Brando's risen to deliver one rocking album

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By Robert Brokenmouth, The Barman & Ronald Brown

Robert Brokenmouth, The Barman & Ronald Brown

14 August 2024

Hits: 3160

• hitmen
• lime spiders
• tony robertson
• brando rising
• ripley hood
• kelly hewson
• steve whan

Brando Rising – Brando Rising (self-released)

And, PLAY LOUD. What a fuckin' sound!

Ooooh, you're in for a stompin', whompin' treat. Only 100 copies, so get it while you can. Right, so, it's taking me a while to get my head round the enormity of this, okay? There's lots to pay attention to, which isn't at all possible, so endless re-listens are on the cards.

It's taken Brando Rising a little while to put this out, and from Kelly Hewson's muscular, sinewy opening bars to vocalist Ripley Hood's closing shouts, you're hooded, grabbed, stuffed unceremoniously into the boot and taken for a bumpy, gritty ride to into some sort of moral swamp. God knows what your babbling explanation for skimming the casino take will be, but you know you're in trouble ... and you'll have “Brando Rising” on repeat in no time flat.

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Vi-Nil's Newcastle compilation hits the mark again

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 August 2024

Hits: 1652

• mark fraser
• drugs in sport
• howlin' rats
• vi-nil records
• mucho sonar
• Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter
• goon gremlins
• boudicca
• i hate people
• butterknife
• jan
• trashed again

Indie Sounds from Newy and The Hunter – Various Artists (Vi-Nil Records)

He’s never been seen in anything other than a T-shirt and one of his own label’s trucker caps, but it’s easy to picture Vi-Nil Records label boss Mark Fraser as the Pied Piper of the New South Wales Central Coast and Newcastle music scenes.

The analogy has to stick like baby shit to a blanket after the release of his second collection in the Indie Sounds series. Fraser is batting 2-0.

Picking a bunch of local bands and presenting two songs each on CD and vinyl is some brave/crazy idea in these days of diminishing economic returns.

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Hands down, "Brut" is a wonderful trip

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

11 August 2024

Hits: 1484

• beast records
• spooky records
• sixfthick
• gentle ben and his shimmering hands
• brut
• ben corbett

Brut - Gentle Ben and his Shimmering Hands (Beast Records/Spooky Records)

You dug Six Foot Hick? Of course you did. Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side? Sure. 

But it's 2024. And “Brut'” is here. 

The Shimmering Hands are Jhindu Pedro-Lawrie on drums, Dan Baebler on bass, and Tony Giacca on guitars. Ben Corbett handles the vocals... 

The Bandcamp blurb explains; “The themes of BRUT range from a fraught, taught exploration of the broken bodies, hearts and minds of our capitalist hellscape (‘Spices’) to wailing rock and roll eulogies (‘De Bliksem’, ‘No Encore’), a drifting death-country ode to colonialism (‘Five Stars’) to bloody kitchen sink drama (‘Tactical Empathy’).”

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Pocketwatch plans to Break Out in Sydney this Friday

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 August 2024

Hits: 1381

• wayne connolly
• pocketwatch
• break out

_{Photo by Emma Wand Photography.}

Sydney prodigies Pocketwatch will release their latest EP, “Break Out”, this Friday with a high-profile show at Marrickville Bowlo with supports Liquid Zoo and Overboard. Tickets are selling here.

“Break Out” is a four-track EP produced by multiple ARIA winner Wayne Connolly that continues to showcase the band’s established power pop sound while exploring new creative directions.

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Pocketwatch plans to Break Out in Sydney this Friday

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 August 2024

Hits: 874

• wayne connolly
• pocketwatch
• break out

_{Photo by Emma Wand Photography.}

Sydney prodigies Pocketwatch will release their latest EP, “Break Out”, this Friday with a high-profile show at Marrickville Bowlo with supports Liquid Zoo and Overboard. Tickets are selling here.

“Break Out” is a four-track EP produced by multiple ARIA winner Wayne Connolly that continues to showcase the band’s established power pop sound while exploring new creative directions.

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Amazing Grace

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

11 August 2024

Hits: 1489

• sydney
• ramona
• grace cummings
• metro social
• louis king

Grace Cummings and Band
Metro Social Club, Sydney
Saturday, August 3 2024
Photos: Sandra Kingston

Grace Cummings is a once-in-generation Australian artist.

