The Decline (band)
The Decline are an Australian skate punk band from Perth formed in 2005. They have been active since 2008 when they began releasing music and touring.
The Decline | |
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From left to right: Ray, Pat, Harry, Ben | |
Background information | |
Origin | Perth, Australia |
Genres | |
Years active | 2005–present |
Labels | Pee Records (Australia) Bearded Punk Records (Europe) |
Associated acts | Dan Cribb & The Isolated, PEARS, KERB |
Website | www |
Members | Pat Decline Harry Ben Elliott Ray Ray |
Past members | Dan Cribb Nathan Cooper James "Doody" Davies |
The band currently releases music on Pee Records (Australia) and is distributed internationally by Thousand Island Records (North America), Bearded Punk Records (Europe) & Disconnect Disconnect Records (UK)
In the past they have been distributed by Bird Attack Records (United States), Oxford Records (United States), Bells On Records (Japan) and Cargo/Finetunes (Europe).
The Decline have toured extensively and have played shows in Australia, Europe & The United Kingdom, The United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, South America and Japan. They have toured with notable bands including Face To Face,[2] Ignite, C.J. Ramone, A Wilhelm Scream,[3] The Flatliners, Teenage Bottlerocket, Useless ID,[4] Versus The World, Implants, Direct Hit,[5] Local Resident Failure,[6] Much The Same, The Fullblast, & MakeWar.
History
The Early Years (2005–2010)
The Decline were formed in Perth, Western Australia in 2005 by school friends Pat Decline, Dan Cribb & James Davies. The Decline performed at numerous punk shows in Perth during their formative years, most notably as an opening act for Frenzal Rhomb at Club Capitol in Perth on December 8, 2007. At this time, all of the members of The Decline were underage and lied about their age in order to be able to play the show. In 2008 Nathan Cooper was added to the lineup and The Decline recorded and released their first EP, The Same Kind.
In August 2009, The Decline recorded their debut album "I'm Not Gonna Lie To You" at Blasting Room Studios in Fort Collins, Colorado with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore. The album was released independently on March 19, 2010 and generated the first Australian tours for the band.[7]
I'm Not Gonna Lie To You & Are You Gonna Eat That (2010–2015)
In early 2010, James Davies left the band. His final show was supporting No Fun At All & The Flatliners at Amplifier Bar in Perth on March 11, 2010. Davies was replaced by Harry, who first performed with The Decline on the album launch tour for I'm Not Gonna Lie To You in April 2010.
In June & July 2010 The Decline embarked on The Pinkeye Tour with Newcastle Skate Punk band Local Resident Failure. The tour visited South Australia, Victoria & New South Wales and included both urban and rural shows.
In 2011, The Decline signed to Australian punk and hardcore record label Pee Records and recorded and released their next album, "Are You Gonna Eat That?", on September 23, 2011.[8] This album spawned a large touring cycle for the band in Australia, and was followed by their first international tours in 2013 in Europe, and in Japan with Useless ID and Implants.
On March 3, 2014 The Decline appeared at the Soundwave Festival in Perth alongside Less Than Jake and Alkaline Trio. During this performance The Decline announced their upcoming fully crowd-funded EP Can I Borrow A Feeling and debuted new songs Yahweh or the Highway and Cool Kids Can't Die. Can I Borrow A Feeling was released on April 18, 2014 and was supported by a national tour.
Resister & Flash Gordon Ramsay Street (2015–2020)
On January 5, 2015 former bassist and vocalist Dan Cribb announced the departure of himself and guitarist Nathan Cooper from The Decline. On January 9 of the same year, Pat Decline announced that longtime friends of the band, Ben Elliott and Ray Chiu would be taking over guitar and bass duties and that The Decline were entering the studio to begin working on their third studio album.[9] Subsequently, The Decline released a new single entitled "Giving Up Is A Gateway Drug" and embarked on a national tour, performing headline shows and as a support act for Local Resident Failure, Guttermouth & Frenzal Rhomb.
On June 12, 2015, the band released their third studio album "Resister" through Pee Records. Resister was distributed internationally by Bird Attack Records (United States), Finetunes (Europe) and Bells On Records (Japan).[10] In support of the album, the band went on a worldwide tour. This included appearances at European summer festivals including Punk Rock Holiday, Brakrock EcoFest, KNRD Fest, Dumb & Dumber Fest, Resurrection Fest & Rebellion Fest, European club shows supporting Teenage Bottlerocket, a full tour of the United States including an appearance at The Fest in Gainesville, FL, a tour of Japan supporting Useless ID & Versus The World and a Mexican tour supporting A Wilhelm Scream. After which, The Decline were invited to support A Wilhelm Scream in Australia the following May.[11]
In March 2016, Pat Decline played bass in PEARS during their Australian tour with Strung Out.[12]
In July 2016, The Decline embarked on the second touring cycle for their album Resister visiting Europe during summer for festival season and club shows with The Flatliners, The United Kingdom with Manchester's Fair Do's, The United States with MakeWar and the Australian East Coast with Local Resident Failure on The Pinkeye Tour; Round 2.
In June 2017, The Decline performed at Jera On Air festival in The Netherlands and supported CJ Ramone throughout Germany and The Netherlands. In August 2017, The Decline & Direct Hit embarked on a co-headlining tour of Australia.[13] Following this, The Decline commenced a West Coast tour of The United States with San Diego's Caskitt. Jared Stinson of Sic Waiting filled in on bass during these shows.
In October 2017, The Decline played on the We Are One Tour in South America supporting Face To Face, Ignite, The Fullblast & Much The Same. The tour visited Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia & Costa Rica.
