Plunderers: Every Monday, Sometimes Thursday (hac221)
Demo recordings from October 1988/June 1989

When Geoff Milne joined the Plunderers in October 1988 – replacing Peter Velzen on the drums – the band rehearsed every Monday, and most Thursday nights, originally at White Room in Surry Hills and then at the newly-opened Troy Horse in Newtown.

The twelve songs on the aptly named Every Monday, Sometimes Thursday album were recorded during these rehearsals. In the case of the first six songs, they were all recorded on Monday 24th October 1988 at White Room and it was only the fourth time Geoff had played with Stevie and Nic. Three songs (“La La”, “Take A Ride”, and “Take This…)” were old Plunderers songs from 1984-86 and the other three (“Is My Time Up”, “I Didn’t Even See Them At All” and “Peggy”) were new ones.

The version of “Take A Ride” is unique amongst the many versions of one of the first songs that Stevie and Nic wrote together for the band in 1984 because they try out a possible chorus: “What a perfect sail, what a sail, what a sail”. This looks to be the only time the song was given a new arrangement and, after this recording, it went back to the original way.

Every Monday, Sometimes Thursday was mixed, mastered and ready for release when, after seeing a dairy entry which said there were two cassettes used for the recording, the TDK AD-X one marked 'Velvet Underground' was found with “Take A Ride” and “Is My Time Up” on it, somewhere in the middle of the tape. Not knowing the songs were there, the vocals and bass were wiped when a drum loop of another Plunderers song “Dying” was recorded on the other side (by Nic’s cousin Jon, showing off some new gear he had at the time). In the mixing stage, it was decided to leave the backwards drum loop in - which has added to this one-off version of “Take A Ride”.

“Peggy” was so new it was called “Johnny and Peggy” at the time (a reference to “Johnny and Dee Dee” by Geoff’s previous band The Eastern Dark perhaps?) and also written down in the diary as “Broken”. Stevie had a pretty bad cold at the time and this can be heard quite clearly on the three songs he sings here. “Peggy” would go on to be recorded in May 1990 and appeared as a seven-minute (!) version as the b-side to “Christo”. “I Didn’t Even See Them At All” was recorded in February 1989 at Trafalgar studio in Annandale and was the first Plunderers release on the Citadel label. “Take A Ride” was finally given its official recording in June 1990 and appeared on Hippy Dribble’s Wild Strawberri EP. Unfortunately, “La La” was never recorded properly, which is a shame as it is one of Stevie’s finest songs.

The next batch of six songs sound like a completely different band than the one eight months earlier. They were recorded some time in June 1989 at Troy Horse rehearsal space and are more dense, heavier and - for the most part - stripped of any pop sensibilities. They range from the 8 second “Golf” to the six minute “Images Of Modern Evil”. “Down To Town”, a song Nic wrote at the end of 1985 and first appeared on the Plunderers No Era Is Safe cassette, has been given a new chorus in this version. All the other songs were new and these recordings were definitely done to ‘get them down on tape’. Only “Round Up” was re-recorded a few months later in October 1989 for the “Sarah’s Not Falling In Love” 10 inch.

Stevie Plunder: guitar, vocals / Nic Dalton: bass, vocals / Geoff Milne: drums.

All songs recorded on a Tascam 244 four-track 1988/1989. Mixed at Tempe River Studio, Marrickville March-June 2019 by Tim Kevin. Mastered by Ben Whitten. Cover photo by Robyn Murphy. Thanks to Bernie Hayes for the album title appropriation.

Dedicated to Stevie Plunder.

P 1988, 1989 Plunderers C 1988, 1989 Plunderers