2024 TOP TEN-ish

GIG OF THE YEAR- Just one? No.

VICTORIA + DAVE MCCORMACK AND THE POLAROIDS at the Golden Barley, Sydney.
I’d never heard nor seen either band before and both were rather excellent.

POP CRIMES: JP SHILO, HARRY HOWARD, KIM SALMON, HUGO RACE, LYDIA LUNCH, TEX PERKINS, MICK HARVEY  AND MANY MORE- Factory Theatre, Sydney
Those songs, played by these artists.

_{Harry Howard with Pop Crimes.}

LAURAPANIC + DOWNGIRL + PRIVATE WIVES + GUSSET RATS + THE HOT NESS + JESS RAVENS + RUBBER NECKER- Femme fest- Marrickville Bowlo , Sydney

GOLDEN FANG + SXY XMS + SYNTAX ERROR + JO MEARES’S SILVER BULLETS - Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
What a lineup and those Silver Bullets, top drawer-. PS The George Lane St Kilda show for Jo and co with Charles Jenkins supporting was incredible too. Oh I’m calling it a draw, there you go!

_{Mark McCartney from Jo Mearres' band.}

THEE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT - Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne
Please tour, chaps. Share the awesome! Then it was a short walk to the Union Hotel, Brunswick for MICK DALEY AND THE CORPORATE RAIDERS- What a band

SICK FIZZ + BUFFALO REVISITED - Marrickville Bowlo
Incredible to hear those famous Buffalo songs interpreted so well but Dave Tice’s voice, undiminished, was something else.

LORETTA MILLER+ THE SILVER SOUND - St Kilda Bowlo
Was it worth all that driving in the car with air conditioning malfunctioning and a crammed schedule? Yes, why hell yes.

_{New Christ Rob Younger.}

THE CRANKEES + HUMAN TOYS + LOS CHICOS + THE NEW CHRISTS at Marrickville Bowlo
Great bill and Los Chicos are THE party band ! -

ASHLEY NAYLOR SOLO-  The Factory Floor. Sydney
Come on, you knew he was going to turn up here somewhere. I saw him twice in The Stems, once with Spaceship. But..missed..The..Church..ouch, that one stung! So it was a real treat to have this performance, sublime, brilliant, to witness.

_{Dave McCormack with his Polaroids.}

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR  (not in any order)

IN THE ZONE - MICK MEDEW AND URSULA
A wonderful blend of Mick’s rocking and melancholy sides with extra added punch from Ursula’s three songs dealing with the role and treatment of women by society generally and the music industry specifically.

JO MEARES’ SILVER BULLETS
A great album. What a band. Mark McCartney guitar exorcism special.

BAD BEHAVIOUR- RUBBER NECKER
I’ve been singing their praises for years and FINALLY their album is out! While I could kvetch about a couple of live favorites not being included, this is a superior album of post punk. Renee Falez is a star!

CLUB HITS- RMFC
Speaking of post punk, these younger folk have clearly listened to the good stuff from years gone by.  "Rock Tune" is a classic!

THE ANTAGONIST - THE SAND PEBBLES
Released in October 2023 but it was on constant rotation in my car. Please come and play Sydney!

ALL FULLER NO FILLER - WESLEY FULLER
The incredibly talented Mr Fuller returns with a swag of great songs influenced by the AM Radio masters of the late 60s to mid 70s. Wilson, Townshend, Jeff Lynne…stand out track : "The Velvet Affair".

ABOUT TIME - THE TRAFALGARS
The long long long long long awaited album. Fine songs, with the influence of chunky Les Paul power pop, especially of the UK variety, evident..at least to my ears. If you like Even, you’ll like this too.

FULL BLOOM- RINEHEARTS
What’s in the water out west? Power pop with a Flamin Groovies jangle that you could trace back to early Scientists/The Manikins …not surprising with legend Dom Mariani producing.

SMALL MERCIES - THE WOODLAND HUNTERS
Released September 2023, like The Sand Pebbles, who share the Tanner/Cope connection, this too was on high rotation in the car.

ALL ABOARD -JUPITER V
Mixing Detroit- influenced garage ( this is Sydney after all) with hard rock , this is a cracker and the title track alone is reason to buy it. The presence of past and current members of the Psychotic Turnbuckles may indicate the roots and influence

VENUE OF THE YEAR

Marrickville Bowlo? No but it’s still great.

George Lane? No but I love it

Union Hotel Brunswick? Again no ..not this year.

Who?

Lazy Thinking.

WTF? Where’s that?

In Dulwich Hill in Sydney.

Are you having a laugh?

No.

Why?

The little venue that could keeps kicking goals. It’s not the biggest, nor most comfortable, squeezy for players and punters alike.

In a city where it seems impossible to have a venue without the heavy hand of licensing/police/neighbours ruining it, Lazy thinking offers live music EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK and afternoon sessions on Saturdays and Sundays The lineup of bands is eclectic and predominantly for younger bands but more established acts have played there too.

They’ve expanded into the rear driveway for an outside relaxing area without 4 lanes of New Canterbury Road exhausts belching at you.

Here’s a statement from their FB page that sums up their approach.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Big one! Here’s the go. As of 01 Jan 2025, we’re bringing in a new payment model for artists. It’s part of a new way of structuring & running Lazy Thinking & something we’ve been working on for quite a while. 

As of this date, if you play at the venue, you’ll be paid a minimum $250. It doesn’t matter who you are or what kind of show you play, we’ll pay you $250 for the privilege of having you play in our space. 

Going forward, we’ll run Lazy Thinking as a Not for Profit arts organisation that (like all NFP organisations) works with super clever people to help us raise public and private funding that allows us to fund this new model. 

Private and publicly funded patronage & investment in independent & underground music is still a fraction of what it is in other areas of the arts like fine/classical music & Opera, where this model is more common. It makes little sense when you consider the numbers (i.e. people/no. of local artists employed, audience reach/ diversity etc.). 

Big, more traditional arts organisations & venues in those areas of the arts usually survive by putting on shows they think are tops, tell the government they’re culturally important, get access to public funding & put a ton of work into seeking out people & organisations with significant resources who are passionate about & want to support/invest in the area of the arts they program. And those organisations don’t cut corners when paying their artists. Power to them.

We’re of the mind that what we do as a venue that exclusively programs independent Australian music, provides performance opportunities & support to indie artists at every stage of their career & as of the new year, pays them properly & unconditionally, is also culturally important and worthy of both public & privately funded support.

We will retain our PWYW model overwhelmingly (accessibility is important to us) but some shows will now be ticketed.

Shit’s got to change & it won’t unless a few of us take a leap & try out new ways of working. So we’re going to start now.