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  • dave studdert colourDave Studdert.

    When drawn to writing about Tactics, their new album and their forthcoming Australian tour, I had a youthful flashback to being a 17-year-old and moving down to Sydney from the bush. Armed with smudgy-ink copies of RAM magazine, I was aware of so many bands that I knew mostly in name only: Midnight Oil, Hitmen, The Saints…and some weird shit (at least in my mind) like The Tactics, Thought Criminals and Dead Travel Fast. I was like a sponge and I wanted to see every one of them.

    I had a hunger for a tapestry of sounds and new, sharp sonic edges - stuff that was so far from the bland radio fodder like Cold Chisel and Dragon. I left a live music scene centred on a dilapidated pub by a river that often flooded…a place with peeling paint and populated by old tradies with battered faces, professional alcoholics and underage kids. We watched the odd cover band and the place was home to weekend rock-stars playing poorly -delivered Chuck Berry riffs. The alternative was the local blue light disco that usually ended in a bloodbath by the end of the night.

    So, I moved. I headed to Sydney.

  •  

    Sydney powerpop mods Fast Cars are hitting the crowd-funding trail for their debut album...a mere 35 years after they kicked off.

    Fast Cars were a fixture on the Sydney mod scene of the 1980s, issuing a single (“Saturday’s Girl” b/w “No Love Today”) and an EP to great acclaim and lots of Sydney airplay. The first incarnation of the band was around from 1980-84.

  • dave faulkner 45

    Hoodoo Guru Dave Faulkner adds his autograph to a copy of "Product 45" at the Sydney Spencer P Jones Benefit.                       Emmy Etie photo

    It was a few weeks ago that a parcel was waiting for me on my veranda. This is not unusual as I often order my vinyl from overseas. I even get the odd review copy of a record. This package was much larger and there was much more weighty. It was the stunningly beautiful book “Product 45 Australian Punk/Post-Punk Single Record Covers”.

    I sat down and carefully unwrapped the packaging, opening the first few pages, and my first impression was the high-weighted GSM quality silky paper.  This was not the standard book that you would pick up at Dymocks. It had the sense of a limited edition, extremely high-standard production by people who had taken so much care and pride with their talent invested in the design.

  • It must be the season for re-issues from the Sydney underground. Spanish label Guerssen, which specialises in long buried gems, is issuing an album of the music of Australian punk/post-punk band Voigt/465.

    The band existed from 1976-79 and stood apart from much of the guitar-dominated Sydney underground scene. Influenced by the likes of Can, Brian Eno and Perl Ubu, Voigt/465 recorded one album, “Slights Unspoken”, as they were about to break-up. Members went on to Pel Mel and Wild West.

  • New Mick Medew & Ursula album

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The Living Eye


Right eye

Los Chicos
Australian Tour 2024
NOV
8 - Marrickville Bowlo
w/ New Christs + Crankees * - tix 
9 - River Rocks, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix   
10 - River Rocks Rehab, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix 
* plus Human Toys (FR)

"In The Zone"
CD Launch
The Mick Medew and Ursula 4
+ Lovejoy Surf
It's Still A Secret, South Brisbane
- Nov 16 (2pm)
Tickets

Kim Salmon’s Smoked Samon
How Did They Ever Manage Tour
NOV
9 - Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne - Tix

Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
Victorian Tour
NOV
8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
9 – River Rocks, Barwon Club, Geelong
10 – St Kilda Bowls Club, St Kilda, VIC
11 – Last Chance Bar, Melbourne, VIC

Mucho Sonar
"Flight of The Bandito Tour"
NOV
8 - Hamilton Station Hotel  - Newcastle 
9 - Marrickville Bowlo - Sydney 
23 - Link n Pin - Woy Woy 

Hard-Ons' 40th Anniversary
Australian Tour Oct - Nov 2024
NOV
3 - Red Hill Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
4 - Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
7 - Amplifier, Perth, WA
8 - Indian Ocean Hotel, Scarborough, WA
9 - Froth & Fury, Adelaide, SA
 Tickets

Mark Steiner & His Problems
featuring Pavel Cingl
Australian Tour
NOV
21 - George Lane, St Kilda, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman (solo)
23 - Taproom at Shedshaker, Castlemaine, VIC
29 – Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
+ Mark’s Paranormal Disneyland
+ Socket
DEC
1 – Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide, SA
w/ special guest Romana Ashton
+ Brave Mistakes
2 – Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville, NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
4 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla. NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
6 – One Star Lounge & Gallery, Melbolurne, VIC
+ Rosie Westbrook
- 8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman & The Whiskey Priests
+ JP Shilo
+ Julitha Ryan + Eden

Chimers Australian Tour
NOV
8 - Old Bar, Melbourne
w/ Bench Press + No Hoper
9 - River Rocks Festival, Barwon Club,
Geelong
10 - Poison City Records
in-store (afternoon)
20 - Freo Social, Fremantle
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
21 - Old Habits, Perth
w/ Spacerhead + Lounge Tourist
+ Ten Cent Tiger
23 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
24 - Sonic Sherpa in-store (afternoon)
w/ Kellie Lloyd (solo)
24 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
25 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
29 - Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
DEC
7 - Trocadero Room, Sydney
w/ Antenna + Cammy Cautious & the Wrestlers
+ The Sevilles
15 - The Tote, Melbourne
JAN
31 -  La La La’s, Wollongong
+ special guests

“Hotter Than Donut Grease Tour”
Grand Pricks
+ Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
+ The Tall Stories
NOV
9 - Golden Barley, Enmore
29 - Orana Hotel, Blacksmiths
JAN
21 - Tamworth Hotel, Tamworth

The Saints ‘73-‘78
NOV
13 - Adelaide Hindley St. Music Hall
+ Double Agents
15 - Castlemaine Theatre Royal (SOLD OUT)
+ Parsnip
16 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ The Double Agents
17 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre 
+ Alien Nosejob
20 - Fremantle Freo Social 
+ Chimers
22 - Sydney, Enmore Theatre
+ Kim Salmon & The Surrealists
23 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ Chimers 
24 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
25 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
27 - Hobert, Odeon Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Liquid Nails
29 -  Thirroul, Anitas Theatre *NEW SHOW*
30 - Byron Bay, The Green Room *NEW SHOW*
Tickets

“Pig Out On Punk #2”
I Hate People
+ The Owen Guns
+ Nunchukka Superfly
+ Flowers For Jayne
+ The Dark Clouds
+ The Pingers
Marrickville Bowlo, NSW
- Dec 14

The Stranglers
50 Years In Black  
2025 Australasian Tour
MAR
NZ
13 - Powerstation, Auckland
15 - Meow Nui, Wellington
16 - Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch 
AUS
19 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
20 - The Tivoli, Brisbane
22- Forum, Melbourne
23 - The Gov, Adelaide
25 - Astor Theatre, Perth
Tickets

 

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