- Details
- Written by: Chris Masuak
- Hits: 279
2025 threatened to be a year of crushing existential foreboding … a year of vulgar democratic erosion, racism, and sensationally grotesque hyper-nationalism. Violent weirdness. But, we managed to thwart most of it. Here are some observations and some highlights:
1. Australia seemed to have decided to skirt pesky issues like empathy and human decency, defer to genocide apologists, and chuck justice, accountability, and democratic freedom to buggery.
Trying to understand the “rules” in oZ has become more complex, confusing, and demoralizing than trying to find a parking space in Leichhardt!
2. The Decline and Fall of the US Empire.
“So what?”, some may say. With the United Stazi no longer the de facto Boss Of Stuff, 2026 is bound to be a clusterfuck as the status quo Rearranges Their Priorities.
3. The Epstein Files. (Waits for laughter to subside.)
“How guilty is Donald?”
“Your world does not understand how dumb he really is.” (Epstein’s response.)
How much popcorn can we eat?
4. Los Revelators
This groove-tastic li’l Spanish garage power-punk ensemble continues to chug away, having blasted out a few choice concerts and mini tours over the year (notably, one show with Leon rock legends The Salamanders).. The debut album should be ready for release in early 2026.
- Details
- Written by: Robert Lastdrager
- Hits: 150
It’s been a busy year for the Tommys: plenty of shows pushing our new 45 "Born To Follow" b/s "Window Pane” including a live-to-air on 3CR’s fabulous "Burning Vinyl" radio show.
1. 1969 Ludwig Supraphonic snare drum
There’s a reason why this is the most recorded snare in history. Just killer.
2. Pork Pie Drum Throne.
To any drummer or bar stool hog out there. Pay the extra and never look back
3. Little Green Festival, St Kilda Bowling Club, March 2025
4. The T Bones celebrated their 40th Anniversary with a cavalcade of lineups from over the years.
Helen "Hellcat" Cattanach of Moler and I were the rhythm section on the first 45 and album. Great fun to rock out again including a warmup show at Bar 303, Northcote.
5. Show with Kreep 500 Town Hall Hotel at North Melbourne
Played some fun shows this year with Mick and Otto's raucous rockin’ garage two-piece.
6. The Wraylettes with The Tommys - Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood
7. Pearly Shells with Robert Susz - Jazz Lab, Brunswick.
I lived in Darlinghurst in 1985 and used to catch Continental Robert and his bar band at the Piccadilly Hotel in the Cross every Sunday arvo for free. He still has the tone and chops, and the Pearly Shells Big Band nailed it.
8. Ocean Vuong – The Emperor of Gladness
9. Archie Moore, kith and kin – Queensland Art Gallery
Immense.
10. Perfect Days - Wim Wenders.
- Details
- Written by: The Barman
- Hits: 350
It’s been a massive year for both his bands, the Hard-Ons and Nunchukka Superfly, and before Hard-Ons kick off and their national co-headline tour with Redd Kross, Peter "Blackie" Black, guitarist and songwriter extraordinaire, has just released the new single and video .
A single, "Congo Line to the Rest Room", pre-empts the release of Blackie’s two new solo albums on February 6 and he'll play a run of solo shows up and down the Australian East Coast in February and March.
The new albums, “The Boss is Gone Gone Gone” and “A Bowl of Spiders”, were made simultaneously over a nine-month period at Pet Food Factory in Sydney’s Marrickville with Jason Whalley and Jemima Perry-Ewing engineering. They were mixed at Parliament Studios by Lachlan Mitchell and mastered by John Ruberto.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Ryan
- Hits: 603
1 Scott Boland’s Hat Trick
We’ll get to music in a minute, but we have to start off with the greatest moment in the history of sport. Such a legend he even opened the batting on Boxing Day. Just name the Junction Ovel after him now.
2 Phil MacDougall’s 45th Anniversary Bash
A wonderful day at the Tote to celebrate Melbourne’s greatest rock n roll soldier. Phil’s PBS program, “Sunglasses After Dark”, is still essential listening every week and I still love that after all this time ,his passion for music, new and old, has never changed.
