Sex Pistols are No Fun? Frankly, you have to be joking

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By Stephen Vineberg

Stephen Vineberg

28 March 2025

Hits: 888

The Sex Pistols - featuring Frank Carter 
Teenage Cancer Trust
Royal Albert Hall, London
24 March 2025 

In short, a fantastic, fun show. Frank Carter is an inspired choice as front man. He brings incredible energy and respect to the songs and, to my mind, vanquishes any concerns of the Sex Pistols being a "karaoke act" without John Lydon. 

I was almost reluctant to see the reformed Sex Pistols. I had seen Generation Sex last summer, with Billy Idol supported by Paul Cook and Steve Jones. That was close to karaoke or perhaps closer to cabaret, as Billy Idol himself looked like a wax figure from a Hammer Horror Film. That day Glenn Matlock had played on the same bill with Blondie. I thought that was as close as I would ever get to seeing the Sex Pistols perform. 

• sex pistols
• glen matlock
• london
• steve jones
• paul cook
• frank carter
• teenage cancer trust

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A bouquet of guitar from Flowers For Jayne

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By Keith Claringbold

Keith Claringbold

23 March 2025

Hits: 836

It’s Never Easy – Flowers For Jayne (self released)

Sydney’s Flowers For Jayne have created a reputation for delivering “chunky” pop and rock. It’s all down to that crunchy Les Paul being used. The title track of last year’s “In The Keep” was a classic example, with its super catchy chorus, killer guitar tones and first rate production. It was one of my favourites in 2024.

The new FFJ single , “It’s Never Easy”, starts with a more mellow acoustic guitar leading the way but fear not, as the song builds , that familiar guitar crunch is there. It'sanother melodic rocker from the pen of Jayne Lily Murphy, who plays guitar and keyboards, and sings lead and backing vocals, with able assistance from Mary-Anne Cornford on bass and Peter Timmerman on drums.

The video for “It’s Never Easy” will be launched here on March 28.  The single will be launched on Sunday March 30 at the Gasoline Pony in Sydney and event details are here.

• flowers for jayne
• it's never easy

It's the end of the world as we know it and Guttercats feel fine

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By The Barman

The Barman

23 March 2025

Hits: 773

Rise & Fall of the Last Civilization – Guttercats (Wishing Well Records/Lucinda Records)

Scratch the surface of the underground rock and roll globe and there’s a whole lot of goodness lurking deep underneath with its roots in myriad and unexpected places. France’s enduring and esoteric Guttercats are a case in point, and this is Album Number Six.

French rock and roll cops a lot of flak  – some of it deservedly so. The place is rampant in high culture and the low brow stuff like rock and roll frequently gets trampled on. Deep down, the French do love refinement. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so it doesn’t pay to judge every book by its Tri-colour cover.

• guttercats
• lucinda records
• wishing well records
• rise & fall of the last civilization

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Hey Sydney: You're a city built on Rock Action so why does Dead Moon get no traction?

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By Dave Laing

Dave Laing

22 March 2025

Hits: 1302

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
• dave laing
• 20 years in the crypt: embedded on tour with dead moon
• fred cole
• lollipop shoppe

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Sold out shows as 5.6.7.8's swoop in with Best Of album

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By The Barman

The Barman

16 March 2025

Hits: 1013

Tokyo's rockin' all-girl retro riot The 5.6.7.8's have released a new 'Best of' LP on local label Cheersquad for their Australian tour starting this week, with Sydney and two Melbourne shows already solfd out.

The house fuill sign went uop on Sydney's Thursday show (with Psychotic Turnbuckles and Cheetah Beat) and it's the same story with Melbourne shows at The Tote (March 25) and The Last Chance (March 26).  Gigs in Brisbane, Beechworth and Hobart are selling fast.

• australian tour
• 2025
• 5.6.7.8's

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Rudd and Gaze classic pairing hits the road for select dates

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 March 2025

Hits: 1960

It’s a pairing for the ages: Master guitarist Tim Gaze (Tamam Shud, Khavas Jute) and Mike Rudd (Ariel, Spectrum) are doing a special run of shows in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales in May.

Rudd is best known for his work with Spectrum and that undeniably classic Australian song “I'll Be Gone”. He went on to front another metamorphosis of Spectrum in Indelible Murtceps and also Ariel, who found chart success with “Jamaican Farewell”.

