Time to get your skates on if you're cashed up and in need of a piece of Australian rock and roll history. Ex-Radio Birdman drummer Ron Keeley is parting with his infamous "Radios Disappear" drumface on eBay in the UK and it has only days to run.
Designed by bassist Warwick Gilbert, it was created but never used on the band's ill-fated tour of Europe in 1978 and has been in storage ever since.
The On and Ons streaming from Sydney venue The Moshpit.
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the music industry globally. As if the digital disruption of music sales in the post CD era wasn’t enough, the closure of venues has killed the oldest revenue stream known to musicians, the live gig.
As the first industry to close and most likely the last to re-open, the meagre incomes of musicians have collapsed and the outlet for their creativity has disappeared. But being resilient and creative thinking beasts, the music industry and has turned its hand to live streaming as a way out of this abyss.
Jack White’s Third Man Records will issue a soundboard recording of the last show by the original line-up of The Stooges in August, a day short of 50 years after the performance.
"Live At Goose Lake: August 8, 1970" is a previously-unheard, high-quality recording of the Stooges, recorded just before the release of their earthshaking 1970 album "Fun House", and will be available on vinyl, CD and digital on August 7.
Not content to wait for a Record Store Day stifled by Coronavirus disruption, the Hoodoo Gurus will release their new single in limited edition, vinyl form.
"Answered Prayers" is out on June 12, along with an expanded, digital edition of their 2004 album "Mach Schau" combining tracks from the Australian and US editions in a new 16-song running order.
"Answered Prayers" is already available digitally and is the first "new" music from the band in 10 years - not counting 2014's "Gravy Train", a freshly-recorded EP of lost tracks from the band's early days with former members.
“Someday soon, will you tell us when it’s time to play for you?” asks iconoclastic Australian music legend Ron S. Peno, towards the nd of “See You When I’m Looking At You”, the nearly nine-minute long "chain" song from Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission and friends and released this week.
It’s a question that many artists hope will soon be answered, and one of many telling moments in an epic song, sung and worded by a cross-generational selection of some of Australia’s finest singer-songwriters in COVID-19 isolation.
Conceived by Thomas – the ARIA-winning singer-songwriter of Weddings Parties Anything – in April, “See You When I’m Looking At You” began life when Mick wrote a verse and a chorus while isolating in his Melbourne backyard.
Legendary British rock and roll group The Godfathers will release a new double A side single - "I’m Not Your Slave" b/w "Wild And Free" - on June 17 to celebrate the 35th anniversary since the band’s formation.
Both tracks were recorded immediately prior to the Coronavirus lockdown in the UK and although composed late last year, strike a chord with current events. Sole surviving original member Peter Coyne describes them as “truly exciting, state of the art rock and roll”.
Following an acrimonious split with the last line-up, frontman Coyne is joined by guitarist Richie Simpson and drummer Billy Duncanson (both previously in Heavy Drapes and Baby’s Got A Gun), bass player Jon Priestley from iconic punk band The Damned and guitarist Wayne Vermaak.
The Godfathers - famed for their primal rock sound with songs like "Birth School Work Death", "I Want Everything" and "Unreal World", a mob inspired image and explosive live concerts - will resume touring in 2021 to promote a new studio album.
The single is available in limited edition, seven-inch vinyl single and limited edition CD that features the two numbers, plus demo versions of both songs unavailable in any other format. Pre-orders here.
The original Dictators.
Hugely influential pre-punk pathfinders the Dictators are reforming to record and possibly play. But it will be without longtime vocalist Handsome Dick Manitoba, with the 'Tators reverting to their original configuration.
Bassist-vocalist Andy Shernoff confirmed the move today, saying he and guitarists Ross The Boss and Top Ten would re-convene with ex-Blue Oyster Cult member Albert Bouchard on drums. Shernoff, the songwriting member of the Dictators, said the line-up would soon be "recording a few tunes to feel things out".
Friends of the late Richard Lane (The Painkillers, ex-The Stems, The On and Ons, Rosebuds and The Chevelles) have rallied to raise money for his family with a fund-raiser now active on Go Fund Me.
Tributes are pouring into the page for the talented musician from Fremantle who passed away the weekend before last.
The founding member of The Stems ran a local music school and was heavily involved with his community. He is survived by his wife Cathy and daughter Penny.
You can leave your message and donation here.
Australian underground elder statesman and co-founder of The Stems, Richard Lane, has passed away in Fremantle. An announcement has been made via The Stems’ Facebook page.
Richard had lately been a member of The Painkillers, the hard-rocking garage outfit formed by James Baker, and rehearsed with them last Saturday.
Richard and Dom Mariani formed The Stems in 1983 and went on to have a fruitful if tumultuous musical partnership. Lane was a driving musical force behind the band’s early garage sound, epitomised on their early singles. He also played guitar and keyboards on the debut album “At First Sight Violets Are Blue” and the 2007 reformation record, “Heads Up”.
The band dissolved in 1987 but has reformed a couple of times. Richard was not a part of the line-up that was reconstituted in 2013.
Richard spent time living in Perth and Sydney. He formed a small record label, Idaho Records, in Perth in the 1990s and played in a number of other important bands including The Chevelles, The Rosebuds and The On and Ons.
Richard founded Penny Lane’s Music Workshop in Fremantle in 2003 as a community-based outlet to teach music. He is survived by second wife Cathy and daughter Penny.