The Exploited: Heading Back Down Under in 2020!

The Exploited are punk rock!!

Back when Hitler was first in the charts again, and Maggie was starting a war, the first wave of British punk was a busted flush. Sid was dead and the Pistols signed Ronnie Biggs as their new singer, The Clash were adopting rock star poses, The Damned wanted to be goths, and the Buzzcocks‘ Pete Shelley bought a synthesizer.

But in Edinburgh ex-Squaddie Wattie Buchan and his mates were seriously pissed off. Angry at what they saw happening around them – a country in disarray with greedy politicians treating the people like shit; and with Johnny Rotten’s prediction of “No Future” becoming truer by the day, there was only one way forward – embrace the music that had given you so much and give it something back… your entire life!

Thus were spawned The Exploited.

1980 saw the the band launch their first vinyl assault upon stupidity, complacency and corruption when they demolished the indie charts with the one-two knockout of the Army Life and Barmy Army EPs on their own Exploited Records label.

Their debut album Punks Not Dead launched a new breed of politically outspoken anarcho-punk bands and become the number one independent album of 1981 – selling one hundred and fifty thousand copies and reaching number twenty in the national charts. A year later Troops Of Tomorrow was released and is now recogniSed as one of the all-time classic punk albums. This is a band that has inspired generations of punks, from originals such as Discharge, Agnostic Front and Anti-Flag right through to modern punk bands, and speed metal icons such as Anthrax and Slayer.

Anyone unsure of what The Exploited stand for need only read the label on the tin: the band’s albums include Death Before Dishonour, Beat The Bastards and Fuck The System; and over the decades The Exploited have remained steadfastly true to their roots – never selling out, and never bowing down. The Exploited are fiercely socially and politically aware, covering everything from the UK’s Criminal Justice Act to the increasing use of Big Brother CCTV and never wavering from their anti-authoritarian, anti-war stance.

The Exploited are just as relevant today as they were in 1980 and with the band’s loyal squadron of fans The Barmy Army in tow, The Exploited are set to unleash forty years of fury, anarchy and chaos upon Australian and New Zealand.