steve lucas

Cross That Line – Steve Lucas and The Rising Tide (Aztec Music)

Steve Lucas, last man standing from Australia's mighty underground legends X who, back in the day, I expect would have thought of themselves as a powerful rock band. Live, no-one would want to follow them... and like The Saints and even Radio Birdman, they got called "punk" anyway. Pigeon-holing is for pigeons and gugs. I'd love to have been able to see X and Rose Tattoo in the same week.

Like many veterans of the music industry, Lucas has an unavoidable musical legacy. Which I expect can be both a blessing and a curse. So, for those expecting X Mark 32 and won't take no for an answer... "Cross That Line" ain't for you. I always thought 'punk' was a state of mind about expressing the individual, not everyone wearing the same uniform and going to the same gigs. My approval or t'otherwise of any record is irrelevant, no matter what the genre. Remember, I'm a big fan of (among others) Gzutt, Peg Leg Sam, Thelonious Monk and Jon Wayne.

Onetime X howler Steve Lucas returns to the record store racks with a couple of seven-inch singles, this first one under his own name. If you’re hoping for “Hate City” you’re fresh outta luck.

“Living & Loving In The USA” is a double-headed ode to marital bliss that could have been called “Where We Went On Our Honeymoon”. It's the (true) story of two people eloping. Clean guitar, sweet backing vox from Mrs Lucas (aka the very rocking Joey Bedlam from Dollsquad) and all done without a hint of fuzz or distortion. It’s rocking mid-tempo pop with bongos, a hint of Tex-Mex and a great and heartfelt vocal from Mr Lucas.

The Melbourne music scene is world-renowned for being a bubbling volcano of rock 'n' roll fire and creativity that throws up rare diamonds and musical gems. The Leaps and Bounds Music Festival honours its stars each year with its Living Legends series.

Beginning in 2014, the Living Legends feted that year were rock gods Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon and Charlie Owen. This year the honour is bestowed on another trio who are fully legendary in the eyes of their peers and music lovers.

The Strawberry Teardrop takes off where Steve Lucas’ fab Pubert Brown Fridge Occurrence from the early ‘00s left off. It’s a pared-down studio line-up - a trio with Lucas handling vocals, bass and guitar, helped out by drummer Levin Franco and percussionist Herbie Mayhem - but the single’s ’60s garage-psych origins are patently obvious.

A side “Love On The Run” couples a knowing Lucas vocal to a basic rocker that plods a little and takes a while to get out of second gear. Perhaps this one could have done with some extra trimmings. B side lead-off “Corporate Girl” switches the mood to fuzz guitar snarl with chunky chording and a straight-up backbeat pushing Lucas’ ready-for-the-weekend vocal to the front. More than a little bit of alright.

Mainstream media’s full of stories about the re-birth of vinyl, but anyone with half a clue knows the format never died. What’s glossed over in all the breathless reportage about black platters is the Art of the Seven-Inch Single. Consider the facts…

Back in rock and roll’s heady days of the ‘60s - long before FM radio and the LP format took hold - singles were the deatyh or glory, one-shot-at-the-prize for many bands. The A side of a 45 was a distillation of a band’s essence. The B side was for experimenting.

Melbourne musician Steve Lucas is a big fan of the 45 and acutely aware of the place in music that the format holds.

X-Aspirations - X (SL Express) 

The (mild) hype accompanying the 40th anniversary edition was deserved and - and then some. This is as essential an Australian “punk” album as the Radio Birdman and Saints debuts - even if comparatively few people noticed at the time. 

The reputation of “X-Aspirations” as the ultimate in primal, spontaneous and minimally brutal music fron this part of the world (Australia) has grown with every re-issue, and this re-mastered vinyl version is surely the last word. 

Sydney-reared and as street-level as a band could be, X had all but been destroyed by reputation and reality by the time they went into Trafalgar Studios in 1979. Venue owners despised them and the crowd they attracted. Gigs inevitably ended with a full house, physical damage, spilled blood and a warning for the band not to come back.

Jack Howard’s Epic Brass has already blitzed hometown Melbourne and he's taking it north to Sydney's Factory Theatre on June 2 with an all-star cast.

Jack Howard’s Epic Brass is a celebration and an exploration of the great horn hits and hidden gems of Australian rock – from Hunters and Collectors and the Oils to The Saints, The Laughing Clowns and Wet Taxis, the show features an incredible set list of killer brass tunes.

