In Australia’s punk music scene in the early 1980s, The Black Assassins were said to be ‘Brisbane’s Ugliest Band’,(1) a reference to their appearance, not their music. Brisbane’s loss was Sydney’s gain when some members of the band moved down and formed the ‘very obscure activist punk’ band,(2) Mutant Death.
Mutant Death never gained the following of The Black Assassins, but many Sydney lawyers have good reason to remember them. Redfern Legal Centre’s 1984 Christmas party, was ‘at home’, in the Redfern Town Hall. The night was hot, the hall packed, the music loud. Mutant Death was undeterred by a threat from one of Redfern’s lawyers to pull the plug on them and, in a tribute to their hosts, the band performed — a more apt word than ‘sang’ — ‘Police Verbals’, aka ‘Redfern Legal Centre Blues’.
‘Police Verbals’ describes bluntly and vividly the notorious nature of NSW policing at the time, later the subject of the Wood Royal Commission.(3) Virginia Bell – later Justice Bell of the High Court – was counsel assisting that Commission, 13 years after Mutant Death had put on record her reputation for taking on the NSW police.
Seven-inch vinyls of Mutant Death’s ‘Police Verbals’ occasionally become available from online sources.
I was sitting home watching my TV
When three fat pigs came bustin’ in on me
‘We got you red handed, with three grams and a gun
‘Come on down the station, we’re gonna have some fun’.
I was being verballed, I was being framed
The cops had set me up, I was going down the drain.
I didn’t know what was going on, I was in state of fright
Alone with three pigs, in the middle of the night
They said ‘go with the detective, he’ll treat you real nice’
I’m not saying anything, till I get legal advice.
I was being verballed, I was being framed
Had to get in touch with Redfern Legal Centre straight away.
I went with the detective, into another room
There was no chairs or tables, I knew it was coming soon
Then he took off his jacket, and he punched me in the face
Said ‘plead guilty to the charges or you’ll never leave this place’.
I was being verballed, I was being bashed
And the law couldn’t help me ’cause I didn’t have the cash.
I woke up next morning, still bleeding in my cell
Got on to Redfern Legal Centre, spoke to Virginia Bell
When she got on to the cops they said ‘you haven’t got a chance’
‘Your client signed a record of interview before we broke his hands’.
I was being verballed, I was being framed
The cops had set me up, and I was going down the drain.
Next thing I knew, I was standing up in court
The evidence was bullshit, and the witnesses were bought
I told the judge and jury but the bullshit didn’t stop
They were gonna take the word of a lousy drug dealin’ cop.
I was being verballed, I was being framed
The cops had loaded me up, I was going down the drain.
The cops had done their homework, they knew they couldn’t fail
The jury found me guilty, I got 16 years in jail
And now I know what justice is, but what a price I paid
I should have read the law book from Redfern Legal Aid.
I was being verballed, I was being framed
The cops had loaded me up, and I was going down the drain.
© Mutant Death 1984
Notes:
1. Nation Master Encyclopedia.
3. Available online at <pic.nsw.gov.au/OtherReportsAndPublications.aspx>.
Published in 2009 in Vol 34(1) of the Alternative Law Journal in the ‘Law and Culture’ column.