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New York No Wave Queen, Lydia Lunch, is teaming with Beasts of Bourbon and The Cruel Sea frontman Tex Perkins for three shows under the banner "So Real It Hurts" in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in June.
"So Real It Hurts" shows will be sandwiched between Lydia's already announced "Songs of Suicide & Alan Vega" gigs with Alan Coates of Black Cab in Wellington, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
Lunch will perform her shockingly real spoken word while Perkins, as Tex Perkins Basic, will perform an electronic soundscape set with laptop, guitar and voice.
Lydia Lunch & Tex Perkins
So Real It Hurts
JUNE
19 - Kew Courthouse, Melbourne
Tickets
20 - Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
Tickets
27 - Riverside Live at Phive, Parramatta, NSW
Tickets
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Two Headed is a Swedish duo comprising Kurt Dräckes (The Sewergrooves, The Royal Cream) and Robert Eriksson (The Hellacopters, KSM3, Strindbergs, Black Weeds),
Unlike most of those bands, Two Headed keeps things stripped to the essentials: guitar, drums, voice. No excess, no detours — just songs that hold their ground without needing anything added.
Dräckes and Eriksson first crossed paths in the mid-’90s before going their separate ways, eventually reconnecting years later. That history doesn’t come through as nostalgia, but as clarity — a shared sense of what stays and what gets left out.
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One of the good things to come out of Covid was Hommus Idol, a quirky and fuzzy musical outfit from the breeding ground that is Wollongong, south of Sydney. We reviewed their debut EP here.
Hommus Idol is launching “Mile High Club”, a new single and video, with shows in April and May, kicking off this weekend.
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Melbourne songwriter-bandleader Penny Ikinger is launching a series of conversations with musical peers, starting Sunday April 19.
The first “A Penny For Your Thoughts” features Brian Jonestown Massacre founding member Ricky Maymi at One Star Lounge & Gallery in West Melbourne, from 5pm and tickets are here.
“A Penny For Your Thoughts” is an intimate series that invites audiences to delve beneath the surface of music and art. It’s all about exploring the forces shaping musicians and creative minds, revealing the stories behind the sound and wil include an audience Q&A..
San Franciscan Maymi is a multi-instrumentalist with a long history that stretches way back before his recent Australian with the Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Maymi’s collaborations include Australian artists Steve Kilbey (The Church), Glenn Bennie (Underground Lovers, GB3), and The Triffids. He has also toured internationally with The Wild Swans (UK), Flavor Crystals (USA), and others.
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“The Small Bar That Could” and “Sydney’s version of CBGB”. They’re two of the names for MoshPit, the dive bar on King Street in the suburb of St Peters that’s been a spawning ground for countless up and coming bands - and a home for some not so young.
The venue is notching its ninth birthday in May and is holding a three-day event to mark the occasion.
“None of us know which birthday will be our last so we're going all out with bands all weekend - Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday arvo,” said mine host Pat Jones (pictured above).
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Ex-Dubrovnik Peter Simpson has released another single from his excellent solo album, "Good Times Gone Bad”.
“Turn My World” takes a slight country tack and includes backing vocals from Peter’s Dubrovniks bandmates Boris Sujdovic and Chris Flynn, and his his sons Dom and Vo Simpson.
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The release of Vil-Nil Records’ “Indie Sounds From The Harbour City Volume 2” is imminent, and a tour to support it has been announced.
A stack of Sydney appear on the LP and CD. The roll call is Hard Ons, Van Ruin, The Darrans, Mezcaltones, Nunchukka Superfly, The On and Ons, The Jane Does, Tshitaki, Fowl Weather Vein, Disgraceland, Division 4, Jupiter 5, Pocketwatch, and Little Incursions.
Album pre-sales are open here. Don't be tardy. It will sell out, just like its predecessor.
The accompanying tour is extensive, taking in Sydney, Canberra, Coffs Harbour, the Central West, Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Shoalhaven, as well as a gig in Brisbane. Bands appearing include The Jane Does, Fowl Weather Vein, Jupiter 5, The On and Ons, DISCGRACEland, Owen Guns, Loose Surface and I Hate People.
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On the back of their long-awaited return to Australia in June last year Asteroid B-612 (above) are back with another dose of high-octane rock.
Their brand-new single, “Fallen Slow’”, will be released on April 10 via Golden Robot Records and is available to pre-save now on all major streaming platforms.
The re-tooled Asteroids were in Australia to promote their 2025 album “Roads, Stars”, the band found themselves with a rare few hours to spare during rehearsals. Wasting no time, Johnny Casino and Co headed into the studio.
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New York No Wave Queen Lydia Lunch returns to Australia and Nedw Zealand in June to perform the songs of synth–punk duo Suicide and Suicide vocalist Alan Vega.
Lunch will be joined by Andrew Coates of revered Melbourne electro trio, Black Cab to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Vega’s passing, with special guests.
The Melbourne show will feature both principals of Black Cab, Coates and James Lee.
Lunch originally met Suicide – the duo of late vocalist Alan Vega and multi-instrumentalist Martin Rev – in the 1970s, when she moved to New York City from Rochester as a teenager. They formed a lifelong bond and she often joined them on-stage to perform the song “Frankie Teardrop”, recording a duet as part of Vega’s solo album “Sniper”, a collaboration with French experimental artist Marc Hurtado.
Since Vega’s passing in 2016, Lunch has performed several Suicide tribute shows, often with Hurtado; together the pair recently released the live album “Metempsychosis: Reincarnate the Music of Alan Vega + Suicide”.
- The Leftards say goodbye as Dion and Nick clean out their sock drawers
- Richie Weed and his Strays trek north
- Schlock rock fuzz fest "Wolf Cat Fever" set for Sydney and Melbourne screenings
- Fuck The Neighbours returns (and it's not to Ramsay Street)
- FEAR unveils Oz dates
- The Girlies announce Brisbane show
