Iggy and The Stooges. The Authorized Biography
By Jeffrey Morgan
(New Haven Publishing)
Did we need another Stooges book? Rhetorical question but slap yourself if you answered in the negative. This is a pared-down and re-cut variant of the coffee table format “The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated History” published by Abrams in 2009 under the authorship of Jeffrey Morgan and Robert Matheu.
This version is prominently attributed to Morgan although Matheu is acknowledged on the cover and at length throughout.
“Iggy and The Stooges. The Authorised Biography” is still in hardcover and runs to 140 pages as opposed to the original 180-odd. It’s illustrated by the photos of Matheu, John Catto and Jeff Magnum (yes, the onetime Dead Boys bassist) and others, although the reformatting has resulted in much of the original imagery beinbg deleted or replaced.
John Catto’s and Robert Sikora’s 1974 Toronto shots of Iggy and the Stooges are amazing additions but so were Craig Petty’s St Louis photos.
The original book was the brainchild of Morgan and Mattheu after both had been co-opted by Italian uber fan and magazine editor Rosano Ciccarelli to contribute to his own Fun House publication in 2005. They tossed the idea around over some beers, let it slide and revived it a year later with Matheu in the driving seat.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 959
Cowboy Logic – Garry Gray & Sacred Cowboys (Kasumen Records)
Just when you through it was safe to go back into the corral, those ornery Sacred Cowboys are back on the reservation.
Molly Meldrum once called them the worst band he’d seen in five years and the Cowboys - or more correctly sole constant member Garry Gray - has worn that critique as a badge of honour ever since. And why not? Molly didn’t know his arse from his elbow and wasn’t likely to be converted, and his dissing the band on national TV played right into their ethos of confrontation.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 997
X-Ray Words - The Prehistorics (self-released)
Aussie-based perenial European tourists The Prehistorics return with their sixth album. three years in the making and starting just after their last release "Racket du Jour" (2001). The core of the recording band for the last few records, Brendan Sequira (songwriter, vocals, guitar), and Michael Carpenter (drums, production, and plenty more things this time around), enlisted some great guitar players to help out along the way.
It's exactly what you'd expect from a Prehistorics album: great playing and production, and just that little bit better than the previous offering.
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- By Graham Stapleton
- Hits: 860
Don’t Let Go. A Memoir – Rob Griffiths (Swerve/Off The Hip)
He readily confesses to not being a household name but if fervent enthusiasm for rock and roll and a back catalogue of should-have-been-hits counts, Rob Griffiths should be.
Best-known as frontman for onetime Melbourne mod torchbearers Little Murders, Griffiths is one of the most underrated songwriters in the country, and now adds author to his c.v.
The autobiographical “Don’t Let Go” is a ripping ride that cranks up in Melbourne music’s underground of the mid’70s and continues well beyond - as told by an immigrant Pommy kid who jumped in at the deep end.
Griffiths’ first band The Fiction shared stages with Boys Next Door/Birthday Party, News and JAB in a short but noisy existence. Punk was only a starting point: the did wear suits (briefly, at the end) and it was a hint of things to come. Griffiths makes the point well that the lines between genres in Melbourne are, and always were, heavily blurred.
His ‘60s influenced Little Murders rose from The Fiction’s ashes, soaring in popularity on the back of the burgeoning mod movement of the early ‘80s. When both band and the “Quadrophenia” trend foundered, Griffiths became a club DJ, a small-time record label chief and band manager, often in tandem with a day-time career as a schoolteacher.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1053
Australian sonic chanteuse Penny Ikinger is touring France and Spain in October 2024 to promote her latest album, "Travels and Travails".
Fittingly for an international tour, the record is a compilaiton of new and older material recorded around the world that showcases her collaborations with artists from France, Australia, Japan and the United States.
Thje tour is in both solo mode and with a mostly French band, The Not, a high-energy outfit that came together in a seedy Paris bar.
The Not features Penny’s long time musical collaborator Vinz Guilluy (Penelope Inc, Charles de Goal, the Holy Curse, and Bad Music with Rob Younger) on bass, Greek guitarist Roy Mitakidis (ex-Sonic Tramps), JB Didier (ex-Rhinosonics) on keys and Frantz Arnould (Whodunit) on drums.
Penny Ikinger and The Not
France and Spain Tour
OCT
13 - L'Alimentation Générale, Paris,
w/ Glenn Burns (AUS)
17- Funhouse, Madrid
w/ Jibaros (ESP)
18 - La Casa De Sabica, Pamplona
19 - VIII. ZZ Rock Jaialdia, Zumarraga
26 - Skate Parc Le Moulin du Rousseau,
Périgueux, FR
(solo)
w/ Kosmik Twaregs (ESP)
Tickets
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 787
It was 45 years ago when Melbourne’s Little Murders released the single “Things Will Be Different” on Au Go Go Records. The single put Little Murders and Au Go Go on the musical map, quickly selling out two pressings and garnering praise from around the world, including from Greg Shaw's BOMP! magazine.
In 1981, Little Murders were the leading mod band in Melbourne and went on to release three more singles and the “STOP” album before disbanding.
Between then and now, the reconstituted Little Murders have released eight studio albums, two compilations and a live record, toured Japan, had a documentary made about them, recorded in Los Angeles and had international and local artists record their songs for a tribute album. Which brings us to the here and now.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 697
The good news: The much anticipated Australian tour by ex-Lazy Cowgirls frontman Pat Todd and his band The Rankoutsiders is on. The bad news: The tour is restricted to one state.
Pat Todd’s Aussie solo dates with Mad Macka of the Cosmic Psychos were a stand-out of 2023 and he promised to be back. Unfortunately, limited time and economics mean Victoria will host all five dates of the run.
So if you’re anywhere else, book an air ticket. If can't, take consolation that you’ll be able to stream a live-to-air on 3PBS-FM before the live shows proper start.
Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
NOV
6 – PBS live to air
7 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
9 – River Rocks, Barwon Club, Geelong
10 – St Kilda Bowls Club, St Kilda, VIC
11 – Last Chance Bar, Melbourne, VIC
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 986
Deep Heat – Rockafella (Tuff Cuff Records)
We’ve all heard about the “difficult” second album, but this takes some beating.
A quarter century spans the debut and the follow-up for Wollongong’s Rockafella. To be fair, a band breaking up will do that. evrery time..
The good news is that the lay-off hasn’t done them any harm, and if you're a vinyl junkie, you'll be stoked that their return to the record racks is in the form of a meaty, thick 180gm slab that's been cut to make a big noise.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 845
Van Ruin (the band) are bassist Pete Trifunovic (Mushroom Planet and Sonic Garage), Phil Van Rooyen, guitarist Al Creed and drummer Stu Wilson preparing for their live debut this weekend past.
Van Ruin is, I suppose, the Australian way of pronouncing Phil Van Rooyen's surname. Perhaps best known to I-94-Barflies as one of the guitarists and vocalists in Manly's finest, Chickenstones, Phil has also been a mainstay of Panadolls, the Circus Chaplains, and Sonic Garage. Van Ruin is also the name of his new solo band.
Phil's influences have always been worn on his fretboard; phrasing seems not so much Detroit rock but more Radio Birdman, New Christs, Celibate Rifles or even Died Pretty ... That said, he developed his own way of thinking and playing long ago; to my mind, he's a distinctive and, with other writing partner and Chickenstones bandmate, Andy Doc Temple Ellard, a very under-rated musician and songwriter.
The debut EP by Van Ruin, "Jails, Death & Institutions”, is out now on Crankinhaus Records so I asked Phil a few questions.
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 804
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