PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS - Primitive Calculators

Melbournes Primitive Calculators met as teenagers in the early 70s, growing up in the grim outer suburb of Springvale. An older friend who lived in a bungalow behind his parents house provided an oasis of culture, and there they were introduced to music of a kind rarely heard in their neighbourhood. The Velvet Underground and The MC5 were obvious heroes, but they were also inspired by lesser known bands like The Fugs, The 13th Floor Elevators, and The Godz (they went on to dedicate their album to Godz singer Jim McCarthy) as well as the writing of obsessive rock journalist Lester Bangs.By 1977, they had deserted Springvale for the more musically liberated environs of St. Kilda, sharing a house in Park St and forming a band called The Moths. But they were a couple of years older than most of the punk bands starting up around them, and their uncultured accents clashed with the inner city, private school values of their so-called peers. Well-known figures like Nick Cave (The Boys Next Doo