Thursday May 15, 08:36 PM
Tas band fined in censorship case
Three members of an Australian heavy-metal band embroiled in a censorship row have been fined for importing copies of their album into Australia in breach of classification laws.
Tasmania's Intense Hammer Rage is a "gore-grind" band, playing an extreme form of heavy-metal music that intentionally confronts social taboos, using graphic sexual and violent images in its lyrics.
Their latest album, Avagoyamugs, carries tracks including "The promise of horror and worse to come", "Any old snuff film starring your kid as the corpse" and "Laugh at you you're dying".
Appearing in the Burnie Magistrates Court on Thursday, Intense Hammer Rage members Bradley Rice, Chris Studley and Allan Byard, pleaded guilty to charges of importing a prohibited import.
Each was fined $500.
The charges related to 207 compact discs, cover sheets and lyrics which were seized by the Australian Customs Service (ACS) at Melbourne Airport on April 13 and August 27, 2001.
ACS officers suspected the contents of two packages, which were addressed to band members Rice and Studley, contravened the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations.
Australian Government solicitor Peter Bowan said the regulations applied to material which described, depicted, expressed or dealt with sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, or violence in a way that offended "the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be imported".
Defence counsel Tamara Jago told Magistrate Tim Hill that her clients had secured a contract with United States company Razorback Records for their new album, Avagoyamugs.
The company had produced the CDs and transported them to Tasmania.
She said her clients had been unaware of the need for classification of their material in Australia as censorship laws in the US were less restrictive, but they accepted that ignorance was no excuse.
Handing down the fines, Mr Hill said the fact that the CD was available from music outlets in the US was irrelevant and he had to punish the men for a serious offence.
As well as fining the men he ordered that the CDs be forfeited.
All three men will reappear in court on June 27 to face charges of selling an unclassified objectionable publication.
Tas band fined in censorship case
Three members of an Australian heavy-metal band embroiled in a censorship row have been fined for importing copies of their album into Australia in breach of classification laws.
Tasmania's Intense Hammer Rage is a "gore-grind" band, playing an extreme form of heavy-metal music that intentionally confronts social taboos, using graphic sexual and violent images in its lyrics.
Their latest album, Avagoyamugs, carries tracks including "The promise of horror and worse to come", "Any old snuff film starring your kid as the corpse" and "Laugh at you you're dying".
Appearing in the Burnie Magistrates Court on Thursday, Intense Hammer Rage members Bradley Rice, Chris Studley and Allan Byard, pleaded guilty to charges of importing a prohibited import.
Each was fined $500.
The charges related to 207 compact discs, cover sheets and lyrics which were seized by the Australian Customs Service (ACS) at Melbourne Airport on April 13 and August 27, 2001.
ACS officers suspected the contents of two packages, which were addressed to band members Rice and Studley, contravened the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations.
Australian Government solicitor Peter Bowan said the regulations applied to material which described, depicted, expressed or dealt with sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, or violence in a way that offended "the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be imported".
Defence counsel Tamara Jago told Magistrate Tim Hill that her clients had secured a contract with United States company Razorback Records for their new album, Avagoyamugs.
The company had produced the CDs and transported them to Tasmania.
She said her clients had been unaware of the need for classification of their material in Australia as censorship laws in the US were less restrictive, but they accepted that ignorance was no excuse.
Handing down the fines, Mr Hill said the fact that the CD was available from music outlets in the US was irrelevant and he had to punish the men for a serious offence.
As well as fining the men he ordered that the CDs be forfeited.
All three men will reappear in court on June 27 to face charges of selling an unclassified objectionable publication.
