20 Big Ones

About the album

20 Big Ones is Chapter Music’s 20th birthday compilation, celebrating two decades of eclectic, engaging sounds from one of Australia’s best-loved independent labels.

Chapter was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1992, its first release a cassette compilation of Perth bands called Bright Lights, Small City. In its early years, Chapter released a series of cassettes documenting a burgeoning lo-fi pop movement happening Australia-wide. In 1995, Chapter’s Guy Blackman moved to Melbourne, got a job at a vinyl record pressing plant, and teamed up with partner Ben O’Connor. The label started releasing vinyl records by the likes of Sea Scouts, Mininum Chips, Sleepy Township and Ninetynine.

Since then, Chapter Music has spread its wings, growing to become one of Australia’s pre-eminent independent labels. Archival re-releases such as the Can’t Stop It! series of Australian post-punk comps and reissues from Essendon Airport, Tully and Primitive Calculators sit alongside releases by Connecticut folksinger Kath Bloom, Swedish siren Frida Hyvonen and Japanese psych legends Tenniscoats. And as always, the focus on emerging Australian artists such as Twerps, Crayon Fields, Fabulous Diamonds, Pikelet, Dick Diver, Laura Jean and others has kept the label looking forward.

20 Big Ones is a 20 song, limited edition double vinyl album (on pink and green vinyl, no less!) featuring rare and unreleased tracks across Chapter Music's history. There are previously unreleased tracks by Twerps, Crayon Fields, Fabulous Diamonds, Dick Diver, Pikelet, Laura Jean, Primitive Calculators, Kath Bloom, Bum Creek, Coolies, Small World Experience, Minimum Chips, and Hit the Jackpot. The label also dips into its vaults to unearth unheard lo-fi gems from Sleepy Township, Molasses, and Readers Wives, and presents a handful of early cassette efforts, including the very first track (Mustang!’s Dough Eyed) from Bright Lights Small City, the very first Chapter tape.

It’s all drawn together by rambling liner notes from Guy Blackman, while the effervescent cover art from Twerps bassist Rick Milovanovic sets the celebratory mood perfectly. Only 300 copies of 20 Big Ones have been/will ever be made.