The Hard-Ons, who blazed a trail out of Sydney’s western suburbs in the ’80s to take their locally produced high energy and irreverent punk rock to their world, were acknowledged last week by both their former high school and local city council in an event to celebrate 70 years of Punchbowl High.
The evening saw band founders and mainstays Ray Ahn and Peter Black belatedly presented with student award flags (they both graduated in 1982) by Punchbowl High principal Robert Patruno and individual Mayoral Certificates of Recognition from Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek.
The certificates described each recipiant as “A true trailblazer whose music, spirit and fearless authenticity gave voice to a generation and pride to our community. Your journey from Sydney’s western suburbs to punk rock legend has inspired countless others.”
On Facebook, Ray was moved to write:
“For the first time in my life perhaps, I was overwhelmed by the love of my own community, the respect from my own kind.
“I will never take that for granted.
“Punchbowl lives”
The occasion, which took place at the school and began with a screening of the Hard-Ons documentary The Most Australian Band Ever! in front of students, parents, teachers, returning ex-students, friends, family, came as the band were preparing for a national tour which kicks off on October 4.
AUSTRALIA 2025
Tickets from https://linktr.ee/thehardons
The sequel to The Most Australian Band Ever! has also been announced. Entitled Harder and Harder, it will be released 30th October 2025 and appear in cinemas across November and December.
Living Eyes | Films
The Hard-Ons are ever-changing and evolving, having three albums under the belt with long-time friend Tim Rogers, the driving force behind the chart-busting, platinum-selling and award winning power-pop act YOU AM I, to a new edition featuring hardcore punk royalty, Jerry A of Poison Idea fame at the helm, or of course the classic, explosive three-piece, supercharged punk – metal – power-pop hybrid.
Whichever form they take, the Hard-Ons are more infectious than ever. They have a vast array of great tunes from the history of their band to call upon. They move forward. They will play in your town.
Following up to their recent 2024 album “I Like You A Lot Getting Older”, and 40th anniversary tours of Australia, Japan and Europe, the Hard-Ons show no ends to their activity and creativity of blistering pop and punk nuggets as only this genre- busting band can produce.
The Hard-Ons: go and catch them live. Buy their album “I Like You A Lot Getting Older”. This is a heritage band that is actually about to hit their peak. And beyond.
“The Hard-Ons were – still are – amazing. Musically, but also for what they were. This multi-cultural band. They were fearless. Ray and Blackie always came to Dirty Three shows in Sydney early on, and I always felt that we were somehow aligned attitude-wise. They were awesome live, with that power that only a trio can have. They also wrote the best singles! Beyond that, they always did whatever they wanted. “
– Warren Ellis (Dirty Three/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
“(The Hard-Ons) should be in the ARIA Hall of Fame!” – Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus)
“I f*cken love the Hard-Ons!” – Eamon (The Chats)
It’s been a long and punk-rocky road for our heroes, who formed the band while still in highschool in the multicultural South-West Sydney suburb Punchbowl. Reflecting that multiculturalism, the core band (despite members come and gone) comprised three kids of East Asian, South Asian and Eastern European parentage – not your typical punk rockers of that or any other era. Weened on high energy rock’n’roll (Kiss!) and then the early punk and post-punk eras (with a focus on local Australian sounds, in particular the ’76/’77 punk of The Saints, Radio Birdman, Victims, Psycho-Surgeons and News, and the anarchic noise of The Birthday Party), the new group appeared on a Sydney scene that took itself fairly seriously. With one foot in the Ramones/Radio Birdman-influenced garage-punk scene and the other in the spikey-haired punk-inspired scene of the early ‘80s, the Hard-Ons found a common denominator of noise and energy and appealed to a young crowd who was open to anything. With their youthful and unforgiving band name, transgressive and hilarious graphics and diverse ethnicity, they also found plenty of resistance.
Following the release of their first EP in 1985, the Hard-Ons quickly began to build a large following. Not content to repeat themselves, new elements entered their sound, including thrash metal and psychedelia, which were previously unheard in Australian punk. Their unruly and un-stylised look, which soon came to involve shorts, thongs and bare torsos, became something of the look de rigueur in punk circles as the decade wore on. The Hard-Ons had become trendsetters and were welcomed with open arms in international punk circles.
In their original incarnation, the Hard-Ons shared bills with the likes of the Ramones and Nirvana and appeared on numerous Big Days Out. They scored a never-bettered 17 consecutive number 1’s on the Australian independent charts and in 1989 were the only Australian band still based in Australia to hit the top 5 in the NME charts (the only Australian artists to have achieved that – Nick Cave and the Go-Betweens – had both been UK-based). Despite a break-up, the formation of another band (Ray & Blackie’s other ongoing band Nunchukka Superfly – that band’s original line-up recently launched the long-lost album Nunchukka Superfly ’95 in August!) and, in Blackie’s case, a solo career, the Hard-Ons regrouped in the new millenium and found a whole new audience – kids who knew of their influence on subsequent groups like the Meanies and Frenzal Rhomb. New recordings ensued, and in 2018, by which time fans of another new generation of bands, including Clowns and Private Function were onboard, they undertook their 19th European tour, when they played the massive metal festival Hellfest, alongside Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Joan Jett. In 2021, the core pair of Ray and Blackie and “new” drummer Murray found themselves a new front person in the form of longtime fanboy, Tim Rogers of You Am I.
Over the years, the Hard-Ons have won the vocal support of artists like Dave Grohl, AC/DC’s Malcolm Young and Jello Biafra amongst countless others. They’ve influenced not only subsequent generations of punk bands but a wide-ranging groundswell of Australian alternative artists – from You Am I to Spiderbait to Silverchair to Regurgitator to Magic Dirt to Powderfinger to the Dirty Three to The Chats – each of whom have been inspired by the Hard-Ons’ energy, free spirit and uncompromising dedication.
