Crispy without surplus cream

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 April 2023

Hits: 2240

The Crisps – The Crisps (Vi-Nil Records)

Pure garage pop goodness and it’s only two decades late. Chances are you’ve never heard of them.

As mentioned elsewhere, The Crisps were a Sydney assemblage of great potential back in the 1990s. The reasons they went nowhere are lost in the mists of time – probably hidden under a floorboard of the abandoned Hopetoun Hotel.

A vehicle for the songs of drummer-vocalist Stuart Wilson (New Christs, Lime Spiders and dozens of others), the band included members of would-be international stars Doomfoxx, road veterans The Johnnys and underrated northern beaches cowboys Orange County.

They recorded these six songs to help rustle up gigs. Ex-music reviewer-turned-bar operator  Mark Fraser heard them while reviving his Vi Nil Records label, loved ‘em and offered to press them up. And the rest is history.    

• stuart wilson
• dave thomas
• doomfoxx
• graham hood
• vi-nil records
• the crisps
• chris nacard
• rick o'neill

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The Crisps nail it on a night of Easter comebacks

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 April 2023

Hits: 2791

_{Dave and Hoody: The Crisps. Shona Ross photo}

The Crisps
+ PocketWatch
+ The Hot Ness
Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
Friday, 7 April 2023

Photos: Shona Ross

Seventeen years after they last stood together on a Sydney stage, The Crisps are hitting the road up and down the Australian East Coast, partly to promote the release of an EP and partly for fun. Tonight’s show is number-two of the run and happening on the Friday of an Easter weekend.

• new christs
• the johnnys
• stuart wilson
• dave thomas
• pocketwatch
• orange county
• the crisps
• the hot ness
• john fenton

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Hard-Ons ready to let "Ripper 23" rip

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 April 2023

Hits: 2022

On the back of the crazy success of their last album - the 2021's #4 ARIA Album charting “I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken” - the Hard-Ons will release your new album on June 2. “Ripper '23” will be preceded by a single "Apartment for Two" accompanied by an Australian tour from June 22-July 8, prior to their 20th European tour. 
 
While “I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken” was the first record recorded by the band's current Tim Rogers-fronted line-up, “Ripper '23”  will be the first with all involved in its writing. 



“Ripper '23” is said to be 100% Hard-Ons and “all over the shop (in a good way)”, highlighting the group's stylistic versatility. 

HARD-ONS RIPPER '23 TOUR 
JUNE
22 - Ballarat, Volta TICKETS
23 - Torquay, Torquay Hotel TICKETS
24 - Melbourne, Brunswick Ballroom TICKETS
25 - Castlemaine, The Bridge Hotel (matinee) TICKETS
30 - Wollongong, La La La’s TICKETS
JULY
1 - Sydney, Crowbar TICKETS
6 - Maroochydore, Sol Bar TICKETS
7 - Brisbane, Brightside TICKETS
8 - Gold Coast, Vinnie’s Dive TICKETS

Tickets on sale now

A punk rock afternoon that's not so boring

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 April 2023

Hits: 2879

Rocks
The Strike-Outs
The Jane Does
The MoshPit, St Peters, NSW
Saturday, April 1 2023

Punk rock takes us all back to a simpler time when schooners were cheaper, carpet was stickier and life much simpler.

The humble MoshPit bar at the St Peters end of King Street in Sydney aims to capture that simple spirit. It’s all dive bar ambience and vintage posters, and its modest capacity and open-door booking policy make it a much-needed nursery for the city’s underground bands.

This show was a mix of the old and the new. It was a 3pm kick-off and the place resembled the back bar of an RSL club at two-up start-time on ANZAC Day with a battalion of old soldiers lining its walls.

• sydney
• punk rock
• moshpit
• rocks band
• the jane does
• the strike-outs
• your so boring

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Two men and an improvised album

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

30 March 2023

Hits: 2311

_{Hugo Race at home on the stage.}

After listening to Josh Lord and Hugo Race's LP "Memento Mori" for so long I'm in some kind of extended swoon. Took two showers and a handful of aspirin, plus an 11-year-old’s netball final to finally get me to shake out of it.

