- Details
- By Bob Short
- Hits: 1263
Not Like Everybody Else – The Damned (earMusic)
Growing up in Sydney in the ‘70s, betrothed to the rise of punk music, you and most of your fellow travellers understood that this music had roots. It did not appear out of vacuum. It was a folk art built upon a tradition.
While folk art maybe sneered upon by some, it creates a sense of community and shared history. And punk rock is counter culture. It celebrates the outsider by counter-intuitively placing the outsider within the shared myth of the outsider.
Humans love our smoke and mirrors.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 695
Live At The ANZA Club - Rich Hope (Planned Obsolescence Recording & Novelty Inc)
There was a time when you could walk into a designated rock and roll club in most sizeable North American cities and try your luck, knowing that you might just stumble on a band that would make it the best night of your month.
It may still be the case in musical hotbeds like Austin and Nashville. No idea because it’s been such a loooong time between long-haul trans-Pacific flights. But that's the scenario that Canadian rocker Rich Hope tried to replicate on “Live At The ANZA Club”.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 780
Kicks and Diabolik Licks – Brian James (Easy Action)
As his last will and testament, “Kicks and Diabolik Licks” is Brian James as most fans of The Damned have never heard him.
It’s rock and roll, mostly, stripped right back in places with a dollop of jazz, and most of it is a few steps removed from the punk rock foundation that he helped build and the dark storm that was The Lords of The New Church.
Brian James passed in March 2025 after protracted health issues. Not before he’d re-joined Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies for Damned shows and a one-off with a reconstituted Lords with Michael Monroe subbing for the long departed Stiv Bators.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1086
Life in Reverse – The Dahlmanns (Fabcom Records/Waterslide Records)
Two full-length albums in 16 years doesn’t sound like the hallmark of a productive band, but appearances are deceptive and The Dahlmanns aren’t typical.
Revolving around the axis of husband-and-wife founders Andre (guitar) and Line Dahlmann (vocals), this Norwegian outfit is best described as a “singles band”, with no less than 16 releases in that format or as extended plays (that’s EPs for the dummies).
The Dahlmanns aren’t exactly unknown among discerning music fans. They’ve featured on TV and movie soundtracks in their homeland, and have collaborated with the likes of Andy Shernoff (The Dictators), Chips Kiesbye (Sator), Francis McDonald (Teenage Fanclub) and Amy Rigby. Much of trhe back catalogue is here.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1172
Long March Through The Jazz Age – The Saints (Fire Records)
This deserves your attention and not because it’s posthumous.
The Saints’ 15th studio album, “Long March Through The Jazz Age”, snuck out before the 2025 Christmas-New Year break and, despite best endeavours, appeared to make only a slight dent in public consciousness.
It’s not hard to work out why.
The Saints had been away a long time – the last album, “King Of The Sun”, was released in 2012. Chris Bailey was a private person but the contemporary economics of fronting a band and ill-health probably had a lot to do with that.
- Details
- By Edwin Garland
- Hits: 2285
In The Manifesto - Sacred Cowboys (Torn &Frayed/Beast Records)
It’s cause for a celebration whenever Sacred Cowboys release a new album. Principal member Garry Gray holds his freak flag high in a fight against mediocrity in music, and he’s now reunited with a fellow founding member in Mark Ferrie.
I have long argued that the Celibate Rifles captured the frantic and wild, surf-meets-Detroit Sydney Sound with their own laconic touch. Sacred Cowboys are a shining light of what the best of the Melbourne Sound. They play rootsy bar room blues, swampy while embracing post punk's excursions and maintaining a sense of punk's urgency.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1333
Grrrr! – Girl Monstar (Vicious Kitten)
The groove is the thing on “Grrrr!!” - and so it should be on an album with a name approximating one of the many Best Of collections by the Stones. Drummer Susan Shaw (nee Sue Wold, of The Wraylettes, The Wet Ones, The Exotics and Plastic Section) and Janene Abbott lay down smooth ‘n’ slinky rhythms, and the rest follows.
So to the review but first, the backstory: Girl Monstar existed in Australia a very different time. Home base Melbourne was artier than its rawer cousin Sydney but bands like Girl Monstar were spanning both. The Big Day Out festival juggernaut emerged at the tail end of their run and pushed the underground onto a different level.
- Details
- By Edwin Garland
- Hits: 2563
Thunk - Jim Moginie and The Family Dog (Reverberama)
Former Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie’s book “The Silver River” outlines how the earliest gigs for his solo band, The Family Dog, were a humbling experience.
Not unlike early shows by his teenage band FARM in the mid-1970s, they played obscure venues outside the city so he could re-learn his craft and build confidence as frontman and singer. He was incredibly nervous,. Very few people showed up, and many only did so out of curiosity.
That’s Jim Moginie all over. Normally, when a member of an international band of some standing appears in a relative backwater (Midnight Oil sold 25 million records and ranks as the third most successful band that Australia has produced) it would be massive news. Jim exudes a sweeping humility and it shines through on this album.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1430
10 More – MC50 (earMUSIC)
Well ain’t this the surprise packet, coming seven years after the run of shows it captures and more than a year after the release of the MC5-in-name-only record, “Heavy Lifting”. If you grabbed it, you might also have snavelled the live MC50 album “10 X MC5” that came as a bonus with some copies.
MC50 is the all-star band assembled by the late Wayne Kramer to mark the 50th anniversary of “Kick Out The Jams”. It comprised Kramer and Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) on guitars, Brendan Canty (Fugazi) on drums, Billy Gould (Faith No More) on bass, and Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla) on vocals. Matt Cameron (Soundgarden/Pearl Jam) alternated on drums.
