The Star caught up with EME to talk about the punk trio which reformed in 2016
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Name: EME. It came from graffiti in a urinal in the coke ovens’ amenities block at BHP Steelworks.
Line-up: Haitch on bad vocals and worst dad jokes, The Stane on guitar and vocals, Berko on bass, Bruce the drum machine and drum sequences by Puck Inhel.
How long have you been together? This time since about Feb 2016. We reformed after about a 35 year hiatus. Time is a concept only Stephen Hawking fully comprehends.
How did the band come about? I was playing with our first drummer when I found Berko through an ad. Haitch was a friend of my housemate.
One day he walked in and joined without an invitation, but his lyrical input was terrific so we kept him on.
What makes you want to do what you are doing? Musical unfinished business from way back when...knowledge that we are much better musos now. A mutual twisted sense of humour.
Describe your sound: Sort of lo-fi if you like. This suits us because our great strength is in the narrative of songs – you can pretty much have a conversation next to us and still hear the lyrics.
I don’t think we sound like anyone else, maybe some Wire, Swell Maps or Devo in bits.
Dream support gig and why: Perhaps with the reformed Mansons. We did a gig with them back in the day at South Newcastle Beach pavilion, before they demolished it.
Or an unadvertised pop-up with the Dead Kennedys and Cosmic Psychos at the Muster Point.
Why do you do what you do? Almost all of our tunes are originals……so, a complete indifference to playing other bands’ music.
Are there any recordings, if so tell us about them? Whole bunches of ‘em…rehearsals mostly, and some gigs, jealously guarded on Berko’s laptop. Heading into studio soon for formal recording session.
Greatest rock’n’roll moment: Being in The Star with Mel. The gig at South Newcastle Board-riders Shed, after which the shed was demolished, done deliberately so we could never play there again? Also turning up to a venue unannounced claiming to be the support band and actually getting to play a set.
Plans for world domination: Partner with Anonymous to simultaneously hack every form of broadcast media globally and replace content with a live stream of the Muster Point pop-up gig with the Dead Kennedys and Cosmic Psychos
Next gig: The Lass O’Gowrie, July 9 from 1pm and The Wickham Park Hotel on August 19 with Headbin. Starts at 2pm.