In My Dreams

The Sunday Painters were formed in late 1978 by Peter Raengel and Peter MacKinnon. Their first single, 1979’s Alternatives To Perfection, was a garage-DIY take on the Velvets. For their next single, 1980’s Painting By Numbers, they recorded a crunching, electro-punk cover of Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” that got modest airplay on Sydney’s 2JJJ. Their final 7”, 1981’s Three Kinds Of Escapism, led with “Let’$ Be Moderne,” which combined wistful backing vocals by bassist Kerrie Erwin, a spiky “post-modernist guitar solo,” and a steelworker’s metallic bashing to create a snappy, industrial pop-punk classic.