The Decline

The audience, dedicated as ever, steeled themselves for the first of Bloodrocks 3 headlining acts; WAM nominees for best punk/hardcore act and local heroes THE DECLINE. Having just returned from a whirlwind tour of Japan beside festival headliners Useless ID, the four-piece punk heavyweights provided a frenzied inferno of blistering punk beats and shredded guitars, tearing up the stage and showing why they are one of the best live punk acts in Australia. The band transitioned seamlessly from one perfectly executed punk hurricane to the next; classic tracks like ‘Refujesus’, ‘You Died Losing Ten Experience Point’, and ‘Half a Beer’ shattered the crowd into a break out of skanking and quasi-moshing, while newer songs showed just how polished these boys had become. - Spaceship news

The Decline were so stoked to be a part of such a momentous evening that they began proceedings without any warning whatsoever. The bulk of the crowd took this as an invitation to get as close to the stage as possible, and they were rewarded with an explosively vigorous punk rock performance by the locals, who were out to show just how much the headliners inspired them. - The Music (Drum Media)

There are a few types of people that we really enjoy in Australia. First of all we love an underdog, its in our nature to back the biggest looser I the hope that they will get up and have a win. Second, we love the larrikin. It doesn’t matter what your social standing is, if you can make people laugh, the public will love you. Look at Dave Hughes, absolutely talentless human being, but, because he can make people laugh at how bad he is, the general public love him. While being funny and adding music can’t always work, musicians that are funny are amazing and Perth’s The Decline have that down with their new album.
Ripping their way out of the sun soaked city of Perth, The Decline are this generations version of the comical, yet tight as a fishes asshole, punk rock experience. This genre has been comfortably covered by a band that a few of you may have experienced in the past, they go by the name Frenzal Rhomb. The band has been around for a while now and after playing alongside some of the countries best punk bands, its now time to unleash another album upon the masses.
Are You Going To Eat That? Doesn’t mess around racing straight into ‘A Crash Course in Emotional English’ with a pretty little vocal harmonies. This is backed straight up by a racing punk smashed together with a flurry of riffs driving towards the ever catchy choruses where vocal melodies set in and things get exciting. This is a solid formula for the band with most tracks ending up stuck in your head for a few hours after one listen through. Good song structuring and a series of comedic audio samples smattered throughout the album keep things from getting monotonous and are sure to incite many a drunken circle pit in listeners lounge rooms this summer.
While this record is fresh and modern sounding, the band has gone about this album by leading back towards some of the now older style fast punk bands for tones. Everything has such high clarity but in a driving fashion. The clarity on the guitars works well on tracks that are slightly more technical, such as ‘Showertime in the Slammer’ and ‘66B’, but this also works well as the vocal melodies shine through so much more in the verses. Vocally this record is very impressive. The duelling vocals between Pat and Daniel are a treat to be able to listen too. Their styles compliment each other perfectly and when the harmonies do kick in your kidding yourself if your mot trying to sing along with them.
To be honest I wasn’t really sure what I was going to be getting when I received this album, but after a week in my car, Are You Going To Eat That? Was high on my CD rotation. Where comical punk bands can often go a bit to far, or be a bit shit musically, The Decline have hit the mark as much as you can hit it, and have managed to put together one of the best punk albums I’ve heard this year.
Rating: 24/28 days
- Chucking a Mosh

It took me a while to get into these guys last album, it's since become a favourite, so was keen to see what this new full length from these Perth guys was like. Pleased to report that this one takes no time to get into. It's a bit less novelty (not lost altogether though!) and a slightly more mature album, usually that'd sound like a a bad thing, but it still contains the fun filled brand of punk rock they've made themselves known for. Musically they've stepped it up too, everything seems a lot tighter and the vocals stronger. Plenty of highlights, a few familiar guests and the end result is one high quality album from start to finish. If you like your fast, catchy punk rock, sung without a forced American accent and some sharp lyrics that make memorable choruses, then you probably already know of these guys, but if not, then get onto this one, it's a ripper. - Bombshellzine.com

