Last drummer standing brings his own Animals to play

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

21 March 2017

Hits: 12241

_{Original Animals drummer John Steel.  Piotr Bieniecki photo}

This May, The Animals are touring Australia and New Zealand.

No, Eric Burdon won’t be with them. He lost the rights to the name in 2008, partly because it was evident to a judge that the name was one of convenience to him. However…

John Steel is one of the co-founders of The Animals. Apart from singer Eric Burdon - now performing under his own name with his own cast of Animals - Steel is the member who has been with most of the incarnations. It's his version of The Animals making the trip down under in May.

• the animals
• john steel
• eric burdon

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Fifteen years and going strong: Off The Hip still burns bright

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 March 2017

Hits: 9581

_{Mickster Baty at home in his Off The Hip shop.}

The music industry is a shallow trench full of sharks and transient imprints, to paraphrase Hunter S Thompson. Independent record labels come and go with the regularity of manufactured reality TV stars and only a few manage to find their niche and prosper. In Australia, only Citadel is still standing from the halycon days of the 1980s. A few rose in the '90s to fill the gaps left by the demise of Phantom and Waterfront. Since the 2000s, the most enduring has been Melbourne-based Off The Hip.

Off The Hip grew out co-founder Mick ("Mickster") Baty's love of all things garage rock, powerpop and psychedelia. A drummer and veteran of one of Sydney's finest garage-trash outfits, The Crusaders, he went on to killer powerpop bands The Pyramidiacs and The Finkers. Baty saw Off The Hip as an outlet for his own music. He had re-located to Melbourne by then and formed The Stoneage Hearts, a shifting cast of players who produced top-shelf garage rock with a pop bent.

A retail operaiton operating out of his house morphed into a bricks-and-mortar shop in Melbourne's CBD and a floodgate of releases via the fledgling label ensued. It's been an enduring success - on its own terms - since then. Off The Hip - the label and the shop - have inspired and contrinuted to the existence and growth of hundreds of bands. 

Last month, the Off The Hip label celebrated its 15th birthday. We decided it was high-time for Mickster to occupy the interview seat.

• garage
• melbourne
• bomp
• crusaders
• dom mariani
• little murders
• eddy current suppression ring
• mickster
• baty
• mass cult
• beat taboo
• the slaters
• lords of gravity

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Gas - feedtime (In The Red)

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By Nick Spaulding

Nick Spaulding

13 March 2017

Hits: 4522

feedtime have come together to release their first album since 1996’s "Billy". A lot has happened in the last 21 years, so what can we expect from the original lineup of Rick, Al and Tom who have been playing sporadically since reforming in 2011?

It starts off well. “Any good thing” opens with a fantastic, sliding bass line before kicking off with pounding drums and a frenetically distorted guitar. My first thought when hearing Rick’s vocals was that of GG Allin’s voice towards the end of his life. The gravel has turned into a metallic growl.

And the pace continues well into “Thought”, before slowing down into "Box n Burn". Both strong tracks with a powerful sound. However, the issues start to arise with "Skilled Enuf". While the musicianship on the track is strong, the writing is quite simple and unengaging, “Skilled enough, to play one chord. Skilled enough to play one note” might be a true description of the band’s minimalist arrangements, but it is unengaging.

• punk
• sydney
• feedtime
• gas
• in the red

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Made in Hawaii - Jeff Dahl (Iwannabeahoople Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 March 2017

Hits: 5842

Here’s news for those who thought Jeff Dahl had put his guitar in a rack and drawn an end to his prolific punk-glam career. He’s back with a new album - and it sounds like he never went away.

Dahl had been laying low with protracted health issues since pulling up tent pegs at his Arizona desert digs and moving back to his own (and his wife’s) childhood home of the Hawaiian Islands. Prior to slipping off the public radar eight years ago, Dahl was a force of rock and roll nature, turning out a string of abrasive, hard-rocking records and publishing one of the world’s greatest magazines, Sonic Iguana.

