tour

In typically random style, those Kings of Budget Rock, The Mummies, have announced an Australian gig.

The mysterious Californians, who play their shows swathed in bandages, will visit Australia for the first time in 2016, with only one date announced so far: March 9 at Melbourne’s Max Watts. More news as it comes to hand.

_{The Mummies in full flight. Shona Ross photo}

The Mummies in Australia? No fucking way! Hard to believe, but true. A hit-and-run visit spanning three states in less than a week (with a stop-off in New Zealand on the way home) admittedly but a tour, nonetheless.

The Mummies were The Shit in garage rock in the late 1980s. Conceived as the ultimate anti-band by Trent Ruane (organ, vocals), Maz Kattuah (bass), Larry Winther (guitar) and Russell Quan (drums), they were a lynchpin of San Francisco’s lo-fi scene. Emerging from their tomb sporadically in the ‘90s and ‘00s, they’re renowned for being the band that gave the then very hip SubPop label the finger when refusal to sign was a death-wish. They have made no-frills Budget Rock an art-form.

So, ho to the Governor Hindmarsh, best rock pub not only in Adelaide but in Australia as far as I’m concerned. Off to see The Rteverend Horton Heat. Dead opposite the monstrous Ent Cent with its vast bowl of an arena, where the punters, grim at the thought of mystery beer in a disposable plastic cup at a fool’s price, head to the Gov for food and drink made by real human beings for real human beings.

It occurred to me tonight, that if I lived around the corner, it’s likely this place would see me once a day for something or other, whether it be for lunch or the occasional after workie, or a slap-up dinner for four mates - rowdy, but still, you know, civilised. The bar staff, without exception, have always been excellent, which is not something you can say of most pubs. Those in the band room tonight are brilliant.

Rockabilly has had a huge revival over the last couple of decades. I remember the first revival, spearheaded by the Stray Cats tour in, I think, 1981; a large number of punker types went and, the following weekend, about five percent were wearing quiffs. And it kinda grew from there, I think, mostly as an underground thing, but it never quite had the spotlight turned on it in the way that the Cats copped it.

But with the Reverend Horton Heat playing alongside what they call “punk rockers” in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and sharing the same label, Sub-Pop, as Nirvana, when Cobain and co. suddenly broke all over the world, everyone interested in Cobain and co. bought LPs from Sub Pop - and the Heat had a sudden increase in fans world-wide. Without really intending to, Jim Heath (as his custom scratch plate declares) was the spark-plug that triggered an engine of revolution.

The Scientists have announced an extensive European tour in May-June, covering seven countries and featuring the band's classic 1986 line-up of Kim Salmon, Tony Thewlis, Boris Sudjovic and Leanne Cowie.  

The run follows an Australian tour of mostly sold-out shows.  

MAY
UNITED KINGDOM
31 - London @ The Borderline
JUNE
01 - Glasgow @ Nice & Sleazy
2 - Newcastle @ The Cluny 
3 - Brighton @ The Albert
FR
6 - Rennes @ Mondo Bizarro
7- Paris @ Petit Bain
8 - Périgueux @ Le Sans Réserve 
GERMANY
13 - Freiburg @ Café Atlantik 
14 - Berlin @ The Roadrunner’s Paradise Club 
DENMARK
15 - Copenhagen @ Loppen
NORWAY 
16 - Oslo @ Krøsset
ITALY
29 - Salsomaggiore Terme @ Festival BEAT #26

_{Ian Amos photo}

The Sonics in Sydney? What you got out of this gig depended on what you wanted.

If you longed for a show by the “classic” Sonics lineup of “Boom” and “Here Are The Sonics” albums you were always going to be fresh outta luck. That band hasn’t existed since 1967 or ’68. If, however, you wanted a great rock and roll gig with spirited and often inspired renditions of the band’s back catalogue, you almost certainly walked away with a big fat smile on your dial.

In most minds, The Sonics were the surprise packet of the first DIg It Up! travelling revue in Australia a few years ago. Sunnyboys might have been sentimental favourites, The Fleshtones the dynamic attention-getters and Hoodoo Gurus the much-loved headliners, but The Sonics tore the house apart with a raw and righteous set that belied their superannuant appearance.

Let’s make it plain: The Sonics unwittingly made the template for garage punk in the ‘60s and did their reputation justice in Australia.

Much-loved garage-cum-country rockers The Supersuckers are revisiting Australia with a new album in tow and a bunch of hardcore fans to play to.

