Search for Charlie Owen and you will find heart and soul

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

25 August 2024

Hits: 3079

“Searching For Charlie Owen”
Charlie Owen
Cam Butler
Pete Ross and the Sapphire
Django Bar, Marrickville
Friday 16 August 2024
WORDS: Edwin Garland
PHOTOS: The Barman

The Camelot Lounge and its smaller cousin Django Bar, really are the most unheralded venues in Sydney’s inner-west. They’re in a great location, directly opposite Sydenham Railway Station, with Django holding about 120 people and the other about 200.

There has been a lot of love and attention to detail put into the fit-out with all sorts of antiques and obscure paintings on hand. Food and bar prices are reasonable, the sound is immaculate and there’s loads of atmosphere and vibe.  In a time when it’s a struggle for venues to keep themselves alive, big kudos to the owners.

• charlie owen
• cam butler
• searching for Charlie owen
• pete ross and the sapphire
• django bar
• camelot lounge

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Forty years on, The Stems are still For Always

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By The Barman

The Barman

22 August 2024

Hits: 2398

 _{Ash Naylor, Dave Shaw. Dom Mariani and Julian Matthews are The Stems in 2024. Craig MacLean photo @shot.by.mac.}

It’s called anticipation. You’re in a band. You’ve re-convened after a very long lay-off. The line-up’s now well-rehearsed, fed and watered, and it’s the lull before the storm that will be the first day of your 40th anniveresary tour. 

Rock and roll is more waiting than playing. Dom Mariani knows it well. He’s on the line from a hotel in Melbourne where The Stems are poised to undertake their first Australian tour this week in five years (thanks COVID) before taking off on a sweep through Spain and Italy.

Oh no. There’s a brief coughing fit. It's from Dom’s end. 

“You all right?”

• dom mariani
• the stems
• australian tour
• 2024

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Pocketwatch ups the ante with Wayne Connolly's help on "Break Out"

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

21 August 2024

Hits: 1687

Break Out - PocketWatch (self-released)

Pocketwatch burst onto the Sydney scene about two years ago.  With the two youngest members just turning 16, they put on infectious live shows and had attitude. With a range of influences (Power-pop, Britpop and Grunge), these kids were no shoe gazers. The band’s rise has been meteoric on the street-level live circuit and they are now packing out the likes of Marrickville Bowlo.

It's less than year since their debut release, the “It’s Time” EP.  It captured their live sound, pointing to a raw punk ethos served with a side dish of meat and potatoes, no frills production. And it was the right record at the time.

Young bands need to spread their wings and find an empathetic producer who can bring to the table their decades of skills and create a shared vision. Enter Wayne Connolly.

• wayne connolly
• pocketwatch
• Angus Ross
• jamie woodward
• break out
• sam mcinerney

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Fact and Fiction: Rob's odds and sods collection throws up a Murderously great single

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By Edwyn Garland

Edwyn Garland

20 August 2024

Hits: 1444

Demolition – Rob Griffiths (Swerve Records)
The Girl Belongs To Yesterday Rob Griffiths (digital single through Swerve Records)

As long as I've been a music fan, I've regularly become obsessed with particular songs. At age 10, it was “Devil Gate Drive” by Suzie Quatro. It was “Department of Youth” by Alice Cooper at 12. It would be “London Calling” by The Clash and “Another Girl, Another Planet” by The Only Ones in my late teens.

I'd buy a single and replay a song again and again. The tune would stay my head for weeks and I would wear out that seven- inch single until it was a crackling mess.

I came across “The Girl Belongs To Yesterday“ by Rob Griffiths a few weeks ago on Facebook and like all the classic three-minute singles, I replayed it again and again. Just like that kid bringing home a seven-inch vinyl by Suzi Quatro or Alice Cooper. Except this one’s a download.

• steve lucas
• dollsquad
• joey bedlam
• little murders
• rob griffiths
• the fiction
• demolition
• swerve records
• the girl belongs to yesterday
• adam learner

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Sacred Cowboys saddle up again with live return and anthology

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 August 2024

Hits: 2849

^{Nothing Grows on St Kilda Beach: Original Sacred Cowboys in their element.} 

Eclectic label Kasumen Records is marching past its 10^th anniversary with some compelling releases and the latest is “Cowboy Logic”, a compilation douible CD anthology of Sacred Cowboys live and studio material.

