It is with extreme regret that Chris Masuak has been forced to cancel his forthcoming Australian tour with Dog Soldier and Spanish dates with Los Revelators after emergency surgery to save the sight in an eye. 

Chris was rushed into hospital in Lugo, Spain, on Monday after experiencing a week of deteriorating vision. A surgeon re-attached a retina and Chris is now at home recuperating. 

He is under doctor’s orders not to fly and will need time to manage his recovery. Ticketholders should contact venues or agencies. Chris hopes to re-schedule the dates for early 2026 and his new CD, “Chris Masuak’s Dog Soldier”, will be released on I-94 Bar Records on November 7.

He spent his early years as a player in Sydney’s underground music scene and also broadcasting its music on community radio. So it was a labour of love for ex-Vanilla Chainsaws frontman-turned-solo-artist Simon Chainsaw in 2009 when he put together a covers record of the songs of the era that inspired him.

Sixteen years later after the “Fuck The Neighbours” record, he’s taking to Sydney stages with a band bearing the same name whose members helped birth the music.

Named after a Thought Criminals song, “Fuck The Neighbours” is an all-Australian punk supergroup playing Oz punk classics for a limited number of shows. You can catch them for a matinee show at MoshPit Bar in St Peters in Sydney on Saturday, November 29. Tickets here.

Comprising Simon Chainsaw on vocals, guitarist Cub Calloway (The Saints, New Christs), bassist Bob Short (Filth, Urban Guerillas) and drummer Murray Shepherd (Fun Things, Screaming Tribesmen. Hitmen DTK) as the core band.

They’ll be joined at the MoshPit by guests including Mark Easton (Suicide Squad, Bedhogs, The Kelpies, Soggy Porridge), Geoff Holmes (X, Evil Rumours) and others to-be-announced.

As preparations wind up for his first Australian shows in a couple of years and the release of his new album "Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier" imminent on our own I-94 Bar Records label, ex-Radio Birdman guitarist Chris Klondike Masuak is busy with his Spanish band Los Revelators. This is their newest song, "Dotted Line", with the filmclip shot in the wilds of Galicia. 

Trauma Magnet – Van Ruin (Crankinhaus Records)

It has been an explosive 12 months for Van Ruin, a band formed in Sydney only a year ago that almost immediately began recording their first mini album. Band leader Phil Van Rooyen had a batch of deeply personal songs he had written about his years of counselling substance abuse in the underbelly of the city's Northern Beaches.

Phil threw himself into a flurry of  writing and recording, working with his decades-long mate and Al Creed, of local legendary bands like Dr Fruitworld and Panadolls, as well as the New Christs.

Enter Stuart Wilson (Lime Spiders, New Christs, Chris Masuak’s Dog Soldier and The Crisps) on drums. There were a couple of the raggedy, under-rehearsed gigs that were hanging by a thread at times, and as thrilling as they were they did not capture the brutal darkness and brilliance of what would the debut EP,  “Jails, Death and Institutions”.

Calling From Nowhere Land: Live in Vancouver 1994 – Pillbox (Vicious Kitten)

Pillbox wasn’t a household name in the 1990s – unless you lived in what was left of New York City’s Lower East Side tenements and had a big jones for swaggering sleaze rock.

The band’s solitary long-player, “Jimbo’s Clown Room”, came out on CD way back in ’93 and despite being re-released on vinyl, their output remains so far from the mainstream of modern popular music to qualify Pillbox for lifetime outsider status. Just like you.

_{Knighty and Mad Macka: They Really Like Beer.}

Australia’s favourite beer-fuelled legends Cosmic Psychos are back with their twelfth studio album “I Really Like Beer” on Friday November 7, and they’re hitting the road the very same day. No mucking around. Tickets for all shows are on sale now via cosmicpsychos.com.au

Recorded to tape with Paul Maybury at Secret Location Studios between Knighty's vineyard duties and Country Fire  callouts, the new record is classic Psychos. As raw, loud and gloriously dumb as ever - with the occasional life lesson hidden under a pile of riffs. 

The first sip comes in the form of "I Like Beer", a touching love letter from Ross to his true love. This one comes to life with an absolutely bonkers video (we’d expect nothing less).  You can watch it after the fold. 

Badlanding – East Coast Low (Crankinhaus Records)

It’s been a decade since they formed and four years since East Coast Low hit their straps on the “Seas on Fire” album, and “Badlanding” shows a band that’s even more self-assured and in control. 

Is it coincidence that some of the best Australian albums of the last few years have come from satellite cities of Sydney? “Badlanding” proves that East Coast Low are as good as anything to have emerged from the grit-flecked city of Newcastle in the last 30 years.

“Badlanding” rocks hard but has an unmistakable swagger. With Rob Younger at the production helm, its varied collection of songs sounds powerful and coherent and there’s an array of sonic exclamation points apparent. Rick O’Neill’s mastering widens the soundscape nicely with no loss of edge.

Belle Phoenix with Jeffery Wegener and Ken Gormly
+ Fabels
Thursday, 4 September 2025
Lazy Thinking, Dulwich Hill, NSW

WORDS: Ed Garland
PICTURES: Keith Claringbold

With her elfin appearance and cat’s eyes, Belle Phoenix, is part musical performer and part Factory girl, and surely would fitted into Andy Warhol’s Bohemian scene of 1966. Her sweet vocal has held her in good stead as a backing singer on other people’s albums, but she’s steadily built an impressive body of work with her own material.

Belle Phoenix’s music would work as a soundtracks to European movies (indeed, she did live in Europe for a time with Finland a home base.) It has hints of the spoken word spirit that pervaded the San Francisco of 1958 when alcohol-fuelled beat poetry nights were all the rage, long before anyone had an inkling of the Summer of Love that was lay ahead.  Yet, Belle can also sing like the angels and produce pure soprano bliss amidst her swamp darkness.

Tokyo’s wildest garage punk trio, The Fadeaways, are returning to Australia this November - and are heading to New Zealand for the first time.

It’s six shows in five days covering both countries by The Fadeaways who are marking their 20^th anniversary.

The band had a scare recently when guitarist Assman was invovled in a work accident that resulted in a broken ankle but he will be fighting fit for the tour.

Supports are to be announced but all gigs are expected to sell-out based on the reaction to The Fadeaways’ last Australian visit in 2024.

The Fadeaways
Australia and New Zealand
NOV
13 – Marrickville Bowlo, Sydney
14 - PFR Lounge, Brisbane
15 – River Rocks Festival, Geelong (5pm)
      - Half Baked Festival, The Gem Bar, Melbourne (10pm)
16 - Space Academy, Christchuirch, NZ
17 – Whammy Bar, Auckland, NZ
Australian tickets
NZ tickets