Are you ready for Ready? Plastic Section keeps it real

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 March 2023

Hits: 1957

Ready! – Plastic Section (Outtaspace)

Self-consciously retro rock and roll bands can be a real problem. There are ones that overplay their hand and fall back on gimmicks. They almost always have a name with “Thee” appended to the front. And then there are those that apply their three chords with genuine regard for where the music emanated.

Plastic Section is part of a loose Melbourne aggregation of bands in the latter category; their peers are The Breadmakers, The Vibrajets and The Cha Cha Chas. Each faithfully plunders the past while applying their own take.

• garage
• plastic section
• outtspace records

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This banger from a ranga is a family affair

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 March 2023

Hits: 1893

Following the release last month of the new EP "Periodical Fits" by his band LEECHES!, Rhinearts and ex-Screwtop Detonators member, Perth punk and powerpop everywhereman, Benny J Ward, has released his first solo single "Tell Me Tell Me" on Cheersquad Records

With a career that spans 20 years, half a dozen bands, a dozen albums, EPs, and singles; it would be safe to assume that Benny J Ward has scratched all his musical itches. No. Taking a sojourn into solo territory, Benny J hunkered down in the studio he built with his bare hands, and produced the first single ever released under his own name – the psychedelic garage pop belter "Tell Me Tell Me".

This is not the first time Benny J has gone solo. Back in the early 2000s he caught the attention of Triple J with his ginger pride-themed country-music alter-ego The Lone Ranga (subject matter that would later resurface in five-piece alternative outfit The Red Panthers).

"Tell Me Tell Me", however, is the first time Benny J has played every instrument on a track – from his native guitar to the bass and drums – as well as recording and mixing the tune himself.

You can buy it here.

The adorable icing on the cake; Benny J enlisted his 10-year-old son, Sonny J Ward to create the animation for the video clip to "Tell Me Tell Me" – following an inspired 2am New Year's Day kitchen brainstorming session.

• leeches!
• benny j ward
• rhinehearts
• tell me tell me

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Schizophonics make it one for the road

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 March 2023

Hits: 1752

San Diego's dynamite Schizophonics are throwing a special farewell to Oz show in Melbourne on Labour Day, Monday. 13 March . Venue is the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton.

Cementing themselves as "one of the best bands to see live, ever!" with their performance at Tentpole Festival, this will be your last chance to catch them before they head home.

Local garage-punk faves Blowers are special guests, tix are just $20 + bf and you can get them here.

• farewell
• schizophonics
• curtin hotel

No fringe required when Scientists hit town

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

06 March 2023

Hits: 2956

The Scientists
Earth Tongue
Cull - The Band
Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
4 March 2023
Photos: Alison Lea

It's the middle of Festival season here in Adelaide. As I walk toward the Lion Arts Centre, in the mid-1980s a sprawling, possibility-ridden centre of the most extraordinary range of Fringe shows for several years, Adelaide is chockas with assorted revellers starting out on their Saturday night of revelling, or whatever it is people do on a night roaming from club to club.

Many of the professional scroungers have arrived and are already parked on the footpath. A few will raise enough shrapnel for a box of goon and spend the rest of the night abusing passers-by until they're either kicked or arrested or both, followed by Maccas for brekky at the cop shop. A top night out; Adelaide can compete in the big leagues.

It's early yet (6.30pm), the doors open at 7, and the first band, Cull, will be on shortly after.

So. I see this bloke amble out of the venue. Spotting me, he ambles down the stairs and comes over. It's probably my new Josh Lord “Neotribalism”. T-shirt (huge red skull on the front) (note product placement). He comes over; 'Are you here for the gig?'

• adelaide
• scientists
• kim salmon
• boris sudjovic
• leanne cowie
• fringe
• tony thewlis
• negativity
• cull the band
• earth tongue

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Get a ticket to this circus

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

04 March 2023

Hits: 1926

My Circus! My Shitshow!! - Ben Gel (Ben Gel)

You're gonna love this one. It’s kicking, rampaging, no-holds-barred, pounding rock'n'roll. 

I've written about Ben Gel before. He's a no-nonsense, hammer-down-the-line bass player (currently playing in Perdition and Cull-The Band) and guitarist ... in his own outfit. On “My Circus! My Shitshow!!' he plays lead and rhythm guitars, bass and handles lead and backing vocals. Chris Charlton also handles lead and rhythm guitars, and Nick Hadley is on the kit.

Geez, I'd love to see this lot live. It looks like the drums were recorded in Camden Town, UK, and the rest in Rosewater, South Australia. How the fuck this ended up sounding so damn tight I have no idea. Loads of talent and patience, I assume.

• perdition
• ben gel
• cull the band
• my circus! my shitshow!!

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Ex-Birdman Chris Masuak returns to Australia for three-week tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2023

Hits: 3563

Six years after his last visit to Australia, former Radio Birdman guitarist Chris “Klondike” Masuak is returning with his hand-picked local band, Dog Soldier, for a select run of East Coast shows.

Masuak and Dog Soldier will play a three week tour with shows in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.

Masuak’s musical history reads like a muscle car ride through the mean streets of Australia’s rock and roll underground.

The Canadian-born prodigy achieved notoriety as teenage guitarist for Australia’s legendary Radio Birdman, and then waged a War Against The Jive with the country’s hardest working rock and roll band, The Hitmen.

