It's Just That They've Missed You: Julie Mostyn on the return of the Flaming Hands

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 January 2017

Hits: 9966

_{Jeff Sullivan and Julie Mostyn.    Steve Teece photo}

The dictionary defines serendipity as “a pleasant surprise” and it's a term that scientists working in medical research are fond of using.  It’s also at the heart of how the looming reformation of beloved Sydney band the Flaming Hands came about.

Singer Julie Mostyn is on the phone from the Coffs Harbour home she shares with husband Warwick Gilbert, onetime bassist and graphic artist for Radio Birdman. She clearly remembers serendipity’s intervention on that very same landline, late in 2016.

“It was one of those life-changing phone calls…one that shocks you out of something you’ve been trying to get out of for a while,” she recalls.

“It was a call from Peter Oxley of the Sunnyboys, and he said: ‘Would you consider reforming the Flaming Hands?’ And I thought for half a second and said: ‘Yeah, that’d be good’.”

Talk about timing. It was as good as any excuse for Julie to ditch her day job in a local bank and embark on what's not so much a career revival as a chance to revisit great times, renew old partnerships and - maybe - push the musical boat out just a little further.

More on that last point later. More immediately, it means Flaming Hands supporting the Sunnyboys at the Sydney show of their February Australian tour, with similarly reformed friends, Shy Impostors, opening the gig.

Flaming Hands were Sydney’s best soul and psych pop band, a potent and popular outfit based around Julie Mostyn’s passionate voice and guitarist Jeff Sullivan’s emotion-baring songs. 

• sunnyboys
• radio birdman
• flaming hands
• shy impostors
• phantom records
• julie mostyn
• jeff sullivan
• the passengers
• penny ward
• angie pepper
• jules normington
• dare jennings

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The Prehistorics, The Stukas & The Dunhill Blues live in Sydney

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By Keith Claringbold

Keith Claringbold

14 January 2017

Hits: 3807

It's Saturday night in Marrickville and the outside space at The Factory is packed with folks in black but most of them are going upstairs to the Theatre to see some punk/hardcore.

The slightly older folk are here for three bands at the Factory Floor.

First up, The Dunhill Blues. Now, "The Dunnies" have always come across as being semi-shambolic, more about fun than artistry but of course they then turn around and whack out great songs that are short and to the point. This is my first time seeing them with “the new guy” on guitar who has replaced Jeff Pope.

Now, to expect him to pick up all of Jeff’s sonic sounds and not have any input of his own is unfair but to my ears, they seem to have a lost a bit of variety in their sound with Jeff’s departure

To be fair, he was done no favours by a mix that was too loud overal l- more about that later - yet curiously he was hard to hear during his solos.

Don’t get me wrong, they were still fun and enjoyable but just a bit off form compared to the other times I’ve seen them. Nice to see Jeff get up and join them for their last number.

The Stukas (pictured right) are a band I didn’t get around to seeing in the olden daze. I used to see their name on handbills etc and thought they were another Detroit-y band of the ME262/Trans Love Energies type.

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The Velvet Underground. Complete Released Works. Part Two

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

12 January 2017

Hits: 6310

So, let’s assume that you enjoyed the plunge into the Matrix, and are curious to hear more.

This will of course, naturally lead you to their fourth, and last, studio album, "Loaded"; the Super Deluxe six disc box set is "Re-Loaded", the two disc set from 1997 is "Fully Loaded".

Now, "Loaded" itself is an excellent, heavily industry-influenced, subtly smart pop album. But, after coming from "The Matrix Tapes", you’ll feel that this album is a little too shiny, starchy and … just doesn’t quite have the juice.

I remember first hearing this LP after having thirsted through their first three records and wondering, ‘What the fuck happened to this band?’, then discovering that Mo Tucker wasn’t on drums for these sessions, that Doug Yule sings on four songs, and that Lou walked away as soon as recording was complete. David Fricke’s article on "Loaded" in the December 2015 issue of Mojo provides excellent background to what is a not-fully Velvet Underground record.

• deluxe
• lou reed
• velvet underground
• doug yule
• mo tucker
• sterling morrison
• loaded
• fully loaded
• live at max's

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The Velvet Underground. Complete Released Works. Part One

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

10 January 2017

Hits: 9320

Been thinking about death a lot lately. And, imminence.

Lou Reed’s death, Bowie’s, Cohen’s … they didn’t affect me a whole lot. I was more upset when Alan Vega went, but also, Victoria Wood and Benny Hill - somehow I just figured they’d go on forever, like Cab Calloway or Ken Dodd. What these folk left behind, though…

Probably the reason Lou Reed was always reluctant to acknowledge the Velvets in his later, hugely successful careers (despite playing their songs), was that for all his success, he could not - not ever - have produced anything like the Velvets on his own; and that to some extent that reduced his creative validity, that he’d created something far more lasting and significant with other people, than anything he’d ever created with his own outfits.

