It’s been a bad year for the Beasts Of Bourbon with two of its core members leaving the stage for the last time. Bassist Brian Hooper succumbed to lung cancer in March, and guitarist Spencer P Jones this week lost his own battle with liver cancer.

Hard drinking, hard smoking and hard rocking were the Beasts’ trademarks, and there was no finer live band in Australia in their heyday of the 90s. The swagger and sleaze emanating from the stage was both intimidating and enticing, and the range of influences they mixed into their sound made them an unmistakably original band.