The Prehistorics up the ante on "X-Ray Words"

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By Graham Stapleton

Graham Stapleton

27 September 2024

Hits: 974

X-Ray Words - The Prehistorics (self-released)

Aussie-based perenial European tourists The Prehistorics return with their sixth album. three years in the making and starting just after their last release "Racket du Jour" (2001). The core of the recording band for the last few records, Brendan Sequira (songwriter, vocals, guitar), and Michael Carpenter (drums, production, and plenty more things this time around), enlisted some great guitar players to help out along the way.

It's exactly what you'd expect from a Prehistorics album:  great playing and production, and just that little bit better than the previous offering.

• prehistorics
• michael-carpenter
• brendan sequiera
• chris rolling
• thomas aquilar

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It's not Fiction that things might have been different

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By The Barman

The Barman

27 September 2024

Hits: 1200

Don’t Let Go. A Memoir – Rob Griffiths (Swerve/Off The Hip)

He readily confesses to not being a household name but if fervent enthusiasm for rock and roll and a back catalogue of should-have-been-hits counts, Rob Griffiths should be. 

Best-known as frontman for onetime Melbourne mod torchbearers Little Murders, Griffiths is one of the most underrated songwriters in the country, and now adds author to his c.v.

The autobiographical “Don’t Let Go” is a ripping ride that cranks up in Melbourne music’s underground of the mid’70s and continues well beyond - as told by an immigrant Pommy kid who jumped in at the deep end. 

Griffiths’ first band The Fiction shared stages with Boys Next Door/Birthday Party, News and JAB in a short but noisy existence. Punk was only a starting point: the did wear suits (briefly, at the end) and it was a hint of things to come. Griffiths makes the point well that the lines between genres in Melbourne are, and always were, heavily blurred.

His ‘60s influenced Little Murders rose from The Fiction’s ashes, soaring in popularity on the back of the burgeoning mod movement of the early ‘80s. When both band and the “Quadrophenia” trend foundered, Griffiths became a club DJ, a small-time record label chief and band manager, often in tandem with a day-time career as a schoolteacher.

• little murders
• rob griffiths
• the fiction
• don't let go

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Penny asks what's Not to like about touring Europe in October

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 September 2024

Hits: 940

Australian sonic chanteuse Penny Ikinger is touring France and Spain in October 2024 to promote her latest album, "Travels and Travails".

Fittingly for an international tour, the record is a compilaiton of new and older material recorded around the world that showcases her collaborations with artists from France, Australia, Japan and the United States. 

Thje tour is in both solo mode and with a mostly French band, The Not, a high-energy outfit that came together in a seedy Paris bar. 

The Not features Penny’s long time musical collaborator Vinz Guilluy (Penelope Inc, Charles de Goal, the Holy Curse, and Bad Music with Rob Younger) on bass, Greek guitarist Roy Mitakidis (ex-Sonic Tramps), JB Didier (ex-Rhinosonics) on keys and Frantz Arnould (Whodunit) on drums. 

Penny Ikinger and The Not
France and Spain Tour
OCT
13 -  L'Alimentation Générale, Paris,
w/ Glenn Burns (AUS)
17- Funhouse, Madrid
w/ Jibaros (ESP) 
18 - La Casa De Sabica, Pamplona
19 - VIII. ZZ Rock Jaialdia, Zumarraga 
26 - Skate Parc Le Moulin du Rousseau,
Périgueux, FR 
(solo)
w/ Kosmik Twaregs (ESP)
Tickets

• penny ikinger
• european tour
• travels and travails
• 2024
• the not

Ninth album sets up Little Murders for a big night

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 September 2024

Hits: 790

It was 45 years ago when Melbourne’s Little Murders released the single “Things Will Be Different” on Au Go Go Records. The single put Little Murders and Au Go Go on the musical map, quickly selling out two pressings and garnering praise from around the world, including from Greg Shaw's BOMP! magazine.

In 1981, Little Murders were the leading mod band in Melbourne and went on to release three more singles and the “STOP” album before disbanding.

Between then and now,  the reconstituted Little Murders have released eight studio albums, two compilations and a live record, toured Japan, had a documentary made about them, recorded in Los Angeles and had international and local artists record their songs for a tribute album. Which brings us to the here and now. 

• little murders
• rob griffiths
• under northern lights

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Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders heading to Australia, sorry, Victoria

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By The Barman

The Barman

23 September 2024

Hits: 1153

The good news: The much anticipated Australian tour by ex-Lazy Cowgirls frontman Pat Todd and his band The Rankoutsiders is on. The bad news: The tour is restricted to one state.

