LONG LOST “AZARIA” VIDEO RELEASED

On the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain, Brisbane’s ugliest punk band, The Black Assassins, release long lost video footage of their song AZARIA on YouTube.

The song AZARIA tells the story of 8-week old baby Azaria, who was taken by a dingo while she slept in a tent in a campaigning ground at Uluru (Ayres Rock) in central Australia, on 17th August 1980.

Azaria’s mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was convicted of the murder of her baby on false forensic evidence and sentenced to life in prison in 1982. She was released just over 3 years later. Her conviction was overturned, but Azaria’s case is still open and unsolved. Azaria's body has never been found and her disappearance is one of the great mysteries of Australian folklore.

The lyrics of The Black Assassins’ song AZARIA offer the possibility that Azaria may still be alive.

This previously unseen footage in AZARIA is from one The Black Assassins’ more notorious gigs, and features a rare glimpses of the band’s faces, as they performed this night without their trademark black balaclavas.

The occasion was The Black Assassins’ Christmas Nativity show at a gig with 3 other bands (Kingswood Trio, The Lamingtons, Stranger) at AHEPA Hall in West End, Brisbane, Australia, on 17 December 1981.

The balaclavas were off as the band presented a “musical” – their songs woven into a particularly ugly reinterpretation of the classic nativity play on the birth of baby Jesus. Keyboardist, Sirhan Chapman played the Virgin Mary, bass player Ruby Oswald played Joseph, drummer Lee Harvey Hinckley was the Bethlehem Innkeeper, and guitarist Mohammed EL Jackal appeared as the three-head wise man and later the shepherd boy. This performance also featured George the rotting big yellow dog playing the dingo, who in the theatrics between the songs, stole a meat baby Jesus on cue, prompting the Virgin Mary to yell: “A dingo took my baby”.

The video of the gig was filmed 29 years ago by the late Tony Brassington, on a domestic VHS video camera in very low light, and managed to capture the grungy and chaotic nature of the band. The gig was raided and closed down by the Queensland Police just after The Black Assassins got off stage, stopping the performance of the final band of the night the Kingswood Trio.

WARNING: Black Assassins' performances can offend all of your senses and are not for the feint hearted. The footage in AZARIA is rated R (for Repugnant) and includes canine mastication scenes.

Thanks to Andy from the Black Assassins!!