Black Door – The Volcanics (Citadel)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 September 2019

Hits: 5492

It’s hard – no, impossible – to believe The Volcanics aren’t huge names in underground rock households right around the world.

Perth might be the Most Isolated Capital City in The World (something its bands used to brag about incessantly - but let's face it, it's a great tagline) but the relevance of that factoid is fading fast in this digitally-connected age. So it can’t just be down to location.

Sonically-speaking, “Black Door” has guitars up the wazoo, brutal hooks, captivating songs, swagger and attitude. So it’s as unfashionable as fuck to the ears of cultural taste-makers, who’d rather assail our ears with Chris Brown or Tay-Tay (whichever one makes them the most money through streaming). Yeah. That’d be it. 

• perth
• citadel records
• the volcanics
• oh crash
• black door

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Tick Tock - The Busymen (Swashbuckling Hobo)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 September 2019

Hits: 4419

It’s been more than a few years between releases, if not drinks, for this long-established Brisbane outfit and the good news is that they haven’t polished their sound one iota.  

The Busymen live in a world where the clock stopped working in 1965. They’re paying homage to the original bluesmen - with electricity and volume - and think the term “rhythm and blues” hasn’t been stolen. They’re the early Pretty Things with a hankering for cold Fourex instead of black bombers and warm pints. Guttural grunts and delay guitar speak louder than any words. 

And then there’s Boston Bob on organ and voice. The secret weapon. His vocal stylisations are unique - never more than on the slightly out-of-phase yet hypnotic title track. A job offer from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a long way off. 

• garage
• brisbane
• busymen
• swashbuckling hobo
• tick tock
• boston bob

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From the Cradle to the grave

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By Robert Brokenbmouth

Robert Brokenbmouth

05 September 2019

Hits: 4966

Cradle of Filth
+ Hybrid Nightmares
The Gov, Adelaide
September 4, 2019

It's fair to say that most people who rock up to these shows won't be bumpkins like me, who completely missed all the advances and shifts in the metal throughout the 1990s and onward.

Almost certainly there were few folk attending who didn't know the latest LP backward. The friend I'm going with, Azhurn, knows the bloody lyrics. Now, we ain't talking Ramones here. We're talking pieces which don't repeat phrases, no choruses except musical ones, and a narrative series closer to a somewhat demented storyteller. Dani's voice is simply astonishing, shifting several times within a single phrase, and occasionally it appears he's singing two notes at once.

Here's some of the press release (slightly amended):

"When you talk about classic albums shaping genres 'Cruelty and the Beast' by Cradle of Filth sits proudly and menacingly at the top of the tree for extreme music. In 1998 'Cruelty and the Beast' showcased the band's hybrid of brutality and macabre romanticism, crafting a concept album based on the life of Hungarian mass murderer Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who tortured and murdered hundreds of young women in the 16th and 17th centuries.

“'Cruelty and the Beast' was both bombastic and grandiose, inflected with gothic touches, yet unquestionably rooted in black metal. In addition to the feral bludgeoning and the slower, more melodic keyboard passages, 'Cruelty and the Beast', featured three haunting, elegiac instrumentals filled with chiming organs, horrified screams and synthesised orchestra parts that enhanced the drama and split the presentation into three acts. No other band would have been capable of creating such an opus. As a concept album, it is executed with perfection … creative, intelligent, shocking, written brilliantly and played expertly."

• the gov
• cradle of filth

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The Collection - Roger C Reale & Rue Morgue (Rave On Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 September 2019

Hits: 3272

As splintered, disconnected, marginalised and disparate as this strange, recycled thing called rock and roll music is these days, rediscovering the forgotten, overlooked and ignored is one of its enduring joys. 

Odds are that if you’re not ensconced deep inside the US music industry, the name Roger C, Reale won’t mean a thing. These days he’s a Grammy nominee and award-winning blues composer. In 1977-78 he was just another hopeful, having his shot at The Prize in and around New England. 

American bands have always done it differently to their counterparts. In Australia and the UK - at least in rock and roll’s heyday - the existence (and credibility) of a band was built on constantly performing live. Paying their dues. There were exceptions, of course, but entry-level American bands were usually more about refining their chops behind closed doors and then playing The Showcase Gig, that one-off event that they hoped would lead to a major label signing. 

• powerpop
• roger c reale
• rue morgue
• radioactive
• reptiles in motion

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Jello Biafra joins cast of stars to remember Damien Lovelock

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 September 2019

Hits: 4039

As expected, the Celibate Rifles are marking the loss of their frontman Damien Lovelock with a suitable tribute. “Damo The Musical” will feature a star-studded cast  at The Facroty Theatre on Sunday, September 22 from 4-8pm.

The Celibate Rifles are performing "But Jacques The Fish" and assorted Rifles hits with a range of guest vocalists – including former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. Supergroup The Centrelink Surfers will play the music of Damien’s solo band Wigworld, plus some of the man’s jukebox faves.

