Punk rock pandemonium

SELF-confessed Bendigo “bogan shed punks” Relays are about to embark on the second phase of their first Victorian tour, with the remaining four performances taking in Shepparton, Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.

The band’s Bendigo gig will be an all-ages show at Bendigo Records in Hargreaves Mall on June 29, with fellow local punk aficionados The Chans.

Guitarist and co-vocalist Shann Lions said the tour has been put together with an emphasis on doing a lot of all-ages shows.

“There’s not too many bands out there that are strategically doing that,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do is get young bands to support us and give them a leg up and make the scene stronger in each town as well.

“The young kids are the future. we feel that they’ll enjoy what we do musically too.”

Lions said attendees will no doubt be entertained, with the group’s influences coming from bands out of the US such as Wipers, Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, Ween, and Butthole Surfers, and Australia’s Cosmic Psychos.

“I think the sort of punk music we’re doing is really accessible,” he said.

“We like to put on a show. It is about the music, but the topics we speak about, it’s suburbia, which everyone can relate to and the tales that flow from that.

“A lot of it is truth-telling around the predicaments that Stanley [lead singer and co-vocalist] finds himself in at times, which people can kind of work out from the various singles that we’ve released.”

The band’s self-titled debut album, recorded at Head Gap Studios in Preston on a 24-track, two-inch tape machine, will be released on October 3.

Tickets to the Bendigo Records gig can be purchased via Oztix.