Mick Harvey signs on for Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds Oz tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 April 2024

Hits: 2205

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• pink monkey birds
• alice bag
• the bags

_{The three-piece Pink Monkey Birds saving a place for Mick Harvey.}

Kid Congo Powers has announced former Birthday Party and Bad Seeds member Mick Harvey will be joining his Pink Monkey Birds on bass for this month’s Australian tour.

“Haven’t played (together) besides guest spots since Bad Seeds days,” a gleeful Kid Congo tweeted earlier today.

Kid Congo and his band are releasing their fifth long-player “ That Delicious Vice“ on In The Red Records on 19 April to coincide with the tour. “Wicked World” is the video single and features Los Angeles punk icon Alice Bag.

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Art Gray Noizz Quintet and Gravel Samwidge split single's savage crispness

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

14 April 2024

Hits: 4558

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• relief
• don't go there

Relief - Art Gray Noizz Quintet b/w  Don't Go There - Gravel Samwidge (Sound Pressing)

Traditional venting opening: Increasingly, we seem to be surrounded by them, don't we? These appalling creatures who always know what's right, even though they don't. And they're so self-obsessed, so over-focussed, that they can't for the life of them see how wrong, how ignorant they are, nor the damage they do.

This single is far, far more important than the trolls and vermin lurking in the limelight, sucking up all the oxygen.

First, most split singles sound like opposites wrestling in glue. “Relief” and “Don't Go There” is a classic match-up. While these songs aren't like the same band, both have a similar filthy, driving sound dripping with droll, nasty humour. Not that you'll be laughing, you'll be too busy tripping over the rug and spilling your gin and tripping over the cat.

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All punk rock, all the time

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 April 2024

Hits: 2284

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All Bad All The Time – Mad Brother Ward and The Abrasives (Ruined Records)

You have to feel sorry for Punk Rock. Nobody can work out when it was born, so you can’t celebrate its birthday. It’s obviously of advanced age, so it seems a bit woolly around the edges. Everybody claioms to know what it is, yet nobody can agree on a definition.

You’ll know that Mad Brother Ward is Punk Rock as soon as the stylus hits the groove on “All Bad All The Time” and that opening sustained guitar note plunges into Downstroke Heaven. There’s no mistaking the anger in Mad Brother Ward’s delivery, either, as he launches into lyrics about self-loathing and this fucked up world. 

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There ain't no shade in Hades and Jupiter 5's debut is just as hot

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By Bob Short, Robert Brokenmouth & Ronald Brown

Bob Short, Robert Brokenmouth & Ronald Brown

13 April 2024

Hits: 3974

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• jupiter 5

5^th From The Sun – Jupiter 5 (I-94 Bar Records)

They say, in space, no-one can hear you scream.  Jupiter 5, whose press release comes loaded with an array of retro astro puns, do their level best to mock this adage.  They scream and yell, defying age.  They do not wish to go quietly into that good night.

Like football hooligans after a surprise drunken victory, they swing from lamp posts and frighten the neighbours.  I salute you, polyester-clad space warriors.  Long may you laugh in the face of the void.

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Buy The Lie and jump aboard the Bullet Tram

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 April 2024

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Former Celibate Rifles guitarist Kent Steedman has teamed with onetime Vanilla Chainsaws frontman Simon Chainsaw for an incendiary project called Bullet Tram. The first result of the partnership is a dirgey, bluesy  track called “Bought The Lie”.

Simon, who sang the vocal, says: “’Bought The Lie’ was inspired by the famous Hunter S Thompson quote: ‘The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side’.” 

Since the passing of Damien Lovelock and the end of the Rifles, Kent Steedman has embarked on a solo career and has a growing back catalogue of projects, including Deep South and Radio KSG. He also records and tours with Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie.

Simon Chainsaw started Vanilla Chainsaws in Sydney in the 1980's with a sound that was a thick roar of layered guitar chords that was reminiscent of Husker Du.

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Now France takes a shine to seven inches of The On and Ons

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 April 2024

Hits: 2372

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French label Rogue Records has jumped aboard The On and Ons powerpop express.

Seizing on the Sydney band’s rating by “Little Steven’s Underground Garage” listeners as the Ninth Coolest Band In The World for 2023 (no mean feat), Rogue has released two of their singles on a seven-inch vinyl single.

“Looking Out Of A Mirror” b/w “Hey, What’s Going On?” showcases facets of The On and Ons’ rocking and jangle-pop qualities and is a stellar addition to their catalogue.

Of course a previous single on US label Get Hip and CD albums plus an EP on Aussie imprint Citadel should already be in your collecrtion. 

For the uninitiated, The On and Ons are a vehicle for the songwriting of former Screaming Tribesmen and Kings of The Sun guitarist-vocalist Glenn Morris and the consummate playing and harmonies of bassist Clyde Bramley (Hoodoo Gurus) and drummer Brian Morris.

They recently added former Died Pretty keyboardist John Hoey to the ranks and you can sample and secure your single here.

Is it 1984 again? Ex-Thought Criminal Kit Identity returns to Sydney

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 April 2024

Hits: 4113

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It’s going to be a special afternoon when the I-94 Bar presents Kit Identity (aka Bruce Warner of ground-breaking Sydney punk band Thought Criminals) at Sydney’s MoshPit Bar on Sunday, May 26.

The Thought Criminals were one of Australia’s most influential and enterprising punk bands to spring from the febrile Sydney scene. They formed in late 1977, and disbanded in late 1981, leaving three albums in their wake, all on their own Double Think label.  

Bruce now lives in Perth and has been active in ViviKit, a duo with fellow former Thoughtie and Do Re Mi member Stephen Philip, and as a solo artist.

He’ll showcase songs from his most recent solo album, “Kit Identity With The Cosmic Zooclouds”, and some Thought Criminals classics.

Support will come from Sydney’s most exciting postpunk protagonists, Rubber Necker, playing the closing set.

Opening act Wiz and The Trailler Trash Boys, a self-proclaimed supergroup comprising members of the Celibate Rifles, Buffalo Revisited, Filth and Bosom, will be playing a selection of songs about love, hate and drugs. The gig is $15 at the door and runs from 2-5pm, with Kit Identity playing the middle bracket.

Love and death in the dark

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 April 2024

Hits: 3590

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THE BEASTS
JP SHILO
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
Friday 5 April 2 2024

Was a time when Australia was seemingly the envy of the underground music world. A wave of Oz bands had grown up in relative splendid isolation, in an environment with a currency based on paying your dues via live work.

The bands absorbed many external influences but parsed them through local filters and delivered something unique.There were few barriers between the players and the punters (in some cases they were interchangeable) and their existences revolved around extended weekends and pushing things to the max.

That’s why gigs like tonight need to be cherished. They come along only once in a while. They recall a different time, and give hope that some kids will pick up on what’s being dished up and want to go and do the same. You call it nostalgia; I call it therapeutic.

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Jupiter 5 ready to launch debut "5th From The Sun"

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By Art E. Ficiaiintelligence

Art E. Ficiaiintelligence

03 April 2024

Hits: 4126

After a year of celestial alignment and astral preparation, the Sydney rock veterans of Jupiter 5 are unleashing their debut album "5th From The Sun" upon an unsuspecting universe.

This dazzling 13-track masterpiece is a protopunk-garage-meets-rifferama-psych explosion that will shake the foundations of your reality!

The launch party for this otherworldly odyssey takes place at Marrickville Bowling Club on Friday, May 3, marking Jupiter 5's first planetary descent since their last in-the-flesh appearance in July 2023. Tickets are here.

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