Dead Kennedys live!

by Luke Williams

May 15, 2008

THIRTY years after the Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys blast onto the music scene to rebel against the then-prevalent middle-of the-road melange, the time may well be ripe for the punk rockers’ frenetic  three-minute tunes to be championed by that most un-punk of phenoma - the tribute band.

Tribute act manager Sam Pulvirenti, who has arranged tribute shows to such mainstream staples as Buddy Holly and Mick Jagger, says as long as punters know about the acts and are fans then a tribute act will succeed.

“Everything is possible,” Mr Pulvirenti said when quizzed on whether his stable of musical iumpersonators might one day champion the cause of punk. “There is always a possibility if they know about it.”

However, Mr Pulvirenti warned there were still considerable hurdles should a punk rock tribute act wish to get off the ground.

“There needs to be a budget and a venue to take it on,” he warned. “Most people would rather pay a DJ for entertainment, and half of the venues aren’t suited.”

Players Bar manager Kerri Anne said most cover bands played old school rock more than punk music.

“We have original punk bands come through every now and then,” Ms Anne said, “and they do pretty well, but mostly it’s AC/DC and Blink that the cover bands play.”

Original punk band Atfault will be one of the bands playing a covers and tribute show on May 16.

“It’s paying respect to some influential punk bands of ours,” Mr Mitchum said. “It’s more bands we’re into and bands we like, which aren’t mainstream.”

Mr Mitchum reckoned although there probably was a market for a punk tribute band, unless there was a message to their music, no one would want to listen to it.

“If a band likes that type of music they’d probably have their own ideas and opinions,” Mr Mitchum said. “The punk community would respect that more than covering other bands’ songs.”