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  • phantom fifthNew York City-based band Phantom Fifth (pictured right) has announced that Chris “Klondike” Masuak will be joining them for shows in California and New York in July.

    Phantom Fifth is from New York City and is comprised of expatriate Australian bassist Greg Delves (ex-Inner Sleeves, Radio Luxembourg), Irishman Colin McCarthy (drums) and US-born Paul Stinson (guitar, vocals.)  

    Formed in 2015, the band bio says it "embraces the sonic sound and dark energy of Nick Cave, Joy Division, The Strokes and The Stooges. The Phantoms' sound is built around dark melodies, shimmering guitars, and propulsive bass lines, with lyrics about wolves, ghosts, murderous paramours, Italian discos, and other manifestations of love and madness".

    Originally from California, where he co-founded the "punk Americana" band The Stripminers with members of X and The Donnas, Paul Stinson moved to Brooklyn in 2014 and quickly met up with power pop guru Delves and McCarthy (formerly of Amsterdam-based Belsonic Sound).

    The trio immediately began writing, recording and performing in and around NYC and have plans in the works for tours of both the UK and Australia. The band's debut EP is due out in the US Summer of 2016.

    July 20 – Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
    July 22 – The Uptown Nightclub, Oakland, CA
    July 24 – The Viper Room, Hollywood, CA
    July 29 – The Bowery Electric, NYC

    Phantom Fifth on the Web

    Chris Masuak on the Web

     

  • address to the nation smHello from the Dimboola farmhouse folks and has it been rocking here!  The reason is that Chris “Klondike” Masuak and the Viveiro Wave Riders have released a rocking good album. Their second long player, “Address to the Nation”, is the follow-up to 2016’s “Brujita” and is pure guitar driven tracks from start to finish. 

    Myself, I think it’s a lot stronger than the first album - there is less pop and more grunt.

    Well, let’s start with any folks who are not savy to Klondike’s cv: RADIO BIRDMAN, HITMEN , THE NEW CHRISTS, JUKE SAVAGES, NORTH 40 and the wonderful SCREAMING TRIBESMEN. To name a few.

  • powderkeg excelsiorThe 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 Filthand later Dead Rabids) switching from customary guitar to bass.

  • chris bookThe first autobiography from a Radio Birdman member is on its way. “Faith and Practice in Bedlam” is by the band's former guitarist Chris "Klondike" Masuak (Screaming Tribesmen, Hitmen, The Raouls, Chris Masuak and the Viveiro Wave Riders, New Christs, Juke Savages, Klondike’s North 40) and is 4-6 weeks from release.

    It’s on WestAustralian imprint High Voltage Publishingand the 280-page paperback is available here at the special pre-order price of $A24.95.

    Says its editor (and I-94 Bar writer) Robert Brokenmouth: “When he decided to write about his life, Masuak found that his writing came in short, precise bursts, like songs.

    “After a while, he realised that the order in which these stories should be read should not be chronological, but thematic.

    “Also, he discovered that his life, as reflected here, formed a trajectory of self-discovery, with redemption peeping out from the wings. To allow us to dwell on that story of self-discovery, most real names have been disguised or omitted.”

  • edwin top ten 2017This year was returning to my childhood and gromit years - teenage times as well as inner-city music, alternative and garage rock, beer-soaked pubs and the alternative. Namely the Beatles, Midnight Oil and Patti Smith.

    Patti Smith and Paul McCartney get the guernsey for the best gigs of the year. And for the same reasons. Both artists are incredible live and these final tours were a massive thank you to the fans…

    1 Macca at Suncorp Brisbane

    Sir Paul delivered on all fronts. With the most thoughtful visual show and a hit every minute over those three hours and ten minutes, it ranged from pure, four-on-the-floor garage rock with guitars sonically attacking to more mellow stuff.

    From “I Want To Be Your Lover” which would have made the Stones sound like a get-together at a nursing home to “Helter Skelter”, to the bombastic, “Live And Let Die” which inflamed the stadium, the cheesy “Mull of Kintyre” with a 25-piece pipe band, to the solo acoustic moments with “Blackbird”, this was gold. Macca’s voice, his insights, wit and humility, and his guitar playing were magnificent; 42 songs played. I won’t forget it a hurry.

