Break Out - PocketWatch (self-released)
Pocketwatch burst onto the Sydney scene about two years ago. With the two youngest members just turning 16, they put on infectious live shows and had attitude. With a range of influences (Power-pop, Britpop and Grunge), these kids were no shoe gazers. The band’s rise has been meteoric on the street-level live circuit and they are now packing out the likes of Marrickville Bowlo.
It's less than year since their debut release, the “It’s Time” EP. It captured their live sound, pointing to a raw punk ethos served with a side dish of meat and potatoes, no frills production. And it was the right record at the time.
Young bands need to spread their wings and find an empathetic producer who can bring to the table their decades of skills and create a shared vision. Enter Wayne Connolly.
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- By Edwin Garland
- Hits: 1440
Demolition – Rob Griffiths (Swerve Records)
The Girl Belongs To Yesterday Rob Griffiths (digital single through Swerve Records)
As long as I've been a music fan, I've regularly become obsessed with particular songs. At age 10, it was “Devil Gate Drive” by Suzie Quatro. It was “Department of Youth” by Alice Cooper at 12. It would be “London Calling” by The Clash and “Another Girl, Another Planet” by The Only Ones in my late teens.
I'd buy a single and replay a song again and again. The tune would stay my head for weeks and I would wear out that seven- inch single until it was a crackling mess.
I came across “The Girl Belongs To Yesterday“ by Rob Griffiths a few weeks ago on Facebook and like all the classic three-minute singles, I replayed it again and again. Just like that kid bringing home a seven-inch vinyl by Suzi Quatro or Alice Cooper. Except this one’s a download.
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- By Edwyn Garland
- Hits: 1140
Brando Rising – Brando Rising (self-released)
Kelly Hewson’s pungent guitar tones and vocalist Ripley Hood’s sense of high drama make Brando Rising sound markedly different from most of the Melbourne rock scene. The “Brando Rising” album is a brooding, occasionally brutal, with lyricxs that are like a walk through somebody else’s psychiatric file.
Let’s talk pedigree: Hewson was a member of Gun Control (with future New Christ and Celibate Rifle, Pauly Larsen), and Hot Tomatoes in Adelaide in the 1980s and currently plays in punk mainstays Glen & The Peanut Buttermen. Rip was in Gun Control, too.
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- By The Barman & Ronald Brown
- Hits: 2711
Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter – Various Artists (Vi-Nil Records)
He’s never been seen in anything other than a T-shirt and one of his own label’s trucker caps, but it’s easy to picture Vi-Nil Records label boss Mark Fraser as the Pied Piper of the New South Wales Central Coast and Newcastle music scenes.
The analogy has to stick like baby shit to a blanket after the release of his second collection in the Indie Sounds series. Fraser is batting 2-0.
Picking a bunch of local bands and presenting two songs each on CD and vinyl is some brave/crazy idea in these days of diminishing economic returns.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1558
Brut - Gentle Ben and his Shimmering Hands (Beast Records/Spooky Records)
You dug Six Foot Hick? Of course you did. Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side? Sure.
But it's 2024. And “Brut'” is here.
The Shimmering Hands are Jhindu Pedro-Lawrie on drums, Dan Baebler on bass, and Tony Giacca on guitars. Ben Corbett handles the vocals...
The Bandcamp blurb explains; “The themes of BRUT range from a fraught, taught exploration of the broken bodies, hearts and minds of our capitalist hellscape (‘Spices’) to wailing rock and roll eulogies (‘De Bliksem’, ‘No Encore’), a drifting death-country ode to colonialism (‘Five Stars’) to bloody kitchen sink drama (‘Tactical Empathy’).”
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 1419
The Strike-Outs – The Strike-Outs (Evil Tone Records)
The debut LP by Sydney duo The Strike-Outs is the duck’s nuts, the bees’ knees and all the other animal physiology that lies between. Twelve songs in 24 minutes, so brevity is at its core. But so are dynamics. a feral energy and a musicality that divorces it from standard two-chord thrash punk.
The Strike-Outs-are brothers Simon Vines on guitar and vocals and Adam Vines on drums. They used to be Thee Evil Twin until they shed a bassist. No bottom end? No problem. Simon’s tone and a kick drum high in the mix compensate just fine.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1353
The Beautiful Black – The Beautiful Black (self released)
Before we start, perhaps I should explain. This article is not just a review, but a homage to Ross and Caz. As the Barman politely explains to me, “Uh, Robert. ...Who ...? Context?”
Right, then, context.
First, like so many other large Australian cities, Adelaide has had a strong and diverse music scene for decades. There was a distinct hand-over of the baton, too. You could see it in the composition of the audience which rolled out to see XTC on their first tour compared to their second the following year: the first tour, it was mostly older folks (I was 15, so everyone was older than me, but I'm talking 30+ here).
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 1467
Happy Hours Air Travel Club – O.C. Rippers (Ruined Records)
From what can be worked out their online footprint, OC Rippers are your typical punk rock band circa the 2020s: Feet firmly planted in their home turf (New Jersey), they’re not out to win friends or influence people and aren’t embarking on any world tours any day soon.
They’re not fussed being pigeon-holed because their influences are as varied as the quality of cocktails in a beer barn. They’re also realistic about their chances of hitting the heights because they’re aged (at a guess) in their 40s and not named Taylor.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 3541
Tales From Bad Drip – Bad Drip (Outtspace Records)
From out of Sydney’s Inner-West comes Bad Drip and they’re quite the thing if you’re partial to heavy blues jams. “Tales From Bad Drip” is only four songs but the vinyl-only EP packs plenty of punch.
The Inner-West Delta. It’s where Surry Hills’ survivors settled when gentrification pushed the inner-city rents up and the dole dried up. Some of them even got mortgages and have spawned kids. It’s a funny place, full of contradictions and probably ripe for urban renewal itself, but it’s also where most of Sydney’s music now lives.
A lot of those Inner-West bands sound like fey indie rock or hip slacker drivel with no songs. If the cliche is reality, Bad Drip is refreshingly atypical. A quartet that’s only been around two years, this is their first physical release. Of course, it’s on vinyl.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1871
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