Unpaid Debt
Gig Seeker Pro

Unpaid Debt

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Rock Punk

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Blunt Review SCB"

Blunt Mag

Unpaid Debt
Southern Cross Bones
Shrine/Shock
8/10

BLUNT MAGAZINE ISSUE 52

It’s taken Unpaid Debt a while (three EPs, to be precise) to get to this stage, but upon listening to Southern Cross Bones, it’s easy to see why they waited. Their debut LP is an assured slice of frenetic punk rock, devoid of the mistakes and hero-worship that usually characterise first albums. Instead, the boys showcase their now-distinctive style, treating us to twelve tracks of stinging twin guitars and chaotic drum work. The punk element is at the forefront, but there are ‘70s rock influences, too, which make for a well-rounded listening experience. Like The Living End, the band has a lot to say, but they wrap their political and social messages up in catchy melody lines so as not to overwhelm. A little samey at times, Southern Cross Bones is nonetheless an impressive debut that easily stands up to Unpaid Debt’s peers, both here and overseas. JH
- Blunt (next Media


"southern Cross Bones album review"

Bombshell Zine

I could tell you that Unpaid Debt is Sydney's most energetic punk rock band in recent years. I could also tell you that Unpaid Debt has played alongside some of the biggest names in punk rock from Lagwagon to Hard-Ons. If you're an inch familiar with Unpaid Debt, you don't need me to sell the band to you. But if you're one of those hermits who's been asleep under a rock for the past few years, then you need to race to your nearest local and score yourself a copy of Southern Cross Bones. Southern Cross Bones is a straight up punk rock album that is free from tricks and gimmicks. And in this day and age when some bands are more interested in fashioning their tunes with a bevy of technological advancements, Unpaid Debt has revoked such refuse to bring to the Aussie scene a feverish punk rock release. From the onset of Drinking With My Stereo and The Working Week, Unpaid Debt are portrayed as the epitome of the Aussie working class society, antheming from the knowledge of working to the bone and embodying the blood, sweat and tears that is an Aussie punk rock band. Through their debut full-length, Unpaid Debt have successfully devised a 12-track monster, uncompromising on the riffs and screams whilst forging an argumentative stance that punk rock is far from dead in this country. Unpaid Debt will soon be riding the success of their most pertinent release to date and the band has instilled the circle-pit ideal that each track can and will be as anthemic and as passionate as the next. Just take Weigh Me Down, Stitches and the brutal West Of The City. They're enough to have you jumping out of your seat and busting a one-man circle on your own living room floor as you reach for the extreme end of your volume dial. Not only is Southern Cross Bones an album that demands every ounce of your energy and a compulsory white-knuckled fist in the air, it'll immediately snap you out of your daydream and into the hard-knocking reality of Aussie punk rock. And if that's not enough to get your blood pumping, then I have no idea what's left out there for you. Just make sure you have the guts and stamina to keep up with this album.
Bomshell zine
- www.bombshellzine.com


"southern Cross Bones album review"

Fasterlouder

Hailing from Western Sydney, Unpaid Debt have such accolades to their name as winning Triple J’s Unearthed competition, as well as supporting the likes of Mad Caddies, Goldfinger, Against Me, Guttermouth, The Vandals and the band's heroes, The Bouncing Souls.
The four piece have been kicking it for quite some time now, with four EPs to their name, going back as far as 2001, however Unpaid Debt of today are a vastly different band to then. Numerous re-shuffles have occurred in the lineup over the past three or four years, this has stabilised over the past year or so with Joey on vocals, Damo on drums, Harry with his blisteringly technical bass playing, and Nathan with lightning fretwork on the six-string.
August saw the release of UD’s long awaited debut long player, Southern Cross Bones, produced by Lachlan Mitchell and released on Shrine Recordings. It’s thirteen tracks in all, and surprisingly it’s less chaotic (in a good way) and a little more varied than you would expect from their live shows.
Album opener, Noose Song, is full of palm-muted goodness and gets straight into the punk rock/pub rock sing-a-long feel with the repeated shouts of “Shut up! Shut up!” In under three minutes it’s into Drinking With My Stereo (what working class punk band could get away without a song about drinking?), beginning with very Chris Cheney-esque string bending. Even on first listen you get the impression this will end up being one of the highlights.
The Working Weak is the lead ‘single’ from the album, very catchy and surprisingly harmonic for someone with an almost stereotypically Aussie voice as singer, Joey Debt. Songs like this make it really hard to understand why UD aren’t one of our major punk exports.
It’s crazy just how strong the first half of the album is. Southern Cross Bones (the song) will whip dull and lazy punters into a circle pit frenzy, Weigh Me Down is grand and anthemic, and Stitches again brings out sing-a-longs similar to what you’d imagine from the likes of the Dropkick Murphys sans the bagpipes.
West of The City starts with an appropriately western feel, as if the backing score to an American cowboy movie with Clint Eastwood stepping out onto the middle of a dirt road preparing for a good old fashioned gun slingin’.
Nathan really gets a chance to show off his tricky fingers on Us Against The World, and Daiman Sutherland of Irrelevant guests on the track with his unique strained vocal style.
Closing the album is This Coffin. It starts with an almost ska-ish style to it. It’s the darkest sounding song on the album, though don’t be expecting it to be some lame attempt to fit in with what’s cool at the moment. It’s still completely Unpaid Debt, and is a perfect example of the band experimenting with their own sound a little, without removing their trademark feel.
Forget Frenzal Rhomb, these guys are what you should be listening to! Southern Cross Bones has to be the best local punk rock release of the year, so get down to your local record store (or even better, a show) and pick up a copy. A totally worthy release!
- www.fasterlouder.com


