I Won't Bend For You - Brian Henry Hooper (Bang! Records/Incubator)
First, it's a damn good LP, the kind you put on repeat all day when it lands in the letterbox. Second, it's so damn moving you'll find yourself tearing up in decades to come. Third, there are songs here which you'll put on at parties and have people scampering up, eyes wide, 'Who THE FUCK is this? It's brilliant!'
This has been a difficult last few years. The stupidvirus has not, of course, helped, but as far as I'm concerned it's just a gentle reminder of what awaits us all, one way or another. One dilemma which confronts some of us is - how best to remember the creative? A novelist, well; in George Macdonald Fraser's case, because he'd left the manuscript in a very prominent place, his family arranged for his very first book to be published. In a musician's case - what have they left for us?
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
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She’s Back b/w The Other Side – Bored! (Fantastic Mess Records)
Discerning people like their diamonds ijn the rough. These are cast-off gems from Bored!’s “Feed The Dog” album sessions, released on a short run 45 by Fantastic Mess in the run to their re-issue of the 1991 record on vinyl. It’s the three-piece version of the band, led by the late Dave Thomas.
“She’s Back” sits back on the groove and shows off Thomas’s singular guitar tone. The vocal is buried deep in the mix but audible enough to give you the idea. Keep it sleazy! “The Other Side” is an obvious nod to Dead Boys with more steamroller guitar and a tsunami-like feel from the ending room propelling things along.
Issued in clear and pink vinyl (the latter is already sold out) with the usual Fantastic Mess trimmings of inserts, sticker and postcard, it won’t be around long. Glenno Smith’s stark artwork suits it to a ‘T’.
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- By The Barman
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Kiwi comeback kings The Datsuns are making a noise with the second single from their new album "Eye to Eye". Part of the so-called New Garage movement of the '00s, The Datsuns disappeared off the map for seven years and as the video for "Dehumanise" shows they're still capable of cooking up a fuzz-spattered aural shitstorm.
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Songs from a Haunted Ballroom - Skids (Cleopatra)
Glam via Bowie, Roxy, Ultravox! and original punk, this LP is intense.
I don't like cover bands as a rule. Very few get close to improving or mimicking the original (even if they did write the original). And as for the Australian series “Like a Version' - what a rubbish gimmick.
In case you didn't know, The Skids reformed in Scotland more or less as a fun thing a few years ago, and in 2018 released a new LP ("Burning Cities" on No Bad Records) which I also have ordered from my long-suffering record shop.
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
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Can’t Wait To Be Fine – We Hate You Please Die (Buttercup Records)
Don’t attempt to pigeonhole this band. It won’t do you any good. We Hate You Please Die play what you could broadly term lo-fi garage rock, but that’s where the preconceptions end.
There’s a whimsical fragility to these 12 songs that make them odd and compelling. There’s also sharp musical ability and some keen song-writring.
“Can’t Wait To Be Fine” is the second long-player for the two girls/two guys band from Rouen in France (their first “Kids Are Lo-Fi” came out in 2018) and it’s evidently a kick against the twjn pricks of brainwashing and society’s demands to confirm.
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Free Dirt – Looch Lewis (Nebraska/MGM)
With beginnings as a guitarist in the high energy scene for Zen Genies, and more recent service as drummer for bush punks Handsome Young Strangers, indie band Wifey and country act Dave Favours and the Roadside Ashes, ubiquitous Mark “Looch” Lewis has as much claim as anyone to being a Sydney musical fixture.
Now fronting his own Looch Lewis and The Press Gangsters instead of playing in other people’s bands, dropping this a solo single seems a logical progression.
Yes, it is that “Free Dirt”, the Died Pretty song from which they took their debut album’s name and that ended up on their second LP, ”Lost”, and while it might initially seem a bold choice, it’s done so well that it raises the question why more people haven’t tackled the much-loved music of Ron, Brett and Co.
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The I-94 Bar iinvited Lipstick Killers members Mark Taylor and Peter Tillman to front up for a chat on Friday, to mark the release of their band’s killer posthumous compilation “Strange Flash!” on Grown Up Wrong! Records. Fan Steve Lorkin and Tillman’s former Filth bandmate Bob Short were hosts for this wide ranging chat reflecting on the band’s rise through the Radio Birdman-inspired Sydney underground scene to their disintegration in Los Angeles. You'll find our review of the album here.
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More COVID changes: Ed Kuepper and Jim White have re-scheduled seven shows.
Tickets from all previous gigs will be honoured or a refund can be obtained at the point of purchase. Contact your relevant outlet for precise details and conditions affixed to each performance. Keep an eye on NSW gigs especially as there may be more changes. All the latest news and tickets for the new gigs can be found at edkuepper.com
Ed Kuepper with Jim White
(New Hobart dates TBA)
JULY
15 - Archies Creek, Caravan Music Club, VIC
16 - Meeniyan, Town Hall, VIC
17 - Macedon, Railway Hotel – SOLD OUT
23 - Melbourne, Brunswick Ballroom, VIC
24 - Melbourne, Brunswick Ballroom, VIC
AUG
13 - Cairns, Tanks Art Centre, QLD
14 - Gold Coast, The Sound Lounge, QLD
15 - Bellingen, No.5 Church St, NSW
16 - Bellingen, No.5 Church St, NSW
19 - Sydney, The Factory, NSW
20 - Wollongong, The Music Lounge, NSW
21 - Milton, Milton Theatre, NSW
SEP
12 - Adelaide, The Gov, SA
14 - Fremantle, Freo.Social, WA
15 - Margaret River, The River Hotel, WA
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- By The Barman
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Those Meanies boys.
Those Dicklord girls.
As Covid lockdowns continue to wreak more havoc than Wally Meanie at a wine tasting, The Meanies have to rejig a whole bunch more dates of their “Better Late Than Never Desperate Measures Tour”. which was meant to start last month! The run now kicks off in regional Victoria in a couple of weeks, and then breaks until October, when it picks up in Adelaide, and continues through November. What hasn't changed is that DickLord is the main support on all shows, bar Geelong.
The Meanies
"Better Late Than Never Desperate Measures Tour"
All shows with Dicklord except *
JULY
16 - Barwon Club, Geelong* + Poppin Mommas + Eyeroll
23 - The Eastern, Ballarat + The Dawdlers
24 - Railway Hotel Macedon + Persecution Blues
OCT
16 - Jive, Adelaide + Cull The Band
22 - The Tote, Melb + Persecution Blues + Cheeky Geezers
23 - The Tote, Melb + Super American Eagle + Sidesplitter
NOV
12 - The Zoo, Brisbane
17 - The Basement, Canberra + Charlotte & the Harlots
18 - Lansdowne, Sydney + Blitz Babiez -
19 - Narrabeen RSL + Tshitaki
20 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle + I Hate People
21 - La La La's, Wollongong + Ape Rib
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 2780
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