Chris Masuak and Dog Soldier
The Silver Dragons
Link and Pin Café, Woy Woy
Sunday, 21 May 2023

We still want to cling to memories of our youth and for some it’s easier than others. Some say this music thing is an affliction. Others joke that it’s a curse and others consider it fun.

When we were teenagers or aged in our early 20s and seeing bands I don’t think we would have imagined that some of us would still would still be doing so 40 years later. In fact, I used see the musos on stage aged in their late 20s and think they were really old farts.

Well here I am on a Sunday afternoon, on the noisy express to Newcastle full of screaming kids and even louder adults bellowing, as the train weaves snake-like past the Hawkesbury River, on my way to another afternoon gig at the Link and Pin in Woy Woy. Heading to see Chris Masuak and one of his rare Australian tours these days.

The Link and Pin is venue of another time: an oasis that exudes an old-time vibe as you walk in. It’s like you stepped into a place not quite rural and certainly not inner-city despite its rock posters and wall full of underground records. The beer garden is rustic and packed as the drinks flow. I have never have not had a good time there.

_{Dave and Hoody: The Crisps. Shona Ross photo}

The Crisps
+ PocketWatch
+ The Hot Ness
Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
Friday, 7 April 2023

Photos: Shona Ross

Seventeen years after they last stood together on a Sydney stage, The Crisps are hitting the road up and down the Australian East Coast, partly to promote the release of an EP and partly for fun. Tonight’s show is number-two of the run and happening on the Friday of an Easter weekend.

Rocks
The Strike-Outs
The Jane Does
The MoshPit, St Peters, NSW
Saturday, April 1 2023

Punk rock takes us all back to a simpler time when schooners were cheaper, carpet was stickier and life much simpler.

The humble MoshPit bar at the St Peters end of King Street in Sydney aims to capture that simple spirit. It’s all dive bar ambience and vintage posters, and its modest capacity and open-door booking policy make it a much-needed nursery for the city’s underground bands.

This show was a mix of the old and the new. It was a 3pm kick-off and the place resembled the back bar of an RSL club at two-up start-time on ANZAC Day with a battalion of old soldiers lining its walls.

The Scientists
Earth Tongue
Cull - The Band
Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
4 March 2023
Photos: Alison Lea

It's the middle of Festival season here in Adelaide. As I walk toward the Lion Arts Centre, in the mid-1980s a sprawling, possibility-ridden centre of the most extraordinary range of Fringe shows for several years, Adelaide is chockas with assorted revellers starting out on their Saturday night of revelling, or whatever it is people do on a night roaming from club to club.

Many of the professional scroungers have arrived and are already parked on the footpath. A few will raise enough shrapnel for a box of goon and spend the rest of the night abusing passers-by until they're either kicked or arrested or both, followed by Maccas for brekky at the cop shop. A top night out; Adelaide can compete in the big leagues.

It's early yet (6.30pm), the doors open at 7, and the first band, Cull, will be on shortly after.

So. I see this bloke amble out of the venue. Spotting me, he ambles down the stairs and comes over. It's probably my new Josh Lord “Neotribalism”. T-shirt (huge red skull on the front) (note product placement). He comes over; 'Are you here for the gig?'

Osees
+ R.M.F.C.
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
15 February 2023
Photos - Vic Zubakin / Look Sharp Photography

Osees have been landing on Australian shores for more than a decade and consistently leaving an impression as a “must see” band.  Over the years, I have been in conversationswith people who have raved about the powerful live experience, the guitar sound and the energy.

When I heard claims they were “one of the best live rock bands in the world” I was always dubious. Let’s face it: rock roll can be about hype and creating a myth.  Finally, I had an opportunity to witness what all the talk has been about.  

Band leader John Dwyer is someone who anyone making independent original music should greatly admire.   Over 26 years, there are 33 albums he has produced, or played on. Dwyer is the last of a breed: the rock ‘n’ roll outlaw and fringe dweller completely living the music.

In the last decade, with intense work, he has made a real impact, supporting his music with shit jobs like stacking shelves, with one focus:  Running his own label, creating art, playing in a band and driving his part of a cottage industry.