassettes here with artwork


12 comments:

Unknown said...

Well i have these things you speak of (of course - what sort of an archivist do you take me for?) - the live2air and leaving home. There are many other bits and pieces as well . . .

bob nebe said...

Well thats good news, Donat was saying much the same thing.
I should love to get my hands on them.
thanks

Donat said...

I'll be uploading the Xero live 2 air from '82 in the next few days, along with images from the show. Hold tight kids!

bob nebe said...

your blog has become the place to watch lately donat!

mal skewis said...

i concur with john's memory regarding the sequence of name changes (i.e. Zero-Xero-Xiro) (I lived with John and Irena at the time and there was probably not a practice or gig that i would have missed. an early incarnation of the post anarcho-feminist zero included michael o'connell on guitar. i still have the correspondence somewhere from when i (as their supposed manager under the pseudonym Gustav Schroeder) entered them in a battle of the bands. I remember they played their heat at festival hall.

Unknown said...

any chance of a re-upload for this one?

Unknown said...

any chance of a re-upload for this one?

Debbie said...

hi, before the 80s incarnation of Zero/Xero was the original formation of the band, formed sometime in either 1978 or 1977... cant quite remember.

Zero was the bands first name, formed in Brisbane by a bunch of anarchists. Sure, the band did Patti Smith covers and Sex Pistols and Clash songs. Irena came in shortly after the original format.

How do I know? I was the drummer in the original lineup, before the split, before Irena continued the punk music scene in Brisbane and the latter incarnations of Zero/Xero/Xiro.

Debbie

Skripach said...

I would love for this to be re-uploaded.
Nowhere to be found on the internet.

Anonymous said...

I'm currently directing a show set in Bogga Road Gaol in the 70/ 80's and looking for local music from then - would love to hear more from this band. Do you know where I can find it?

bob nebe said...

Find John Wilsteed on face book and message him He will be able to help

Mrs. Inside said...

Hello! Can you please re-up these tapes? Thank you!