Sharpie Culture – Melbourne, Australia
Greg Macainsh (who went on to form the band ‘Skyhooks’) made this short film about Sharpies in 1974. Influenced by Skinheads in hair and style – substitute the patterned cardigan for Fred Perry shirts, and add a rat-tail of hair to the Skinhead crop – Sharps were unique to Melbourne in the 1970’s. They also did a weird ‘arm-rolling’ jerky dance that mimicked the skank. Their music of choice though, was straight ahead Rock; local band ‘Lobby Lloyde & The Coloured Balls’ became their figurehead group.
The Sharpies was truly a ‘gang’ movement, and amplified all the thuggish aspects of skinhead behavior. Having lived through it, they definitely weren’t fun to be around…
December 21, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I’ve alwayts been fascinated by the whole sharpie thing. I recently grabbed The Coloured Balls LP on CD, pretty heavy stuff, though one of it’s bonus tracks, a 45 called “Devil’s Disciple” seemed to anticipate Oi! music by a few years!