Putting the ‘bloke’ back into Australian music
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- November 8, 2022
With the rise of blokecore around the world, a new wave of Australian bands suddenly find themselves bang on trend.
Blokecore is a trend that sprung up on TikTok sometime in April 2022.
It involves wearing replica football shirts or merch t-shirts, straight legged Levi jeans and trainers.
In Australia it can be accessorised with a flanno, the perennial local favourite, the flannelette shirt.
‘Peak Bloke’ occurred in Australia in the 70s.
You can check out the old Solo Lemon ads on YouTube to capture the mood.
Work wear and a moustache were de rigueur.
And the pubs were ringing with the sounds of meat and potato bands like The Angels, AC/DC and Rose Tattoo.
The rise of blokecore has coincided with the emergence of a number of new Australian bands that have embraced the iconography and sounds of the Australia in the seventies.
Bands like the Bad//Dreams, Floodlights, Quality Used Cars and The Beefs.
All the ‘Peak Bloke’ elements are present and accounted for – the fashion and the sound, the haircuts and the moustaches, even that particularly Australian blokey sentimentality.
But there’s also a more nuanced approach to things like Aboriginal land rights and mental health issues that you didn’t get back in the 70s.
The Beefs are perhaps the most ‘blokey’ of this new wave of bands.
They hail from Port Lincoln in South Australia And ‘Shins Up, Tins Up’ is the most unashamedly ‘blokecore’ thing you’re ever going to come across.
And a timely reminder that it’s always Friday arvo somewhere.
Main image: Beefy Aussie bloke ( © The Beefs)
