Hi I'm Squatter the Cockatiel. I share a house with Chris Converse (4ZZZ and Punkfest) and Cathy Kerlin (Punkfest and Platform 5 Cafe and Bar) so I get to meet the really cool GC's* and hear some great music.

I am also a 4ZZZ subscriber.

Here is my top ten releases of 2022, in no particular order:

The Owen Guns- Dawn of the Braindead

Mitch, Please - Yes Thanks

The Square Tugs - "Monster Hits"

Eviction - "Demo"

The Interrupters - "In the Wild"

The Disables - "No more Rules, No more Ruled"

Mucho Sonar - "Under the Influence"

The Cutaways - "Cheap Curtains"

Topnovil - "Stand Tall"

Masochist - "Bloom"

Hope you enjoy my selection and like the picture. I am way more popular than Cathy or Converse.

Love and chirps,

Squatter

*Cockatiel for Good C_nts

_{Tony Bishop, Rob Lastdrager and Leon Beveridge. See item 2.}

With the world and me still waking up from the pandemic in 2022, my Top Ten consists of some old friends and favourites, re-visited, remembered and revived.

Experiencing Covid for the first time at New Year’s and enduring a heatwave in Melbourne, I’m not complaining. It’s given me quiet time to think and a chance to raise a glass to all my departed rock and roll compadres. RIP Chris Bailey especially. The raw energy of the early Saints powered my escape from Brisbane in the '80s, something for which I will be eternally grateful.

MARVELLOUS MUSICAL MOMENTS OF 2022 AND MORE MUSINGS:

Firstly, thanks to The Barman and I-94 Bar contributors Keith Claringbold, Dylan Webster, Matty Ryan and Edwin Garland who included my shows with my band in NSW and Melbourne in their Top Tens for 2022. That is so cool and greatly appreciated! Thanks to everyone who came to these shows! It was fabulous to see so many “old” friends there!

Thanks to the musicians who played in my band – Tim McCormack on bass, Jason McGann on drums, Julian Held on guitar, Sam Billinghurst-Walsh on guitar and Ryan Oliver on keyboards. They are worthy of the attention they have been getting.

In fact, thanks to all the musicians who performed live on the indie rock circuit in 2022. These are not easy times for many musicians, and it’s been fantastic to see so many artists back in action on stage, in the post lockdown world. Often, I cross paths with them when they attend other people’s gigs as well. It’s a wonderful thing to behold - intrepid rock’n’roll soldiers leading the charge to bring live music back into the forefront of our hearts and minds! 

Thanks to all the punters who have been supporting live gigs. Thanks to the music journalists for reviewing our shows and new releases and to the radio presenters who have been playing our music. Thanks to the venues and the promoters, with a special thanks to The Barman for his tireless efforts to keep our rock scene alive and well.

My radio program “Sydney Sounds” had been on 2RRR-FM in Sydney on Saturday nights from 6pm for almost 20 years.  Earlier this year, it was moved to the earlier time slot of 2pm Saturday, which is a more accessible slot for many of its listeners, so has managed to maintain its faithful followers and gain new ones. It can be streamed live via website 2rrr.org.au as well as all online radio streaming apps.

Woody Radio – DJs Gidget and Boris
A non-profit internet radio station based out of Canada run by Gidget and Boris alongside a team of international DJs that plays the best mix of indie power-pop, rock, punk, goth, electro and metal music that you probably never heard of (unless you keep your ear to the ground and finger on the pulse of the up-and-coming bands and artists).

For the past two years, both Gidget and Boris have kept Suburban Urchins in their charts, firstly with the "Born In The Suburbs" album, and Gidget has closed out 2022 with the Zed Girl EP climbing to number-one on her chart. LIsten here.

2022 was another year that was hampered by the pandemic; while we are seeing green shoots of recovery, the scars are still pretty deep. I’ve spent most of the year doing the usual stuff, so this is some of what has poked it’s head up in my rounds.

1. Guitar sales
2022 wasn’t all bad news for rock and roll. It seems that the market for new guitars has nearly reached $3b globally… which is a helluva lot of new Fender Strats. I know I’ve been doing my bit, but it does mean that the death knell for guitar based rock and/or roll may have been premature.

2. Young Rock Renaissance
On the back of those sales we’ve been seeing an increase in younger rock acts taking up the mantle. While the standard bearers of the Aussie bogan rock scene, Amyl & the Sniffers and The Chats,  have gone from strength to strength, I’m seeing a lot of younger acts finding their feet on the live scene in Sydney. Special mentions to Euterpe, Polly and of course, out of self interest, Pocketwatch.

_{The Barman at an I-94 Editorial Board meeting with Our Man in Dimboola, Ron Brown (left).}

THE BARMAN’S BEST ALBUMS OF 2022

Do The Understanding – Ron S Peno and The Superstitions (self released)
Ron S Peno has equalled and maybe surpassed his output with Died Pretty after a succession of excellent records with his champion Melbourne band. The man needs a muse and found an outstanding one in co-writer and guitarist Cam Butler. This is the Album of the Year.

The rest in no particular order:

The Damned: A Night Of A Thousand Vampires (Live in London) 2CD & Blu Ray
One of my all-time favourite bands. The Damned can do no wrong. Been blasting this a lot over the summer.

Evil Roomers: "Then Again/Revibe" 2CD
Comprising of an Evil Roomers rehearsal tape plus an additional disc of reworked and overdubbed recordings. Listening to this it is clear that the late Ian Krahe provided X with quite a lot of music that lives on in many of their signature songs.

Albert Bouchard: "Re-Imaginos" CD
Originally released in 2020, I only managed to grab a copy this year. Former Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) drummer Albert Bouchard re-imagines their much-maligned “Imaginos” concept album, originally a Bouchard solo project, released back in the mid-80s. “Re-Imaginos” features all new recordings and a double-album’s worth of material as initially intended. His talent as a writer and arranger is fully evident here, and the understated acoustic based backing lets the songs stand on their own without distraction. It is easy to see how the quality of BOC releases following his departure dropped in quality, his absence highlighting the importance of his artistic contributions to the original band. Guests include Ross “The Boss” Friedman and former BOC bassist Joseph Bouchard.

R.I.P. Ed Yonker. At the time of his passing earlier in 2022, I was going to write a few words about this legend of the Australian music Industry.

This quiet achiever in an industry full of sycophants, where inflated egos don’t match their mediocrity.

There few gems I have encountered in “the industry” like Ed Yonker. He was one of the good ones. A hip cool cat with his leather jacket who, as a teenager, had seen the Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Animals in Holland in 1963-65. At first, he was not that impressed by what he found in the Australian musical landscape when he migrated here.

Ed was of the one first attendees at Beatle Village on Oxford Street in Sydney. He used to catch the train, avoiding the bogans who wanted to fight a cool kid in what was the early days of the Bohemian inner-city music scene. He was often at the gigs by The Easybeats , The Creatures and The Missing Links.