Melbourne visual artist Josh Lord collaborated with musician-producer Hugo Race (Hugo Race Fatalists, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Wreckery) for the artwork of Hugo's albums “Dishee” and “Star Birth/Star Death”. In 2021, they spent a day in the studio channelling their own improvised music, creating a wall of sound with guitars and devices. “Memento Mori” is the result.

I decided to ask the perpetrators of this unholy haze a few questions: the same questions, equally, and hoping that they wouldn't confer with each other. 

As The Barman says: Full disclosure: I know both of these gents, and know also that their personalities are fundamentally different - although what drives them is a very similar creature.

• hugo race
• the wreckery
• josh lord
• fatalists
• memento mori

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The Crisps re-convene for a string of live dates

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 March 2023

Hits: 2110

Stalwarts of the Sydney underground scene of the 1990s, The Crisps have reunited for a brief tour and the release of their self-titled EP.

The Crisps were regarded as something of a supergroup back in the day. Comprising Stu Wilson (New Christs), Graham “Hoody” Hood (The Johnnys), Dave Thomas (Doomfoxx) and Chris Nacard (Orange County), they punched out a memorable and melodic brand of garage rock. That’s reflected on the six-track EP they have released through Vi-Nil Records, available on pink vinyl only here.

The Crisps
Reformation and EP Launches
APRIL
5 – Newcastle, Hamilton Station Hotel
+ Drugs in Sport + Shacked
7 – Sydney, Marrickville Bowlo
+ Pocket Watch + The Hot Ness
8 – Newcastle, Hiss & Crackle Wallsend (instore)
       Woy Woy, Link n Pin + Meth Haul
9 – Sydney, Manly Boatshed
+ Sonic Garage + 4 Barrel Hemi
13 – Canberra, Smiths Alternative
+ Pilots of Baalbek + Undermines
14 – Bendigo
15 – Workman’s Club, Brunswick (arvo)
         Melbourne, The Tote (upstairs) +  The Dallas Terrors + Three Broads and a Gun
21 - Enmore, NSW, Route 66 (in-store)
22- MoshPit, St Peters, NSW (3-6pm) + The Jean Wilders + The Jane Does

• stu wilson
• dave thomas
• doomfoxx
• graham hood
• the crisps
• reunion
• chris nacard

Guitar Wolf are jetting back to Australia and New Zealand

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 March 2023

Hits: 2296

The irresistible kinetic energy of Jett Rock and Roll exponents Guitar Wolf is heading to Australia and New Zealand in April and May.  It will be the first visit by the Tokyo band since 2017. 

Guitar Wolf has released 13 studio albums plus a live album, numerous singles, and a retrospective compilation, "Golden Black".

Band members have also been featured in two B-grade science fiction horror films: "Wild Zero" and "Sore Losers".

Scorching guitar, piercing vocals and a relentless stage act have endeared  Guitar Wolf to audiences around the world.  

Frontman Seiji puts it this way:

• australian tour
• guitar wolf
• new zealand tour
• 2023

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The myth of being Normal

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By JD Stayfree

JD Stayfree

28 March 2023

Hits: 2319

I'm not certain who first coined the memorable phrase Glamericana to describe Joe Normal's songs that are part power-pop, part glam rock, and part blue collar romance and workin' man auto-mythology, ala early E Street Band, but it is indeed an apt description.

Joe Normal's visually stimulating, marketing-minded New Jersey glam gang, the Zeros, moved to L.A. in the 1980s and almost immediately made a big splash on the scene. They were recruited by Howard Stern to record his original radio show theme song and had an endorsement from a top name tennis shoe company. California kids were forming bands with multicolored hair in homage to their Zeros heroes.

The purple haired Zeros were kind of like the missing link between Poison and Green Day. Unless you lived in L.A. in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it's hard to even remotely grasp how popular the Zeros really were with all the L.A. glam kids, back then, they used to pack 'em in at all the clubs, standing room only, lines around the block.

• joe normal
• the anytown'rs
• eddie van halen
• mick ronson
• hutchinsons
• the zeroes
• howard stern
• public works
• dramarama

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Klondike to convene a Maz-ster-class in Sydney

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By The Barman

The Barman

27 March 2023

Hits: 1895

• hitmen
• radio birdman
• screaming tribesmen
• chris masuak
• masterclass
• petersham bowling club