The band will return to live stages at Shotkickers in Thornbury, Melbourne, on October 11, trckets for which are here.

Founders Garry Gray (ex-Negatives) and Mark Ferrie(The Models) will be joined in the new line-up by Tim Deane (Ron Peno's Superstitions), Anthony Paine (Black Cab) and Damian Fitzgerald (Sore Eyes.) There are plans to record a new album and to play more shows.

• sacred cowboys
• kasumen records
• mark ferrie
• cowboy logic

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Starcrazy signals imminent album release with "I Ain't That Crazy"

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 August 2024

Hits: 1355

Brash Sydney glam-pop-rockers Starcrazy are releasing their self-titled debut album on October 18 and have unveiled a teaser film clip. “I Ain’t That Crazy” was written by bassist Jack Barratt and produced by Mo Mayhem (Mucho Sonar, ex-Hell City Glamours). The video was shot by Connor Barratt. You can stream it here.

Announcing the album, the band says: “This release successfully transports the fire and glitter of our live performances into the recording studio with no loss of heat or dynamics. We’ve been a band for over four years now and feel that with this full length release, we’ve finally honed in on our own sound.

• pop
• sydney
• glam
• starcrazy
• i an't that crazy

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Brando's risen to deliver one rocking album

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By Robert Brokenmouth, The Barman & Ronald Brown

Robert Brokenmouth, The Barman & Ronald Brown

14 August 2024

Hits: 3456

Brando Rising – Brando Rising (self-released)

And, PLAY LOUD. What a fuckin' sound!

Ooooh, you're in for a stompin', whompin' treat. Only 100 copies, so get it while you can. Right, so, it's taking me a while to get my head round the enormity of this, okay? There's lots to pay attention to, which isn't at all possible, so endless re-listens are on the cards.

It's taken Brando Rising a little while to put this out, and from Kelly Hewson's muscular, sinewy opening bars to vocalist Ripley Hood's closing shouts, you're hooded, grabbed, stuffed unceremoniously into the boot and taken for a bumpy, gritty ride to into some sort of moral swamp. God knows what your babbling explanation for skimming the casino take will be, but you know you're in trouble ... and you'll have “Brando Rising” on repeat in no time flat.

• hitmen
• lime spiders
• tony robertson
• brando rising
• ripley hood
• kelly hewson
• steve whan

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Vi-Nil's Newcastle compilation hits the mark again

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 August 2024

Hits: 1856

Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter – Various Artists (Vi-Nil Records)

He’s never been seen in anything other than a T-shirt and one of his own label’s trucker caps, but it’s easy to picture Vi-Nil Records label boss Mark Fraser as the Pied Piper of the New South Wales Central Coast and Newcastle music scenes.

The analogy has to stick like baby shit to a blanket after the release of his second collection in the Indie Sounds series. Fraser is batting 2-0.

Picking a bunch of local bands and presenting two songs each on CD and vinyl is some brave/crazy idea in these days of diminishing economic returns.

• mark fraser
• drugs in sport
• howlin' rats
• vi-nil records
• mucho sonar
• Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter
• goon gremlins
• boudicca
• i hate people
• butterknife
• jan
• trashed again

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Hands down, "Brut" is a wonderful trip

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

11 August 2024

Hits: 1661

Brut - Gentle Ben and his Shimmering Hands (Beast Records/Spooky Records)

You dug Six Foot Hick? Of course you did. Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side? Sure. 

But it's 2024. And “Brut'” is here. 

The Shimmering Hands are Jhindu Pedro-Lawrie on drums, Dan Baebler on bass, and Tony Giacca on guitars. Ben Corbett handles the vocals... 

The Bandcamp blurb explains; “The themes of BRUT range from a fraught, taught exploration of the broken bodies, hearts and minds of our capitalist hellscape (‘Spices’) to wailing rock and roll eulogies (‘De Bliksem’, ‘No Encore’), a drifting death-country ode to colonialism (‘Five Stars’) to bloody kitchen sink drama (‘Tactical Empathy’).”

• beast records
• spooky records
• sixfthick
• gentle ben and his shimmering hands
• brut
• ben corbett

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