I never heard of these guys before, but The Decline is an Australian punkrock band who have just released their second full-length. “Are You Gonna Eat That?” comes with a controversial yet funny cover which pretty much tells you exactly what the band is about.
The tuneage on here is fun enough yet always comes with a message about how we’re fucking up our society when we’re not too busy fucking up another relationship. It’s all very fast, very tight and very melodic and it would’ve made perfect sense on the 90s roster of Fat Wreck. So yeah, hardly original but you just don’t hear this kind of straight-forward punkrock enough these days. So kudos to them! - PunkRockTheory.com

The melodic speed punk-rock quartet from Perth Australia kicks off as the fire department, with lots of massive choruses and a healthy dose of old-style a la NO USE FOR A NAME, Lagwagon and Pennywise, as they still had the right momentum. The disc was recorded in Perth, mixed and mastered but then in the already legendary Blasting Room Studios by Jason Livermore in Fort Collins, Colorado. Therefore, it is also technically sound belonging to the ears, with a fat punch to the snare. Of course there are the usual Trade Marks at the start and outbreaks in unfamiliar fields do not occur. Nevertheless, this is a disc that is not purely left and right goes out again. The class has, in any case. - OX Fanzine #99

First billed melodic punk outfit The Decline are going from strength to strength and sounded particularly tight tonight. The sole local support, they had a decent size crowd for such an early set, and their songs are becoming both increasingly good, and increasingly familiar. It’s hard to argue with a song like Showertime In The Slammer – it just gets inside yo’ head. - Xpress Magazine

Second band for the evening was The Decline, whose relative youth was particularly noticeable on the big stage. With the exception of a small handful of complete douchebags who kept themselves entertained by insulting the band and calling for Unwritten Law, the band’s set went down really well. There was plenty of movement in the front row as people moshed about and generally enjoyed themselves. They were, of course, a perfect choice of support act for Unwritten Law, and to their credit they pulled off the set well and rolled with the punches. - Xpress magazie

After hearing The Decline and finding out they’d been around for a while, it was embarrassing not to have heard them before. They revealed themselves to be one of Perth’s most solid punk bands.

They played the entirety of their upcoming Bill Stevenson/Jason Livermore (Fat Wreck Chords go-to men) produced debut album I’m Not Gonna Lie To You and it was impressive to say the least. They looked a little awkward at first, hell it’s always awkward playing to an empty room, but as they warmed into it and the room got a little busier, the four youngsters made their much older audience reassess their youth.

“Man, why wasn’t I making music like this when I was their age,” you could imagine the 90s high schoolers thinking to themselves.

Punk songs work really well when they begin at head-banging pace and then halve to become something bouncy. The best good-time bands do it and The Decline did it a lot. Their music was a mix-bag of punk tastes and it was obvious they live with an IV drip attached to this bag, as influence after influence poured out of their exploratory-debut album veins. Half the fun was trying to pick them all, so at risk of being a fun-ruiner and a cliché reviewer, the influences shall be left up to the listener to find.

They finished with Radio Friendly which induced memories of Happy Gilmore’s happy place music and then made the announcement their awesome drummer Harry was leaving the band. Hopefully this doesn’t mean they’re finished, if these guys continue to shape their own sound, the local punk bar will be raised and drunk dry. - Squaqz (Faster Louder)

Every now and then the west-coast of Australia spits out some incredible music. Perth in particular has been the breeding ground of many notable Australian artists, punks or otherwise. In this case, four kids got together in a high-school music class and The Decline was born. If like me, you’re thinking that the band took their name from the title of the NOFX song, you’d be wrong. The gents themselves don’t even know where the name came from.

The band took themselves from Australia’s west coast in September 2009 to Blast Studios, Colorado to record their debut album. Legend Bill Stevenson (Black Flag, Descendents) and Jason Livermore were enlisted to produce the record which was also mixed and mastered at Blast Studios.

March 2010 saw them release their debut album, I’m Not Gonna Lie to You, and taking a leaf out of their books, I’m not going to either. They aren’t reinventing any wheels but they’ve put their own spin on it, for the better.

It seems as though these days you can put a word in front of punk, hyphenate it and BAM! You’ve got yourself a new genre. Sonic-punk being the most ridiculous example of this I’ve come across to date. Punk is dead. We’ve all heard it before and at points in time, believed it too. The thirteen tracks in I’m Not Gonna Lie to You are enough to restore faith in a genre lately slipping somewhere between commercial corruption and failure of integrity and honesty. I’m looking at you auto-tune.

