2020 Barfly Top Ten: Ashley Thomson

Written by The Barman on 03 January 2021.

ASHLEY THOMSON
Ex-Kelpies, Rollcage, Brother Brick, Panadolls
Sydney, Australia

Top Ten Gigs I wish I was at drunk

Beatles - @ the Kaiserkeller - Hamburg, Germany. October 1960.
From the era when the Beatles played four sets a night, 50 days straight, making themselves an extremely tight rock n roll machine. Heineken ja ja!

The Doors - @ Whiskey a Go Go - Los Angeles, USA. August 1966
Mostly I just want to hear a fat version of “The End”. I’d probably drop a trip as well. JD. 

Coloured Balls/Lobby Lloyd - @ Sebastians, Melbourne. Saturday April 15, 1972 
I’d make sure I was fucking hammered and slammed my head into the PA when they did their “torture rock porn” version of Heartbreak Hotel, suck more piss indeed. Just beer. 

Robert Johnson @ anywhere around the Mississippi Delta, USA. 1935
“Hellhound on my Trail” is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Moonshine. 

The Byrds @ Whiskey a Go Go - Los Angeles, USA. 1966
So influential, changed everything, still listening to them. A trip as well? Not sure. Watermelon wine. 

Clown Town - The Circus Chaplains (self released)

Written by The Barman on 26 January 2016.

I’ve played this CD several times since I received it, and the reason it gets only three bottles is that while it’s really good, it just doesn’t seem to get up and grab me. Maybe that’s me, maybe that’s the production, or the recording on the day. Call me a bastard, feel free, but to me the pace seems just a little too slow, lacking in attack… or something. I can’t quite nail it.

It seems that the imperative a band like this should have has not come out. This happens far too often with recordings (several favourite Adelaide bands who I absolutely loved have released CDs and LPs which seem sheepish rather than roar like a bull buffalo in Kakadu; the worst part is, when a band know the record isn’t up to snuff, they know it and feel bad. The next step should be to determine to do better next time).

R.I.P. Jim Atkins of The Kelpies, Bedhogs

Written by The Barman on 21 January 2017.

_{Ashley Thomson photo}

Jim Atkins, singer in The Kelpies, The Bedhogs and other '80s Sydney punk bands, has passed away in a Darwin hospice after a long battle defying cancer. He was aged 56. 

Friends posted news on Facebook a few days ago that Jim (aka Jim Bedhog aka James Gelding) was extremely unwell. News of his passing landed today and sparked a string of online tributes.