There will be testimonials, visuals and more. Tickets are on sale now via Feel Presents. 

• celibate rifles
• damien lovelock
• damo the musical
• jello biafra

Memories are made of this sort of Sedition

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 September 2019

Hits: 5420

_{Ed Kuepper leads his Aints! through their final show for a while.}  

Sedition 2019
The Aints!
The Flaming Hands
Shy Impostors
The Professors
Paddington RSL, Sydney 
Saturday, August 31 2019

It could have been an exercise in nostalgia for its own sake. It was anything but.

On paper, a bunch of bands digging into their own back pages is a fraught exercise. Things can never be what they once were; voices age and players who were at one time singularly focused on the musical here and now inevitably drift on or find new interests. Some pass on. Others fall out with each other.

Each of these bands come from a special time and a place that can’t be re-captured. Each was leaning, to some degree, on their back catalogues tonight. All were doing their best to be true to their own legacy without getting hung up on it.

• sunnyboys
• richard burgman
• peter oxley
• flaming hands
• shy impostors
• penny ward
• the aints
• the professors
• sedition 2019
• feel presents

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With The Damned, you just can be happy today

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

02 September 2019

Hits: 4985

The Dammed
The Factory Theatre, Marrickville
Thursday, August 20 2019
Photos: Monique Simmons

Culturally, Britain was so different to the USA in so many ways in the ‘70s, and that had much to do with distance.  The US is a vast place with all sorts of cultures and entrainment influences. The south was different to the west coast and out was again different to the east. And that really showed in the disparate pockets of music that sprang up everywhere.

On the other hand, England was more centralised. Long before the ‘70s dawned, it had the ingrained tradtiion of music halls as its historical DNA.

Music halls were everywhere. At one time there were more than 200 theatres in London alone. They hosted events running for four hours and ranging from comedy, clowning, horror to serious  drama. For more than a century, popular theatre was a staple for the working man and middle class alike. 

Well, you may ask, what has this got to do with The Damned appearing live in Sydney on a Thursday night? I say, everything.  A Dammed gig is like a trip through classic British pantomime and theatre, full of drama and packed with wit and slapstick. 

• tour
• australian
• the damned
• 2019
• capain sensible
• dave vanian

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Datura4 announces European tour in October

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 September 2019

Hits: 4873

Hot on the Cuban heels of their third international album release, “Blessed is the Boogie”, Fremantle-based rock psych-blues outfit Datura4 are heading to Europe in October. Datura4 will take on Italy, France and Spain in a three-week boogie-blitz of festivals, seedy bars and cool clubs on their "Blessed is the Boogie" tour.

"Blessed is the Boogie "was released worldwide on Alive Naturalsound in April, marking an exciting new evolution for the critically acclaimed band. The record builds on Datura4’s ‘guitars to infinity’ approach of “Hairy Mountain” (2016) and the hard-rocking, progressive debut “Demon Blues” (2015) – and takes the band a few swaggering steps further into psych-blues territory.

Frontman and creative force of the band, Dom Mariani continues his successful collaboration with bass player Stu Loasby (The Majestic Kelp) and drummer Warren “Wazza” Hall, the original drummer for The Drones.

Upping the legend quotient on “Blessed is the Boogie” is long-time friend and Australian music stalwart Bob Patient (of Fatty Lumpkin) on keys. Multi-instrumentalist, singer and freakishly brilliant guitarist Joe Grech joined a few months ago and it’s like he and Mariani were born to play together.

Datura4 are at the top of their game and audiences can’t get enough. The band cannot wait to plug in the guitars and the vintage amps and say merci, gracias and grazie to their European fans for fantastic support of their music!

Perth fans can wish Datura4 well before they go at four huge shows:

21 Sept – Mojos
22 Sept – Indian Ocean Hotel
24 Sept – Perth Blues Club
27 Sept – Four5Nine, Rosemount Hotel

European fans can plug into Datura4’s tour via the dates on Facebook.

• alive naturalsound
• tour
• datura4
• european

Snake - Rocket Science (IT Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 August 2019

Hits: 4450

Allowing for a near death experience and a lengthy hiatus, they’ve been around for 20 years. It’s been more than a decade since their last album. So does Rocket Science still matter? Yes.

“Snake” is their fifth long-player and in the genre classification stakes, Rocket Science is still playing hard to get. Psych-rock? Post-punk garage rock? Trashy new wave? Whatever you want to label them, go right ahead, it’s probably fine by them. The one thing we can all agree on is that “Snake” is one very dark hombre of an album.

Dark, you say? Whatever do you mean? It is hard to out a finger on. It doesn't have to be explicitly stated in the lyrics or through minor chords. In the case of "Snake", it's a mood thing and very much a sum of the band's parts.

• psychedelic
• rocket science
• it records
• snake

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