- Details
- Written by: The Barman
- Hits: 420
The only Sydney show by Swiss garage kings The Jackets has been moved from Marrickville Bowlo to MixTape Bar & Brewing (als0 in Marrickville). Supports are The Strike-Outs and pocketwatch and tickets are on sale here.
This tour marks The Jackets’ first full run across Australia, hitting intimate rooms and iconic underground venues across Victoria and New South Wales. Expect loud amps, sweat-soaked stages and zero compromise rock’n’roll — pure garage chaos, delivered at close range.
- Details
- Written by: Ross Nelson
- Hits: 728
I hate it when I hear people bemoan the current state of Rock ‘n’ Roll – “there’s no good bands anymore”…”there’s no venues hosting bands”…. These people aren’t trying hard enough. There’s so many great bands, artists and records out there and it’s really not too difficult to find them.
In 2025 I found plenty to love and there’s way too many records that have eluded me. But of the stuff that I spent quality time with these are my picks.
- Details
- Written by: Murray Bennett
- Hits: 782
Top 12 Gigs
The Cruel Sea - City Recital Hall, Sydney. 31/05/2025.
Set list full of older songs and deep cuts.
- Details
- Written by: Deb Nankervis
- Hits: 873
Attending 80 gigs this year might seem a lot but imagine if I hadn’t cancelled a further 80 due to perpetual bronchitis and various bouts of flu. Thankfully, no Covid this time. Clearly four was enough.
I generally enjoy all music events so picking a Top Ten was quite a feat. If I’ve liked a band enough to see them more than once, I’ve included those gigs.
No. 1 - Bart Willoughby, No Fixed Address on two occasions
One at The Tote on Jan 3, and again at Yabun festival Jan 26. Their distinctive Aus/reggae rock has moved me since we came back to Melbourne from London in 1979. When my son Vyvyan’s godfather, Louis McManus, sadly passed away in 2004, NFA’s drummer and lead vocalist, Bart Willoughby, stepped up to the plate, his friend and mine being Maxine Briggs, his godmother.
I never tire of hearing Bart’s anthem “We have Survived”, beautifully delivered on a sunny Sydney afternoon at the Yabun Festival in Victoria Park, “Music to a Beat”.
- Details
- Written by: Edwin Garland
- Hits: 1167
Thunk - Jim Moginie and The Family Dog (Reverberama)
Former Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie’s book “The Silver River” outlines how the earliest gigs for his solo band, The Family Dog, were a humbling experience.
Not unlike early shows by his teenage band FARM in the mid-1970s, they played obscure venues outside the city so he could re-learn his craft and build confidence as frontman and singer. He was incredibly nervous,. Very few people showed up, and many only did so out of curiosity.
That’s Jim Moginie all over. Normally, when a member of an international band of some standing appears in a relative backwater (Midnight Oil sold 25 million records and ranks as the third most successful band that Australia has produced) it would be massive news. Jim exudes a sweeping humility and it shines through on this album.
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The Living Eye
Tumbleed & The New Christs
JAN
16 - The Marlin, Ulladulla, NSW
+ Cool Jumper
17 - Avalon Beach RSL,
Avalon, NSW
"King Street Crawl
Summer Edition"
- Jan 25
Too many venues to mention
in Newtown, NSW
Mach Pelican
“A Secret Session”
Single Launch
+ Loose Lips + Elvis II
The Last Chance Bar, Melbourne
- Jan 31
Tickets
Peter Black solo tour
FEB
5 - Society City - Wollongong, NSW
Details
7 - Velvet Fog Records - Katoomba, NSW
Details
13 - The Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets
14 - Vinnies Dive Bar, Gold Coast, QLD (Matinee Show)
Tickets
19 - Medusa Bar, Geelong, VIC
Tickets
20 - Town Hall Hotel, Melbourne (two sets)
Details
21 - Shedshaker Brewing Company, Castlemaine, VIC
Details
27 - Hopsters Brewery - Sydney
Details
28 - Flow Bar - Old Bar, NSW
Details
MAR
1 - Hiss and Crackle Records, Newcastle, NSW
Details
Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
Service Station Chcken Tour
JAN
17 – MoshPit Bar, Sydney, NSW
+ Bahne Super-Flex + Sam Shinazzi
18 – The Junkyard, Maitland, NSW
+ Tim Easton (USA)
20 – The Tamworth Hotel, Tamsworth, NSW
“The Tops Day Out” festival
30 – Link & Pin, Woy Woy, NSW
+ The Dunhill Blues
31 – The Oak Tighes Hill,Newcastle, NSW
+ Crank Williams and Patsy Decline
FEB
27 – The Main Bar, Ballarat, VIC
28 – Union Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
MAR
1 – Bendigo Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
The Gnomes
Dive! Dive! Dive!