    1 Patti Smith at the State Theatre and spoken word at Sydney Opera House

    Another pair of gigs where Patti gave 300 percent. Patti engaged us with insights, stories and, as with Macca, showed a great deal of humility. The band, led by Lenny Kaye, at times still had the intensity of 1975 CBGBs Patti, yet with overtones of a grandmother and an earth mother.

  • maz 2018

    Hmmm. What wondrous things have defined my year?

    I suppose my prevailing sentiment has been one of simmering frustration and anger at a world more out of control and stupid than I can remember. Perhaps it’s always been this way and I’m only noticing it in my dotage.

    Whatever the reason, I’m noticing that personal selfishness and cultural callousness are the new black and that I just haven’t been able to continue being my usual conciliatory self.

  • the most white jacket

    News that a long-lost five-track release by Sydney band The Most was making its way onto streaming platforms has made the ears of veterans of Australia's 1980s underground scene prick up. The Most were among many terrific acts in a crowded inner-city Sydney scene, and a band that spawned future members of the Lime Spiders and The Cruel Sea.  

    Originally issued as a cassette in very limited quantities by fanzine "48 Crash", the "Another Day" EP is now available online, so we tracked down The Most drummer RICHARD LAWSON to extract some historical details. THE BARMAN did the interrogating. 

  • brando rising coverBrando Rising – Brando Rising (self-released)

    And, PLAY LOUD. What a fuckin' sound!

    Ooooh, you're in for a stompin', whompin' treat. Only 100 copies, so get it while you can. Right, so, it's taking me a while to get my head round the enormity of this, okay? There's lots to pay attention to, which isn't at all possible, so endless re-listens are on the cards.

    It's taken Brando Rising a little while to put this out, and from Kelly Hewson'smuscular, sinewy opening bars to vocalist Ripley Hood's closing shouts, you're hooded, grabbed, stuffed unceremoniously into the boot and taken for a bumpy, gritty ride to into some sort of moral swamp. God knows what your babbling explanation for skimming the casino take will be, but you know you're in trouble... and you'll have “Brando Rising” on repeat in no time flat.

  • brujita smIt’s difficult to believe that Chris Masuak is only in the second half of his 50’s when you examine his output. It’s been a diverse and solid career, spanning almost four decades.

    He was in his late teens when he joined Radio Birdman. He was half of the sound of the “twin-guitar attack” that assaulted Sydney with its array of proto-punk influences, to forever stake Birdman a claim as one of the most influential bands the city has produced.

    Then there were the post-Birdman bands. The Hitmen never had the songs, in my opinion, but they always delivered as a live act. Masuak’s guitar playing was the stand-out.  Chris was still in his early 20’s and still forging his own style. It lay somewhere between the technical brilliance of Mountain and the pop-rock sensibility of The Dictators.

  • Chris Masuak (Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen) has a new music video live and it's a taster for a forthcoming album, currently in production with his Spanish band, The Viveiro Wave Riders Associaiton. Here it is in all its stark glory, showcasing the "dead centre" of Klondike's adopted home town of Viveiro, in northern Spain.

  • Catch Chris Masuak (ex-Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen and the New Christs among others) on Monday Evening Gunk at 7:30pm Sydney time on November 2 on the MoshPit Facebook. Klondike will be interviewed by Bob Short (Filth, Dead Rabids) and Tiffany Palmer (Sydney Rock and Roll Markets) before ripping into a live set with his band The Viveiro Wave Riders

  • cm tour webSix 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

     

     

  • pitsharkMighty little French label Pitshark continues to punch above its weight. Not content with issuing exclusive vinyl releases from the likes of the Stooges, Radio Birdman and the New Christs, it’s about to launch a Singles Club with a year’s worth of 7” records in bi-monthly waves.

  • go out tonightWhat did your Sydney sound like in 1978? The Professors did their best to define it for their own tight coterie of followers after Radio Birdman left for Europe to seek world domination, by sounding like this. 

    Graduates of the infamous Oxford Funhouse, they took their lead from its most notable tenants bysetting up their own venue at The Royal Oak pub in Chippendale, They adopted their name from Chris Bailey's nickname for their singer - and the Saints repaid them with some namedropping in "KNow Your Product." The rest is history aka some photos and a caption in a Clinton Walker book

    These two songs are from a demo tape that was exhumed by singer Stephen Vineberg and spruced up by engineer Barry McGuirk just a year ago. It’s been packaged in a gatefold cover by the folks at Buttercup and issued in a range of colours. Just as you’d expect. 

