Make mine an Undermine

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 December 2021

Hits: 2838

U – The Undermines (self released)

Bands that echo, without imitating, the sound of Radio Birdman and its precursors are always welcome around these parts. Canberra’s Undermines made an impression with their “Tenzeroeight” album a few years ago and do so again with “U”.

“U” is a five-track CD EP recorded at Infidel Studios in Queanbeyan and positively drips guitars. Understandable, given the band’s lineage, which is drawn from local legends Hell Yes (home to future The Eastern Dark bassist Bill Gibson), Newcastle’s renowned high energy machine The Fools, and local contemporary British Invasion and garage enthusiasts, Il Bruto.

• new christs
• the fools
• radio birdman
• the undermines
• hell yes

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An elf who won't stay on the shelf

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 December 2021

Hits: 3894

Set Yourself Easy – Kent Steedman (self released)

Adjust your expectations. This is not a collection of Celibate Rifles-styled pyrotechnics -although some (notably, “Lockdown Shuffle” and the title track) could have worked for them.

Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that Kent Steedman has never been just about flamethrower rock. His work outside the Rifles has spanned the oblique, avant noise of Crent, the proto-boogie blues of Jim Moginie and the Family Dog, sonic adventurism with the Deniz Tek Group and live shows using Tibetan singing bowls.

• deniz tek
• kent steedman
• celibate rifles
• damien lovelock
• jim moginie

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The Porkers and X head festival to mark 10 years of Sydney Rock and Roll Markets

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 December 2021

Hits: 4174

^{I-94 Bar Stage headliners X.}

Sydney Rock 'n' Roll & Alternative Festival will send Marrickville into a high-energy frenzy with a special 10-year anniversary special event, celebrating the lengthy history of Sydney’s most unique event, The Sydney Rock ‘n’ Roll & Alternative Market on March 20, 2022. 

The festival, proudly presented by Palmer Events in association with The Factory Theatre and supported by Inner West Council, will feature a huge, heart-thumping entertainment line-up across four stages, headed by ska punk legends The Porkers, along with the best stalls from Sydney Rock ’n’ Roll & Alternative Market.

Venue is the multi-stage Factory Theatre. The I-94 Bar will curate a stage with a street-level line-up led by the mighty X. Tickets are on sale now for an event that features:   

• x band
• factory theatre
• sydney rock and roll markets
• porkers

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Swedes give their Best Of the launch it deserves

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

19 December 2021

Hits: 3164

Swedish Magazines
+ Thee Cha Cha Chas
Old Bar, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Friday, 3 December 2021

When Nick Carraway suggests the impossibility of recreating the past, F Scott Fitzgerald’s nouveu-riche protagonist Jay Gatsby is incredulous. “Can’t recreate the past? Why of course you can!” Gatsby, of course, is wrong. The past, as vivid and real as it may seem to us, cannot be dialled up like an old movie on the latest streaming service. At best there are flashes of lived experience, memories that loom large in consciousness, recollections skewed and exaggerated.

I can’t remember exactly when I first saw the Swedish Magazines. Probably about 2003 or so, I think, in a world that seems quaint by comparison to today. Van and Cal Walker had already been in Melbourne for a couple of years or so. They’d been noticed by the right people around town, if not the people with the money and connections to catapult them down the road of commercial success.

• melbourne
• the devours
• thee cha cha chas
• swedish magazines
• i wish life could be
• the old bar

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This Sporting Life

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 December 2021

Hits: 3920

At Least We’ll Always Have Rock n Roll to Fall Back On – Drugs in Sport (Outtspace)

Effervescent and tough guitar rock-pop from Newcastle, Australia, will not be the Next Big Thing for the nmatiomnal yewf network Triple J. But it can be in your own listening space, and here’s the proof.

Drugs in Sport do cranked-up guitar pop exceedingly well. It’s a genre that’s been milked and relegated to the mainstream’s back blocks in favour of sanitised, autot-uned pap.  Anthony (bass), Errol (vocal and guitar), Geoff (guitar) and Jez (drums) apply their own twist. You can’t beat humans playing real instruments, especially (even if) they’re, ahem, older chaps or lasses.

• newcastle
• east coast low
• outtspace records
• drugs in sport
• At Least We’ll Always Have Rock n Roll to Fall Back On
• australian beef week
• muzzy pep

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Woy not make it a date with The Johnnys in January?

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 December 2021

Hits: 2898

The Johnnys are playing a Sunday afternoon show at the hottest bar , the Link and Pin, in Woy Woy (an hour north of Sydney) in January. They're following in the steps of the Hard-Ons who playsed a secret gig with their new frontman, Tim Rogers, on December 10 as a warm-up for theiur national tour. The Johnnys do the Link and Pin on January 9 from 5pm. Buy a ticket in advance here.

• live
• the johnnys
• link and pin
• woy woy

Echoes of past thoughtcrimes but ViviKit is here and now

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By The Barman

The Barman

16 December 2021

Hits: 3041

Bugmantis – ViviKit (self released)

Back in the dim, dark past of Sydney’s nascent underground music scene, a band called the Thought Criminals stood out like the proverbial dog’s. They were so unlike all the other spotty kids on the inner-city block.

Nineteen-seventy-seven (the time of their birth) was the Year of Radio Birdman. The Thoughties, with their jagged rhythms, blaring keyboards, political lyrics and highly-strung vocals, sounded nothing like them. They were post-punk before punk had ended.

• thought criminals
• vivikit
• stephen philip
• bruce warner
• bugmantis

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When pop's obvious allure shines through

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 December 2021

Hits: 3714

^{Glenn Morris of the The On and Ons.}

The On and Ons
+ The Amazing Woolloomooloosers
Marrickville Bowling Club
Sunday, 12 December 2021
Photos: Shona Ross

Sometimes things are just obvious. Like using the term “pop music”.

It’s an archaic phrase and more than a little quaint, with its origins way back in the mists of time. Probably severely devalued, too, due to its prolific over-use in modern times. 

According to the The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, it originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock and roll and the new music styles that it influenced.

Last Sunday afternoon-evening at Marrickville Bowling Club in Sydney’s inner-western blues delta was an occasion for pop music fans. And whether it was a breaking of the lockdown drought or an appreciation that this was an album launch, they turned out in their droves.

• live
• clyde bramley
• the on and ons
• marrickville bowling club
• glenn morris
• brian morris
• back for more
• the amazing woolloomoloosers

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Vale ex-Powder Monkey John Nolan

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 December 2021

Hits: 5519

_{John Nolan (left) with Tim Hemensley and Timmy-Jack Ray in the Powder Monkeys.}

John Nolan, the former Powder Monkeys and Bored! guitarist and more recently member of Powerline Sneakers, has died. It is understood a family member found him earlier today in his Melbourne home.

The lanky, long-haired and wickedly talented Nolan was an elder statesman of the Melbourne underground scene. He initially rose to prominence in Geelong band Beyond the Magnolia Curtain in the mid-1980s. and went on to the twin-guitar line-up of Bored!

In 1991, Nolan and Bored! bassist Tim Hemensley (ex-GOD) left Bored! to set up the Powder Monkeys, who became one of Australia’s most fearsome - and infamous - outfits.

• powder monkeys
• john nolan
• tim hemensley
• bored!
• vale

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