_{Dom Mariani and Jules Matthews.}

The Stems
The Rinehearts
Sydney Crowbar
Thursday, April 24, 2025

An annual run of shows by The Stems should be inscribed indelibly on the Australian musical calendar. Better still, make it bi-annual.

Last year, The Stems notched their 40th anniveresary and marked it with gigs all around Australia, and a tour of Europe. This show, on the eve of Anzac Day, the national day of remembrance, brought out a crop of (mostly)  rock and roll soldiers, keen to relive their 1980s youth. All looked comfortable in the knowledge that a public holiday the next morning meant most wouldn’t have to front up at a workplace. 

More than most of their peers, The Stems have a sound that’s timeless. Rooted in the ‘60s, riddled with hooks and melodies, the songs ride on the back of a powerful engine room of co-founders Jules Matthews and Dave Shaw, wrapped in Dom Mariani’s rich vocal and peppered by guitars.

_{Ash Naylor.}

Back in 1983, it seemed to be about winkle-pickers and Paisley shirts.  The keyboard stylings of the late Richard Lane gave their early singles an acid punk flavour and the band seemed happy to surf that wave. The debut album, “At First Sight Violets Are Blue” revealed they were all about Perfect Pop.

So, their palette was widened a long time ago, and more recently the line-up has been enlivened by Ashley Naylor’s muscular guitar lines and backing vocals.  Ash’s service with Even, The Church, Paul Kelly and The Rockwiz Band marks him as the ultimate journeyman (in the best sense of that term). and he’s the Special Sauce that makes the contemporary Stems a Rock Band.

Although there hasn’t been a new studio album since 2007’s “Heads Up”, The Stems still update their sets with a sprinkling of new material, last year’s “Falling From The Sky” and the most recent “Deep Freeze” being fine examples.  

 It’s an early stage time for the headliner tonight (9pm) and the band room is already filling for Perth power poppers The Rinehearts, whose short set I somehow only catch the tail of. It’s infectious stuff and the band gets extra marks for the member sporting a Roy Loney hairdo.  

_{You might call him Special Sauce but Ash Naylor is all about maracas, not Maccas.} 

So to The Stems and “Leave You Way Behind” was written by Dom as a kiss-off to The Black Dog but makes for an emphatic set opener. “Just Ain’t Enough” takes things right back to the band’s beginnings and locks into a comfortable groove.

Dom’s other current band, Datura4, mines bombastic ‘70s rock for its inspiration and the interplay of his and Ash’s guitars takes The Stems’ set to a similar place. “Make You Mine” morphs into “Baby Please Don’t Go” that’s as early Ted Nugent as it is Accdacca.

The lighter pop of “For Always” and “She Sees Everything” contrasts well with the heavier moments. Neither the Monkees or Paul Revere and The Raiders‘ versions of “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” had the fuzz-toned power of the one sandwiched in the middle of  tonight’s encore.  “Make You Mine” morphs into “Baby Please Don’t Go” that’s more Ted Nugent than Accdacca.

It’s a crowd pleasing set (how could it be anything else?) and a reminder that The Stems still do this rocking pop thing better than just about anyone else. If you were there and failed to make it to an Anzac Dawn Service at sunrise the next day, you had a valid excuse. That’s my story, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.  

The Stems play Gumball Festival in the NSW Hiunter Valley tonight and The Old Museum at Brisbane on Saturday.

Leave You Way Behind
Just Ain't Enough
Move Me
For Always
Mr Misery
Get to Know Me
Under Your Mushroom
Deep Freeze
Surround Me
She Sees Everything
Never Be Friends
Falling From the Sky
Man With the Golden Heart
Make You Mine / Baby Please Don't Go
Encore:
At First Sight
I'm Not Your Stepping Stone
Tears Me in Two