UPDATE 20/08: Due to overwhelming demand, a second Adelaide show from The Mark Of Cain has now been added to their upcoming tour.
Adelaide music icons The Mark Of Cain will be hitting the road later this year, heading out on a 30th anniversary celebration of their debut album, Battlesick.
Back in 1989, the South Australian music scene was in need of a shake-up. Sure, the Greasy Pop scene helped foster the careers of some exceptional groups, but there were musical territories that were yet to be explored by some of the more ambitious groups.
In August of that year, noisy three-piece The Mark Of Cain unleashed their stunning debut record Battlesick. Co-produced by Stuart Sheldon, the record didn’t hit the charts, and went relatively unheard outside of the local scene, but before long, its impact was being felt around the world.
In fact, the group’s sound became so influential that even punk icons like Black Flag’s Henry Rollins became a fan of the group, eventually teaming up with The Mark Of Cain to produce 1995’s Ill At Ease.
“I heard the song ‘Wake Up’ and I was like ‘whooah’, I woke up!” Rollins explains of the band. “And then I heard the song ‘Battlesick’ and it was all over for me, that’s just an amazing song.
“For me, just as a songwriter, that’s the song for which you wish you wrote the lyrics. Like ‘damn man, he wrote ‘Battlesick’, that fucker. Let me write that. I mean the imagery in the song is amazing and ‘Dead Man’s Mail’, that’s just incredible.”
Check out The Mark Of Cain’s ‘Wake Up’:
Now, 30 years on, The Mark Of Cain are set to give Battlesick the attention it deserves, hitting the road this October to perform the iconic record in its entirety.
Featuring brothers John & Kim Scott on guitar and bass, alongside touring drummer Eli Green, the band will be embarking on their first national tour since 2015, kicking things off with their 1989 debut, before performing a second set – or “extended encore” – of classics from across their career.
To make things more exciting, the band will also be joined by Washington, D.C. trio The Messthetics, featuring Brendan Canty and Joe Lally (both ex-Fugazi) alongside guitarist Anthony Pirog.
For fans of the hardcore genre, this will be the first time the Fugazi rhythm section has visited our shores since the band’s final 2003 tour, while it will mark the debut visit for jazz-trained guitarist Pirog.
Tickets to The Mark Of Cain’s Battlesick tour go on sale from 9am on Wednesday, July 17th. Be sure to get in quick, or you might be waiting another few years to catch this reclusive Adelaide act on national stages once again!
Check out The Mark Of Cain’s ‘Battlesick’:
The Mark of Cain Battlesick 30th Anniversary Tour
With special guests The Messthetics (ex-Fugazi)
Thursday, October 17th
The Triffid, Brisbane, QLD
Friday, October 18th
(Plus Feedtime)
The Factory, Sydney, NSW
Saturday, October 19th
The Basement, Canberra, ACT
Sunday, October 20th
Small Ballroom, Newcastle, NSW
Thursday, October 24th
Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
Friday, October 25th (Sold Out)The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Saturday, October 26th
Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday, October 30th (New Show)
The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Tickets on sale now through Feel Presents
