The Chosen Few - The Joke Is On Us 1978

The Chosen Few - The Joke Is On Us EP (1978)

You gotta love a group that consisted of a teacher and three of his year 12 students from Mornington High (60 Km south of Melbourne cbd) who used to rehearse & drink beer on a farm in Moorooduc.

The Chosen Few played Aussie style brutal yob punk rock inspired by the likes of Radio Birdman but I guess they were a lot more neanderthal.

The Chosen Few used to support Nick Cave’s Boys Next Door at The Tiger Lounge in Swan Street Richmond. They also played The Crystal Ballroom in St Kilda & had a residency at The Champion Hotel in Fitzroy. However they were outsiders because they weren’t inner city trendies, didn’t conform to punk’s orthodoxy and actively hated everyone else on the scene.

They only released one EP while they were together. THE JOKE’S ON US! from 1978 was a six song 7” issued on A FEW PRODUCTION. The original pressing of the single is now going for 1500 Aussie dollars on discogs.

The Chosen Few have become a little bit legendary over the years since their breakup in 1979. Iain the singer walked in front of a train & died in 1995. Cal the drummer played with The Olympic Sideburns, Spencer P Jones, The Saints, The Clip Clop Club etc.

Bored featuring Bohdan X & Eddy Current Suppression Ring have both recorded a cover of The Chosen Few’s THERE’S A LOT OF IT GOING AROUND ensuring them immortality as a seminal influence amongst the underground Australian rock scene.