Call it whatever you like, it's very good

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

13 July 2022

Hits: 2476

"Drone Warfare" (Iceage Productions)

Which is the band and which is the title? No idea. Doesn't matter, either.

Actually, the EP-thing is four tracks by four different Melbourne artists. The Bandcamp page says so, so it must be true. But none of the artists' names appear, which reminds me a little of the fake dance LP by the Silicon Teens (aka Daniel Miller of Mute Records fame). So, is this another bunch of guises behind which the head honcho of Iceage lurks? 

I have no idea, and it simply doesn't matter.

Just quickly, you can't really dance to this, not unless you're out of it. You shouldn't try. Shove the volume up and lie on the floor and you'll be taken away to somewhere entirely different. 

• adelaide
• iceage productions
• drone warfare

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All-star Simon Chainsaw recording exhumed

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 July 2022

Hits: 3681

The year was 2010, Sydney-born Simon Chainsaw had been living in Brazil for about 10 years.

His local band S.C.H.K. (Simon Chainsaw & the Hippy Killers) had recently broken up. Now a free agent, he could take up opportunities to play in different territories. 

He’d recently toured Brazil, Europe and Argentina and released “Fuck The Neighbours!” (cover versions of ‘70s Aussie Punk) and a proposal came in to play back in his home turf of Australia to promote the new disc.

He hooked up with three original ‘70s Aussie punks for the shows: Chris Masuak (Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen) on guitar, Murray Shepherd (Fun Things,Screaming Tribesmen, Hitmen and The Monarchs) on drums and Bob Short (from arguably Sydney’s first punk band Filth and later Dead Rabids) switching from customary guitar to bass.

• hitmen
• bob short
• radio birdman
• filth
• simon chainsaw
• screaming tribesmen
• chris masuak
• murray shepherd
• live at the excelsior

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Love really is calling with our latest release

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 July 2022

Hits: 2670

• i-94 bar records
• mick medew
• ursula
• love is calling

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Let's do lunch

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By Ron Brown

Ron Brown

06 July 2022

Hits: 3098

Real Gone - The Naked Lunch (Aldora Britain Records)

Surf punk pop is alive, The Naked Lunch has a new single out - and what a bloody good tune it is. “Real Gone” is so catchy. A different version was recorded and released by an earlier line-up back in the 1980s and the song was written by Tony “The Kid” Robertson and Died Pretty legend Ronald S Peno. Play it loud. This is what Sydney’s underground surf rock was/is all about.

The line-up of The Lunch boasts some of Australia’s finest musicians: Tony Gibson on guitar, Murray Shepherd on drums, The Kid on bass and Steve Beaves on vocals. It’s a brilliant single to follow 2019’s “The Naked Lunch” album. The second album is on its way and has the same name as the single. “Real Gone” is real gold and I am so looking forward to hearing the long player. The song is available in digital format here. 

• tony robertson
• ronald s peno
• naked lunch
• real gone

Expect musical alchemy when Plater comes home

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

06 July 2022

Hits: 2671

Let me tell you, I'm excited. Expatriate Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter Michael Plater is making a welcome return to Adelaide since leaving to pursue twin careers in the UK in 2019. If I can see this guy live, I don't need to see Dark Mofo.

Now, I rate Michael Plater's songs and music so highly that I've seen him play in three states and if I were able to, I'd go see all his gigs while he's here. For the last three years he's been writing and recording like a demon, his new work eclipsing his brilliant, powerful debut, “Mythologies”..

So, Michael, you returned to the Mother Country. You didn't exactly head for the smoke and smother of London, I gather...

No, my partner, Fawnia, and I ended up living in Cornwall, way down west, right in pirate country. When we visited the Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle and, for someone like me, who’s drawn to folklore, occult history, and anything vaguely supernatural, Cornwall made perfect sense.

It’s a land of moors, standing stones, castles, and smugglers dens, with a healthy dose of mermaids, ghosts, and piskies. All the old girls in the shops call you either ‘my treasure’, ‘my lovely,’ or, even better, ‘my lover.’ The further west you go, the more impenetrable the accent gets. By the time you hit Penzance it’s like talking to some barnacled old sea dog from the 17thcentury.

It’s a place that is torn between tourism and poverty, like a lot of the U.K. Most of the beautiful old fishermen’s cottages are unfortunately second homes for ultra-rich Londoners who descend on the area en-masse in summer, which means that it’s getting harder and harder for locals to afford to live there. Or me, for that matter. But all these influences and atmospheres have definitely seeped into the music I’ve been writing and recording. I’ve also been working on a book and/or series of essays about the history of Cornish witchcraft, which I’m hoping to finish next year.