- Chow down on "Service Station Chicken" and taste the Aussie pub difference
- Dom's new country-inflected gem has pop at its core
- Ex-Trash Brat Brian McCarty's soulful letter from the Motor City
- Woolworths Flu Shot is just what the doctor ordered for you jaded Boomers
- Do you like FÄHM? Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do
- Masuak's Dog Soldier charts its own course on new album
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The Living Eye
Indie Sounds of the Harbour City Vol 2
Launch Tour
JULY
24 - Crowbar Sydney
25 - Vi-Nil HQ, Ourimbah, NSW
26 - Link & Pin, Woy Woy, NSW
31 - The Vic, Orange, NSW
AUG
1 - Crossroads, Dubbo, NSW
7 - Diamond Dogs, Dapto, NSW
8 - Wings & Tins, Dee Why, NSW
The Strike-Outs
"Double Negative" Launch Tour
JULY
25 - Ryan's Hotel, Thirrhoul, NSW
Heavy Medication Records, Savage Magic Records
& I-94 Bar Records present
"Two Headed Dog Euro Tour"
Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier
+ The Crisps
JULY
23 - Krakow - Klub Baza (PL)
24 - Warsaw - Klub Mechanik Warsaw (PL)
25 – Berlin - Wild at Heart (DE)
31 – Paris - L'Armony (FR)
AUGUST
1 – Paris - Holy Holster (FR)
(Unplugged)
6 – Toulouse - L'autan Bar (FR)
(with Big T & The Nuts)
7 – Montpellier - Secret Place (FR)
(with Big T & The Nuts)
8 - Marseille - L'Intermediare Live
9 – Sete - Guinguette Thau'thèmes (FR)
Amammoth + None For One
+ Old Heathens + Buzz Wagon
+ The Limited + Headspacer
+ My Velvet Exit
Lazy Thinking, Dulwich Hill, NSW
2.30-11PM
- July 25
Smoked Salmon
Totally Sick!! Tour
JULY
24 - Mojo's, Fremantle, WA
25 - Prince of Wales, Bunbury, WA
31 - Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
AUG
1 - Shotkickers, Thornbury, VIC
2 - Wheatsheaf, Adelaide, SA
6 - La La La's, Wollongong, NSW
7 - Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham , NSW
8 - Link & Pin, Woy Woy, NSW
9 - The Oak Tighes Hill, Newcastle, NSW
(free)
14 - Tanswells, Beechworth, VIC
(free)
15 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra, ACT
21 - Republic Bar, Hobart, TAS
22 - Royal Oak, Launceston, TAS
28 - Junk Bar, Brisbane, QLD
29 - Blah Bar, Lismore, NSW
30 - Cabarita Beach Club, Cabarita, NSW (free)
SEP
4 - Young St Tavern, Frankston, VIC
The Exploding Universe of Ed Kuepper
Ed Kuepper 50 Years Retrospective
JULY
30 - Avoca Theatre #
31 - Canberra, The Street
AUG
1 - Wombarra Bowlo
6 - Adelaide, The Gov
8 - Melbourne, National Theatre
9 - Barwon Heads Hotel
15 - Fremantle, Freo Social
20 - Brisbane, The Princess
21 - Coffs Harbour, The Jetty Theatre
22 - Murwillumbah, Regent Theatre
27 - Sydney, Enmore Theatre
Tickets
Joeys Coop
AUG
22 - Union Hotel, Newtown, NSW
+ The On and Ons
28 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra
+ Sanctimonious Fux
30 - Link & Pin, Woy Woy, NSW
SEP
13 - Marrickville Bowlo, NSW
+ Swaggerland
18 - Tap Room, Castlemaine, VIC
19 - Painted Lady, Ballarat, VIC
+ Cold Irons Bound + Neutron Flow
20 - Union Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
NOV
28 - Blah Bar, Lismore, NSW
29 - Junk Bar, Brisbane, QLD (arvo)
Huxton Creepers
12 Days To Paris Tour
AUG
7 - Sooki Lounge, Belgrave, VIC
+ Icecream Hands
8 - Croxton Bandroom, Thornbury, VIC
+ Icecream Hands
14 - Marrickville Bowling Club, NSW
+ The Johnnys
15 - Marrickville Bowling Club, NSW
+ The Johnnys
16 - Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
(afternoon show)
+ The Johnnys
21 - Norton Music Factory,
Caloundra, QLD
+ The Johnnys
22 - Crowbar Brisbane, QLD
+ The Johnnys
+ Mick Medew and Ursula
23 - Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba, QLD
(afternoon show)
+ The Johnnys
I-94 Bar Records presents
Psychotic Turnbuckles
Vinyl Single Launch
+ Spittin' Chips
+ The No Such Things
Marrickville Bowlo, NSW
- Sept 5
Tickets
The Damned
Final Damnation 50
Australia and New Zealand
SEP
8 - AUCKLAND, Powerstation
10 - SYDNEY, The Opera House
11 - BRISBANE, The Tivoli
13 - MELBOURNE, The Forum
Tickets
Public Image Ltd
Australia and NZ
JAN
20 - Auckland, Powerstation
22 - Brisbane, The Tivoli
23 - Sydney, Enmore Theatre
24 - Melbourne, The Forum
26 – Adelaide, The Gov
28 - Perth, The Astor
Respect The Rock Austraklian Tour
The Hellacopters + Gluecifier
MARCH
17 – Brisbane, The Triffid
18 – Sydney, Manning Bar
19 – Melbourne, The Croxton
20 – Adelaide, Ed Castle
Tickets
Fresh Reviews
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Ghosts in the machine
20 July 2026
-
Copulaters will give you a boning
08 July 2026
-
Album Number Three hits the mark for Joeys Coop
04 July 2026
-
The Strike-Outs load the bases with electricity
28 June 2026
-
A Jungian and a tofu thief walk into a bar...
29 May 2026