It is two years since I first caught her at the Great Club in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west, with less than a hundred others on a cold Thursday night.

It was a show by a remarkable artist with swagger and brutally heart wrenching songs that left us in awe.

Accompanied by a band with attitude, she took her vocals from a whisper to paint-stripping level, leaving the hairs on your arms standing up.   

Her remarkable album “Storm Queen” has been on my turntable regularly since, but her records don’t fully capture the live experience.

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Plying his trade: Charlie Owen says it's song over style

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By John McPharlin

John McPharlin

11 August 2024

Hits: 1751

• new christs
• tex perkins
• charlie owen
• australian tour
• tex don and charlie
• louis tillett
• don walker
• searching for Charlie owen
• 2024
• working class ringos

 _{Onstage with the "Searching For Charlie Owen" show at Sydney's MoshPit Bar in 2023.}

Master guitarist Charlie Owen  - notably of Beasts of Bourbon, New Christs, Tendrils, Tex Don and Charlie, Divynils, Working Class Ringos and Louis Tillett among many others - is on the road along Australia's East Coast in August and September, touring his music and spoken word show "Searching for Charlie Owen", the dates for which are here.

It's an engrossing and emotional stroll through his own back pages. We decided to mark the occasion by pulling this nugget from our archives. It's was conducted in Melbourne in August 2022 by then I-94 Bar writer John McPharlin. 

* * * * *   

JM: Charlie, I guess the first thing that's going to knock most people out of their chairs when they start reading this interview is your interest in techno music. Can you tell us how you got into that and what you've been doing with it?

CO: I don't have an interest in techno music; I have an interest in all music. My reason for playing it recently is the same reason for any other music I've played. I hear it and hear what I'd like to do with it, not liking what I've heard... it's not because I like what I hear, it's what I'd like to do with the medium.

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Japan's King Brothers return to Oz, packing a new LP

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 August 2024

Hits: 1532

• cheersquad records
• 2024
• king brothers
• austraian tour
• hell oh! oz

Japan’s Iconic blues punk band King Brothers are returning to Australia in September and local label Cheersquad has announced a limited edition 12-song tour LP to coincide.

Known as Japan's most dangerous live act and their unique blend of barbed-wire blues and toxic punk rock, King Brothers promise a tour that will leave crowds breathless. This will be the band's first Australian tour since 2016.

The tour LP, “Hell Oh! Oz”, will be limited to 300 copies - 150 in fluro-green and 150 in green/white marble - with a download card and will be released on August 23. It’s available for pre-order here.

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Ex-Dubrovnik Peter Simpson writes his return with "Letter to London"

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By The Barman

The Barman

05 August 2024

Hits: 1578

• peter simpson
• the spectre's revenge
• letter to london
• the dubrovniks

Peter Simpson, former member of The Dubrovniks and The Spectre’s Revenge, has stepped back into the spotlight with a new single, “Letter to London”.

Described as “a piece of ragged rock/pop”, “Letter to London” ruminates on a long-distance relationship that has run its course.  Simpson plays guitar and sings, bass is by Marco Gal and Dom Simpson plays drums.

It’s been a long, stop-and-start journey for Simpson, who was a keyboardist in Perth pop band Teeny Weenys when he relocated to Sydney in 1980. The band broke up despite Double Jay airplay and Simpson performed in various groups before switching to guitar and fronting The Spectre’s Revenge.

Playing an eclectic style of rock that drew on everything from surf instrumentals to acoustic ballads to a kind of punk jazz. The band’s only official release, 1985’s “No Moon at Midnight “b/w “(I wanna be like) Maynard G Krebbs”, reached number one on the alternative charts in Sydney and Melbourne.

In the meantime, various other Perth expatriates had gathered in Sydney in bands such as The Scientists and Hoodoo Gurus. In 1987, Simpson got together with some ex-members of these bands to form The Dubrovniks.

A couple of hit indie singles and an ARIA-award-nominated debut album made The Dubrovniks bigger than anyone had anticipated, and they were soon touring Europe, recording a second album, and even breaking into the mainstream Top 40.

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