Project Mayhem

Last time I looked, Subiaco East in laidback Perth, Western Australia, wasn't a hotbed of fist-shaking, epithet-hurling punk rock. There's a strip of cafes and a big football field but it's pretty upper middle-class suburban. But that's from where this seven-track EP emanates. And as low as my tolerance usually is for political commentary mixing it with music because it's all too often like pissing into a hurricane without a raincoat, "No Rest For the Wicked" is a bona fide killer.

Project Mayhem are a quartet that describe themselves as Gonzo Rock and one of them sports a Hunter S. Thompson T-shirt on the inner-tray photo. So I know they're well-read. They sound like a more focussed and intense Dead Kennedys, but with Aussie accents instead of Jello's helium heckle or The Clash with a guitar player who had his chops down and hadn't heard of a flanger pedal.

Musically honed to a diamond hard edge, Project Mayhem have an undeniable streak of passion that's not easy to precisely define. You know it's there - it sticks out like the balls on a bulldog - but it's hard to quantify or get a handle on why it's so obvious. So just go with the flow and get on with the fucking review, OK?

You don't have to be the sharpest tool in the shed to work out this stuff is dynamite. The only tune that doesn't hit the mark is the last one, "Empire US", that's more a slogan than a song. "I'm So Bored With the USA" and all that but that's where 90 percent of punk rock's percursors come from. Still, six out of seven ain't bad.

Opener "Fuck Yeah" is a punk-boy-lusts-after-punk-girl song with a strident intent that leaves you in no doubt that someone means business (or wants to do the business, as the case may be.)

"On the Run" mixes up a bouncy feel with lyrical guitar and fairly bounces off the wall of its padded cell with a melody line Social Distortion would have been proud to have penned, while "Annihilation Song" skids along like a truck with no tyre tread and a possessed psycho at the wheel.

Part of the reason for all this is that Benny Mayhem has range and an undertone of menace to his vocal that sets each song on its ear. You could listen to guitarist Hugh Drockstar for a week too - which isn't to take anything away from the engine room of Bangers on drums and Jesse Deviant on very fluid bass. His bassline carries "Cop Song (Sworn At. Spat At. Kicked & Bashed)" in a way the guitars never could if the bottom end wasn't nailed to the floor like valuable household goods at a kleptomaniac's garage sale.

Look, I got over nasally Brit punk a hundred years ago because half of it sounded the same and most of the rest was no good. I can take or leave a whole slew of thrash bands with fixations on fast tempos and not much else. And hardcore played to a formula disappears up its own arse because it has nowhere else to go. So it's got to be pretty special to get me raving. And Project Mayhem is.

Don't take my word for it. Chase it down and play it before ASIO locks 'em up. I think they mean it. – The Barman - barman - i94bar

Project Mayhem – 'No Rest for the Wicked'
Review Danielle Hanrahan

The latest musical offering from Perth's Project Mayhem, 'No Rest for the Wicked' is one of those CDs that pull you further in to its twisted underbelly the more you listen to it. The stand out feature on this CD is the frenetic instrumentation by the band whose song writing skills have improved greatly and which are no longer, the only aspect that they are remembered for.

On the topic of their earlier material, which had a defining punk-rock element, 'No Rest for the Wicked' is much darker, and much more mature. The songs are catchy and contagious. The opening track of 'Fuck Yeah' is surprisingly good considering what the song title implies.

Each of the songs follows along these lines of what Project Mayhem have set out to do in the local Perth music scene, and that is? To tell it as honestly and brutally as they can about living in one of the most isolated cities in the world.

Benny Mayhem's raw, husky tones hurtle the unwary listener between intelligent observations of the socially disorientating world they live in and perhaps helpful advice on life experiences lived. The guitar solos burst in between structured songs, leaving little room for wondering why you're still sitting, with the overall texture of fast paced savagery that burns from the seams of this CD, sure to lure listeners into the underground lair of Project Mayhem's life. The running themes within the songs themselves continue to become a staple aspect of the Project Mayhem structure, as well as a defining troupe of what Perth audiences have come to expect.

Project Mayhem have come a long way in their musical stylings to their latest release, and like a fresh, red pimple ready to burst, they have come out the better, becoming more mature and exciting to watch. If you like your music, loud, catchy, fast, and socially stirring, then take a whirl down the path of Project Mayhem's latest release, 'No Rest for the Wicked'. - Danielle Hanrahan - Perthsounds

Oh shit.Where do I start this review? You know you're grasping at straws when your bright idea is to lament on how you are struggling to start the review.


I guess I'll begin by stating the obvious – the Project Mayhem boys have an obvious penchant for Hunter S. Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk. These pop-cult leanings run far deeper than simply the bands name (which is one of the best I've heard) with Project Mayhem's music melding gonzo ideology with a definite reaction to local culture.

With all the recent attention given to Perth as a 'boom' city (in both mining and music) it's refreshing to see a band not caught up in hopping on the nearest musical bandwagon. I think it's this fact that makes No Rest for the Wicked so good. You're not hearing what Project Mayhem think that you want to hear, you're hearing what they want to hear.

The EP opens with your prototypical Project Mayhem song – 'Fuck Yeah'. Datsun styled guitars build quickly over an escalating drumbeat until Benny Mayhem yells "Yeah, Fuck Yeah" and there's no turning back. The first minute or so of this EP sums up Project Mayhem brilliantly:

Fuck yeah!

I'll get you in your underwear, fuck yeah!

That's right honey, I'm in a band, fuck yeah!

Maybe it's my love of dirty distorted bass or the all too familiar themes but 'Annihiliation Song' is definitely my pick of the litter. Around half this EP is spent taking a swing at pretty much most things (commercial punk, dogmatic police) and the other half focusing on your staples – sex and drugs.

Project Mayhem aren't trying to change the world one song at a time or anything ridiculously utopian as that. No, the real appeal of this EP is in its mindless fun. The songs are catchy; the vocals are fantastic (unfortunately a rarity in this genre) and with the whole affair clocking in at around the 22 minute mark you're getting a decent taste of Mayhem for your dollars.

No Rest for the Wicked, simply put, makes a fucking fantastic accompaniment to every substance fueled hedonistic act you've ever partaken in. Recommended. - Danwright - Perthbands

[Project Mayhem's] songs are catchier than bird flu at a Taiwanese cock-fight.
- X-Press Magazine, 28 Feb '07 - XPress Magazine Perth

In terms of rock music fuelled by a big punk attitude (think The Saints, The Ramones), Project Mayhem are the shit. Lead by Benny Mayhem, one of the most animated and charismatic frontmen you're likely to see around the traps, the boys impressed with their playing talents, their ability to write some fucking catchy tunes and their salute to the three essentials - beer, drugs and rock 'n' roll. I’m sure the event sponsors Drug Aware and Healthway were proud.
- Steph Edwardes, Rockus Online Magazine. - Rockus.com.au

"…a slickly-greased rock machine of a band, with catchy riffs, memorable choruses, and solid professional musicians" - FasterLouder.com.au 2009

“…easily one of the most consistently entertaining live acts in Perth at the moment” - Xpress Magazine