Reckoning

I think this Reckoning article was in the Advertiser again … dunno can’t remember …

My least fave thing about this article – the horrible pull quote – yeeesh!

My fave thing about this photo? Hmmm … I think it has to be the t-shirt I bought on the way to the photo session from one of those cheesy t-shirt shops that says “stop staring at my tits!”. Unfortunately they chose a pic with my arm across the key word – censorship!

Note also the fib we made up about how we formed the band. The true story was too boring so we made up some lie about Pete and Matt seeing me sing in another, apparently “crap”, band. Don’t believe everything you read kiddies!

On the wall behind us is some of the plastic flora that we used to hang up all over the stage at our gigs. Stanley (Ol’ Fella) our plastic elephant mascot made it into this photo as well.

Ah such, such fun…

Cheers,

Seamus

I think this was in the Sunday Mail anyway… could be wrong. Click on it to see a readable version.

How’s that head of hair on Pete! Grrrow! What a lion! And of course this provides proof to the rumour that I was, in my youth, silly enough to wear pigtails. For some reason the girls seemed to like it, I never understood why but I was happy to roll with it for a while.

As for print interviews – I must say I always hated them because things you say off-the-cuff get printed and suddenly come across sounding naive and conceited. I guess it pays to remember we were only about 22 and terribly excited about all the attention we were getting. This is actually not the worst example, there are other articles to be posted that I am afraid to say, make the current-me utterly cringe – but such is life:

O gifted men, vainglorious for first place,
how short a time the laurel crown stays green
……………………………………..
A breath of wind is all there is to fame
here upon earth: it blows this way and that,
and when it changes quarter it changes name.

Dante

I don’t really read things like Dante, I should point out. I just randomly came across this quote and it made me think of the experience of being in Reckoning; how we enjoyed our time in the sun before watching the whole thing nose-dive. This was entirely our own fault, I should add, or at least I think so. It has long been my opinion that if – instead of impatiently imploding – we had taken a long holiday and then returned and persevered we could have built on what we had.

But you know, “should have, would have, could have” and now, as I see the great work Matt Swayne has done in the years since, and as Peter Owen and I start our new band now in 2010, I am sure beyond doubt that it’s all a beautiful thing.

Cheers,
Seamus

I am quite happy to report that this website has managed to bring in a fair bit of goodwill and memorabilia of the old Reckoning days, so much so that I have felt a little overwhelmed about what to post first, but in the spirit of random action – here we go (goes off to find something postable)

Ah yes, the first Advertiser pic, back when we woz dorks. I nabbed this from me Mum’s pin up board (figured I’d better scan it before it crumbled away altogether). Not sure what she did with article, but then, bless her, she was never exactly our biggest fan, I think she only made it to one gig – ah well, at least it was the Weird Kids CD launch.

This of course was well before Weird Kids, or the Future Is Stupid for that matter – and at that time we were desperate for attention as we were the uncool kids from the outer suburbs. So to say that we were happy when we scored this back page of the Advertiser’s entertainment guide would be an understatement (never mind that every other band who asked pretty much got it too back then). I remember boasting to a guy called Tony, who’s surname I forget, who was the manager of the the Jaynes at the time, and he told us gently that we should not expect the article to result in a full house at our next show. He was right, back then we were playing to our mates and the bar staff.

Note: Stanley the Elephant – our plastic mascot fantastic – front n’ center. Wonder what happened to him? Hopefully Matt still has him on a shelf somewhere…

Cheers,

Seamus

Me (Seamus) and Peter Owen go in to the studio with a couple of other lads to start jamming/recording this weekend. Very excited about this; the true beginning of the first serious work we have done together since reckoning days (although we’ve done a few casual gigs and jam here and there together over the years). It won’t be called Reckoning, but it will hark back to the sound as it will feature the double vocals, plus the big drums of Pete and generally we are keen on a big sonic sound.

What fun!

Meanwhile here’s a photo of the reckoning demo cassettes that Ian, an old friend of the band who used to be quite a regular supporter from the get-go, sent in, plus he has sent in a recording of the intro from Richard Kingsmill of triple J introducing the band’s live in the J studios – click here to listen. Apparently he has more stuff yet to come – quite the archivist! Thanks Ian!

New Recordings This June 2010

I don’t think we’ll be calling it “reckoning” as such, but this June 5th to the 8th me (Seamus) and Peter Owen will be recording some new electric music for the first time in like, 12 years or so.

Pete’ll be getting back on the drums, and I will be singing and playing some electric guitar and maybe some bass also. Joining us will be Tony Ennis on bass and Jeff Springfield who will be engineering/producing the recordings plus probably laying down some mean axe too.

Stay tuned!

These shots of reckoning back in the 90s at the Adelaide Uni Bar were recently discovered by one Nick Lambert, formerly of the Undecided. Seems he kept his fave pics of Peter Owen for himself

Reckoning Newsletter

Back in the land before time, we used to take names and snail mail addresses and send out a sporadic photocopied newsletter. I have but one of these in my possession, coffee-stained and yellow. Here ’tis

Hint: don’t use that email address, we never even learned how to retrieve those emails, try info@reckoning.com.au – especially if you have some old Reckoning photos or memorabilia to scan and send us. Photos of the crowds and you and your mates on the night of a gig would be great too.

Reckoning Postcard

This is a postcard of Reckoning that we had printed early on (before long hair happened). Probably in 1994 but that’s a guess. We used it to promote gigs.

It’s a photo we took behind the shops in Goodwood, just off Rosa St, which is where all of us lived at one time.

Once somebody met me and expressed surprised because they thought I was a giant. They had seen this picture. Seemed obvious to me that I was standing closer to the camera, but whatever.

my 3d glasses were from that old cinema, the Capri, on Goodwood rd. I got them seeing a 3d Andy Warhol film there. The movie was terrible but I got mileage out of those glasses.

If you have any Reckoning photos, paraphernalia, recordings etc. that we could use on this website please use the form to contact Seamus or email info@reckoning.com.au

I will at some point populate a blog section about Reckoning, maybe with some scanned flotsam and jetsam from the gigs etc. Speaking of which it would be great if you could help by sending us your old Reckoning photos etc.