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By The Barman

The Barman

29 April 2026

Hits: 595

• the goodbye johnnys
• attack dogs

Attack Dogs EP – The Goodbye Johnnys (Take The City)

Rock and Roll has no borders: Take The City is a Spanish label and The Goodbye Johnnys are a Swiss band. They play raucous Rock and Roll in the style of The Boys or a less messy version of The Heartbreakers, and have been around the block a a few times with a handful of singles and two albums to their credit.

They're also Zurich's supports-of-choice for touring acts like TV Smith and Ruts DC. This four-track seven-inch EP shows them strutting their stuff to good effect.

“Attack Dogs” is a catchy call to arms and “Losers Crime” is nearly as good. “Get Me” dirties up the rhythm guitar with some nagging, if thin, overdubbed lead. “Too Late” benefits from a sneering vocal and sharp guitar and is the best of the bunch. Good, honest punk rock with no pretensions. 

1/2

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 April 2026

Hits: 550

• sunnyboys
• the saints
• the hovering spooks
• andy says
• creeping jean
• the kinks

Andy Says b/w Creeping Jean – The Hovering Spooks (Dominion Recordings)

This is a fantastic debut release from this Sydney supergroup comprising ex-members of Sunnyboys, Sardine V, Dropbears, Linme Spiders, Wedding Parties Anything, The Saints, Celibate Rifles and the New Christs.

“Andy Says” is a homage to/observation about Andy Warhol (who else?) that bustles along with the self-assuredness that you’d expect, given the band’s pedigree. It’s a superb piece of lyrically sharp pop rock, propelled by neat guitar interplay from Cub Callaway and Richard Burgman, and Phil Hall’s wonderful vocal.

Flip it over for the cover of a Kinks B side given the “Prehistoric Sounds”-era Saints treatment in the outro, with horns and vocal again from Phil Hall. It’s not as wired as the paranoid original but it works regardless.

Stream it or procure a vinyl copy here and apply the supplied banana to the cover art. A word of warning: once you do you won't have a spook's chance of removing it.

1/2

 

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By Steve Lorkin

Steve Lorkin

31 March 2026

Hits: 976

• killed by death
• the maids
• maid in bataan
• gutterwall records

Maids In Bataan  - The Maids (Gutterwall Records)

There is a genre of music that collectors refer to as “Killed By Death” or ” KBD”. The label refers to onscure 1970s or 1980s punk rock records that were usually independently released by the bands themselves in small print runs.

“Killed By Death” was also a series of bootleg compilation albums that illegally reissued these songs (kind of like the “Pebbles” of ‘70s and ‘80s punk).

The Maids’ recordings were first heard by the punk rock collecting masses on volumes 7 and 17 of “Killed By Death” and thanks to these bootleggers, the legend of the band has grown.

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By JD Misfortune

JD Misfortune

30 March 2026

Hits: 1626

• pat todd
• heavy medication records
• the north hollywood phantoms
• richard dugay

I Wanna Live Before I Die b/w Let Me Go – The North Hollywood Phantoms (Heavy Medication Records)

By JD Misfortune and The Ball Tonights

If you're a rock ‘n’ roll diehard like me, you probably go through fallow stages where you just can't locate fresh and original rock ‘n’ roll motherfuckery to help cope with the obscenely darkening and depraved, authoritarian cyberhell and demonic police state new world disorder chaos swirling all around us.

These cats, Richard Duguay and Pat Todd, are the best of the best, utter assassins of lukwarm, ho-hum mediocrity, they have come to raise a ruckous, yank you outta your collective trauma and make you feel like Little Richard. When it comes to producing high quality, dirty and dangerous, blues infused derelict poetic rock ‘n’ roll with that heartland feel, you have to go all the way to Australia to find other contemporaries creating modern art jampacked with that much soulpower and vivid storytellin', these blokes know how to spin a purple yarn, a mile long, on broken glass with runny black eye makeup.

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By Steve Lorkin

Steve Lorkin

30 March 2026

Hits: 767

• the johnnys
• graham hood
• the normals
• the allniters
• anorexia nervosa
• bannanas

Anorexia Nervosa b/w Bananas – The Normals (Leather Jacket Records)

Before The Allniters, before The Johnnys, before The Cool Charmers and before The Silver Dragons, Graham Hood was a young Kiwi punky rock chap playing in The Normals, who were Wellington’s first ever punk band. Future Headless Chicken Mike Lawry played guitar, Dazee Day was on vocals (she’s now a successful fashion label owner) and Karl Scutt (who went onto Domestic Blitz) was on drums.

Formed in 1978 and dead by 1979 - truly a band in the live fast, die young mould - they recorded three songs, two of which appear for the first time here on a label run by The Flying Nun folks via their punk subsidiary, Leather Jacket Records (good name hey?).

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 March 2026

Hits: 911

• jessie
• looch lewis and the press gangsters

Jessie - Looch Lewis & The Press Gangsters (Stanley Records)

Three minutes of surging, earwig pop rock that’s best taken with a wee dram of whiskey. Sydney's Looch Lewis qualifies for veteran status these days, and his side trip is drumming for country rockers Dave Favours & the Roadside Ashes. He's also played guitar for bush folk punks, Handsome Young Strangers.

Like many drummers, there's a solo artist inside just waiting to bust out; if the single is an indication, the debut album's gonna be a goodie. "Jessie" urgently does its business and moves on. It's lyrically dark but the melody line and chorus mean it's made for broad radio airplay.

Looch's strong vocal and six-string picking with fellow guitarist Tomson Sowonja is leavened by neat mandolin from Drizabone Dion Dixon that adds something of a Celtic touch. Catchy as all get out so hit up your favourite streaming service or listen after the MORE button.

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