Name: Grooveyard with The On and Ons and Van Ruin
Start: 2025-02-08T19:30:00+11:00
End: 2025-02-08T23:45:00+11:00
Location: Marrickville Bowling Club

Grooveyard with The On and Ons and Van Ruin

Lost Australian power pop outfit, Grooveyard, is re-emerging from the mists of time for two shows only in February 2025, supporting the recent release of their back catalogue on digital channels.
Grooveyard plays Smiths Alternative in Canberra on Friday, February 7 and Marrickville Bowling Club in Sydney on Saturday, February 8.
Tickets go on sale on sale on December 6.
It’s an early slot in Canberra (6.30pm) with Il Bruto supporting. In Sydney, Grooveyard will be joined by power-pop masters The On and Ons, with Van Ruin opening in what will be their debut city gig.
The line-up is Jon Schofield (vocals and guitar), “The Reverend” Ian Little (guitar and vocals) and Richard Lawson (drums and vocals). Bassist Bob Wackley lives in the USA so hand-picked newcomer Daniel Corkhill will deputise.
Grooveyard burned brightly but briefly on the burgeoning mid-1980s Sydney underground scene, releasing a single, the sublime Chris Masuak-produced “Avalanche of Love” and a self-titled EP before dissolving.
Members went on to the Lime Spiders, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, the Screaming Tribesmen, Bambalams and Jeremy Oxley’s post-Sunnyboys band, The Chinless Elite.
If you were there, you’ll know how the Grooveyard’s powerful pop mix was a breath of fresh air on the Sydney scene and if you weren’t, here’s the word from author and fan Tom Czarnota:
“I remember the first time I saw the Grooveyard. It was as a support for the Hitmen at a local southern beer barn called the Caringbah Inn in 1983.
"It was only months after their debut at the Leichhardt Hotel and one of the last times for the original five-man line up featuring Geoff Rhoe, who would leave to entertain thespian pursuits with a leading role in ‘Puberty Blues’.
“The five of them barrelled through a set that chimed with the rap of snare and great pop on six and 12 strings. It was a set spliced with the sound of the ‘60s and late ‘70s/early ‘80s.
"You could hear The Byrds, the Beatles and Moby Grape in their sound and it gave much cause for hope.
“Into the next year and the songs and the gigs kept coming. Nights with the Lime Spiders, the Church, and the Most. Then all goes quiet for a short while, as drummer Sean Maguire leaves to pursue his flying career and a temporary fill in, their promoter Richard Lawson fills in.
“After a small taste on a 48 Crash compilation cassette of a Jon Scofield original, ‘I Don’t Remember’, they finally cracked a vinyl release through Stuart Coupe’s Green Records label with another Schofield original called ‘Avalanche of Love’, backed with a Wackley original ‘I Told You So’.
“In Sydney mid-1984, the single was an unknown quantity and unlike anything heard before, no other local record sounded like it. People responded in kind and the first pressing sold out.
“It was looking on the up; tours of Brisbane and Melbourne followed. Gigs in picture theatres and a video appearance on ‘After Dark’ raised the confidence but didn’t raise the crowds and the cupboard was bare.
“Richard received the call to rejoin the Lime Spiders and then the writing was on the wall. Jon joined Jeremy Oxley’s ‘Chinless Elte’ then went onto success with Paul Kelly’s Coloured Girls and Bob Wackley went to the Screaming Tribesman whilst Ian Little joined the Bambalams.
“Six months later the Grooveyard reconvened to play a series of five shows and this time the audience had caught on and the gigs were well attended. The band grabbed the opportunity and went into the studio to record a follow up five-track EP before returning to their respective bands and careers.
“The Grooveyard’s brand of power pop was against the grain of the hard Detroit style rock in Sydney. The songs that flowed from Jon Scofield’s pen are world class and show great maturity and craftmanship.
“Now with the digital release of the Avalanche of Love single and self-titled EP we have evidence of a peculiar time in the glory days of Aussie pub rock and the enduring quality of these songs.”