The Celibate Rifles - Sideroxylon

Sideroxylon, released in April 1983, is the blistering debut studio album by Sydney-based punk rock band The Celibate Rifles. Issued on the independent Hot Records label, the album quickly positioned the band as premier torchbearers of the legendary, high-energy Australian underground rock movement. The 11-track record brilliantly bridges the gap between the frantic velocity of 1970s proto-punk and the melodic hooks of power pop and gritty garage rock. Spearheaded by Kent Steedman’s razor-sharp, distorted guitar work and the late Damien Lovelock’s characteristically cynical, deadpan vocal delivery, the album established a distinctly Australian sonic identity that rivalled the energy of contemporaries like Radio Birdman and The Saints.
Though early international punk fanzines like Maximum Rocknroll originally criticised the record for a thin mix that failed to fully capture their live power, Sideroxylon has grown into a highly revered classic of Aussie pub rock history. The tracklist effortlessly balances short, propulsive bursts of energy like "Tick Tock" and "Gimme Gimme Gimme" with expansive, brooding compositions like the six-minute closing epic "God Squad," which targeted institutional religious hypocrisy. Decades later, subsequent vinyl remasters have restored the thick, wall-of-sound production the band intended, cementing the album as a foundational text of 1980s alternative rock that launched the Rifles onto the international touring circuit.

The Celibate Rifles - But Jacques, The Fish 7”EP

Bank holiday Monday here in the UK and I’m just home from a weeklong trip to Northern Ireland visiting family…apologies if I haven’t responded to your comments, normal service will resume eventually…righto let’s get this Aussie week under way

The antithesis of a sex pistol is a celibate rifle, but Australia’s Celibate Rifles are anything but the opposite of loud, snotty and fast. A fusion between Detroit-style straight-ahead hard rock and Ramones pop, steeped in Stooges and Radio Birdman milk, the Rifles began as a party-time Sydney band, racing through deliberately silly and simple Ramonesque lyrics (“What about the kids? Get a baby sitter…and some kitty litter”) with three fast/loud chords. But unlike the Ramones, the Rifles insert loud, sinewy guitar solos between the slash’n’burn verses and, on tracks like “24 Hours,” warped and warbly guitar effects. After a few years learning the trade at parties and school dances around Sydney's North Shore, The Celibate Rifles (one of a bunch of one-off party names that stuck) progressed to playing pubs and getting a record out - and what a record! But Jacques, The Fish? is just about the finest record to ever emerge from up that way. Four great songs, some hilarious lyrics, and a frustrating set of sleeve colour variations. Catchy power-chord progressions, tasteful lead breaks, and extremely clever lyrics set this debut four-track apart from most. “Kent’s Theme” integrates snippets of cigarette jingles with a sharp anti-smoking attack, while “Let’s Get Married” adopts a loose, good-humoured quality.