No Fixed Address
Description
Aboriginal band, No Fixed Address appeared on the Australian rock circuit in the early 1980s. Playing a hybrid form of rock 'n' reggae that powered a set of songs about their experiences as young urban Aboriginals, their impact was immediate. Whites were stunned by the directness of their lyrics, while Indigenous people whispered, 'Can they say that?'
This definitive biography charts the band's beginnings at the South Australian Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music, through the making of the award-winning 1981 film Wrong Side of the Road to the challenges involved in being the first black band to crash their way into the lilywhite Oz rock scene.
No Fixed Address's debut release was the first album by an Aboriginal band to feature original songs in a contemporary idiom. From My Eyes was launched by future Prime Minister Bob Hawke and the band performed the title track on Countdown, becoming the first Aboriginal band to appear on the iconic ABC-TV program. They clocked up thousands upon thousands of kilometres crisscrossing the country on the booming Australian pub rock circuit, playing with Midnight Oil, Men at Work and INXS, touring with Cold Chisel, Redgum and Goanna and supporting overseas visitors The Clash, Ian Dury and the Blockheads and Peter Tosh.
Their music was adopted by the political protest movements of the era - the push for an Aboriginal treaty, Rock Against Racism, the Brisbane Commonwealth Games protests, and 'We Have Survived' became the unofficial anthem of the land rights movement.
It was hard enough being a rock band on the road in Australia in the 1980s. The casual, everyday racism they experienced as a black band - racism that shocked white people in their company - just added another degree of difficulty. A lot of the time, No Fixed Address really must have felt they were on the wrong side of the road. But not only did they survive; they persevered. And they endured.
Told in their own words, and including the memories of those who worked with them, supported them, played with them and experienced their music, this is their story.
