The Scavengers were a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

punk rock band that formed in 1977. They moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, in November 1978 and became Marching Girls.

History

The band was formed in 1976 at

Auckland Technical Institute Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

students Ken Cooke, Simon Monroe, Mike Simons and Marlon Hart, under the name The 1B Darlings. They were heavily influenced by

British R&B British rhythm and blues (or R&B) was a musical movement that developed in the United Kingdom between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, and reached a peak in the mid-1960s. It overlapped with, but was distinct from, the broader British beat ...

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

and 1960s US

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

. In 1977, they renamed themselves the Scavengers and gave themselves punk

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s (Cooke as Johnny Volume, Monroe as Des Truction, Simons as Mike Lezbian and Hart as Mal Icious). Their style mutated in the direction of the US punk rock and

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wit ...

acts. Through much of 1977, they and

Suburban Reptiles The Suburban Reptiles were one of the first two punk bands to form in New Zealand, the other being the Scavengers. History The Suburban Reptiles were conceptualised by Auckland students Simon Grigg and Brett Salter in late 1976, with some enc ...

were the only punk bands in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In June 1977 they, along with Suburban Reptiles and the Masochists, played New Zealand's first major punk gig, at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. Their repertoire during this time was mostly covers, but by early 1978, they had written a set of original tunes. In late 1977, bassist Hart left to be replaced by

Brendan Perry Brendan Michael Perry (born 30 June 1959) is a British singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard. Early life Perry was born in Whitechapel, London, England, UK, in 1959 to a mot ...

, who performed under the stage name "Ronnie Recent". In March 1978, they began a residency at Zwines, a new Auckland punk club. Simons soon left (inspiring their signature song "Mysterex"), and Perry moved to vocals. Two Scavengers tracks appeared on the Ripper compilation ''

AK79 ''AK79'' is a collection of unreleased tracks by punk bands active in Auckland, New Zealand in the late 1970s. The album was compiled by Bryan Staff, with artwork from Terence Hogan, and was released by Ripper Records in December 1979. History ...

'' and a retrospective album was released in 2003.

The Marching Girls

The Scavengers moved to Sydney, then, Melbourne, Australia, in November 1978, and renamed themselves Marching Girls, issuing some recordings and video clips.

Legacy

Perry later formed

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...

and Monroe (aka Des Hefner) played briefly for the Birthday Party during the latter band's final tour of Australia and New Zealand. Monroe went on to play in a series of Melbourne-based acts including the Slaughtermen and

Maurice Frawley Maurice Gerard Frawley (5 May 1954 – 16 May 2009) was an Australian rock and country blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Biography Maurice Gerard Frawley was born on 5 May 1954, the son of Gerard Patrick and Eileen Marie Frawley, he grew u ...

. Both Cooke (Go Public and Daisy West) and Monroe are still working musicians in Melbourne. The Scavengers were hugely influential in Auckland in the late 1970s, inspiring a whole generation of young bands. They reformed in 2004 for a one-off show in Auckland without Perry, and again at the AK79 reunion in 2008. The

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

/punk band Scavengers of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England, have no connection to the New Zealand band.

Discography

References

*Eggleton, D. (2003). ''Ready to Fly''. Nelson, NZ: Craig Potton. *Dix, John (1988). ''Stranded in Paradise: New Zealand Rock'n'roll 1955–88''. Palmerston North, NZ: Paradise Publications.

External links

AudioCulture profileThe Scavengers at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scavengers, The New Zealand punk rock groups Musical groups from Auckland