you am i

Thirty years of The Meanies? Who woulda thunk? The last show of theirs’ I attended probably lasted 30 minutes. While the celebratory tour winds its way around Australia, boutique label Fantastic Mess has dropped this heavyweight Méaniee à Trois on us in a run of 300.

The A side keeps you guessing where it’s going with odd tempo changes. It's a fine slice of freakbeat that works its way into your head and up to a freak-out before skidding to a halt. It’s a long way removed from The Meanies’ early buzzsaw blasts and there are shades of Sun God Replica (Link’s other band) on a sunny day here.

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. 

Top 10 not in any order:

1)  White Stripes –Vault #33 Icky Thump X
Third Man Records Vault only release, 10 year anniversary edition. Includes a wacko coloured vinyl re-press of the double album plus two bonus albums containing all the non-album b-sides and the full demos housed in a way out box. The demos are furious ! Only released for a few months via Third Man Records.

2) Shy Impostors CD (maxi EP/mini album CD)
Unleashed by those God-loving folks at Citadel Records. Seven demos recorded 1980 and now finally after a loving re-mix by Jason Blackwell sound truly fab. The songs, vocals and rough as guts musicianship by these proto legends are gold. Melodic and dirty.

3)  Buffalo Revisited gig at Brewtality Festival in Melbourne
Is it truly an honour for me after being a Buffalo fan since 1974 to be playing with their mighty vocalist Dave Tice with some fellow Buffalo maniacs (Troy and Marcus). And to be playing those great songs (a mind melt to learn btw). We hit our cosmic groove at the Brewtality Festival in Melbourne; more to come for sure.

_{Robbie Harrold photo}

One of the album highlights of 2016 was "Demon Blues", the debut release by Perth-based rock-psych-boogie band Datura4.

A quartet led by Stems/DM3 songwriter Dom Mariani and ex-New Christs, You Am I, Bamboos and Monarchs guitarist Greg Hitchcock, With Stu Loasby (bass) and Warren Hall (drums) completing the line-up, Datura4 conjure a heady mix of guitar-raunch 'n' roll and heavy melodic jams - in the tradition of the Colored Balls and Masters Apprentices, yet unlike any other Australian band currently treading the boards.

Their second album "Hairy Mountain" has recently been unleashed by US label Alive Natural Sounds and we chased down Dom Mariani for a brief grilling, ahead of a quick-fire tour of Australia's East Coast.  

Best known for her beautiful and classic mid-to-late ‘60s hits including “The First Cut Is The Deepest”, “(If You Think You’re) Groovy” and “Angel of the Morning”, as well as the power chorus of the Small Faces’ iconic hit “Tin Soldier”, PP Arnold is set to undertake her first ever concert tour of Australia.

And she’ll be backed by a super group of super fans in Tim Rogers, Rusty Hopkinson and Andy Kent of You Am I, Talei Wolfgramm and James Black.

The Los Angeles teenager, who became London’s First Lady of Soul after hitting town in 1966 with Ike & Tina Turner and coming to the attention of Mick Jagger, is still going strong. And she’s once again at the right place in the right time, as she has been so often in a career that’s lasted over 50 years.

PP’s tour down under follows the release last year of “The Turning Tide”, an album of unreleased recordings from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, produced by both Barry Gibb and Eric Clapton. It cracked the UK Top 30 upon release, recently made the NZ iTunes Top 20, and has been the subject of many accolades and much airplay since its release.

Although this will be PP’s be first concert tour of these parts, she has previously performed here as a featured singer with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters in 2002 and 2008. In recent times she has also recorded with Primal Scream, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller. She has a voice that other artists love to work with; her first duet was with Rod Stewart on a single produced by Mick Jagger, way back in ’67.

