tim rogers

_{Mark Fraser photo.}

The Hard-Ons have announced the supports for their “I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken” Australian tour - their first with their new line-up which features new singer Tim Rogers.The tour comes on the back of the band's first ever ARIA Top 5 album, and takes in all East Coast capitals and key regional hubs.

The tour was pre-empted by NSW warm-up shows at The Link & Link in Woy Woy (December) and Frankies Pizza by The Slice in Sydney (February), billed under the name Clandestine Sausage, attracting rabid fan attention.   

The list of supports includes strong locals as well as a couple of bands with a shared history on the Alternative Charts in the '90s – namely Smudge in Sydney and The Meanies in Melbourne. Sydney's C.O.F.F.I.N. are main support for tour closer at the Corner in Melbourne. 

For full dates, click More.

Spencer P Jones is a legend of the Australian music scene.

Spencer P Jones is a damn fine axeman. 

Spencer P Jones is loved by all the countless bandmates, scattered across the globe.

Spencer P Jones is a mighty fine songwriter. 

Spencer P Jones is loved by all his mates, full stop.

Spencer P Jones is also really unwell.

That's why his mates have gotten together in Melbourne to help him. 

_{Nancy Rankin-Escovedo photo.}

In 2018 Alejandro Escovedo released "The Crossing", an album based on the story of two boys, one Mexican and one Italian, travelling across the United States. “I’ve always lived along the border in California and Texas, so it’s been part of my story,” Escovedo says. But while immigration is fundamental to the evolution of modern America, in recent years it’s has become a hot political topic.

(To accentuate the point, a few hours before my interview with Escovedo, US President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers to secure the funds to continue the building of his border wall between Mexico and the United States.)

Escovedo didn’t set out to write a political album; it’s just that “whenever you talk about immigration at this time it tends to be political because of what’s going on in America”.

 _{Tim Rogers frontign the Hard-Ons is As Beautiful as a Foot.} 

Hard-Ons
Ratcatcher
Enigma Bar, Adelaiude
Saturday, April 3, 2022

Long story short - I'm still reeling. The Hard-Ons have crossed the Rubicon and what they're doing in Australia is anyone's guess. Right now they should be out slaying the world, Europe then USA, then South America. We're damned lucky to have them. I might add, I don't reckon we deserve them.

Cull was  mean to be the opemnig band but cancelled. Dammit. I've tried about six or seven times to get out of the door to see them. The one time I get there... Reports have reached me that they're damn fine. 

New support, Ratcatcher, went on later than planned because one of the folks in the band second on the bill couldn't do it – thanks COVID.

A quick follow-up to the news that You Am I's Tim Rogers has joined the Hard-Ons. Pre-orders are open for their album "I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff Has Been Taken" which is out on Cheersquad on LP, CD and digital on October 4. Grab your copy here.

The announcement certainly has people takling. And the official word from the principals? Hard-Ons’ Ray Ahn says: “I’m thrilled to have Tim on board, and I am loving his contribution!” 

Bandmate Blackie concurs, "How fucking good is this!!"

And Mr Rogers? “I was already the luckiest goof in rock’n’roll, and I get asked to make a racket with my heroes? Strewth. Wake me up sometime, will ya?”

The first fruit of the partnership, a single “Hold Tight”, is out on all streaming platforms on Friday, August 13.

TOP 10 FROM OUTTASPACE!
By Adam Brzozowski and Milly Dalton, co-owners at Link and Pin cafe and live music venue, Woy Woy, NSW, and the Outtaspace record label.

The label went a bit quiet (because REASONS), but we’re ending 2021 with a BANG!

1. NOT THE JOHNNYS Link and Pin, New Year’s Day 2021
Hoody, Slim and special deputies Kane Dyson and Matt Brown had the audience fit to bust; it was our first proper rock’n’roll show in the beer garden after the Avalon COVID spike. There were a few tears between us when the fellas ripped into ‘Injun Joe’. You can see THE JOHNNYS live at Link and Pin on 9 January, 2022! Tickets here.

 _{Mark Fraser with Blackie of the Hard-Ons}

Ten best albums for 2021… no particular order.

HARD ONS- “Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken”
Is it pop? Is it Punk? Who cares, its fkn perfect.

THE QUICK SIXES – “Swamped”
Swampabilly meets surf in the most perfect of ways.

10. JAMES DOMESTIC – “FAZE OUT”
This just scrapes in as a debut single but by the time The Domestics’ frontman’s album emerges this Spring, it’ll be a shoo-in for end of year lists. A brilliant first effort, “Faze Out” keeps some of the East Anglian hardcore pioneers’ energy but cloaks his Dury-ish man-in-the-pub spiel in junskshop electronica.

9. VIEWS – “MOTHER TAPES ANTHOLOGY 1986-1990”
Not sure how this lot passed me by in my student days, but this double from Area Pirata is an excellent introduction to (or reminder of) Brescia band Views. One for paisley underground fans, they borrow the Dü’s knack for belligerence and melody with occasional wigouts into Yo La Tengo lightheadedness.

8. SONNY VINCENT – “SNAKE PIT THERAPY”
STILL one of punk’n’roll’s best-kept secrets, Sonnycame within a Rizla’s breadth of going overground and not a moment too soon. The Limit album that came out earlier in the year, fronted by Pentagram’s Bobby Liebling, brought him a whole new audience, but this is really what he does best. A confident resurgence considering the trials of recent years.

Australia most enduring musical contradictions the Hard-Ons have pulled another surprise out of the hat by recruiting You Am I’s Tim Rogers as frontman.

The announcement was quietly made on Facebook via a change to their page’s` listed line-ups on Tuesday. A photo of the reconfigured Hard-Ons was released on social media overnight, along with word that a single with their new singer would appear digitally on August 13.

The band parted ways with founding drummer-turned-frontman Keish de Silva in March this year after historical allegations of sexual impropriety.   

You Am I released their 11^th studio album, “The Lives Of Others”, in May.  

Online reaction to recruitment of Rogers has ranged from incredulous to delighted. Rogers' recruitment has beewn a closely-guarded secret for some months.  

There’s no word on live shows yet although lockdowns in Australia are making touring problematic for any act with dispersed members.