peter simpson

_{Colin Gray (right) with Kim Salmon.}

It’s been another productive year at Vicious Kitten Records with new album releases by Kevin K & The Bowery Kats, Pillbox NYC and (next month) the new album by Melbourne outfit Girl Monstar, who have reformed and recorded a new album after a 30 year hiatus!

Before I get to my top 10, I want to acknowledge the efforts of two cats who are responsible for the incredible sound and artwork on the Vicious Kitten releases – being sound wiz Ernie O at his Urban Fringe Compound, and the best graphic artist in the biz, Mark Rubenstein. I cannot recommend these two guys enough. If you need creative design/art for your project in 2026, Mark is your man. In terms of rock ‘n’ roll highpoints for the year just gone, it’s challenging to narrow it down to 10, but here goes……..

Another busy year in the gig circuit in 2025. Plenty of gigs were attended. Plenty of old and new bands were viewed and enjoyed. It was also a year where seven Newcastle bands took on the domestic and global radio land.

Over the past six months Drugs in Sport, Melvic Centre, Autumn Hearts, Joint Pains, East Coast Low, Lachlan X. Morris and FÄHM ended up being played by more than 450 syndicated radio stations across 11 countries, including Cambodia and Mexico, with a total of over 2800 plays (that are known!! - most are on a regular rotation now) that consumed over 9000 minutes of airtime and made 32 Top Tens and produced four number-ones.

The Dubrovniks are playing a one-off Perth show before embarking on another European tour.

The band reformed for Australian and European shows this time last year and is off overseas again.Their only local appearance will be Thursday June 2 at the Rosemount Hotel, supported by The Volcanics. Tickets are on sale now from http://www.rosemounthotel.com.au/

Peter Simpson, former member of The Dubrovniks and The Spectre’s Revenge,has stepped back into the spotlight with a new single, “Letter to London”.

Described as “a piece of ragged rock/pop”, “Letter to London” ruminates on a long-distance relationship that has run its course.  Simpson plays guitar and sings, bass is by Marco Galand Dom Simpson plays drums.

It’s been a long, stop-and-start journey for Simpson, who was a keyboardist in Perth pop band Teeny Weenys when he relocated to Sydney in 1980. The band broke up despite Double Jay airplay and Simpson performed in various groups before switching to guitar and fronting The Spectre’s Revenge.

Playing an eclectic style of rock that drew on everything from surf instrumentals to acoustic ballads to a kind of punk jazz. The band’s only official release, 1985’s “No Moon at Midnight “b/w “(I wanna be like) Maynard G Krebbs”, reached number one on the alternative charts in Sydney and Melbourne.

In the meantime, various other Perth expatriates had gathered in Sydney in bands such as The Scientists and Hoodoo Gurus. In 1987, Simpson got together with some ex-members of these bands to form The Dubrovniks.

A couple of hit indie singles and an ARIA-award-nominated debut album made The Dubrovniks bigger than anyone had anticipated, and they were soon touring Europe, recording a second album, and even breaking into the mainstream Top 40.

As far as dipping a toe back in the water, this EP is just short of complete immersion at the deep end for Peter Simpson. You can hear the Dubrovkniks guitarist-vocalist has put a lot of himself into these five songs and it mostly pays off.

It seems like a million years ago (it’s actually 37) since Simpson arrived in Sydney from Perth in a briefly successful but long-forgotten band called Teeny Weeny. He went on to play in the Dubrovniks (via The Spectre’s Revenge), experiencing fame if not fortune.

Good Times Gone Bad – Peter Simpson (Verified Records)

It was in a review of ex-Dubrovniksmember Peter Simpson’s “Return of the Diletante” EP that we asked, ‘Where’s the full-length album?’, and “Good Times Gone Bad” is the answer. The good news is that it was worth the eight-year wait.

“Good Times Gone Bad” winds the sonic clock back to Australian underground rock’s halcyon days of the 1980s, when guitars were blaring out of pubs on every second inner-city corner and even permeating mainstream radio. A more simple time with simpler songs, and of course, most good times inevitably do go bad.

At times, “Good Times Gone Bad” sounds like The Dubrovniks with less of thefr latter-day gloss. Inevitable, really, with Simpson front and centre and old bandmates Chris Flynn and Boris Sudjovic along for the ride on backing vocals. That said, it’s a Peter Simpson record. He wrote all nine songs, plays guitars and sings.