Next came a stint with the original live version of the New Christs, followed by international prominence with the chart-busting Screaming Tribesmen.

A member of the ARIA Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Masuak has an impressive back catalogue of rock, pop and blues releases under his own name and fronting the Viveiro Wave Riders. He is now based in Galicia in northern Spain.

Dog Soldier comprises bassist Tony Bambach (Aberration, Green Spiders, ex-Lime Spiders) and drummer Stu Wilson (Aberration, Leadfinger, ex-The Rivers, ex-New Christs, ex-Lime Spiders).

Their tour will re-trace Klondike’s storied career, drawing on material from his key bands - with a few surprises thrown in.  

I-94 Bar Records & Promotions presents
Chris Masuak & Dog Soldier 2023 Australian Tour
MAY
19 - House of Music & Booze, St Peters, NSW + Starcrazy + The Dark Clouds + Pocketwatch Tickets
21 - Link and Pin, Woy Woy + The Silver Dragons (1.30pm) Tickets
26 - Northcote Social Club + River of Snakes + Electric Purrs Tickets
27 - Barwon Club Hotel, Geelong + Baby 8 + Sacramento Sweaters Tickets
28 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra + Il Bruto (7pm) Tickets
JUN
2 -Stag and Hunter, Newcastle + Joeys Coop + East Coast Low Tickets
3 - Federal Hotel, Bellingen + Nikki Websters
4 - Vinnies, Gold Coast + The Square Tugs + Mick Medew & Ursula Tickets

• hitmen
• screaming tribesmen
• chris masuak
• australian tour
• 2023
• radio birman

Dunnies take their best laid plans to France and Spain

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 March 2023

Hits: 2093

Sydney's garage trash favourites The Dunhill Blues have got plans. They involve a new vinyl EP and what's shaping as a "no sleep till we're sober" French and Spanish tour. 

The band heads off next week and their new EP "I Got Plans" is available for pre-order here through local labels Outta Space and Evil Tone.

"It's a fairly wild recording; it should have been an album but we lost our nerve. Mkey Young pulled it together in the mastering," says The Dunnies' Adam Brozowski. 

"We are really happy with it and we're gonna re-record the other 20 or so songs when we get back."

The band is picking up the EPs while in Europe so if you want to hear it now, you'll have to stream it. 

For tour dates and the film clip, click MORE.

• france
• dunhill blues
• 2023
• i got plans
• european tour

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Datura4 heads east to play some Neanderthal jams

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2023

Hits: 1921

Internationally acclaimed West Australian boogie masters Datura4 are set to tour the east coast of Australia for the first time in six years on the success of their fifth album, “Neanderthal Jam”.

Datura4 is fronted by Dom Mariani of legendary Oz garage rockers The Stems,  With plans to tour Europe in the latter part of 2023, the April tour will be their first time back since 2017.

The band will play four shows across New South Wales and Victoria, including an appearance at the prestigious Gum Ball Festival in the Hunter Valley and a Sydney show with returning platinum-selling Canadian act The Sheepdogs.

Datura4 finds Dom Mariani rediscovering the heavy and progressive blues sounds he loved as a teenager - bands like Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After andt he Groundhogs, Aus bands like Carson, Masters Apprentices, Chain, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Perth locals Bakery.

Dom has even added an authentic ‘70s blues-rocker to his band – keyboard player Bob Patient is a one-time member of heavy prog rockers Fatty Lumpkin, a later day member of Matt Taylor's Chain and more recently a sideman of Perth’s internationally revered slide guitarist Dave Hole.

APRIL
Friday 21-  Great Club Sydney (w/ The Sheepdogs) - Tix
Saturday 22 -, Gumball Festival - Tix
Sunday 23-  Barwon Club Geelong - Tix 
Monday 24-  Cherry Melbourne (special guests - The Gas Babies) - Tix 

• tour
• datura4
• dom mariani
• the stems
• east coast

Second time around: The re-emergence of Simon Juliff

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

28 February 2023

Hits: 2347

_{Simon Juliff flanked by Jimm Sfeftos (left) and Joel Silbersher with Greg Bainbridge on drums.} 

Simon Juliff might be the best Australian songwriter you’ve never heard of.

Not that he’d ever be so egotistical as to suggest that. Or that it’d be easy to find evidence of Juliff’s songwriting. Indeed Juliff’s career is as sporadic as it is enigmatically impressive.

Juliff formed his first band, The Evil Dead, in his teenage years in hometown Melbourne, in the shadows of more prolific and now legendary Melbourne bands such as GOD, Powder Monkeys and Hoss, vehicles for Juliff’s high school friends Tim Hemensley and Joel Silbersher. Some years later Juliff joined with his younger brother Felix, bass player Dave Bryan and future Dan Sultan collaborator Scott Wilson in the three-guitar, country ’n’ rock band The Roys.  

Their ranks included Sultan for a while on drums and they released two criminally underappreciated records on Bruce Milne’s Infidelity Records before fading from view.

It would be more than a decade before Juliff’s songwriting rose to the surface again, this time via long-time fan and Dog Meat Records boss, Dave Laing. Indeed Laing was so impressed with Juliff’s unrecorded material that he decided to release his debut solo album, "Stars", on the rejuvenated Dog Meat label.

Patrick Emery spoke to Juliff about his origins as a musician and recent re-emergence.

• powder monkeys
• GOD
• tim hemensley
• joel silbersher
• dave laing
• simon juliff
• dog meat
• the roys

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