Children of Sorrow (COS) were a hardcore punk band out of the Melbourne punk scene of the mid to late 1980’s.  Politically and socially aware, fast loud and aggressive chainsaw to metal noise with a white-hot energy that fuelled the wild, anarchic fun, and occasionally perilous gigs at the time.

The band formed in 1984 and was originally called A.I.D.S (Another Indestructible Dirty Sound), but they changed their name after their guitarist Russell “Rusty” Hopkinson left – leaving the band with their distinctive two bass set up. An inability to get AIDS gigs listed in the Melbourne gig guides also drove the name change. They returned to calling themselves AIDS for the last couple of gigs in 1987 when Darren (Massappeal) replaced James Lynch on drums.

The music is adrenaline packed hardcore, fast, chaotic, tight. It is underpinned and entwined with some great driving yet complex percussion and the band revelled in being noisy, noisy, noisy. The bands ethical stand (reflected in their lyrics) advocates for equality, freedom, non-violence, anti-capitalism and greed, anti-war and nuclear proliferation, supported animal rights, and despised the manipulation of people through religious dogma.

The band were very DIY principled, playing self-organised gigs and working with other bands in the close hardcore community at the time to play benefits gigs for causes such as rape crisis and squatters union etc. as well as many other scene gigs. They most often shared gigs with bands such as Vicious Circle, Death Sentence, Arm the Insane (fellow squatters) and many more – most often gigging at the Sydenham Hotel, Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, and the Grosvenor Hotel.   

The band members were part of the Melbourne squatting scene at the time squatting with dozens of fellow punkoids and misfits in the infamous Howson St and St Kilda Rd squats as well as many more. Those participating in this collective lifestyle, with its chaotic and anarchistic environment, were feared by and excluded from the broader society and this greatly influenced the music that the band produced.  

The band disbanded in late 1987 with James Lynch joining Vicious Circle and David Thompson joining Death Sentence.

COS line-up included: Vocals - Ossie (David Eldridge), Drums - James (James Lynch), Bass - Davo (David Thompson), Fretless Distortion - Decay (Des Kirwan).