Due to serious injuries sustained from a road cycling accident to bass player Kim Scott, The Mark Of Cain are unfortunately forced to postpone the first three dates of their ‘Ill At Ease Live’ tour. All tickets purchased remain valid for the new dates or refunds available from the point of purchase.
Unfortunately, it also means TMOC have to cancel their appearance at the Off The Rails festivals in Newcastle and Sydney altogether. Apologies to all that bought tickets. Please support the festival if you can and enjoy the day without us.
Nov 25: Adelaide, Hindley St. Music Hall
Dec 13: Canberra, The Basement **
Dec 15: Sydney, The Metro **
Dec 16: Brisbane, The Tivoli **
Jan 13: Fremantle, Freo Social
Jan 19: Melbourne, Croxton Bandroom
Jan 20: Hobart Uni Bar.
** special guests Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Fortunately the release date for the remastered double-vinyl edition of Ill At Ease and first-time live release Livid Live ’96 remain intact.
In related news UK band Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs who will support TMOC on their Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane dates, have released a live album of their own. Live in New York will also be released on October 27th.
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11 August 2023
In 1995, The Mark Of Cain released their breakthrough album Ill At Ease. 28 years later and 20 years since its last physical release, Cooking Vinyl Australia are proud to announce the first-ever vinyl release for this seminal album.
Produced by Henry Rollins, a fan since his own band played with TMOC in 1992, and featuring the singles ‘First Time’, ‘LMA’ & ‘Tell Me’ plus crowd favourites ‘Interloper’, ‘The Contender’ and ‘Pointman’, Ill At Ease took the band’s trademark brutal bass-heavy sound and lyrical themes of isolation to new terrain as they made the leap from relative obscurity in hometown Adelaide to the main stages of legendary festivals including the Big Day Out, Brisbane’s Livid Festival and Homebake.
“Ill At Ease was the qualitative statement for The Mark of Cain, describing the exigencies of life based on personal and also vicarious experience. Some called it a great “break-up” album, others “A low budget Gone with the Wind” (Rollins). There’s a little truth in both those statements, but mainly it was also a way to wrap my own interests in outsider and anti-hero literature into an aural landscape.” – John Scott
“What’s good about them is their precision, the real stripped-down ferocity. It’s a pared down, stripped back, gleaming EVIL MACHINE!” – Henry Rollins
And where previously the band had found their musical output at odds with prevailing trends Ill At Ease suddenly found them in sync, finding parallel and sympathy with bands like Fugazi, The Jesus Lizard and Helmet leading to radio support from national broadcaster Triple J and TV appearances via Recovery, Channel V and Rage.
The follow-up release, an inspired album of remixes entitled Rock ’n Roll captured another element of The Mark Of Cain, their endless groove, which led to reworkings of album tracks from dance-pioneer Paul Mac, dub warriors Biftek, industrial champions Franz Treichler (The Young Gods) & Justin Broadrick (Godflesh) and more. Paul Mac’s reworked ‘The Contender’ was even issued as 12” white label and featured regularly on the Big Brother TV show as the exit music
A cover of the track ‘Degenerate Boy’ from Australian band X produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, PiL) for the Australian film Idiot Box rounded out two years of intense recording and touring activity for the band which by the time of the digital take-over saw Ill At Ease racking up sales just shy of 30,000.
All these and more are included in the remastered 2023 vinyl edition Ill At Ease. Available on gun-metal vinyl in a limited-edition gatefold sleeve complete with lyric insert and five bonus tracks. And to celebrate the release The Mark Of Cain will tour, playing the album in its entirety for the first time, across all states this October-December.
But wait! That’s not all; a companion piece Livid Live ’96, the complete thirty-minute set from Brisbane’s 1996 Livid Festival, has been remixed by ABC engineer Phil McKellar and will be made available as a stand-alone album on blood red vinyl.
Ill At Ease and Livid Live ‘96 are to be released October 27th through Cooking Vinyl Australia and available for pre-order now from tmoc.com.au
Fri 1 OCTOBER – Newcastle, Off the Rails (with Amyl & The Sniffers)
Sat 2 OCTOBER – Sydney, Off the Rails (with Amyl & The Sniffers)
Fri 27 OCTOBER – Melbourne, Croxton Hotel (86) + Batpiss + The Maggie Pills *
Sat 28 OCTOBER – Hobart Uni Bar + Legal Noise & Rabbit *
Sat 11 NOVEMBER – Freo Social + Injured Ninja & Hidden Cycles *
Sat 25 NOVEMBER – Adelaide, Hindley St Music Hall + Cable Ties *
Wed 13 DECEMBER – Canberra, Basement *
Fri 15 DECEMBER – Sydney, Metro *
Sat 16 DECEMBER – Brisbane, Tivoli *
* Ill At Ease exclusive shows