  • the outside tourChris Masuak is back on the road with his Anglo-French-Spanish band The Outside in France in February.

    The Outside features Gregory J Bowen, expat Australian, on guitar, Juan Martinez El Kara on drums and French bassist Bruno Mondo. As the tour billing says, this will be the last time. Watch chrismasuak.netfor updates. 

    FEB
    13 - L'Armony, Montreuil
    14 - Piano Bleu Saint Brieuc
    15 - Le Galion, Lorient
    17 - Mondo Bizarro, Rennes (with Supersuckers)
    18 - - Nantes, La Cour

     

  • Our favourite Canadian-born guitarist, Chris Masuak of Radio Birdman/Screaming Tribesmen/Hitmen fame, has a cheap and cheerful film clip doing the rounds online for the B side of his "Another Lost Weekend" single on Spanish label New H. Here's "Animal".

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    Chris Masuak has a new film clip to accompany his brand new CD album, “Brujita” and you’re watching its world debut. Produced by Jonathan Sequiera of Cheap Music Videos, “Niagara” is an ode to the Detroit diva, artist and singer of Destroy All Monsters and Dark Carnival fame, Niagara Detroit.

    If you’re in Australia you can score a copy of the album at Redeye Records and Utopia in Sydney or Off The Hip in Melbourne. You can buy a physical copy and/or a download at Bandcamp. Don't be a Birdbrain. Do it now!

  •  
    With an Australian tour underwayin May and June, it would be criminal not to put on something for guitar geeks. So ex-Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen, New Christs, Juke Savages and Raouls guitarist Chris Klondike Masuak will conduct a three-hour Masuak Guitar Masterclass at Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney on the afternoon of Saturday, May 20.
     
    Pre-booking is esential as numbers will be capped, and participants will walk away with a T-shirt, signed book and a headfull of Masuak guitar secrets.  Full details, bookings here. 
  • tonight we ride cvrTonight We Ride: Official Bootleg Live in Sydney November 13 1991 – Hitmen DTK with special guest Deniz Tek (Vicious Kitten)

    Hello I-94 barflies! Ain’t life grand? A new official bootleg recording of the magnificent Hitmen DTK, with special guest Deniz Tek, ripping through a few choice cuts from the Birdman catalogue, How good is that? 

    But first, the back story.

    Hitmen DTK were fresh back from recording the underrated album “Moronic Inferno” in the USA. They hit the road to promote said record in Sydney, Australia, for a handful of gigs.  

  • maz smithsChris Masuak and Dog Soldier
    Il Bruto
    Sunday, 28 May 2023
    Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, ACT

    Chris Masuak and Dog Soldier hit the stage for a rousing two hour set after terrific support act, local Canberrans Il Bruto, did excellent work by warming us all up with their versions of many classic songs from 1960s and '70s Detroit bands.

    It was terrific to have an unexpected catch up chat with Chris prior to their gig; the days of the Funhouse, and all his previous band experiences behind him. My enjoyment of his forays in various bands, all true to his own vision of honest modern music has never diminished.
     
    For apart from his incredible skill as co-lead/rhythm guitarist in Radio Birdman when he was still a teen, he went on to co-found the Hitmen with the wonderful and charismatic Johnny Kannis, as well as The Screaming Tribesmen.
     
    The last time I spoke to Chris was post his stint in the New Christs and Hitmen DTK; and pre his departure to Spain to make his name in Europe leading his own bands to a wider audience across the Continent. So this pre-gig conversation was a cherry on the cake.
     
    The skill of Tony Bambach on bass and Stu Wilson on drums, augmenting Chris’s exceptional guitar playing, was a total joy. Perfect rhythms, pure thrumming drive throughout each song; and the ability to traverse the best of groove and Detroit based sounds was a trip for the sold-out crowd.
     
    Chris’s own virtuosity as a guitarist and his terrific range of original songs was on full display. We all cheered for more.

    I conquered a three-day bout of sciatic pain by doing some stretches and then dancing with total abandon for a few songs. Such is the delight that a pure, dedicated and quality trio can deliver to a discerning audience!
     
    Thank you, Masuak! Bravo Dog Soldier! You’re all champs for coming to Canberra; so many others don’t bother to embrace this passionate regional audience.
     
    smiths crowd

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