"Southern Cross Bones review"

Unpaid Debt
Southern Cross Bones
Shrine / Shock
Review by Dominic Pearce

After already garnering a fairly solid fan base on the strength of their EPs (their most recent Broken Hearts…Broken Bones is still in high demand), Unpaid Debt finally bring to the table their first full-length.
These twelve tracks bear all the hallmarks of good, solid so-cal punk: righteous vocal harmonies coupled with fast, intense guitar licks solidified by a blistering and unrelenting rhythm section. What puts Unpaid Debt at the forefront of their contemporaries, however, is the integrity of their work and command of their genre. While numerous other punk acts either sound like their trying too hard, or not trying at all, Unpaid Debt make no bones (pun not intended) about what they are and the music they make, and the quality of the work is all the better because of it.
Given how many acts have moved on from this era of punk and embraced more recent trend styles of music, it’s impressive to see such a solid punk release in a music scene dominated by the pop-culture advent of screamo & hardcore. Tracks like This Coffin and Drinking With My Stereo contain inflections of ska and rockabilly, while Stitches and The Working Weak are straight up, chant intensive punk anthems.
Joey Debt’s unassailable vocal bite is both powerful and melodic when it needs to be, Nibbs and Elliot provide a blitzkrieg of a rhythm section, and Thomas’ guitar drives the music with fast, distorted precision. Lachlan Mitchell’s production puts the levels in the right place, opting for a raw, honest sound to the music as opposed to something more production heavy.
It’s refreshing to see a band creating music so honest and free of public persuasion, especially in the realm of punk. Where others may sound like clichéd imitations, a band like this shows how it should be done. It’s certainly one for fans of the genre, but at any rate, Southern Cross Bones is a top-notch Australian punk release.
- Rockus


"live review w/h bouncing souls"

The Bouncing Souls (USA) & Frenzal Rhomb - Words by Rockpig [fasterlouder.com.au]

"Unpaid Debt been doing their thing for a number of years with a healthy fanbase out west, with their fair share of lineup changes over the years (like headliners Frenzal Rhomb, only contain one original member) but as they took to the stage tonight looked like they were settled right into doing exactly what they wanted to do. Rock the crowd. It took the punters a few songs to get a wriggle on as they all made their way towards the front, they blasted out their rock/punk anthemic tracks to set the mood for the bands to follow. The energy lifted towards the end of the their set as they busted out one of their token old tracks 'I'm So Happy I Could Shit' which was quickly followed on by the sets highlight, a newer numbers 'Verity' which really had the crowd at a peak. A perfomance which had the punk rock of Rancid combined with the rock'n'roll of The Living End and left the crowd a satisfied bunch as they prepared for The Bouncing Souls."
- www.fasterlouder.com


"live review - Annandale Hotel"

"Unpaid Debt are a riot. They scream into a full tilt boogie mix of hardcore, Oi, Old school and punk.
Id heard their EP "ugly on the inside" last year and was suitable impressed but seeing them live i am now a card carrying Debtophile.

