Born Out of Time series kicks off in Sydney

Written by The Barman on 05 July 2018.

Call it a gathering of the garage rock tribe or a gig for underground music’s disaffected, but the “Born Out of Time #1” bill of high energy bands is going to rock Sydney’s socks off.  

 

A mini-festival of awesome proportions at Marrickville Bowling Club in Sydney on Saturday, September 15, it’s the first of a series of national shows to showcase the best REAL Rock n Roll in the land. 

 

Presented by Off The Hip Records and I-94 Bar, “Born Out of Time #1” features a line-up of motor-headed Melbourne punks Grindhouse; kings of fat ‘n’ drunken stupidity The Crusaders; new voodoo crew The Beat Taboo; revived and resurgent Sydney punks Aberration;  and young Melbourne band The Devours. 

 

“The concept of Born Out Of Time is to take bands from the label, and others, to places where they might not otherwise play,” says Off The Hip Records honcho Mick Baty. 

 

“It’s a value for money, five-band bill that echoes the sort of nights that made the Sydney Trade Union Club famous in the 1980s.”

 

Grindhouse will be promoting their brand new third album, “Can I Drive Your Commodore?”, which has attracted stellar reviews. 

 

The Crusaders will be making one of their all-too-rare appearances and their first since supporting The Sonics in Sydney two years back. 

 

The Beat Taboo is a group of Melbourne veterans with a swamp-voodoo album "Dirry Stash" making noise in Australia and overseas. 

Fifteen years and going strong: Off The Hip still burns bright

Written by The Barman on 19 March 2017.

_{Mickster Baty at home in his Off The Hip shop.}

The music industry is a shallow trench full of sharks and transient imprints, to paraphrase Hunter S Thompson. Independent record labels come and go with the regularity of manufactured reality TV stars and only a few manage to find their niche and prosper. In Australia, only Citadel is still standing from the halycon days of the 1980s. A few rose in the '90s to fill the gaps left by the demise of Phantom and Waterfront. Since the 2000s, the most enduring has been Melbourne-based Off The Hip.

Off The Hip grew out co-founder Mick ("Mickster") Baty's love of all things garage rock, powerpop and psychedelia. A drummer and veteran of one of Sydney's finest garage-trash outfits, The Crusaders, he went on to killer powerpop bands The Pyramidiacs and The Finkers. Baty saw Off The Hip as an outlet for his own music. He had re-located to Melbourne by then and formed The Stoneage Hearts, a shifting cast of players who produced top-shelf garage rock with a pop bent.

A retail operaiton operating out of his house morphed into a bricks-and-mortar shop in Melbourne's CBD and a floodgate of releases via the fledgling label ensued. It's been an enduring success - on its own terms - since then. Off The Hip - the label and the shop - have inspired and contrinuted to the existence and growth of hundreds of bands. 

Last month, the Off The Hip label celebrated its 15th birthday. We decided it was high-time for Mickster to occupy the interview seat.

Nothing's Taboo in this Beat surrender

Written by The Barman on 20 August 2017.

Pange, Chris and Yolanda of Beat Taboo. 

The Beat Taboo, 
The Metro, Adelaide, Friday, August 18, 2017 
The Grace Emily, Adelaide,  Saturday, August 19, 2017
Pics by Mandy Tzaras

For a while there I didn’t think I’d be able to see any bands this weekend, as your poor scribe being pulled in several directions at once seems to be a bit of a hobby for some. 

So we were only able to squeeze in Melbourne visitors The Beat Taboo on both nights of their Adelaide stand. I must apologise to the other bands, they know who they are, and, be reassured, I will see them again, properly.

In the meantime, I would like you to cast your mind back to the dimly recalled halls of the (yes, I know, here we go again) 1970s and 1980s.