Rock ‘n’ Roll Dive Bar Tour
JAN
16 - The Lansdowne, Sydney
+ Marilyn Maria + Aria Nova
17 - Dicey's, Wollongong
+ Kryver + Jordan Kenny + Harold & The Bishops
18 - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
w/ Viagra Boys
23 - The Gem, Collingwood (8pm)
+ W.O.M.B.A.T. + Sargent Baker
30 - Last Chance Rock'n'roll Bar, Melbourne (8pm)
+ Winsky + Riviera
31 - Trash Cult, Bendigo (7pm)
+ Clydesdale
FEB
14 - Shotkickers, Thornbury (8pm)
+ Public House + Special Guests
20 - The Tote Front Bar, Collingwood (6pm)
+ Champ Ruby
21 - Kindred Bandroom, Footscray (8pm)
+ Stimpies + special guests
The Sugar Beats
+ Plastic Section
Golden Barley, Enmore
- Feb 20
TsuShiMaMiRe (JP)
Australian Tour
FEB
19 - Shotkickers, Melbourne, VIC
20 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
22– Young St Tavern, Frankston, VIC
27 - Shadows, Canberra, ACT
28 – Moshpit, Sydney, NSW
The Jackets (CH)
Australian Tour
FEB
25 – Shotkickers, Thornbury, VIC
+ Plastic Section + Burning Effigy + Special Secret Guest
26 - Vineyard, St Kilda, VIC
(Door sales only)
27 – Mixtape Bar & Brewing, Marrickville,
Sydney, NSW
(moved from Marrickville Bowlo)
+ The Strike-Outs + pocketwatch
28 - The Bendi, Collingwood, VIC
MAR
1 -– Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC (arvo show)
+ Grinding Eyes, + The Damos
2 – The Last Chance, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets
Tickets
Cosmic Psychos
"I Really Like Beer Tour"
JAN
1 — Edge Hill Tavern, Cairns, QLD
2 — Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville, QLD
3 — Magnums, Airlie Beach, QLD
4 — Metropolitan Hotel, Mackay, QLD
7 — Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone, QLD
8 — Grand Hotel, Childers, QLD
9 — Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Gold Coast, QLD
10 — Seaview Tavern, Woolgoolga, NSW
11 — Bellingen Brewery, Bellingen, NSW
14 — Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar, Tamworth, NSW
15 — Finnian's Tavern, Port Macquarie, NSW
16 — Avalon RSL, Avalon, NSW
17 — The Marlin, Ulladulla, NSW
18 — Beer Deluxe, Albury NSW
22 — Tanswells Hotel, Beechworth, VIC
23 — Sooki Lounge, Belgrave, VIC
24 — Westonport Hotel, San Remo, VIC
25 — Social Club, Balnarring, VIC
26 — Volta, Ballarat, VIC
29 — Whalers Hotel, Warrnambool, VIC
30 — Torquay Hotel, Torquay, VIC
31 — Riverview Hotel, Tarwin Lower, VIC
FEB
12 — Royal Oak, Launceston, TAS
13 — Forth Pub, Devonport, TAS
14 — Altar, Hobart, TAS
Fresh Reviews
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Humble Jim and his Family Dog deliver a classic
07 January 2026
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"10 More" will make you believe to your soul
06 January 2026
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Chow down on "Service Station Chicken" and taste the Aussie pub difference
21 December 2025
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Dom's new country-inflected gem has pop at its core
20 December 2025
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Ex-Trash Brat Brian McCarty's soulful letter from the Motor City
18 December 2025