Paul McCartney is said to have been obsessed with his past with The Beatles, and went out of his way to make more money than the Beatles did…

I don’t know how he does his accounting, but chunks of money do not, not now nor never, equate to cultural and social impact and influence. We still hear echoes of The Beatles today. And the Velvets, in everything from soap commercials to supermarket music.

• lou reed
• velvet underground
• john cale
• mo tucker
• sterling morrison
• the complete matrix tapes

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Intergalactic Sex Tourists - The Sex Organs (Voodoo Rhythm)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2017

Hits: 4761

It’s all so obvious and so much more childish than Parliamentary Question Time, but how can you resist a male-female duo called The Sex Organs who dress like they’re named with songs like “Lubrication” and “I Wanna Be a Pussy”? Oh, you can? If you have sufficient taste to push back, you can leave now.

Drummer Jackie and guitarist Bone formed The Sex Organs in 2014 to play European festivals and quickly recorded a single, “Fuck The Human Race”, in Amsterdam’s red light district. They come (pun intended) from somewhere in Europe. This is their debut album and of course it’s on Voodoo Rhythm,  the people who peddle “songs to ruin any party”. Or orgy.

• garage
• voodoo rhythm
• sex organs

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It’s Psychological - Happy Times (Swashbuckling Hobo)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2017

Hits: 3607

It could be as the title says and allude to obsession, but “It’s Psychological” also proves you can make an entire LP from songs about U-boats and shit food and come out winning.

Maybe it’s something in the sub-tropical water or the inexplicably-labelled local beer (that’d be Fourex to you and me) but Brisbane’s small underground rock scene is teeming. HITS are the heavyweights, Mick Medew is the elder statesman, but there’s plenty more happening if you use a coin to rub the panel on the scratch lottery ticket and look underneath.

• punk
• brisbane
• happy times
• it's psychological
• swasbuckling hobo records

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The Outskirts of Your Heart - Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders (Hound Gawd! Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2017

Hits: 5157

You might think of it as just another European label re-issuing an American artist’s old work on vinyl - a smart commercial move because nobody in Europe buys albums on CD - if they can help it.But you should consider Hound Dawg Records' engineering the re-appearance of the first record for Pat Todd’s post-Lazy Cowgirls outfit as a public service. Here’s why:

• country
• los angeles
• pat todd
• rank outsiders
• the outskirts of your heart
• hound gawd records

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Unknown Compelling Force - Fortress of Narzod (Chief Designer Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

05 January 2017

Hits: 4594

Nothing succeeds like excess and this trio from Melbourne has the concept truly nailed on this seven-track EP, their second release. Studio leakage, a seething fuzz attack and enough strange aural samples to keep it weird, Fortress of Narzod actually turns over new turf in a well-ploughed paddock.

Nailing their colours to the mast of a boat occupied by bands like Sabbath, MC5, Union Carbide Productions and Dead Meadow, Fortress of Narzod comes across as an Antipodean, suburban version of all of the above. No war pigs or bustles in hedgerows here, Fortress of Narzod draws as much inspiration from Michael Moorcock sci-fi novels and video games as doom-laden minor chords.

• melbourne
• stoner
• buffalo
• naked eye
• casanovas
• jim lewis
• fortress of narzod

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Double CD launch for Prehistorics and Stukas

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 December 2016

Hits: 4501

Here's how to start 2017 with a bang: Three of Sydney’s best high-energy bands are kicking off 2017 at stun volume on Saturday, January 7 with a dual album launch at The Factory Floor in Marrickville.

Detroit-inspired rifferama melody kings The Prehistorics are launching their fourth long-player, “Storm The Gates”, on CD and vinyl with their first gig in 13 months. 

Main-man Brendan Sequeira has been dividing his time between Sydney and France and this will be their only home-town appearance before a lengthy European tour.

They took their time about it but The Stukas are finally unleashing their debut CD, “Ju-87”, after 30 years of live savagery. 

Reputed to be Sydney’s most hated band, The Stukas have played with everybody from the New Christs to XL Capris, the Celibate Rifles and New York City’s Dictators. It’s been a long and hard road but their latest line-up is as energetic and confronting as ever.

The Dunhill Blues recently notched 10 years of gigs all over Australia and Europe, playing their unique hybrid mix of rock, garage, country and punk blues. 

The Dunhill Blues play a pummelling, primitive and pulsing style of rock 'n' roll that's best viewed beer in hand. They don’t have a new album to launch (they’ve already released three) but they do have the firepower to shake you out of your post-Christmas stupour.

Tickets will be on sale at the door or save yourself some dollars by pre-booking online here.

• sydney
• prehistorics
• dunhill blues
• stukas
• factory floor