Pat Todd’s Aussie solo dates with Mad Macka of the Cosmic Psychos were a stand-out of 2023 and he promised to be back. Unfortunately, limited time and economics mean Victoria will host all five dates of the run. 

So if you’re anywhere else, book an air ticket. If can't, take consolation that you’ll be able to stream a live-to-air on 3PBS-FM before the live shows proper start.

Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
NOV
6 – PBS live to air
7 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
7 - Shedshaker Taproom, Castlemaine VIC
8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
9 – River Rocks, Barwon Club, Geelong
10 – St Kilda Bowls Club, St Kilda, VIC
11 – Last Chance Bar, Melbourne, VIC

• lazy cowgirls
• australian tour
• pat todd and the rankoutsiders
• victoria

Feel the heat as Rockafella get all deep and meaningful (not really)

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By The Barman

The Barman

23 September 2024

Hits: 930

Deep Heat – Rockafella (Tuff Cuff Records)

We’ve all heard about the “difficult” second album, but this takes some beating.

A quarter century spans the debut and the follow-up for Wollongong’s Rockafella. To be fair, a band breaking up will do that. evrery time..

The good news is that the lay-off hasn’t done them any harm, and if you're a vinyl junkie, you'll be stoked that their return to the record racks is in the form of a meaty, thick 180gm slab that's been cut to make a big noise. 

• grindhouse
• rob younger
• deep heat
• rockafella

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Van Ruin's Phil Van Rooyen and his rock and roll family affair

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

22 September 2024

Hits: 875

_{Van Ruin (the band) are bassist Pete Trifunovic (Mushroom Planet and Sonic Garage), Phil Van Rooyen, guitarist Al Creed and  drummer Stu Wilson preparing for their live debut this weekend past.}

Van Ruin is, I suppose, the Australian way of pronouncing Phil Van Rooyen's surname. Perhaps best known to I-94-Barflies as one of the guitarists and vocalists in Manly's finest, Chickenstones, Phil has also been a mainstay of Panadolls, the Circus Chaplains, and Sonic Garage. Van Ruin is also the name of his new solo band. 

Phil's influences have always been worn on his fretboard; phrasing seems not so much Detroit rock but more Radio Birdman, New Christs, Celibate Rifles or even Died Pretty ... That said, he developed his own way of thinking and playing long ago; to my mind, he's a distinctive and, with other writing partner and Chickenstones bandmate,  Andy Doc Temple Ellard, a very under-rated musician and songwriter.

The debut EP by Van Ruin, "Jails, Death & Institutions”, is out now on Crankinhaus Records so I asked Phil a few questions.

• chickenstones
• panadolls
• celibate rifles
• al creed
• crankinhaus records
• evan richards
• phil van royen

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MC5 to be honoured - by real people back home

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By The Barman

The Barman

22 September 2024

Hits: 1272

_{Original image by Leni Sinclair.}

A few hours before the clueless moguls of the music industry rattle their jewelry at a black-tie knees-up in Cleveland to officially induct the MC5 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Lame, a more appropriate commemoration will take place in the band’s home state of Michigan.

Friends and supporters will gather at Memorial Park in Lincoln Park - the city where Rob Tyner (Derminer), Wayne Kramer (Kambes), Fred Smith and Dennis Thompson (Tomich) attended high school - from 3pm on the afternoon of October 12.

• fred smith
• mc5
• wayne kramer
• rob tyner
• dennis thompson
• michael davis
• lincoln park
• lincoln park historical museum
• leni sinclair

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Gentle Ben kicks off tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 September 2024

Hits: 533

Rock noir extraordinaire exponents, Gentle Ben and His Shimmering Hands, kick off their Australian East Coast tour to promote their album “Brut” at The Cactus Room in Melbourne tonight with Screensaver and Tali & The Arms.

After that it’s off to Major Tom’s in Kyneton (September 21). Marrickville Bowling Club in Sydney (with The Holy Soul on September 27) and The Bearded Lady in hometown Brisbane (with Refedex and Anna & The Morphics September 27).

The band fronted by Ben Corbett (SixFtHick) is fresh from a blistering run of 13 shows in France including the prestigious Binic Festival (pictured above).

Gentle Ben & His Shimmering Hands
SEP
20 – The Cactus Room
Tickets
21 – Major Tom’s, Kyneton
– Major Tom’s
27 – Marrickville Bowling Club, NSW 
Tickets
28 – The Bearded Lady, West End, QLD
Tickets

• tour
• gentle ben and his shimmering hands