Barely Human, Bennelong Point, Sydney (2026)

31/03/2026

Taking BARELY HUMAN back to a pre-Web 2.0 sensibility in an attempt to TRY again to build physical realms: updates will be given via a BCC email list (no more substack voice infiltration) and I've opened up subscriptions for zines & mixtapes posted direct to you (if within Australia) in irregular intervals; see other posts or the barely human.info website for more... Or just write to PO Box 301, Summer Hill NSW 2130 any time: letters to the editor, notes of support or distaste, tapes and zines for review, whatever takes your fancy.

I admit to worrying that I'd look like I was going off the deep end with this, but I've been stoked by the support so far... A half dozen letters in the PO Box for subscriptions (I kiss the cash economy), many with zines included... emails, subscriptions the lot. It's refreshing to see that there's an appetite for reconnection and I look forward to posting things out from May onwards!

For people interested internationally, I'm figuring out distro options now that'll probably be more conventional than subscription based, but email [email protected] to go on a list and I'll update when that's all sorted.

I'll write more about all of this in the zines to come, but getting information and culture outside of algorithmically determined sources is very very good for you, I promise. Chat to you off the telephone!

22/03/2026

+++BH SUBSCRIPTIONS RETURN FOR 2026___

Thanks to all who've signed up so far! Join a 30-strong contingent of zine&tape recipients by emailing [email protected] for details, or if within Australia, transferring via PayID ([email protected]) either $30 for 6 x Zines posted to you, or $60 for the zines plus your choice of Cassette or CD-R mixtapes >>> leave your postal address, email and subscription option as the description if you do 🤡

As mentioned, this Instagram will be deleted by the weekend so get in touch by then or be forced to use the horrendous barelyhuman.info website (that's a threat!).

Thanks for all the support so far as I take this off all algorithm-driven platforms and try to build a more tactile and personal project. This stuff has always felt good when chatting to people offline, sending letters and packages etc, and it's always felt s**t when chasing the dragon of discoverability. It's a good thing not a Unabomber thing!

Send letters to the editor, tapes and records for review consideration or anything else to:

PO Box 301, Summer Hill NSW 2130

The barely human.info website will be updated at times, and you can join an email list by contacting [email protected]

Thanks as always!

Max

13/03/2026

BH IS GOING POSTAL: the Barely Human Instagram & Substack accounts will be DELETED on March 27, 2026 in favour of a zine and cassette/CD-R mailing service, and/or email list. Contact [email protected] for more info, or send a form (slide two) to PO Box 301, Summer Hill NSW 2130 to go ahead and subscribe to at LEAST 6 x Zines ($30) or Zines&Tapes/CD-Rs ($60) posted to you over the next couple years.

The best times I've ever had with this project were during the lockdown mania posting tapes and zines out to what were then a bunch of strangers and are now friends. In the time since, the subscription ordeal seemed needlessly complicated and I found myself tempted to pander to the demands of the social media algorithms rather than just..doing..things. Its time to go back to inconvenience...

So! It is now (not) simple:

Zines will be typewritten and posted out in irregular intervals, touching mostly on matters of contemporary DIY punk, subculture more broadly, and occasional dips of the toe into the state of literature (got a new novel coming out soon!) , while the tape or CD-R option will be somewhere between the mixtapes, podcast episodes and bootlegs put out previously through the BH online store (barelyhumanshop.square.com).

The TL:DR is:

Email [email protected] to stay in touch cos this account will be gooooone (I can try arrange international options outside Australia through here, postage costs be damned..)

Or... send your letters to the editor, gig flyers, records and subscription forms to PO BOX 301 SUMMER HILL NSW 2130 if you want to trust that what you're thinking and feeling isn't some kind of language model panopticon product...