The Epic Brass band features a mighty four-piece horn section. Jack is joined by a terrific cast of guest singers and players – Ron Peno (Died Pretty), Paulie Stewart (Painters And Dockers), Steve Lucas from X, Penny Ikinger (Wet Taxis) and Melbourne sensation, Fiona Lee Maynard, who bring their style and energy to this uniquely powerful show.

Some of Australia’s most beloved musicians are being brought together by one of Australian punk rock’s seminal figures for a one-off concert to raise funds in the fight against child abuse.

X frontman Steve Lucas is organising The Child Wise Benefit Concert on Tuesday, May 12 at the Thornbury Theatre in Melbourne. It's his second year and he's pulled together an impressive bill.

It includes ‘60s psych legend-turned-bluesman Russell Morris, Beasts of Bourbon and Cruel Sea frontman and solo artist Tex Perkins, ex-Queen of Pop Debra Anne Byrne, blues singer-harpist Chris Wilson, bassist Jerome Smith (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Rufus Thomas, Divinyls) and MC Brian Nankervis (Rockwizz.)  

Ian Krahe, original guitarist for seminal Australian underground legends X, left the planet in 1978 but his influence is still being felt. A celebration of his 65^th birthday is being organised at Sydney’s Crowbar on Sunday, September 25, from 7pm. Tickets are selling here.

Current member of X, Geof Holmes, and friends will play songs by Evil Roomers, which was the original band for himself, Krahe, drummer Ed Fisher and bassist Ian Rilen. Holmes will be on guitar, joined by Jim Dickson (The Survivors, New Christs, Radio Birdman)on bass, John Butler (X) on drums and Ian Krahe’s nephew Luke Edwards, also on guitar. Slack Punks are supporting.

“We’ll be playing music Ian left behind when he died tragically in May 1978,” Geof explains. “You’ll hear some songs he wrote while in X. Unfortunately, Steve Lucascan’t be there so they will be our versions, with material from Ian’s earlier musical adventures with me in Evil Roomers.

X singer-guitarist and solo artist in his own right, Steve Lucas, has selected 10 X songs that fit with a COVID-19 theme.

1. Where Did I Go Wrong?
2. The Feel.
3. At Home With You
4. Waiting
5. Suck Suck
6. Home Is Where The Floor Is
7. Revolution
8. Police
9. I Don't Wanna Go Out
10. Hate City.

Steve: "Titles and lyrics cover the whole pandemic, to my mind at least. Merry Xmas!"

We may be biased but you'd be mad not to want to go to this.  X, White Knuckle Fever, Jupiter 5 and Rubber Necker on the I-94 Bar Stage in Sydney on March 20. Tickets here.

 _{X are Geof Holmes, Rick Studentt, John Butler and Steve Lucas. Photo by The Barman}

SYDNEY ROCK 'N' ROLL & ALTERNATIVE FESTIVAL
I-94 BAR STAGE
X 
+ JUPITER 5
+ SONIC GARAGE
+ THE DARRANS
The Factory Floor, Marrickville, NSW
Sunday, 20 March 2022

 Finally a gig that got me into the city, out of my COVID slumber and ignoring the daily infection numbers.

The rare spark of motivation was the Sydney Rock and Roll & Alterative Festival, an extension of Tiffany Palmer’s amazing and long-running Sydney Rock ‘n’ Roll Markets   This event had become an institution in this city over the last decade - until COVID put an end to and anything half decent in a dull and corporate investment hub.

I was here at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville for The Barman’s I-94 Bar Stage in the room called The Factory Floor, but I did manage to peek at a few other stages. I discovered that cowboys and cowgirls were out in force with line dancing alive and well. It’s practiced by people whose childhood was dominated by episodes of “Hi Five”. Line dancing is allegedly cool and has left its mark on society with community colleges teaching the stuff. As a bloke who grew up in the bush, this pretentious King Street urban country fashion is amusing.

Whatever your view about recent and current line-ups of the band (and there are naysayers of the Rilen-less version), X in their prime were The Real Deal. On a good night, no other act in Australia could match them for raw intensity with an underlying musicality.

There was something dangerous about X and it wasn’t just the lunatics that followed them, leaving a trail of smashed glasses, broken furniture and self-inflicted flesh wounds behind them.

That’s why the 40-year anniversary package of “X-Citations Vol 1” is so welcome. Picking up on the earliest days of X - the four-piece with Steve Lucas on vocals and Ian Krahe on guitar - and pushing through to the end of original drummer Steve Cafeiro’s tenure, this vinyl collection of 14 songs serves as a perfect reminder - or an introduction for the unaware - to their unique music.