“It’s been a long journey,” laughs PP Arnold down the line from her home in Madrid, as she apologises for a long answer. It's taken us through her days singing in England in the early 1970s, through to a brief reunion with her friend and collaborator Barry Gibb in the United States in the late 1970s and onto  to her present-day career, with her continuing to sing professionally, both solo and as a backing singer.

“It’s pretty hard condensing 50 years of your life into a few minutes!”

Patricia Cole - the name PP Arnold was bestowed by photographer Gered Mankowitz in London in 1966 - was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Watts and was an unlikely pop star. Married and with two young children by the age of 17, Cole’s career trajectory commenced when a couple of friends suggested she audition for a vacant spot in the Ike and Tina Review, as one of Ike and Tina’s backing band Ikettes.

The term “jam band” first flashed across my radar in a small bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the early ‘00s. It was in a pub called The Eight Ball, underneath the much more famous Blind Pig. I was lucky enough to be sharing a drink with Scott Morgan. (Ooops. I dropped a name.)

“Who’s playing upstairs tonight?”

“Some jam band.”

“A what…?”

 _{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 PP Arnold show is more than a “gig“, it really is a live performance music history of somebody who has had an extraordinary career as a vocalist since 1964.

Word of the amazing shows in Melbourne had reached Sydney and slowly but surely the room started to fill up (including a front seated section for some of her more mature age fans.)

Whoever assembled her backing band should be congratulated.Thy comprised three-quarters of You Am I who IMHFO don’t get nearly enough credit for being the great musicians they are (Andy Kent should be singled out for really nailing the bass parts), with James Black (the bloke from Rockwiz) and vocalist Talei Wolfgramm joining them.

Sixties soul and Swinging London icon PP Arnold returns to Australia in November and December for more shows with her all star band.

In case you haven't heard, that band would be Tim Rogers, Andy Kent and Russell Hopkinson of You Am I, Talei & Eliza Wolfgramm and James Black, and she'll also play select shows with the Rockwiz Orchestra.

Her recent run through Australia elicitted rave reviews - including this one.

PP Arnold‘s CV includes Ike & Tina Turner, Mick Jagger and Andrew Loog Oldham, The Small Faces, The Nice, Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Barry Gibb, Eric Clapton, Nick Drake, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Roger Waters, The KLF, Ocean Colour Scene, Primal Scream, Oasis and Paul Weller.

She was the Los Angeles teenager who became London’s First Lady of Soul after hitting town in 1966 with Ike & Tina Turner and coming to the attention of Mick Jagger.

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.

 _{Josie Jose photo}

Best Albums of 2021 (not in order)

Blowers – “Blowers”  
In the tradition of Jay Reatard and the Oblivions, Blowersare a band that proves less is more. Killer bare basics, as well as plenty of humour. One take, if there’s a mistake, fuck it, that’s the take. This LP is prime example of garage rock at its purists and best.

Civic – “Future Forecast”
After a few brilliant EPs it’s great to finally get a full Civicrelease. Combining elements of ‘90s Melbourne rock and US 2000s gunk rock, this stayed on the turntable for a good fortnight.

Cutters – “Australian War Crimes”
Six tracks clocking in at 10 minutes, including a diss on Rye, a suburb I don’t care for, and the title track, a reaction to revelations of Australian SAS soldiers’ behaviour in Afghanistan. Brutal and superb.

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.

Top Ten in no particular order

1. Iggy Pop – Every Loser
After the WTF-was-that-all-about of 2019’s “Free”, Iggy is back doing what Iggy does best – fronting a small combo and letting it rip.

We get a taste of most of Iggy’s personas, including the punk god to the dodgy philosopher to the Sinatra-influenced sleazebag. Standout tracks, well, pretty much all of them, but “Strung Out Johnny” turned into an earworm that went for weeks.

At 76, he still shows that he’s got plenty to offer and plenty to say and this would be a fitting record for him to go out on. Compare it to the doggerel the Stones put out recently. Sir Michael sounds like he’s singing through a vocoder FFS. 

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.