The Hard-Ons and Poison Idea frontman Jerry A have released their long-awaited collaborative album, following years of musical connections and recent tours together in the United States and Europe.
by Paul Cashmere
The Hard-Ons and Jerry A, the vocalist of Portland hardcore punk band Poison Idea, have released their collaborative album Hard-Ons/Jerry A on August 14, 2026. The project brings together musicians whose relationship dates to the late 1980s, when the Australian band first toured with Poison Idea, and follows joint US and European touring that helped move the long-discussed recording project into production.
The album is being released in Australia and New Zealand through Cheersquad Records & Tapes, with American Leather handling the release in the rest of the world. It is available digitally and in physical formats including CD, cassette and several vinyl editions.
For The Hard-Ons, the album represents the latest chapter in a relationship with Jerry A that has already produced music across more than three decades. Jerry first recorded with the Sydney band in 1993, contributing vocals and co-writing “The Blade” for their album Too Far Gone.
That earlier collaboration was revisited recently when “The Blade” appeared on Jerry A’s solo album From The Fire Into The Water. The new album takes the relationship considerably further, with Jerry sharing the vocal role across a full-length release built around the Hard-Ons’ established combination of punk, hardcore, rock and melody.
Blackie of The Hard-Ons said the musicians had previously toured and collaborated and had repeatedly discussed taking the partnership further.
“We toured and collaborated a few times before and always talked about getting serious… well here’s the start of that. Hard-Ons with Jerry A!! It’s happening,” he said.
The first new material from the collaboration was released ahead of the Hard-Ons and Jerry A’s 2025 US dates, with “You Won’t Shut Up” and “Dead End Turnaround” issued as a single. Those US shows were part of a tour with Napalm Death and the Melvins. The musicians subsequently shared stages during a recent European tour.
The album is available on black vinyl, black and white smash vinyl, half black and half white vinyl, and white vinyl with black marble. The limited vinyl variants are restricted to 100 copies each, while the cassette edition is also limited to 100 copies.
Hard-Ons/Jerry A draws together two bands with parallel histories in the development of underground punk and hardcore. Poison Idea was formed in Portland in 1980, while The Hard-Ons formed in Sydney in 1982. Both developed reputations for pushing punk into heavier territory while retaining links to the original energy and directness of late 1970s punk.
Poison Idea’s catalogue includes influential releases such as Pick Your King, Kings Of Punk, War All The Time and Feel The Darkness. The latter, released in 1990, became one of the band’s defining records and established a harder fusion of hardcore and rock that has continued to influence subsequent generations of punk musicians.
Jerry A founded Poison Idea and remained its central vocalist through the band’s various line-up changes, reunions and later activity. The band released Confuse & Conquer in 2015, its most recent studio album, while Jerry A has also pursued solo work and published his three-part autobiography Black Heart Fades Blue in 2022.
The Hard-Ons emerged from Sydney’s western suburbs and have maintained an unusually long independent career. Their early catalogue, including Smell My Finger, Dickcheese, Love Is A Battlefield Of Wounded Hearts and Yummy!, established a sound that incorporated punk, hardcore, metal, psychedelia and pop.
Their international following became particularly significant in Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band also developed a history of collaborations, including their 1991 recording of AC/DC’s “Let There Be Rock” with Henry Rollins.
More recently, The Hard-Ons released I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken in 2021, which became their first album to reach the ARIA Top 50, debuting at No. 4. Ripper ’23 followed in 2023, while I Like You Getting Older was released in 2024.
The band also marked its 40th anniversary period with touring and the documentary The Most Australian Band Ever! – The Secret Origin Of The Hard-Ons, which premiered at SXSW Sydney in 2024. The Hard-Ons released their latest studio album, I Like You Getting Older, during the same anniversary period.
The new album with Jerry A places the Hard-Ons’ longstanding connection with the US hardcore scene into a new recording context. Rather than being a one-off guest appearance, the project formalises a partnership that has developed through touring, shared influences and previous studio work.
Hard-Ons/Jerry A is available now. The release also provides the basis for a potential future Australian run involving the Hard-Ons and Jerry A, with the supplied material indicating that the musicians expect to perform together in Australia in the future.
https://cheersquadrecordstapes.bandcamp.com/album/hard-ons-jerry-a-2
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