- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 2226
Service Station Chicken - Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes (Stanley Records)
Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes make country music for people who don’t like country music. That’s a truism, not a slur.
The point is that the players’ background in underground Oz rock and roll, circa late 1980s rolling into the ‘90s, is apparent in their playing. You play enough sticky carpet dives where patrons demand to be impressed and you become a harder player. At least that's how it was before streaming. These Roadside Ashes have a work ethic honed over some years.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1942
Apple of Life - Dom Mariani (Alive Naturalsound)
From the tumbling drums and Spector-lite touches of opener “Breakaway” to the keening country pop of single “Jangleland”, this album is classic Dom Mariani.
In a long career spanning The Stems, Majestic Kelp, the Someloves, Datura 4 and DM3, the man has never stumbled. “Apple of Life” adds another sparkling gem to the back catalogue.
Mariani’s travels have taken myriad twists and turns but strong songwriting has always been the axis on which his journey turns. So it is with “Apple of Life”, which mines the usual seams of powerpop and rock but this time adding strong country touches. Glimpses of ‘70s pop and New Wave peek through and gives the record its own distinctive edge.
- Details
- By JD Monroe
- Hits: 1827
Faith & Fumes – Brian McCarty (Electric Lab Recordings)
So there I was at some Indiana Sunday night punk rock juice bar, circa ‘87-ish, half blinded by strobe lights and taking liberal pulls from my handy flask. I was probably wearing some kinda gloomy trench coat, a NY Dolls T-shirt from High Street in Columbus (either from Mothra or Magnolia Thunderpussy), ripped jeans with band logos sharpied on them, combat boots, lots of hair spray and bad Cure kid makeup.
I'd just gotten outta juvie, where they'd stuck me in solitary for a month, for lippin' off to the kind of creep who thought that juvenile corrections seemed like a worthy calling, and that month alone made me even weirder and more stubbornly determined to escape the never ending abuse and behavior modification bootcamping of those plantation states.
The band on stage were doing some kinda crazy, confetti colored, frenzied clash between Hanoi Rocks and the NY Dolls with bubble gummy Ramones choruses and atomic energy. The songs I think I remember from back then were about defending free speech, freedom of the press, choosing one's own preferred lifestyle, and fighting the P.M.R.C. and Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority ("Smut") and struggling to find a redemptive romance while being stuck working low wage blue collar jobs ("Gasboy"). I think they were already playing "Downtown Nowhere" that night, too, which became a big favorite among our small group of peers. Always adored, "You Threw Me Away", as well. I could instantly relate to everything they were doing.
- Details
- By Ed Garland
- Hits: 1964
Give Me Another Hœur Please God - Woolworths Flu Shot (Self released)
There is nothing more pathetic than boomers who lament there are no decent bands anymore.
Sure, they’re not as bad as the ones who go on about shitty, awful tribute cover bands populated by burned-out has-beens, or those people who think |godawful vineyard gigs with heritage acts responsible for the worst Australian music of the 1980s are somehow relevant.
Don’t listen to any of them. Some of the edgiest, toughest and most inventive bands are Gen Z. OK, it’s sometimes like panning for gold to find the nuggets of wildness, but they are out there.
It was a Wednesday night a few weeks ago when I dropped into the legendary and edgy Nimbin Hotel in Far Northern New South Wales. I entered to the sound of blisteringly loud noise as the bar’s floorboards shook.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1272
A – FÄHM (Hiss and Crackle Records)
The Blues never goes out of style, it just gets bent out of shape. This quintet from Wallsend, a suburb of Australia steel city Newcastle, applies its own stylistic panel beating and the result is a satisfyingly swampy pastiche.
Assembling members from local bands Howlin’ Rats, The Not Nots, The Outliers and Paper Thin, FÄHM (pronounced “Fam”), mixes up the medicine in some weird and wonderful ways. The bio cites influences like feedtime, Scientists, X and Beasts of Bourbon. The latter is obvious but for mine it’s the “Safe As Milk” era Captain Beefheart whose shadow looms largest.
- Details
- By Ron Brown & Bob Short
- Hits: 2628
Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier - Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier (I-94 Bar Records)
Hello I-94 Barflies. Well, folks, Chris Klondike Masuak has recorded his best album in years. This album is so heavy with riffs that I’ve found myself headbanging away here at The Farmhouse.
This album is mostly the sound of Klondike on guitar and vocals, Stuart Wilson kicking away on drums and vocals and Phil Hall keeping the bottom end in place on bass and ading vocals. On a couple of tracks, we have Tony Bambach (bass and vocals), as well as Juan Martinez El Kara (drums) and Abe Corujo on bass (those last two guys are from Chris’s former Galician band The Viveiro Wave Riders.)
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 1408
Theatre of Sorrow - Belligerent Dickhead (self released)
CAUTION: Smallish-scale own-trumpet tooting.
They do say that friends shouldn't review friends. Partly because friendship has an inherent bias, and partly because you could lose your friend. And your readership.
Personally, I think it's rather difficult to not meet musicians when you love music and hang in the same insalubrious establishments (usually smelling of stale beer and wee), which leads me to believe that vast swathes of music journos have, unbeknownst to the likes of us, given their mate's utter twaddle a firm thumbs-up.
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 2275
Under the World - Harry Howard with David McClymont (Monorail Music)
Like many break-up albums, “Under The World” mirrors our fears and losses. Unlike most albums in this genre, “Under The World”effortlessly avoids mopey me-me-me whining. Its lack of self-pity raises the bar of such experiences to the magisterial, touching on aspects of memory and forgiveness. Simple, powerful stuff which you can instantly relate to.