These lads have energy and then some. Raw and amped then cruising with the slightest hint of reggae and 80's rock with a balistic rhythm driving fist in the air blast beats- lead bloke crooning then barking out warm melodies as the band drives and drives almost falling of the edge.
Its a testament to their tightness that they keep it together ......
A must See
- Drum Media


"Live review w/h Mad Caddies"

Recent NSW "unearthed" winners Unpaid Debt took to the Gealic stage and proved why they won the highly sort after radio contest.
A four to the floor energetic mix of 90's punk and 80's guitar flare.
As Chuck Robertson of the Mad Caddies watched on entertained from the side of the stage, the members of Unpaid Debt bounced relentlessly around the stage, off their amps and drum kit. While the guitar twiddled to mass applause to the up tempo tracks like "im so happy I could shit" and of cause the now familiar "Verity", the crowd revelled in it, getting warmed up for the Caddies.
With an Elvis Costello number thrown in for good measure the group left the stage and should be proud of their performance. - Drum Media


Discography

"Southern Cross Bones" LP
Released August 2006 through Shrine Records/Shock

"Broken Hearts...Broken Bones" EP
Released October 2004 through Chatterbox Records/MGM

"Ugly On The Inside" EP
Released September 2002 Independently / MGM

"Talk to the Hand" EP (out of print)
Released April 2001 Independently

"The Suckerpunch EP" (out of print)
Released April 2000 Independently

Photos

Bio

Perhaps it’s about being in the right place at the right time, perhaps it’s about hard work and dedication.
For Sydney’s punk rockers Unpaid Debt it’s about both.
So when the opportunity came up to support their life long idols, a dream became a reality and a burning desire to excel was augmented. Having the chance to perform alongside the Bouncing Souls twice would definitely have been a pivotal point for the career of Sydney’s Unpaid Debt. Firstly the US punkers took them under their wings, treated them as equals and gave them a chance to impress and be impressed. Secondly it saw the more formal introduction to the Frenzal Rhomb lads who, on the same tour took such a liking to the four piece couldn’t look past them as inclusions on Lindsay’s ‘Rock Against Howard’ Compilation with their anthemic track Call it a Day. It also forged a solid friendship with the fellow Sydneysiders. Thirdly and possibly most notably, it was only a few weeks after these gigs that saw the Unpaid Debt crew get chosen from over three thousand entrants to win the illustrious and extravagant New South Wales edition of the Unearthed competition held by national radio station Triple J. Verity the unearthed track was added to Triple J rotation, hit No 6 in the net 50 and was added to the hottest 100 nominations.
But it doesn’t stop there…

No strangers to sharing the stage with the big guns, you name them Unpaid Debt has probably supported them. The Mad Caddies, Goldfinger, Against Me!, New Found Glory, Guttermouth, The Hard-Ons, The Vandals, less than Jake, Melincolin, NO FX are just a few that spring to mind.
Need further proof?

After turning heads on a support show with US legends Lagwagon in 2003, the band asked for Unpaid Debt to tour nationally alongside them in October of 2004. Hours upon hours on the road has become an experience all too familiar for the band and can only be equalled by the amount of hours spent in the recording studio.
Past History

Since their formation in 2000, Unpaid Debt recorded their first six-track EP The Sucker Punch and a year later recorded another ten tracks for their second EP Talk to the Hand. Of which, this EP was voted as ‘CD of the Week’ in Revolver Magazine and ‘Best Local Release’ in Mixdown’s punk poll for 2001. Again a year later, this time with the help of MGM Distribution, the Ugly on the Inside EP was recorded and the track No Apologies reached the number 1 position on MP3.com’s punk charts and remained as one of the most downloaded tracks for over twelve weeks.

2004
It was time to once again lay down tracks for their latest EP release Broken Hearts and Broken Bones this time arousing attention from the offices of Chatterbox Records who are releasing the six-track EP. Including the winning ‘Unearthed’ track Verity, the EP is set to sent the band on a National tour in November 2004. Presented by Triple J, Blunt Magazine and Bombshell Zine, it seems these guys make an impression with everything they do.

2005 - 2006
Saw the band take in almost every inch of our big brown land and forge firm fans from Sydney to Perth and also saw their Broken Hearts EP go into its forth pressing as well as a hand shake pressing deal with MGM as the demand grew for their previous recordings
Unpaid Debt spent most of their time in 05 till March 06 in the studio they demoed 48 songs for their latest recording which has been recorded at Standing Wave and produced by Lachlan Mitchell
The album titled Southern Cross Bones was released September 06 to rave reviews from Music media and fans alike, the first single has spent a lions share of time in the indie charts and on rotation on Triple J radio as well as being nominated in the Triple J Hotest 100 and having the clip aired on Rage, Channel V and MTV.
Unpaid Debt will be releasing a DVD in September 07 this is a fly on the wall doco of the last three years of the bands carreer.
Perhaps it’s about being in the right place at the right time, perhaps it’s about hard work & dedication.

Whatever it is, the Unpaid Debt crew are making a noise that is impossible to ignore.

Need more info? more images, or want to book Unpaid Debt for a show, if so please contact Danielle Courtney 02 96600939
0400 946655 e-mail - danielle@unpaiddebt.net