1988-1991: Formation and EPs The Meanies formed in Melbourne in 1988 as a
punky power pop group by D.D. Meanie (a.k.a. Dennis DePianto) on lead guitar, Link Meanie (a.k.a. Lindsay McLennan) on vocals and guitar, Ringo Meanie (a.k.a. Mark Hobbs) on drums, and VB Meanie (a.k.a. Dave Christopher) on bass guitar and vocals. According to Australian musicologist,
Ian McFarlane, they "were the undisputed kings of the inner-city/all-ages circuit. The band's frantic, Ramones-inspired power pop and hyperactive live shows drew capacity audiences of alacritous fans. The Meanies were also one of the most productive independent recording bands of the day."
Frenzal Rhomb cited them as one of their five influential bands. During 1989 VB Meanie (Dave Christopher) was replaced on bass guitar by Kinky Meanie (later "Wally" Meanie, a.k.a. Roderick Kempton). From November 1990 to March 1991 they released a run of EPs and singles, as limited edition 7-inch vinyl discs. They supported local gigs by international artists from 1992,
Nirvana,
The Lemonheads,
Pop Will Eat Itself,
Redd Kross,
Beastie Boys,
Pearl Jam and
Bad Brains. They supported a tour of Australia by
the 5.6.7.8's, a Japanese rock trio, in August 1991 and followed them to
Japan in next month. Kempton told Emery of
Beat Magazine, "The way we chose the bands was me finding out bands who loved the Meanies when they were younger... So Augie March are going to do a song because Glenn Richards was a Meanies fan when he was younger. Angie Hart is going to do a song because she used to come and see us, plus You Am I, Digger and the Pussycats, Double Agents, Snout, and we keep asking the Spazzys, but they still haven't got around to it." Guitarist, Tasman "Tas" Blizzard died on 1 August 2008, as a result of a car accident. His car had lost control in wet conditions along the
Bellarine Peninsula and spun into a dam alongside the road. It was almost completely submerged – Blizzard was the only person in the car. The band added Jaws Meanie (a.k.a. Jordan Stanley) on guitar and continued as a four-piece – his first two gigs were tribute shows for DePianto and Blizzard, respectively. Saar felt that on their third studio album, ''It's Not Me, It's You'', released in September 2015, which is "skating in at just over twenty minutes, [the group] re-introduce their thrashy punk soaked in pop fervour. With only a handful of songs breaking the three-minute mark, [they] do what they do best: rousing rock played to a lean and frenzied degree." A 30th anniversary tour took place in 2019, followed by a fourth studio album,
Desperate Measures in 2020. == Band members ==