leadfinger

Dunno if it's a spring clearance of some spare recordings or a pause before the next long-player, but this eight-song EP from Wollongong trio Leadfinger hits the spot. My only hope is the title isn't prophetic - and of course you can make sure it isn't. More on that after I tell you why it works.

_{Simon Chainsaw with The Liberators at Frankies Pizza in Sydney. Anthony Mitchell photo.}

2021 was a bit of a re-run of 2020.. lockdowns, gigs cancelled, industries decimated. While in 2020 I was inspired to create and consume, 2021 left me fatigued, lethargic and generally disinterested. Let’s hope 2022 too is not a rerun! However, there were some bright spots that come to mind.

_{TheDean fronting The Dark Clouds. Rayna Jeffs photo}

1. Sentacruz & the Genre Fluid Blues.
The Dark Clouds have been doing what they do for over 10 years now. So I’m pretty comfortable these days to refer to myself as an artist or even a muso.  Now sadly for me there is one big negative to playing Rock n Roll. At times I find myself losing the whole “being a music fan” thing. I can get lost in critiquing the production, a snare sound, the arrangement rather than enjoying it for what it is.

So for this Barfly Top 10 I’ll try and throw my muso hat away and write it as the music fan I’ve been since I first  heard "Linda Bella Linda" by Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble back in Rome, 1974.

Jeez! I can’t remember what happened yesterday, let alone early 2022. I do know the Dark Clouds played a lot. So much we nearly filled up that tiny little pocket on the front of our jeans from all the cash we made. 

11. Big thank you to all eleven people who purchased our new CD, “My Way or the Highway “via Bandcamp. We know who you are!

10. Private Function!!!
Finally got to see them and bloody hell am I glad I did.       

“What’s that mate? Never heard of ‘em."

How about you stop banging on about Doc Neeson being the best Aussie frontman of all time, park ya Zimmer frame by the duck pond and have yourself a little nanna nap”. Chris Penney is Neeson, Gleeson, Bon, Stevie Wright, James Reyne and Isabella Manfrediall wrapped into one and turned up to 11.

I saw a lot of shows this year but these guys were standouts. Amazingly entertaining. Chaotic, shambolic, funny & wildly insane. A performance that makes most bands look like chopped liver. A band that makes Jimmy and the Boys look bland. The only band I can think of that comes remotely close to such a wild performance is …. Nobody ya hear! Nobody.  A true force of nature. Driving past Albury Wodonga will never ever be the same. 

9. WAAX.
The new album. What a creeper. Wasn’t too keen on it the 1st couple of listens but I’m glad I kept spinning it. Really cool album. Lyrically smart IMHO. It may not grab everyone. A bit too JJJ as they say but it’s classy! I Got to see them live too. Enigmatic, theatrical, mesmerising & aesthetically pleasing. Incredibly entertaining live band. Sounded just like the record. Maz DeVita is the bomb! What a voice. Superstar performer.

8. Do the Pop festival in Victoria.
This was a cracker. Rock stars young and old. So grateful to have been on the bill. Too many brilliant acts over the weekend to mention but the surprise package for me was The Refuge. I bought the EP. It’s good, but as a live act they killed it. Even the guy napping by the duck pond would like ‘em. Check ‘em out

7. The Weed.
The Tumbleweedlads have still got it. Whatever the nostalgia event was called, Tumbleweed kicked it off in world class style.  Extra special for me because my kids got to see one of their favourite bands with me. Richiehelped me out and got them in the press pit and they took some cracker shots for a school assignment. 

Here's one. Pretty cool day out!

6. Stewart Cunningham of Leadfinger
I’ve been a Stewart Cunningham fan my whole life. There hasn’t been a thing he has released that I didn’t like. Let’s hope he doesn’t release a Christmas album next year. Yeah - Nah I reckon I’d even like that. The new Leadfingeralbum. Well it’s got some dark clouds on the front cover so you know it’s gunna be good.

