THE OWEN GUNS - Songs About Fucking Idiots - 12" LP (Booker/Bastard/Outtaspace)

Limited edition: 150 copies 12" green vinyl!

THE beauty of the Aussie-made Owen submachine gun (after its inventor Evelyn Owen) is that it could still fire after being drenched in mud or sand — mighty handy in the trenches or the moshpit. THE OWEN GUNS (OGs) are another Aussie invention: old-school hardcore punks who’ve been getting up people’s noses since 2020, and they’re unafraid to call a spade a spade and a cunt a cunt.

Short, sharp, and funny AF, SONGS ABOUT FUCKING IDIOTS, the third OGs LP after DAWN OF THE BRAINDEAD (2022) and MONKS IN SEXYLAND (2023), is the best we’ve heard ’em, with fish’s-arse tightness, rapid-fire delivery, and fatly veiled jabs at crook politics, the netiverse, and terminal stupids. In other words: songs about fucken idiots.

Let us be clear — there’s no shortage of material.

THIS SIDE (A)

Arguably one of the most divisive bands on the Australian punk scene, the OGs’ crushing opening salvo ‘Worst Wishes’ targets abusers and bullies with equal parts hate and humour, followed by 43 seconds of furious bass and frenetic fuzz on the palate-cleansing ‘Cleanshirt’. Next, ‘Instagram (Some Cunt On)’ is a hyperactive takedown of influencer arsehats and their sheeple, while ’Bullshitter’ eloquently sticks it to dickheads who need a truth rocket up them.

The deceptively melodic and sweet ‘Robodebt’ (“you will pay/won’t go away”) is an anthem about the human tragedy surrounding the former government’s cruel and illegal… sorry, FUCKING DISGRACEFUL welfare hunt, based on a dodgy algorithm. (Note to Sean The Bastard: needs more swears.)

THAT SIDE (B)

In a somewhat meta move (right, kids?) the snotty ‘Me and My Big Mouth’ is a pile on that proves the OGs can take the piss out of anyone, including themselves. By far the cutest track on SONGS ABOUT FUCKING IDIOTS is ‘Gene Pool Party’ — if you’re unlucky enough to have heard the lowly coveted 2020 7” STONEAGE SCOMEOS (Outtaspace/Wreckless) by THE BOT BOTS, there’s a similarly bastardised surf-punk track without the handclaps on Side B (‘Pez Beach Keg Party’). The OGs go into full attack mode again on ‘Rat Face’, a seething performance review about an alleged human being.

The band has had a certain Mango Mussolini in its crosshairs since 2020’s VIOLATING COMMUNITY STANDARDS EP with the blistering ‘Cheeto Hitler’. Unlike the Tangerine Toddler, the OGs have evolved with ’19 Votes’, co-written by Errol J.M. of DRUGS IN SPORT and BEEFWEEK, about that one time the Penn. State Electoral College members sucked harder than Robodebt (see above). As with ‘Robodebt’, the closing track ‘Had Enough’ has an excellent whiff of classic SoCal punk about it.

PRODUCTION

This LIMITED EDITION jello-green mofo is also a testament to the calibre of armies up the OGs’ sleevies: Jay Whalley (FRENZAL RHOMB, CHINESE BURNS UNIT, NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION) of Marrickville’s Pet Food Factory recorded it; Shoeless Geoff Mullard (DRUGS IN SPORT, BEEFWEEK) of Newcastle’s Rock The Nation mixed it, and Bob Weston (SHELLAC, VOLCANO SUNS) of Chicago Mastering Services, put some pepper on it for digital and wax.

ART

Not the first artists to riff on BIG BLACK’s ‘SONGS ABOUT FUCKING’ (1987), but if you’re gonna fucking do it, do it well.

The Owen Guns are:
Sean The Bastard - Vox, theremin, synth, otomatone, cynicism
Mark - Guitar and raised eyebrows
Booker - Bass, ginseng and sarcasm
Ma Tu - Drums, alto sax and liquid bread

Jay Whalley plays the egg shaker on ‘19 Votes’ and triangle on ‘Me and My Big Mouth’

Proudly released 22 May 2025 by Booker/Bastard x Outtaspace!