These days, Mike plays as a duo with George Butrumlis and tackles songs that, for one reason or another, don't get played in the group setting. Outrageous songs like “Excuse Me Just One Moment” from Murtceps' “Warts Up your Nose” album and “Confessions of a Psychopathic Cowpoke” from Ariel's “A Strange Fantastic Dream” album, a song that was famously banned from airplay.

Opening the evening will be Tim Gaze who will take audiences on a trip re-visiting moments of his journey where he has regularly been referred to as one of Australia’s finest and inspiring guitarists.

These shows are proudly presented by SoundPressing.

Mike Rudd + Tim Gaze
MAY
2 - The Citadel, Murwillumbah, NSW
Tickets
3 - The Junk Bar, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets
4 - Banshees Bar, Ipswich, QLD
Tickets

• tamam shud
• tim gaze
• mike rudd
• spectrum
• ariel
• khavas jute

Groundhog Day as The OSees lay waste to Sydney

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

10 March 2025

Hits: 2348

_{Bryan Grenberg photo.} 

The OSees
+ G2G
+ Exit Mould
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
February 28, 2025

During the 1990s, The Metro was THE venue in Sydney. I could list the life-changing gigs that I went to and it was chocka block full of top shelf bills every weekend. More than a thousand punters crammed in and with great sound. And great sight-lines.  Tonight, I am back again to see if the sold-out OSees can top their intense performance of almost two years ago.

In the '90s, playing a gig at The Metro was something to aspire to. Even I played gigs there back in the day, as an opening act. Damn, they treated you well, with a fridge full of beer and a dressing room…complete  with a photocopied A4 piece of paper with your band’s name on the door. It was welcoming.

It is still a top shelf room in a prime location. While the suburbs outside the city are abuzz with Friday night teens, roaming gangs and dance music kitsch and glitter, The Metro is mostly (sadly) like the last oasis of rock ‘n’ roll in the Sydney CBD.

• sydney
• metro theatre
• osees
• G2G
• exit mould

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Detroit's The Strains kick major butt on new single

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 March 2025

Hits: 1241

“Running the Lines” b/w “Checkin’ Out” – The Strains (I-94 Recordings)

 It sounds cliched in these transnational times, but you can still get a sense of where a band lives from the sound of their records. The Strains are undeniably denizens of  the Motor City, with that gritty and uncompromising, blue collar guitar sound that’s rooted in the blues and late ‘60s heavy rock.

A side “Running Time” rides a wave of searing guitars, courtesy of Gretta Smak and Jamy Halliday, a tearaway tempo and the take-no-prisoners vocal of Paul Grace Smith (ex-Dumbell). It skids to a halt all too soon, running a touch over a coupla minutes. So play it again, Sam! Flip it and you’ll hear a spiffing cover of The Torpedos’ “Checkin’ Out” from 1979 (RIP Johnny Angelos) with a rolled gold minor chord melody that sticks like dogshit on your sneaker.

When you read a one-sheet describing The Strains as "a Detroit version of the Patridge Family", c’mon, you can’t help but get happy, because a semblance of irony still exists in a very confused Amerika. It's not on our own I-94 Bar label but the much more active I-94 Recordings imprint from Detroit. Get it here. The Strains are currently touring the Midwest with Handsome Dick Manitoba and be warned their full-length self-titled album that you’ll find here is a killer.

• detroit
• i-94 recordings
• the strains
• running the lines
• the torpedos
• checkin' out

Cyclone postpones sold-out Ups and Downs Sydney show

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 March 2025

Hits: 1697

_{Ups and Downs: Staying home for now.}

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is bearing down on the Australian coast and is already wreacking havoc on this weekend’s gigs in South-East Queensland. Today, it took down one in Sydney.

The sold-out Ups and Downs show with a reformed Crystal Set at Marrickville Bowling Club has been postponed as most members of the headliners are unable to leave Queensland for reasons that are too obvious. The band posted on Facebook:

Friends, it is with great regret that we have decided to postpone this Saturday's sold-out show at the Marrickville Bowling Club with the Crystal Set. Those of us who live in and around Brisbane need to stay close to home with family and friends as Cyclone Alfred approaches. The new date for the show is Thursday 10 April - all tickets remain valid, with refunds available if you cannot attend. Our huge apologies for all inconvenience this has caused!

Crystal Set’s shows at Smiths Alternative in Canberra on Friday and The Chippo in Sydney’s Chippendale from 5pm on Sunday are going ahead.  

• marrickville bowling club
• ups and downs
• cyclone alfred
• postponed
• crystal set