Seriously though, Stew has been dealt a pretty poor hand of late.  I was therefore expecting a bit of a poor bloody me album. Couldn’t be further from the truth. It feels more like an album about love, connection and the lust for life. From the very first Brother Brick-ian strums of “You Think So” I was smiling. I danced, I cried, I air guitared and cried a little more (yeah yeah I played side 3 first). Incredible song writing. Beautiful record. Love the production and the packaging. Every silver cloud has a dark lining.

5. Mad Max
It’s no secret we are big Mad Max fans. We have had the pleasure of hanging out with & playing our MFP tune to a lot of the original cast. Fifi, Goose, Charlie, The Night Rider, Cundalini but earlier this year singing “Johnny the boy has done it again” on the back of a truck with Johnny the Boy AKA Tim Burns standing in the crowd in front of me smiling was pretty special. 

And Best song of 2022 goes to Bad//Dreems… What ya think about that? Jack!

_{The Barman at an I-94 Editorial Board meeting with Our Man in Dimboola, Ron Brown (left).}

THE BARMAN’S BEST ALBUMS OF 2022

Do The Understanding – Ron S Peno and The Superstitions (self released)
Ron S Penohas equalled and maybe surpassed his output with Died Prettyafter a succession of excellent records with his champion Melbourne band. The man needs a muse and found an outstanding one in co-writer and guitarist Cam Butler.This is the Album of the Year.

The rest in no particular order:

Gary Slater of Voodoo Lust.    Shona Ross photo

One of the hottest Sydney days of the year translated to one of the coolest gigs in almost as long when Voodoo Lust made their first appearance for five years in the Harbour City last Friday night.

With the mercury clocking 42 degrees Celsius (nearly 103 on the old scale) on this fine Friday it was no time for sitting out in the sun (setting or otherwise) and the appointed venue, Marrickville’s Factory Floor, was accommodatingly air-conditioned.

Remember Voodoo Lust? You would if you set foot in an Australian East Coast rock and roll venue in the late ‘80s. The Voodoos toured the shit out of this place and were a powerpop-punk outfit extraordinaire.

The portents were there that it was going to be a very good album but Leadfinger's "We Make The Music" makes a convincing claim for greatness in the space of 49 minutes. From the Who-like title track that opens it to the Hendrix-tinged finale, "Beside Me, Against Me" (with its shades of "Castles in the Air") this is a bona fide Australian classic.

La Banda en Espana - Leadfinger (self released)

What does an Australian band that’s revelling in Spain’s delights (not the least of which is the populace's love of Real Rock and Roll) do on a day off from a European tour? Go into a studio and slap down some tracks, of course.  

This six-track EP, committed to tape/hard drive in 2017, is the result of that and represents the first stirrings from the Leadfinger camp for more than a year, following band leader Stew Cunningham’s successful fight against cancer.. Fuck, it’s great to have him - and them - back.

“La Banda en Espana” sounds like the band was having a ball. It's not meant to be too serious. It's not going to make them rich. 

Here’s the exclusive debut of “Cheer Squad”, a non-album digital-only single and taster on Conquest of Noise for Leadfinger’s forthcoming album “Friday Night Heroes”.

“Cheer Squad”is a high-energy bolt from the zeitgeist...it's a song about social media and not fitting in with the crowd, with an attitude that harks back to the ‘70s punk era. “Cheer Squad” is backed up by “The Man I Used to Be”, from the upcoming album. Buy and download the single over the next month and you’ll also get an amazing non-album bonus track called Three Brothers. Three great songs for $A4 and they’re all available here.

Leadfinger will play "Cheer Squad" this Friday night at an I-94 Bar show at Sydney's Marrickville Bowling Club with special guests Simon Chainsaw (with an all-star band of ex-New Christs, Hell Crab City and Filth members) and the garage groove of The Escapes.