In July 2019, The Decline toured their latest single Verge Collection nationally in Australia and announced the upcoming release of their fourth studio album, "Flash Gordon Ramsay Street". During this tour, Josh Barker from The Bob Gordon's filled in on drums for Harry, who had broken his arm and dislocated his shoulder in a mountain biking accident. Flash Gordon Ramsay Street was released on August 30, 2019 and followed with an Australian tour in October 2019 supported by Nerdlinger.[14] Subsequently, The Decline were announced on festivals in Europe and as a support act for Lagwagon for the following summer, however these shows did not go ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were rescheduled for the following year.
In 2020, The Decline re-released their debut album I'm Not Gonna Lie To You on vinyl LP for the first time, and released a split EP with Sic Waiting on 7" vinyl which contained two new songs by each band.
Band members
Current members
- Pat Decline – lead vocals, guitar (2005–present)
- Harry – drums (2009–present)
- Ben Elliott – lead vocals, guitar (2015–present)
- Ray Ray – bass, backing vocals (2015–present)
Former Members
- Dan Cribb[15] – lead vocals, bass (2005–2015)
- Nathan Cooper – guitar (2008-2015)
- James "Doody" Davies – drums (2005–2009)
Honorary members
- Josh Barker – Drums (touring) (2019)
- Jared Stinson – Bass (touring) (2017)
Timeline
Influences
The Decline cite Propagandhi, Frenzal Rhomb, Strung Out, NOFX, Lagwagon, Descendents, Bad Religion, Pour Habit, Goldfinger, Less Than Jake as their influences.[1]
Discography
Studio albums
- "I'm Not Gonna Lie To You" (2010)
- "Are You Gonna Eat That?" (2011)
- "Resister" (2015)
- "Flash Gordon Ramsay Street" (2019)
EP's
- "The Same Kind" (2008)
- "We Lied" (2011)
- "Can I Borrow A Feeling?" (2014)
Split EPs
- "4 Way WA Punk Split 7"" (2013, with Scalphunter, The Bob Gordons & Silver Lizard)
- "Great Thieves Escape 3"[16] (2016, with Bad Cop Bad Cop, Success & The Bob Ross Effect)
- "Local Resident Failure Vs The Decline"[17] (2017, with Local Resident Failure)
- "Year Of The Crow/Stay Awake" (2020, with Sic Waiting)
Singles
- "Can't Have Both" (2016) Digital release only
- "Verge Collection" (2019)
- "The More You Know" (2019) Digital release only
- "Brovine" (2019) Digital release only
- "It Was Always You" (2019) Digital release only
- "War" (2019) Digital release only
Music videos
Year | Song | Director | Album |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | "Pope'd In The Eye" | Simone Yule | I'm Not Gonna Lie To You |
2012 | "Shit Yeah" | Nathan Cooper | Are You Gonna Eat That? (The Decline album) |
2012 | "Excuse Me" | Archer Phan | Are You Gonna Eat That? (The Decline album) |
2013 | "Showertime In The Slammer" | Aiden Edwards | Are You Gonna Eat That? (The Decline album) |
2014 | "66B" | Nathan Cooper | Are You Gonna Eat That? (The Decline album) |
2015 | "Almost Never Met You" | Andre Junior, James Moretta & The Decline | Resister (album) |
2016 | "I Don't Believe"[18] | Andre Junior & James Moretta | Resister (album) |
2019 | "Verge Collection" | JJ De Ceglie | Flash Gordon Ramsay Street |
2019 | "The More You Know" | Ray Ray | Flash Gordon Ramsay Street |
2019 | "Brovine" | Mike Foxall of X-Ray Studios | Flash Gordon Ramsay Street |
2019 | "It Was Always You" | Chris Thompson of Stryder Sound, Grayson Joines & The Decline | Flash Gordon Ramsay Street |
2019 | "War" | Billy Izzard & The Decline | Flash Gordon Ramsay Street |
Trivia
- The song "Shit Yeah" contains two samples spoken by Comedian and Actor Will Forte on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.
- The Decline have used samples from films Clerks, Dogma and Chasing Amy by director Kevin Smith on their tracks "I'm Not Alright", "Yahweh Or The Highway" and "I Don't Believe"
- The song "Addison" is named after The Decline's manager; Ross Butson's daughter.
References
- "The Decline - Information". Retrieved February 13, 2018.
- "WE ARE ONE TOUR '17 - FACE TO FACE, IGNITE, THE FULL BLAST MUCH THE SAME, THE DECLINE". September 11, 2017.
- "The Decline join upcoming A Wilhelm Scream tour". February 25, 2016.
- "Useless ID Announce National Tour Dates". August 15, 2013.
- "Milwaukee punks Direct Hit Announce First Australian Tour". May 31, 2017.
- "The Decline & Local Resident Failure team up for quick tour". September 7, 2016.
- "The Decline: 'You have to think for yourself'". August 14, 2010.
- "Review: The Decline – Are You Gonna Eat That?". July 22, 2016.
- "The Decline lose two members". January 9, 2015.
- "THE DECLINE – Resister CD/LP". June 12, 2014.
- "About, The Decline".
- "HomeFeatures, Strung Out and PEARS tour rolls on this week, full album shows in VIC". March 16, 2016.
- "DIRECT HIT! Announce First Ever Australian Tour". June 5, 2017.
- "The Decline – Flash Gordon Ramsay Street (2019)". 15 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- "The Decline lose two members". Jan 9, 2015.
- "VA - Great Thieves Escape III 7" (Bad Cop/Bad Cop, The Decline, ...)". November 15, 2016.
- "The Decline & Local Resident Failure split 7inch". June 10, 2015.
- "The Decline – 'I Don't Believe' video clip". October 21, 2016.