Enduring Newcastle punk act Conation may have weathered the Howard years, but they still sound as pissed off as ever, writes TIM SCOTT.

In 2003, Newcastle hardcore punk act Conation released Troubled Waters and Fortresses, a damning and direct response to the Howard government's treatment and political exploitation of refugees. seven years later, the band have returned. And just as the Liberal Party's ideas on border protection haven’t changed all that much, neither has their intense and ferocious hardcore attack.

“It was kind of funny when we got back together earlier this year. We were like, 'Wow, it's not the Howard years anymore,’” explains guitarist and vocalist Jamie Hay. “The whole time we were together Howard was in power. Which was some good fuel for a punk band.”

Led by the passionate vocal assault of Hay, Conation weren’t afraid of wearing their political badges on their sleeves and managed to mix the right amount of sociopolitical commentary, melody and gruff hardcore into powerful bursts of rage before disbanding in 2006. A force to be reckoned with both on record and on stage, they came across as part Born Against, part Pete Seeger with elements of early Midnight Oil and Envy mixed in.

Sparked by reunion shows with Canadian punk icons Propagandhi earlier this year, Conation have been in and out of the studio putting the finishing touches on The Clouds Are Gathering, their posthumous EP, which they are currently touring nationally.

The new EP includes a rendition of the Red Gum classic ‘I Was Only Nineteen’, which was recently covered by hip-hop troupe The Herd. Released in 1983 and sung in the first person, it tells of the experiences of a typical Australian infantry soldier in the Vietnam War. “It's an interesting song as it's totally from a soldier’s perspective,” explains drummer Murray Ruse. “I'm not sure if there are any songs from a solider’s perspective from any current wars.”

The song, which references the Puckapunyal army training base, tinnies of VB and the Channel 7 helicopter, among other things, is particularly poignant for Hay, whose father served in Vietnam as a member of the SAS.

“When I was young, listening to my dad and then anything by Red Gum or [Adelaide folk singer] Eric Bogle was kind of lost on me but as I got older I realised what had happened and it had more of an impact. It's very strong. I guess it was also a good song to do as a cover as it doesn't sound how we normally sound.”

Songwriters such as Red Gum’s John Schumann, as well as Pete Seeger and Billy Bragg have remained an important influence for Hay – whether in Conation, as a solo artist or as a member of folk-punk trio Fear Like Us.

“I heard that he [Schumann] was in a hotel in Sydney once and this bunch of guys turned up and said, ‘We heard you do a song about the Vietnam War. Play it.’ He was nervous but played it for them. Then he was asked to play it again over the phone. It turns out they were members of the Vietnam Veterans Association who had just started up. I think he thought they were going to beat him up, but they loved the song.”

The band may have evolved over the years, but the group’s core – Hay, Ruse, bassist Dale Townsend and violinist/vocalist Genna Pyewacket –remains. The addition of Pyewacket's violin, in particular, gave the band a softer more emotional edge.

“I was influenced by a lot of brutal grind and power violence bands, but we wanted to combine that with more heartfelt kind of stuff.”

“For me, getting Genna more involved came more at the end,” says Hay. “The last record – even though we had broken up – was actually how I really wanted us to sound. I'm so happy with it. I think when Genna first joined she was just kind of playing on songs that we had already written, but as time went on she definitely became an integral part of the band and we were writing parts with her in mind.”

While Hay and Ruse both acknowledge the cynicism that usually surrounds punk rock reunions, they say this tour is more of a CD launch than a reformation. “I think everyone hates bands who break up and then reform,” says Ruse. “But when we broke up we didn't intend to keep playing. We kind of put it to bed but the fact that there was another recording changed our way of thinking.”

The band started recording The Clouds Are Gathering back in 2005. With members busy with other projects, and Hay moving overseas and then to Melbourne, recording was staggered. The drums, for example, were tracked just before the band decided to call it quits. It took the shows with Propagandhi to convince them to release the record and tour it.

Indeed, if there can be sister bands, in the same way that there are sister cities, then Propaghanhi and Conation would be a perfect match. Like Conation, Propagandhi are from a smaller city (Winnipeg in Canada) and have a small, but loyal following. Both bands started out in a more thrash hardcore scene, but later honed and refined their sound (former Propagandhi singer John K Samson went on to form the more folk-country Weakerthans), and both champion and sing about political causes.

“We sound like them because we totally ripped them off,” laughs Hay. “I loved bands like Propaghandhi and I Spy when I was younger. I listened to them to bits. It was intense and full on and also melodic. When we started out there wasn't any bands doing that and it was refreshing to me. I felt that I still wanted to be inspired by that hardcore spirit but needed something else.”

Over the years, the band recorded a number of split singles and EPs including 'Troubled Waters and Fortresses', but it was their 2001 debut LP The Dichotomy of Earth and the Human Race that firmly cemented their place in Australian punk. It was a landmark album; harsh yet emotive, but never becoming sappy or grating. Hay’s politics couldn’t have been anymore explicit on tracks like ‘Anthematic Lies’, which saw him spitting lines like, “I'm not proud of this fucking country”.

Ruse, who still plays in influential hardcore outfit Captain Cleanoff, remembers when the band realised the direction they wanted to take. “We were walking home one night in Newcastle and were talking how we wanted to involve the more personal into a heavier musical style. I think it was emo violence,” he laughs. “I was influenced by a lot of brutal grind and power violence bands, but we wanted to combine that with more heartfelt kind of stuff.”

In the history of Australian punk rock, Conation have been important players. Back in the late ’90s when “emo” wasn’t the joke it has become – US bands and labels such as Portraits of Past, Yaphet Kotto and Kent McClard's Ebullition, informed by an anti-consumerist and DIY ideology, were releasing small runs of records and playing basements and all-ages spaces – Conation were one of the first Australian bands to take these ideals and practice them here. Ruse puts their influence down to the burgeoning DIY all-ages circuit at the time. “This was before the whole MySpace thing had started,” he explains. “We kind of broke up on the cusp of MySpace.”

Hay, however, has a more measured take on their legacy. “It's hard to gauge that stuff looking back. People say that we meant a lot to them and what we did was really inspiring, and that’s awesome. But sitting back we don't have a clue really. We did what we did at the time. It's the thoughts we had at the time. It's what music is about. Expressing yourself at a particular time.

“Whether I go back and listen to it now and go, 'Right on' or 'Wow, I can't believe I even wrote a song about that', I'm still really happy about what we did,” he continues. “But we have bands that we look up to as well. Back then there were Aussie bands like Far Left Limit and Deadstare and even Love Like Electrocution. Bands who were a bit lower to the ground but gave a shit and were very passionate about what they did.”

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Conation play The Step Inn in Brisbane tonight (February 18), as well as a run of shows in NSW this weekend. More dates here.