Legendary first wave Irish punks The Undertones will make their live Australian debut this July.

The Undertones earned seven top 40 UK singles and three top 20 UK albums between 1978 and 1981. Their debut single "Teenage Kicks" was influential English DJ John Peel'’s favourite single of all time.

Still on a high from their sell-out hometown launch, Adelaide’s all-girl outfit The Villenettes will keep celebrating the release of their first full-length album, “Lady Luck”, with a mini-tour of neighbouring state Victoria.

They’ll re-launch their record at The Luwow in Fitzroy in Melbourne on Friday the 13th of March.The mayhem will continue the following evening when The Villenettes stop over at The Karova Lounge, in up-country Ballarat, with locals The Yard Apes.

Supporting The Villenettes at The Luwow will be ‘60s garage girl gang The Reprobettes and The Luwow’s GoGo Goddesses and DJs.

Recorded at Melbourne’s Head Gap Studio (Adalita, Magic Dirt, Paul Kelly, Violent Soho) with Neil Thomason and Mick Baty, the album is released through local garage label Off The Hip Records. It follows their first release, the “V for Villendetta” EP, that sat at #1 on Adelaide radio station Three D for four consecutive weeks.

“Lady Luck” will be Feature Album on PBS 106.7FM on the week commencing 23 February, having also had this honour on Three D and Radio Adelaide.

Seminal English harbingers of the ‘90s garage rock revival, Thee Hypnotics, are reforming for album rte-issues and live dates. A heavyweight vinyl anthology, including rare and unreleased material, is due out via Beggars Arkive, with an accompanying tour of France and the UK ovwr March and April.

Taking their cues from the Detroit militancy of The MC5, the corrupting output of The Stooges and the gospel according to The Cramps, Thee Hypnotics’ devastating brand of rock’n’roll was propelled by near punishing decibel levels and a fervour bordering on the evangelical.

They recorded three studio records and one live album between 1987 and 1999 and were considered highly influential in Europe and the USA. Past members include original drummer Mark Thompson, the late Craig Pike and bassist Adam Sharam.

We three ladies - my daughter, sister and I - got into town, parked in the nearby parklands and hurried to the Cathedral Hotel. There was no sign of religion in the Cathedral, so we sculled a wine each and hurried across the park through the crowds to the Oval.

What was it like? It was six hours on my feet. Occasional whiffs of dope smoke. Beer spilled over me from all sides and from above. The odd three, four or five angry altercations, quickly stifled before the bouncers could arrive.

One of the UK's most important musical exports, The Stranglers, have announced their return to Australia and New Zealand in 2018 with their biggest tour in 30 years, "The Classic Collection".

Taking 20 of their most popular tracks from their revered album classics, chart successes and fan favourites from across their 40-year history, The Stranglers will prove their longevity and impact with a set made of of tracks including "Golden Brown", "Always the Sun", "Peaches", "Strange Little Girl", "5 Minutes", "No More Heroes" and many more.

For the better part of 2013-14, Ed Kuepper toured Australia performing his crowd-pleasing 'By Request' show in city centres and regional towns, culminating in a sold-out performance at the City Recital Hall for Sydney Festival with the Sydney Chamber Orchestra.

For his first tour of 2015, Kuepper will defy industry pre-conceptions by performing a set of largely new and as-yet-unrecorded material.

Dubbed the "Nostalgia For The New Tour", the run will include a three-week-mid-week residency in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne with spin-off weekend shows in regional areas.

The new material is being workshopped with the intention of recording a new album of all new studio material before the end of the year. Fear not, diehard Saints/Laughing Clowns fans: with each show being upwards of two-hours long and without a support, the sets will include back-catalogue gems.

_{Tony Thewlis and Kim Salmon fronting the Scientists at Sydney's Southern Cross Hotel in 1982.}

The Scientists at their peak were unmatchable. A glorious collision of droning, caustic, fuzz guitars, minimalist bass, anguished lyrics about alienation and ominous, funereal rhythms, they created something unique after landing in Sydney in 1981. 

Originally ragged New York Dolls-inspired popsters back in Perth, the re-constituted Scientists stripped their music back to its darkest roots, concoting their own brand of psychedelia and incorporating influences like Suicide, the Stooges and Captain Beefheart.

Too big for their own Surry Hills backyard, the band moved to the UK in 1982 and, in typical expatriate Australian underground band fashion, starved before going on to influence countless other acts into the ‘90s and beyond.

