My Ex-Housemate Now Fronts Sydney’s Gnarliest Punk Band

In 2014, I made the bold move from Brisbane to the bougie and lavish shores of Sydney. A precocious high school graduate with an older boyfriend, I moved into the '166', a sharehouse in Annandale, a reputable little Sydney suburb that is home to yuppie families and their wealthy Baby Boomer parents. One of the housemates' in the 166 was Oli, a Hakken-loving Hungarian lad that had a boxing bag out of the back. Terrifying.

I later found out Oli was a musician and one day he handed me this whack demo of Bally Up, an early version of his-soon-to-be hardcore band Robber. The year I lived in the 166, I got to know Oli and his crew. They were gabber-loving, graf enthusiasts with a love for black metal and perverting the innocent streets of Annandale. Living there taught me that the term 'hardcore' means more than just music, it's a way of life - as a Gabber would say.

Robber's self-titled LP is a mix of black metal breakdowns and the desperation of hardcore punk. It's Sydney lad culture at its finest, and a major 'fuck you' to Annandale's Valley of the Dolls like women in their Camilla kaftans.

I caught up with Oli Hopes to talk about Robber and reminisce about bullying our old neighbour.

Noisey: With the graf font the Bally Up demo looked like a rap album. What was it?

Oli Hopes: It definitely wasn't rap. It was two songs that would later be on the LP "B'n'E" and "Two Poles". It was basically a one-man band at that stage with Brent just helping me to record the drums. I kinda wish it was rap. The only rap I ever did was to tease people at my high school and upload to MySpace.

How did Robber form that demo?

After handing out the Bally Up demo to a few people, Mike joined on bass and Al soon after on guitar with Brent staying on to do drums. I was doing vocals and guitar. The name Bally Up was never a sure thing, in fact Drew from Oily Boys very rudely told me to change it because it sucked, but I can assure you he had no role in the name change!

One day we were laughing about how as kids we were afraid of robbers and so we felt that name just suited the band better. Then I think Hannah from Death Church joined on drums, Brent moved to lead guitar and I just did vocals.

"Drink Graff Rack" is based off our old neighbour who we tormented (who in-turn sadly had a stroke). What was the most 'Dennis the Menace' moment you shared with him?

There were a few. We nicknamed him 'Trolley Cunt' because the day we moved in, I left a shopping trolley out the front which he immediately complained about. Then he complained about fucking everything. My favourite was when he called the fire brigade because we had a fire in our brick fire pit. I remember waving my dick at the back windows of our house because his nerdy little home office overlooked our house, but he kept quiet about that one, to my disappointment.

You recently travelled to Brisbane for Total Attack Festival VII and I didn't hear from you for three days after that.

Brisbane was fucking sick. Mad turnout, mad show, I met heaps of mad people and got off my fucking head, it was great. A big shout out to Fin from Black Deity for letting me crash at his all weekend. I had a fucking blast. I'd love to come back and I'm sure we will.

What does the future hold for a hardcore band like Robber, in Sydney?

I shudder to think. The future is scary and horrible, I wish you didn't bring it up. Hopefully, just more gigs, we're working on a new album at the moment. It's a bit heavier and a bit more intense and dirty. I'm hoping more good bands form. It would be good to play some more filthy shows. And we gotta get interstate more to see all your stupid faces.

Robber's self-titled album is available now through NGM Records.

Images supplied by band.