Celibate Rifles back home for mini-festival

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 March 2015

Hits: 5750

There was a time when Sydney’s northern beaches beaches were a hotbed of high energy rock and roll.

Since the decline in the Sydney live music scene (and the demise of the Manly Fisho's Club) the opportunity to enjoy local bands under one roof has been rare. An event at Narrabeen RSL on March 28 is trying to revive those days.

Sunken Ascension is a mini-festival, headlined by the home-grown Celibate Rifles, and running across three levels of the club. 

It’s free from 2pm and all-ages until 8pm, after which it’s $25 (or $20 pre-sale.)  For that you get cheap beer, inexpensive food, a downstairs cocktail lounge and a local shuttle bus.

Celibate Rifles, C.O.F.F.I.N, Captain Kickarse and The Awesome's, The Archaic Revival, Gutter Tactic, Bloody Kids, Taelor Jane, Bilby and Asia Hatton are playing and tickets are here.

• celibate
• rifles
• sunken ascension
• narrabeen rsl

The Who’s Tommy at the Adelaide Fringe Festival

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

02 March 2015

Hits: 8790

Tommy is, of course, that double LP rock opera what the ‘Oo done, back in 1969.

Pete Townsend was a powerhouse of creativity and, since he didn’t own an opera company or a film company, we can say he made a pretty impressive stab at both over the four sides of vinyl back in the day. Streets ahead of the competition by a forward-looking rock band, Tommy rebooted the Who back into the limelight…and you know the rest, I’m sure.

There’s been an opera version, a musical adaptation, a film, and there’s been several reissues, including a Super Deluxe Edition. And now…this…extraordinary, louche, beautiful, moving interpretation of a record which is well and truly in I-94 Bar reader terrain.

• who
• eric
• robert
• tommy
• forster
• go-betweens
• mingus
• hal
• willner

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Thee Rum Coves - Thee Rum Coves (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2015

Hits: 6517

Is it really a surprise in 2015 to hear rocking garage soul that has its origins in the UK played better than almost anyone else around by a band that comes from Auckland in New Zealand? Meet Thee Rum Coves.

These guys (and girl) should be the toast of the summer festival circuit in Europe. They deserve to fill the vacuum left by the demise of The Jim Jones Revue. Thee Rum Coves have everything going for them for a shot at success in Europe…except geography. Not that this should matter.

• garage
• soul
• bob
• thee
• rum
• coves
• the d4
• new zealand
• frisbee
• auckland

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Black Chameleon Prayer - The Dogs (Astma Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2015

Hits: 5586

It’s said you should never judge a book by its cover and the same goes for records. This is apparently Album Number Three from this Oslo, Norway, six-piece and they sound nothing like the middle-aged lay preachers standing ankle deep in water under a bridge that they appear to be. Hallelujah.

The Dogs (not to be confused with the late French band or the still kicking one from L.A. via Detroit) rock like they mean it. They worship at the shrine of the ‘60s garage/‘80s garage revival scenes but they bring enough manic energy to these songs that makes them stand apart from the rest of the pack. Cock an ear to the furious “Stay Away From Her” with its Dicatoresque vocal and melodic bass-line behind its driving guitars to know as much.

• norway
• the dogs
• astma records
• black chameleon prayer

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Individuals & Get Some Fun - Sunnyboys (Feel Presents)

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2015

Hits: 7360

It’s time to kiss and make up. When “Individuals” was released back in 1982, as a follow-up to the Sunnyboys’ barnstorming eponymous debut, it was justifiably unloved by many.

The songs were…good…but slower. Its lead-off single, the curious “This Is Real”, was stilted and a million miles removed from the infectious “Happy Man” and “Alone With You”. The biggest drawback, however, was the record’s lifeless production which reduced the sound of the Sunnyboys to an empty husk. It lacked warmth and sounded distant.

• feelpresents
• sunnyboys
• individuals
• get some fun

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Watch Your Skull - Kit Convict & Thee Terrible Two

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2015

Hits: 4892

Hey Kit Convict - the people of Medway called and they want their Billy Childish back.

Just kidding. But there is an strong resemblance between the music from most of Billy’s 55,000 albums and what Kit Convict and his stripped-back combo pump out.

This is short, sharp, simple and very catchy garage punk. I know “garage punk” is a broad descriptor and a little imprecise - hence the Childish reference. That the influences for this Melbourne band are obvious isn’t a problem. Like Billy, they’ve gone digging until they hit the right, rich vein and they’re mining from it.

• off-the-hip
• thee
• watch your skull
• kit convict
• terrible two

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Brat Farrar II - Brat Farrar (Off The Hip)

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 March 2015

Hits: 5359

For a musician who spends many of his recording hours in a bedroom, Brat Farrar is more Punk Rock than you or I will ever be. This is the second album of short and snappy homemade songs from Melbourne-via-Europe Sam Agostino (one-half of Digger & The Pussycats) and it delivers in spades.

There’s a lot to love about “Brat Farrar II” if only because it sounds like “Brat Farrar I”. In fact, you could interchange many of these songs on an iTunes mix playlist (or something similar) and be hard pressed to pick what came from where.

• sam
• off-the-hip
• brat
• farrar
• digger and the pussycats
• agostino

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In Heat - The Fools (self released)

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

26 February 2015

Hits: 8600

Let’s get the clichés out of the way; the show business myths that promise that the cream rises. That living fast and dying young will ensure immortality. It’s all bullshit. Too many artists fall through a crack in the Earth whilst laurels crown the insipid and the banal.

How many great albums and films have vanished to land fill? How many books are lost because libraries can’t afford the storage on their back catalogues? How much blood, sweat and tears has evaporated into the ether? Forgotten whilst the over culture lets us eat dog food. Here is your chance to right that wrong.

• radio
• wayne kramer
• new christs
• newcastle
• the fools

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Things are heating up as The Fools re-emerge

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 February 2015

Hits: 10188

_{Guitarist Dylan Webster from Newcastle band The Fools}

In the early ‘90s, raw and tough rock and roll was supposedly being re-birthed. Grunge had ushered in The Year That Punk Broke and the mainstream was finally embracing music that wasn’t safe and bland. Yeah. Right.

In reality, Real Rock and Roll was still fighting. The tidal wave that was the MP3 was about to arrive in earnest but the only game in town, as far as The Industry was concerned, was Grunge, a sludgy offspring of heavy metal and punk that promised little and (mostly) delivered less.  

Too harsh?  A lot of fine and worthy bands were trampled under the rush by major labels to sign any act with tuned-down guitars wearing flannelette shirts. It didn’t matter if their songs mostly remained the same; the big label A & R men couldn’t see past their own shaggy fringes.

Like Newton used to say, every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. In Australia, a fresh wave of high-energy acts like Powder Monkeys, Asteroid B612, Brother Brick, the YesMen and Bored! were kicking against the pricks and doing things their own way. A lesser light from the industrial port city of Newcastle, two hours north of Sydney, created their own ripples.

• radio
• sonics rendezvous band
• newcastle
• fools

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