• punk
• heartbreakers
• cheetah chrome
• alice cooper
• jeff dahl
• powertrip
• made in hawaii
• mott the hoople
• sonic iguana

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Naked Radio - Pink Fairies (Gonzo Multimedia)

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 March 2017

Hits: 4964

That some of the Pink Fairies are around today to make an album, two decades after their last and four after their heyday, is something of a miracle. Surprise Number Two is that it’s good.

If you’ve read Rich Deakin’s meticulous book about the band’s travails, “Keep It Together”, you’ll know that The Pinks were never people to shy away from the Rock and Roll Lifestyle. Taking care of business was never the band’s forte, which makes a new record’s appearance even more unlikely. Their last LP, “Kill ‘Em and Eat ‘Em” didn’t set any houses on fire and smelt like a once great band on its last legs.

• pink fairies
• andy colquhon
• russell hunter
• mick farren
• duncan sanderson
• naked radio

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Johnny Casino re-emerges with new album

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 March 2017

Hits: 4698

He’s been out of sight but not out of mind since quitting Australia for love and moving to Spain, but Johnny Casino has been busy. On March 1 he notched up a birthday and launched a new album, “Time and Time Again” on LP and CD.

The album was recorded in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, Gandia and Els Poblets, Spain and was mixed in Spain and London, England, starting its life more than four years ago.

Instead of condensing the recording sessions into days or weeks at a time, Johnny was more content to simply only record when the moment or the feel of each song was right. That’s why the record was recorded in five different cities in three different countries.

The star-studded crew playing on the album includes Carrie Phillis (Boobytraps), Adam Pringle, Stew Cunningham (Leadfinger), Jodi Phillis (The Clouds) and Warren Hall (The Drones, Datura4, The Volcanics) as well as Spaniards Julain Marco, Isidro Rubio and Actor Ochoa.

The blurb says: “ ‘Time and time again’ is equal parts dangerous rock´n´roll, homespun rich melodies and sweeping cinematic views and was recorded with a roving cast of Johnny's musical brothers and sisters.In Johnny's words,” No reason to doubt it, but listen for yourself (and buy) at Bandcamp.

• spain
• johnny casino
• asteroid b612

Ray Hanson’s Whores of Babylon: Sonic outlaws, empire of dirt, glitter and perforated electric souls

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By Geordie

Geordie

07 March 2017

Hits: 7495

Ray Hanson used to play guyitar for Thee Hypnotics, who destroyed audiences in their home of the UK before they begat The Jim Jones Revue. His current band is Ray 'Sonic' Hanson's Whores of Babylon. What are they like? You'll hear for yourself, soon enough.

Here's a word picture.

Think: Geordie Pleathur jamming in the midnight hours to Sonic Ray while thinking of Nick Marsh, lost loved ones, and nursing a broken hand.

Now read on...

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No Fool's Gold to be seen as Datura4 debuts in Sydney

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 March 2017

Hits: 6387

The term “jam band” first flashed across my radar in a small bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the early ‘00s. It was in a pub called The Eight Ball, underneath the much more famous Blind Pig. I was lucky enough to be sharing a drink with Scott Morgan. (Ooops. I dropped a name.)

“Who’s playing upstairs tonight?”

“Some jam band.”

“A what…?”

• dm3
• you am i
• dom mariani
• greg hitchcock
• stu loasby
• warren hall
• bamboos

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feedtime poised to release first album in 20 years and here's a taste

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 March 2017

Hits: 4616

Much-loved Sydney blues-punks feedtime are releasing their first new album in 20 years on March 24. "Gas" will be on In The Red and "Any Good Thing" is the preview track. Pre-orders are happening here.

Against the backdrop of the burgeoning inner city music scene, feedtime was formed in 1979. Taking notes from the incendiary live shows of X and Rose Tattoo, feedtime set about creating their own interpretation of the events unfolding before them, a blues-noise that was equal parts abstract minimalism and working class roots-rock. Post-punk, yet right in the thick of it; miles ahead of the pack and not many seemed to notice.

• punk
• sydney
• feedtime
• rose tattoo
• gas
• in the red

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