No, I'm sorry, but this is one break-up albums which doesn't reference the bombastic and horribly overblown likes of Ronnie James Dio or Tina Arena. Because “Under The World” is like that David Lynch close-up of the white picket fence and the ideal home that you shudder at as soon as you see it.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1850
Out In The Street – Angel Face (Slovenly Recordings)
Catchier than the Tokyo subway, “Out In The Street” is the second album for Tokyo’s Angel Face, and any fan of Real Kids or The Boys needs a copy – pronto. It’s 10 songs of no-nonsense, melodic street punk that the world deserves to hear.
I caught these guys in the flesh at the Tokyo Halloween Ball a couple of years ago and they were impressive over a weekend that delivered an embarrassment of riches. That may have been one of their earliest gigs because Angel Face have only been around a few years.
They’ve already put another long-player, a European festival date and a short US tour under their belts. Hercules (vocals), Fink (guitar), Toyozo (bass) and Rayco (drums) have the Japanese work ethic and their productivity would put most of their overseas contemporaries in a cardiac ward.
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Get in touch: barman@i94bar.com
The Living Eye
I-94 Bar presents
The Johnnys
(Billy Pommer Jr's Birthday)
+ White Knuckle Fever
Smiths Alternative, Canberra
- Feb 20
Tickets
+ Penny Ikinger's Marbles
+ Trauma Boys
St Kilda Sports Club, VIC
- Feb 21
Tickets
Peter Black solo
FEB
13 - The Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets
14 - Vinnies Dive Bar, Gold Coast, QLD (Matinee Show)
Tickets
19 - Medusa Bar, Geelong, VIC
Tickets
20 - Town Hall Hotel, Melbourne (two sets)
Details
21 - Shedshaker Brewing Company, Castlemaine, VIC
Details
27 - Hopsters Brewery - Sydney
Details
28 - Flow Bar - Old Bar, NSW
Details
MAR
1 - Hiss and Crackle Records, Newcastle, NSW
Details
Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
Service Station Chcken Tour
FEB
27 – The Main Bar, Ballarat, VIC
28 – Union Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
MAR
1 – Bendigo Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
The Gnomes
Dive! Dive! Dive!
Rock ‘n’ Roll Dive Bar Tour
FEB
14 - Shotkickers, Thornbury (8pm)
+ Public House + Special Guests
20 - The Tote Front Bar, Collingwood (6pm)
+ Champ Ruby
21 - Kindred Bandroom, Footscray (8pm)
+ Stimpies + special guests
The Sugar Beats
+ Plastic Section
Golden Barley, Enmore
- Feb 20
TsuShiMaMiRe (JP)
Australian Tour
FEB
19 - Shotkickers, Melbourne, VIC
20 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
22– Young St Tavern, Frankston, VIC
27 - Shadows, Canberra, ACT
28 – Moshpit, Sydney, NSW
The Jackets (CH)
Australian Tour
FEB
25 – Shotkickers, Thornbury, VIC
+ Plastic Section + Burning Effigy + Special Secret Guest
26 - Vineyard, St Kilda, VIC
(Door sales only)
27 – Mixtape Bar & Brewing, Marrickville,
Sydney, NSW
(moved from Marrickville Bowlo)
+ The Strike-Outs + pocketwatch
28 - The Bendi, Collingwood, VIC
MAR
1 -– Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC (arvo show)
+ Grinding Eyes, + The Damos
2 – The Last Chance, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets
Cosmic Psychos
"I Really Like Beer Tour"
FEB
12 — Royal Oak, Launceston, TAS
13 — Forth Pub, Devonport, TAS
14 — Altar, Hobart, TAS
Bleak Squad
8 - East Perth Power Station, WA
12 - .Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, VIC
13 - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, VIC
14 – Riverboats Festival, Echuca, VIC
19 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane, QLD
20 – Imperial Hotel, Eumundi, QLD
21 - The Regent Cinema, Murwillumbah, NSW
MAR
4 - Canberra Theatre Playhouse, ACT
5 - The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW
8 - Golden Plains Festival, Meredith, VIC
Tickets
On The Loose Presents
Guitar Wolf Australian Tour
MAR
14 - Perth, Seasonal Brewing Co.
15 - Fremantle, The Buffalo Club
all WA shows with Aborted Tortoise
18 - Gold Coast, Vinnie's Dive Bar
w/ supports TBC
19 - Nambour, The Ramp
w/ supports TBC
20 - Brisbane, Season Three
w/ Future Shocks & Evil Dick Industries
21 - Sydney, Factory Fusebox
w/ supports TBC
22 - Wollongong, La La La's
w/ Itchy & the Nits
25 - Bendigo, Trash Cult
w/ supports TBC
26 - Castlemaine, Bridge Hotel
w/ The Freedom Wave
27 - Melbourne, The Tote
w/ Alien Nosejob & Cujo
28 - Frankston, Singing Bird
w/ Split System & DJ Centipede & The Worms
29 - Balnarring, Social Club
w/ Cry Cyclops
Tickets
“Surreal Science”
Music of the Scientists &
Kim Salmon
and The Surrealists
APR
10 – The Corner, Melbourne
Tickets
11 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Tickets
18 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
Tickets
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07 February 2026
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30 January 2026
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One Monstar of a return
27 January 2026
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Humble Jim and his Family Dog deliver a classic
07 January 2026