The Wreckery

Melbourne outfit the Wreckery stood among the key acts shaping Australia's 1980s post-punk landscape, delivering shadowy atmospheric textures rooted in blues traditions and echoing the chemical and cultural fixations of contemporaries Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a connection strengthened by co-founder Hugo Race's early stint in the Bad Seeds. In 1984 guitarist and vocalist Race teamed with guitarist Ed Clayton-Jones to launch the Wreckery after both had participated in the prior project Plays with Marionettes, itself begun in 1980 and featuring multi-instrumentalist Robin Casinader, a schoolmate of Race; that earlier group disbanded in 1983. Shortly after the Birthday Party's dissolution, Nick Cave recruited Race along with PWM's later drummer Mick Harvey, another Birthday Party veteran, into his new backing ensemble the Bad Seeds once Plays with Marionettes had supported Cave live. Race contributed to Cave's 1984 debut album From Her to Eternity and later appeared as a guest on Kicking Against the Pricks and Tender Prey, yet once his initial tour with Cave concluded Race resumed contact with Clayton-Jones, began composing fresh material, and resolved to start their own band, taking the name the Wreckery from one of their earliest compositions, "In My Wreckery." Saxophonist Charles Todd and bassist Nick Barker completed the lineup alongside Race, Clayton-Jones, and Casinader, and the group issued its debut EP I Think This Town Is Nervous in 1985 via the small White/Hot Records imprint. Rampant Records, already better established, signed the Wreckery and released the follow-up EP Yeh My People, which, like the first, performed strongly on Australian indie charts and secured the band regular touring opportunities. Their first full-length album Here at Pain's Insistence arrived in 1987, succeeded early the next year by another EP, Ruling Energy. Although the Wreckery enjoyed growing success, financial strain at Rampant prompted the label to issue a career overview titled The Collection, after which the band moved to Citadel Records; Citadel delivered Laying Down the Law in late 1988, an album many consider the group's finest. Mounting internal frictions, compounded by the demands of touring and health concerns, reached a breaking point, leading the Wreckery to announce their dissolution even before Laying Down the Law appeared, with substitute players filling in for Barker and Casinader on a short farewell tour. Barker later pursued a thriving solo path, while Race, Clayton-Jones, and Casinader continued working across multiple musical ventures. Memorandum Records released the two-CD anthology Past Imperfect in 2008, prompting the Wreckery to reform briefly for several supporting performances.