And see you on the other side!

xBH

26/01/2026

NEW SHORT RUN BOOTLEG IN NOW -- DM, EMAIL, OR GET DIRECT FROM BARELYHUMANSHOP.SQUARE.SITE >>>

Bootlegged here in a short run of fifteen C120 tapes is the historic R Radical Records International P.E.A.C.E Compilation from 1984, a mammoth effort by MDC's Dave Dictor to bring together over fifty international hardcore acts no more than five years into the sub-genre's lifespan. The comp's hard-earned cult status comes from its tracklist, mingling contributions by US heavy-hitters (DEAD KENNEDYS, MDC, DICKS, REAGAN YOUTH) with burgeoning anarchopunk communities in the UK (CRASS, CONFLICT) and Italy (WRETCHED, CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERF**KERS, DECLINO, IMPACT), alongside standout tracks by groups like G.I.S.M (Japan) and THE VICTIMS (Australia). Though not recreated in this bootleg package, the original LP included a 72-page zine compiled by Dictor in association with Maximum Rocknroll, featuring a lengthy justification for holding a political position against war and imperialism, for anti-imperialism and feminism, and calls for political demonstrations within the punk and hardcore community. Each track in the original zine featured a one-page contribution of artwork, lyrics and oftentimes justification of the band's own reasons for formation, and how that relates to their political stance. Truly an incredible feat of logistics to get 55 bands on board, let alone managing audio masters, zine contributions, permissions and copies via the post! Beyond logistics, the International P.E.A.C.E Compilation marks a period in time when international hardcore had sharpened its international networks and its resolve. As 2026 feeds more coal to the international war machine, I think of compilations like P.E.A.C.E. as evidence of the tradition that contemporary DIY punk and hardcore is indebted to: a motivation to repay the favour through lively, committed and unified subcultures in the now!

Direct sales only due to small run of 15 (recycled C120 tapes don't come along often!)

12/01/2026

BARELY HUMAN book 4th Edition now printed and available in Low Life 'Do***ng' blue, completing the colour ways of the original BH zines from 2016-17 (from Flipper V Randy Newman Generic yellow, Bu****le Surfers PCPPEP green, and Country Teasers Satan is Real orange). Available by DM, email, or at the BH webstore at barelyhumanshop.square.site

Moving through three print runs of this has been a blast, and nice to do more than just ramble about the merits of self-publishing without actually doing it (DIY & die?) Thanks to everyone who's supported this book, it's a minor gamble to pay for everything in these times, but I hope serves as some kind of proof that you can self+publish (or start and imprint!) for your own projects without deferring to institutions and organisations for permission!

Email me any time at [email protected] if you'd like help/advice with editing, typesetting, printing and design for your own projects -- everything here was done solo with open source software available to youuuu!

07/01/2026

Stoked to be asked to contribute an ode to ten releases from 2025 for the great ! Central hubs keep us honest and the effort put in by the waves and waves of contributors to review and catalogue every genuine DIY punk release sent to MRR helps keep the wheels turning on the punk international. These ten releases made me feel good, made me feel like we can win the culture war if we choose to fight it in 2026, made me feel like punk is doing just fine if you 'just don't look' at the worst of it. I feel like it's a reminder for me to keep finding the people who have our best interests in mind, collaborate with them and build something together - culturally, socially, politically. All these releases come with a dedication to building networks and a true alternative to the junk in the charts that's AI-generated at worst, and sounds like it might as well be at best. They rule!

With appreciation to the below bands and labels:

BAD ANXIETY - /
COLD MEAT - /
COMMUNIONE -
HARAM -
MEMORY WARD - .peace
MKNAOMI - .gov.au
THE NATIVE CATS -
PHENOMENA - .i.ppeace
STILL NO P.E.A.C.E. - .bad.punk
VASTA RUÌNA - .i.ppeace

Read spiels of the above and great lists by MRR contributors over at https://www.maximumrocknroll.com/article/2025-year-end-top-tens-part-one/ -- and keep checking in at the site for reviews and MRR radio for new developments! Thanks to for the invite and plugging away at editing all of this!

