dead moon

Ahead of the premiere Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney screenings of “20 YEARS IN THE CRYPT: EMBEDDED ON TOUR WITH DEAD MOON” I ask:

"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T EVERYBODY WHO WAS PART OF SYDNEY'S '80S GARAGE SCENE GO HOG-WILD FOR DEAD MOON, THE BAND LED THROUGHOUT THE '90S BY FRED COLE OF THE LOLLIPOP SHOPPE???"

That's the question. It's been on my mind for 30+ years.. 

Does anyone have an answer?

More than any city in the world I reckon, Sydney's music scene from the end of the '70s through a good chunk of the '80s, was heavily into '60s American punk/garage rock, and the “Pebbles” series of compilations in particular.

The likes of the Lime Spiders and the Wet Taxis (and numerous others) tapped that material to the point that Kim Salmon in the Scientists' Sydney days used to complain about all the “Pebbles covers bands”. 

Maybe it's because by the end of the '80s that scene in Sydney was kinda dead. I dunno. But when Dead Moon appeared with their first album in 1989, they should have been a Sydney garage-rocker's wet dream.

Dead Moon drummer Andrew Loomis has passed away after illness, according to the band’s Facebook fan page. Loomis had to stand down from the band on the sporadic shows it has played of late. This statement was posted a couple of hours ago:

“He took a sudden and sharp, unexpected turn for worse a couple of weeks ago and has been in the hospital since February 25. Tests determined he had a series of mini strokes at home, then developed respiratory problems over this past weekend. This morning he was put on a morphine drip (and) passed peacefully.”

Loomis was originally diagnosed with cancer but was free of the disease when he passed away. 

 _{Ravin Divito photo}

Portland outfit Jenny Don’t and the Spurs have been recording and playing for the last 10 years and show no signs of slowing down. A supergroup combining members of Don’t, Wipers and Pierced Arrows, the Spurs combine the fast energy of garage and punk, with the attitude of outlaw country. If Patsy Cline started a band with some ratbags hanging around CBGB, it would sound like this.

We spoke with singer/guitarist Jenny Connors and her husband, and also Spurs bass player Kelly Halliburton from their Portland home just before they land in Australia for their second Spurs tour. 

^{A screenshot from “20 Years in The Crypt: Embedded With Dead Moon”.}

Dead Moon is a revered name in Australia. They also had a firm following in Europe and across the underbelly of the USA. Now, a new documentary on Dead Moon will have exclusive screenings in Australia in March and April.

“20 Years in The Crypt: Embedded With Dead Moon” delivers two-hours of live footage and candid off-stage vision, shot in 2001 and edited down from 180 hours of footage. 

It’s the work of US filmmakers Jason Axel Summers and Kate Fix, who also brought you the “Unknown Passage” documentary about Dead Moon and, more recently, “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”“I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”, the doco aboutAustralian underground rock'n'roller Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm, of Lubricated Goat).