Michael is no stranger to writing books, either, with the EU Publishing website describing him thus:

• tour
• australian
• michael plater
• An Alchemical Gathering
• mythologies

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John Foy's art of looking back

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

05 July 2022

Hits: 3974

In the early 1990s John Foy found himself in the eye of the storm enveloping the music industry.

Foy’s independent record label, Red Eye, had done a deal with Polydor, the Australian arm of multinational company Phonogram. A sold-out at show at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion in 1991, headlined by Ratcat and featuring English band Ride and Red Eye bands The Clouds and Falling Joys, had awakened major labels to the commercial potential of the independent music scene. Other Red Eye bands like The Cruel Sea would surf the independent wave into the late 1990s, even after Foy withdrew from industry machinations.

Thirty years later, Foy looks back on those heady days with fondness. But even as he trawled through his archive of posters, ticket stubs and memories for his “Snaps Crack Pop!” visual collection cum autobiography, he’s not dwelling on what he should have done back in the day. Foy has always lived in the moment, for better and for worse.

• beasts of bourbon
• ratcat
• radio birdman
• deniz tek
• phantom records
• rob younger
• lipstick killers
• the clouds
• falling joys
• mark taylor
• the cruel sea
• john foy
• redeye
• snaps crack pop!
• white light
• john kennedy's love gone wrong

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IF WARS CAN BE STARTED BY LIES, THEY CAN BE STOPPED BY TRUTH

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By JD Stayfree

JD Stayfree

30 June 2022

Hits: 7176

"This room becomes a shrine thinking of you..." - Jesus & Mary Chain

People with money really do start thinking they can take it with 'em, don't they? Ya see the value they put on Shit, mere stuff, and also on just their own most basic climate control, the channel changer, controlling the room, and even the ideas allowed to ever enter their big ceilinged, oversized, white, spartan, multiple empty spaces. I got a song lyric that says, "now all I do is write obituaries", cause all my ole rocknroll friends keep dropping dead, and man. 'Gets weird.

One of my teenage brothers offed himself a couple years ago, and his family wrote some real blunt obit for the smalltown newspaper to publish, I'll paraphrase, but basically, it was like, "He was drunk and depressed all his life and committed suicide". Yeah, so that was grim. I knew they never liked the kid to start with, but according to his side of the story, they were hiding and covering up abuse.

• clash
• stiv bators
• the church
• jesus and the mary chain
• jd stayfree
• hello disaster
• peter laughner
• badfinger
• pretenders

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COVID hits Sunnyboys, Electric Purrs

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 July 2022

Hits: 2204

The dreaded Covid has got its hooks into The Sunnyboys forcing this weekend’s performances at Sydney’s Factory Theatre to be postponed until July 28 and 30.

The virus has also knocked Melbourne’s Electric Purrs off their New South Wales tour with supports to The Dark Clouds (Dapto tonight) and Psychotic Turnbuckles (Marrickville Bowling Club on Saturday) falling by the wayside. 

The Psychotic Turnbuckles Marrickville Bowling Club gig is tracking to sell out with some tickets remaining here and a few will be reserved for on the door.

Sunnyboys tickets for Friday 1st July remain valid for Thursday 28 July. Tickets for Saturday 2 July remain valid for Saturday 30 July. Full refunds are available from the point of purchase. New tickets available via feelpresents.com All other Sunnyboys shows remain unchanged. Full dates as follows.

JULY
9 - Melbourne, Corner Hotel (sold out), with Even & Little Murders
15 - Byron Bay, The Northern,   with Mick Medew & The Mesmerisers
16 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre (limited tickets),  with Mick Medew & The Mesmerisers
28 - Sydney, The Factory (sold out), with Even
30 - Sydney, The Factory, with Even

Labour of love produces a stunning legacy

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 July 2022

Hits: 3506

BORED! THIS WAS GEELONG (Loco Mosquito)

Sometimes there are insufficient words of adequare to do justice to something and this is one of those times. Let’s be clear: If you’re a fan of underground Australian rock and roll from the 1980s and ‘90s, make it your life’s immediate priority to get a hold of this book.

It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s a watershed in Australian music publishing. All 678 pages of it. Don’t be deterred by its singling out of Geelong as its geographical focus. The city on the western flank of Melbourne is its anchor - but its coverage and spirit extends far past its boundaries.

“Bored!” is many things but first and foremost it’s an outpouring of love for rock and roll by its creator, principal author and driving force Maree Robertson.

Maree – “Rock and Roll Maree” from the Brother Brick song – was a dear friend of the late Dave Thomas of key Geelong band Bored! Besides documenting the band’s rise and its creation of a scene from their mutual hometown of Geelong, Maree wanted to generate profits from book sales to help Dave’s family.

• geelong
• powder monkeys
• radio birdman
• bored!
• warped
• dave thomas
• this was geelong
• dirty lovers
• magc dirt
• maree robertson
• seminal rats

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