This Arthouse show was the first and only gig they played after my trip to Australia, recorded months after my return to American soil and months before Gus' death. Had they played while I was there, it's likely this mess is what I would have witnessed. A "mess" is the only way I can describe this, really. This has been floating around the Internet for years now on file sharing sites, and I've listened to it heaps of times before asking to release it. Before reading Zombo and Stumblefuck's notes, I had no idea that the *thwock* sound that occurs throughout the recording was the sound of Gus bashing the microphone against his face. Even with a face full of blood, he managed to keep it together most of the time. It may not have been what the Melbourne grind syndicate was looking for in a Rupture performance, but for fan of going on 20 years, even at their worst, it's satisfying.
A few of these songs appeared on their split 7" w/ Opposition Party, but here it is in its entirety with the audio cleaned up as well as possible.
"By our final gig we were pretty burnt out, the band was a
train wreck, we were all jobless alcoholics and rehearsals were basically fist
fights. It was going nowhere. Gus was off the rails, but then again we all were
really at that time. We played drunk & sloppy. I was playing through some
shitty little practice amp with a banana shoved down my jeans. During a song I
took it out and peeled it and threw it at some girls in the crowd, but they
ducked & it hit the bar chick in the face. She was furious. She hated me,
our band, everything to do with Rupture. Mullschlucka were a very short-lived Geelong thrash band doing
Dayglo Abortion covers. The Kill had Neil on vocals. I don't think Corruption
even played, no idea who they were. Neil bloodied himself up on stage, so not
to be outdone, when Gus got on stage he spent more time smashing his face with
the microphone than actually singing. The gig was a total fucking mess. But
hey, afterwards I had a few Geelong
crew slap me on the back laughing, so maybe at least a few folk found it
entertaining. In hindsight this gig accurately reflected where the band was at
the time - in the process of total meltdown. RIP Gus." (Stumblefuck, 2013)
