Cold Chisel poster, 1973

This poster was issued with the album The Barking Spiders Live: 1983. The text at the bottom right reads 'Cold Chisel - October 1973', dating it very early on in the band's career and before they had settled on a final line-up. Featured in this poster from left to right are Les Kaczmarek (bass player before Phil Small joined the band), Steve Prestwich, Jimmy Barnes, Don Walker and Ian Moss. 

The poster is the earliest dated item from the band Cold Chisel that is held in the NFSA collection.

Jimmy Barnes was just 17 years old when this photo was taken, over four years before the release of Cold Chisel's first, self-titled album in 1978. Barnes only joined the band in 1973 and they didn't call themselves Cold Chisel until 1974.

This image of five long-haired young men seems quintessentially Australian and parallels the appearance of other contemporaneous bands such as AC/DC. The Australian pub rock circuit seemed to attract bands whose members looked like they had just stepped off a building site! What mattered more than their look was an ability to jump on stage and deliver sweaty, fist-pumping, anthemic rock'n'roll.

In this sense the photo effectively captures the culture within the band and of Australian live music at the time. It has an unapologetic and unrefined authenticity; seen many years later, it evokes feelings of nostalgia for the era.