26/11/2025

ALL TAPES RESTOCKED, SOME THINGS DOWN TO LAST COPIES, NEW DISTRO ITEMS IN, STUFF FOR YOUR END OF YEAR EXCHANGE OF GOODS -- head to barelyhumanshop.square.site to get direct ($2.50 local delivery option for those near me house) or email [email protected] for bulk orders, wholesale/distro or trades! 👽

09/10/2025

OUT NOW ON BARELY HUMAN RECORDS: COLD MEAT 'COMPLETE MEAT' CS

COLD MEAT have been one of the most reliable heavy-hitters of contemporary Australian punk since their first cassette in 2015. With their most recent 7" 'Cake & Arse Party' marking a decade of their thuggish yet playful proto-punk stylings, BARELY HUMAN is stoked to put together a compilation tape of each and every COLD MEAT track ever recorded. Every single track released on cassette, 7" or 12" LP through HELTA SKELTA, STATIC SHOCK and LOST IN FOG appears here, as does some unreleased hits and an unrecorded live track that (somehow) was rendered to the scrap heap. 38 hits all up, dubbed to recycled C90 cassette tapes and priced at a glorious AUD$8 (global economic collapse be damned!) Catch up on ten years of DIY history with one of the sickest purveyors of the ethic with COMPLETE MEAT!

Recordings are for tape only (get digital files direct from band and/or label), and include tracks from:

Sweet Treats CS (2015, Helta Skelta)
Jimmy's Lipstick 7" (2016, Helta Skelta/Static Shock)
Pork Sword Fever 7" (2018, Helta Skelta/Static Shock)
Cold Meat/Ubik Split 7" (2018, Helta Skelta/Lost in Fog)
Hot and Flusted LP (2020, Helta Skelta/Static Shock)
Cake & Arse Party 7" (2025, Helta Skelta/Static Shock)

See COLD MEAT live in November 2025!

Thu 13 Nov - Petersham Bowling Club, NSW
w/ SPITE + VASTA RUINA

Fri 14 Nov - Marrickville Bowling Club, NSW
w/ PHOTOGENIC + EX-COLLEAGUE + PEEWEE50s

Sat 15 Nov - Bell City Takeaway, Vic
w/ PHANTASM + ROMANSY + MKNAOMI

Sun 16 Nov - The Tote, Vic
w/ FAST JOHNNY + ZIPPER + SCREAMING TARGET

23/09/2025

13/14 NOVEMBER 2025: COLD MEAT (WA) return to Gadi for their first shows here since 2019; consistently one of the great DIY punk bands in this country for a decade! Their list of proto-punk bangers has long been a highlight of the and catalogues, and they bring another across from Boorloo, touring their new 7" 'Cake & Arse Party' on Thu 13 Nov at and Fri 14 Nov at . A true highlight for your 2025!

Thu 13 Nov @ Petersham Bowling Club
with SPITE & VASTA RUINA
7pm / $15

Fri 14 Nov @ Marrickville Bowling Club
with , EX- COLLEAGUE and THE PEEWEE 50s (Newcastle)
8pm / $20

Both shows will have a PWYC sliding scale on the door and will be free for First Nations attendees.

21/09/2025

One-of-a-kind cassette box sets now live on the BH web store: barelyhumanshop.square.site (link in bio) >>> from L-R:

-- all six episodes of the BARELY HUMAN podcast in cassette audiobook form (previously released on tape in 2020) > $50

-- the 4 x BH bootleg tapes including VOVA BLUE, BU****LE SURFERS, RED C/BLACK FLAG and the first tape featuring CANTACRONACHE (coming soon) > $40

-- the "three polemics" mixtapes including GIVE PHILSTINISM A CHANCE (Flipper, No Trend, Crucif**ks, Urinals), YOUR BRAIN ON YOUR IDOLS (The Fall V Dead Kennedys) and THE PUNKINTERN (Dicks, Stalin, Kina, Zounds) > $30

Might look into a poster print run for the first two soon?? Plus restocks of all the original tapes coming when I get the energy together.. thanks as always for tolerating this bulls**t!

30/07/2025

Cover from a one-off bootleg box set coming soon collecting the last copy of the out of print VOVA BLUE and BU****LE SURFERS boots, one copy of the RED C/BLACK FLAG '82 demos and the first copy out the blocks from the new boot ahead of time... free flows of information good, a right that can be purchased is not a right!

Barely Human

31/03/2026

22/03/2026

13/03/2026

26/01/2026

12/01/2026

07/01/2026

26/11/2025

09/10/2025

23/09/2025

21/09/2025

30/07/2025

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