LIVE FROM LONDON: THE MOODISTS

Live from London: The Moodists UK

A long-lost, live-in-concert classic: 'The Moodists emerged from South Australia at the end of the 70s and headed, via Melbourne, to London. Here they joined fellow antipodeans the Go-Betweens, the Scientists and Nick Cave in a living hell of bad drugs, bad weather and bad cooking. At the end of the 80s they went home empty-handed, despite critical acclaim and a fearsome live presence. Maybe Dave Graney's elliptical, epic, witty, self-mythologising lyrics and histrionic, golden wolverine growl made too many intellectual demands on the indie-rock fans of the mid-80s. If the Moodists are an unknown quantity, you now have the enviable pleasure of discovering them for the first time.' -sunday Times, UK

'With the Moodists, distorted blues and mutated rock plugged into a shockingly licentious bass and assaulted you constantly. Guitars would forgo scraping across your eyeballs only to pick at you until you gave in or ran out wearing the scars of a thousand cuts to your skin/cerebellum/psyche. These songs weren't easy; they weren't pleasant, but they reeked of immersion in the Beefheart end of garage punk and the darker depths of country.' - Sydney Morning Herald

D Don Coutts P Phillip Goodhand-Tait WS Umbrella Entertainment TD Video/Col/1984/60mins

Don Coutts' films: Live from London: The Moodists (MIFF 2004).