Like many punk albums before it, it runs like a socio-political commentary, exploring issues including religion, refugees, homophobes, and scenesters to name a few. The album opener, Putain De Chaine Aliment, explodes without any form of regard to one’s ears. It’s short, it’s tight, it’s fast, and for those reasons, it’s a perfect way to open any politically charged punk-rock album. From here the album moves into I Killed the Trend Scene which manages to tear scenesters down a peg with an intense frenzy of guitar riffs and a blatant lyrical attack against Bring Me The Horizon.

Refujesus’ lyrical content is centred on the influx of refugees that arrive on boats to Australia each year and the nation’s response to and acceptance of these immigrants. Bassist, Daniel Cribb, drives the breakdown which takes a stab at the Australian population in full.

The vigour that pours from the speakers with the introduction of You Died…Losing 16 Experience Points is almost overpowering before the tempo drops away until increasing in increments until it peaks with the same force with which it began.

The dual vocals constantly swap between Pat Dolin’s spitfire velocity and Daniel’s more melodic pace. Oh, Fuck! is a perfect example with Daniel opening, in a slow base and drum tempo, before promptly swapping into Pat’s lyrical attack on religion and higher entities.

Conjunctivitis stands alone as the song that is delivered with a level of hope against the injustices that the rest of the record resists. Half A Beer is the album’s catchiest cut but that can be attributed to the series of ‘whoas’ that kick off the song before it transitions into short, sharp chord progressions, that are catchy enough to get stuck in one’s head for days.

As the record draws closes out, the pace slows with Sentience or Selfishness at which point you’d be forgiven for thinking the album will flow in this manner for the remaining two tracks. Untitled carries this through, beginning acoustically before kicking into a full band assault to finish.

Finally, the whole thing closes with Radio Friendly, despite being everything but its name, the song is an anthem for action. The conviction of its delivery is enough to make the listener feel regret and selfishness with enough remaining hope to make one actually get up and make a stand.

While the albums energy lapses somewhat toward the end, it doesn’t hurt the flow. The lull isn’t detrimental. Rather, it provides a breather and proves the band can write songs beyond run-of-the-mill, furiously expended political punk rock.

With their debut, these four gents have managed to deliver 13 high energy, melodic punk-rock tunes. The Decline are a shining example of the finer side of Australian punk rock today, kids should be taking notes off these guys. It will be worth keeping an eye on this band in the future while giving I’m Not Gonna Lie to You a thrashing in the present. If you don’t have the pleasure of owning the album, mosey on over to their MySpace page for proof. - Brittney Nixon

When The Decline finally hit the stage the crowd had grown a fair bit and punters were eagerly awaiting the fast punk riffs of these youngsters. Having spent some time over in Colorado, US. Where they recorded their album with pop punk legends Bill Stevenson (the main songwriter from The Descendents and drummer from Black Flag) and Jason Livermore. They put on a steely performance and had punters at the front singing along and getting right into it.

Towards the end of the set they asked members from the other bands to come up on stage and in turn had the stage packed singing into the mics and having a great time. Ending the night with Bullion a cover from Swedish pop punk masters Millencolin, The Decline kept the crowds pumped and wanting more. It was a great fun night and good to hear some of the late 90s punk style music floating around the Perth scene again. - SallyJ (Faster Louder)

Saturday night at the Amplifier Bar was the much anticipated launch of The Novocaines fourth EP, Courtesy Eventually and began with a fast, high energy performance from The Decline; a punk four-way band who started the crowd filtering in with songs like Oh, Fuck and I Killed the Trend Scene from their recent album I’m Not Gonna Lie To You. The Decline were a hit with the audience, many who had not seen them perform before, with their vigorous punk rock performance and fast, hard-edged music earning them more fans. This is a punk band at its glorious best, yet they are really quite nice and friendly. - Leisha66 (Faster Louder)

Next up were The Decline who if you close your eyes could be mistaken for an early version of Blink 182. Irreverent, engaging and energetic and with songs like, "Pope'd in the Eye", "Conjunctivitis" and "You Died... Losing 16 Experience Points", The Decline are a act not to be missed. Fast, loud and fast with a dash of loud thrown in for good measure, The Decline had the crowd jumping and begging for more. - Tony Lendrum - AU Review