Seminal Seattle four-piece Mudhoney returns to Australia in 2023, nine years since their last local shows. A mammoth odyssey spanning April and May will have them playing headline shows across six states, with a handful of festival dates among them.
 
Mudhoney has an enviable career spanning three decades 13 studio albums, five live records, and headline shows around the globe. Their provocative debut single “ and 1992 hit “” cemented them as pioneers of the grunge explosion.

 
The band has managed to find time to lay down tracks in the studio this year for their next opus due in 2023, which follows their 2019 EP “Morning in America” , giving Australian fans the opportunity to hear all of the new and a bunch of the former favourites live.

Dates after the fold.

Hard on the heels of an announcement of a visit by The Sonics, '60s British rock legends The Troggs (what’s left of them) finally return to Australia this November to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Wild Thing” with an extensive tour.

Led by sole founding member Chris Britton (pictured) on guitar (Reg Presley and Ronnie Bond having left the planet), the inspirational source of songs like “Wild Thing”, “With a Girl Like You”, “I Can’t Control Myself” and “Love is All Around” will play 13 shows across four states in November.

The line-up includes bassist Peter Lucas (who has been with the band for 40 years) and drummer Dave Maggs, who has clocked up a quarter of a century.

New York City punk original Sonny Vincent is taking to the European touring circuit in support of not one but three albums.

The massive tour of eight countries spans April, May and June and includes three supports to the Dead Kennedys. 

Already in the record store racks is “Spiteful” by Sonny Vincent and the Spiteful, whose ranks include Rat Scabies (The Damned), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Steve Mackay (Iggy and the Stooges.)

Out on Swami Records on March 28 is “Vintage Piss”, a woodshedded 2003 studio recording from Sonny, Speedo, ND and Ruby Mars from Rocket From the Crypt, his onetime US touring band.

Hot on its heels is “Psycho Serenades” on Spanish label H-Records, and features members of Rocket From The Crypt, Doc and the Medics and Stiv Bators solo band, as well as the late Scott Asheton.  

If that’s not enough, there’s also a single from Sonny’s pre-Testors NYC band, Liquid Diamonds, out on Hozac Records.  Tour dates in full after the break. 

As Comets on Fire burnt out – inevitably perhaps, given the band’s incendiary exploration of psychedelic expression – guitarist Ethan Miller looked to the warm and free spirited grooves of ‘70s rock when forming his new band, Howlin Rain.  

For lyrical inspiration, Miller cast his eye over the complex cultural melting pot that is the United States. Howlin Rain’s fifth album, “The Alligator Bride”, was released mid-way through the Trump era; the band’s latest album, “Dharma Wheel”, was conceived just as Trump’s tumultuous presidency ran head long into the descending clouds of global pandemic.

A prolific touring act, Howlin Rain had been scheduled to tour Australia in April 2020, only to find itself marooned at home as international borders banged closed. Now heading back to Australia for the first time since Comets on Fire toured here 15 years ago, and with “Dharma Wheel” finally released after 18 months’ abeyance, Ethan Miller talks about Howlin Rains’ symbiotic relationship with America, American culture and Americana.

The Dammed
The Factory Theatre, Marrickville
Thursday, August 20 2019
Photos: Monique Simmons

Culturally, Britain was so different to the USA in so many ways in the ‘70s, and that had much to do with distance.  The US is a vast place with all sorts of cultures and entrainment influences. The south was different to the west coast and out was again different to the east. And that really showed in the disparate pockets of music that sprang up everywhere.

On the other hand, England was more centralised. Long before the ‘70s dawned, it had the ingrained tradtiion of music halls as its historical DNA.

Music halls were everywhere. At one time there were more than 200 theatres in London alone. They hosted events running for four hours and ranging from comedy, clowning, horror to serious drama. For more than a century, popular theatre was a staple for the working man and middle class alike. 

Well, you may ask, what has this got to do with The Damned appearing live in Sydney on a Thursday night? I say, everything. A Dammed gig is like a trip through classic British pantomime and theatre, full of drama and packed with wit and slapstick. 

_{Wreckless Eric. Joe Mabel photo.} 

Talk about Wreckless Eric and what immediately comes to mind is his enduring hit "Whole Wide World" – covered in stadiums and sheds from Aberdeen to Alabama – but there’s a whole lot more to the story than just that.

With more than 40 years of recording and touring behind him he shuns the dictates of nostalgia and doesn’t do comebacks for the simple reason that he never went away. Except maybe where the Antipodes are concerned and where he'll be touring for the first time in 28 years in November.