With The Damned, you just can be happy today

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

02 September 2019

Hits: 4962

The Dammed
The Factory Theatre, Marrickville
Thursday, August 20 2019
Photos: Monique Simmons

Culturally, Britain was so different to the USA in so many ways in the ‘70s, and that had much to do with distance.  The US is a vast place with all sorts of cultures and entrainment influences. The south was different to the west coast and out was again different to the east. And that really showed in the disparate pockets of music that sprang up everywhere.

On the other hand, England was more centralised. Long before the ‘70s dawned, it had the ingrained tradtiion of music halls as its historical DNA.

Music halls were everywhere. At one time there were more than 200 theatres in London alone. They hosted events running for four hours and ranging from comedy, clowning, horror to serious  drama. For more than a century, popular theatre was a staple for the working man and middle class alike. 

Well, you may ask, what has this got to do with The Damned appearing live in Sydney on a Thursday night? I say, everything.  A Dammed gig is like a trip through classic British pantomime and theatre, full of drama and packed with wit and slapstick. 

• tour
• australian
• the damned
• 2019
• capain sensible
• dave vanian

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Datura4 announces European tour in October

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 September 2019

Hits: 4852

Hot on the Cuban heels of their third international album release, “Blessed is the Boogie”, Fremantle-based rock psych-blues outfit Datura4 are heading to Europe in October. Datura4 will take on Italy, France and Spain in a three-week boogie-blitz of festivals, seedy bars and cool clubs on their "Blessed is the Boogie" tour.

"Blessed is the Boogie "was released worldwide on Alive Naturalsound in April, marking an exciting new evolution for the critically acclaimed band. The record builds on Datura4’s ‘guitars to infinity’ approach of “Hairy Mountain” (2016) and the hard-rocking, progressive debut “Demon Blues” (2015) – and takes the band a few swaggering steps further into psych-blues territory.

Frontman and creative force of the band, Dom Mariani continues his successful collaboration with bass player Stu Loasby (The Majestic Kelp) and drummer Warren “Wazza” Hall, the original drummer for The Drones.

Upping the legend quotient on “Blessed is the Boogie” is long-time friend and Australian music stalwart Bob Patient (of Fatty Lumpkin) on keys. Multi-instrumentalist, singer and freakishly brilliant guitarist Joe Grech joined a few months ago and it’s like he and Mariani were born to play together.

Datura4 are at the top of their game and audiences can’t get enough. The band cannot wait to plug in the guitars and the vintage amps and say merci, gracias and grazie to their European fans for fantastic support of their music!

Perth fans can wish Datura4 well before they go at four huge shows:

21 Sept – Mojos
22 Sept – Indian Ocean Hotel
24 Sept – Perth Blues Club
27 Sept – Four5Nine, Rosemount Hotel

European fans can plug into Datura4’s tour via the dates on Facebook.

• alive naturalsound
• tour
• datura4
• european

Snake - Rocket Science (IT Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 August 2019

Hits: 4426

Allowing for a near death experience and a lengthy hiatus, they’ve been around for 20 years. It’s been more than a decade since their last album. So does Rocket Science still matter? Yes.

“Snake” is their fifth long-player and in the genre classification stakes, Rocket Science is still playing hard to get. Psych-rock? Post-punk garage rock? Trashy new wave? Whatever you want to label them, go right ahead, it’s probably fine by them. The one thing we can all agree on is that “Snake” is one very dark hombre of an album.

Dark, you say? Whatever do you mean? It is hard to out a finger on. It doesn't have to be explicitly stated in the lyrics or through minor chords. In the case of "Snake", it's a mood thing and very much a sum of the band's parts.

• psychedelic
• rocket science
• it records
• snake

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Those Hard-Ons are feeling Crushed

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 August 2019

Hits: 2872

Hard-Ons have a new album about to land - their first with their old drummer Keish de Silva back as lead vocalist. Here's a film clip for lead track "Crushed" shot by Jonathan Sequiera, producer of "Descent Into the Maelstrom" and boss of Cheap Music Videos, who you need to engage if you want your band to have a filmclip without morgaging its backline. 

The Hard-Ons
So I Could Have Them Destroyed Tour
NOV
8 - Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

15 - Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
16 - Mojos, Fremantle, WA

22 -  Vinnie’s Dive Bar, Gold Coast, QLD

23 - The Foundry “Punk Fest”, Brisbane, QLD

29 - Altar, Hobart, TAS

30 - Pub Rock Diner, Devonport, TAS

DEC
6 - Crown & Anchor, Adelaide, SA

7 - Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club, Seacliff, SA

13 - Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney, NSW

14 - Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong, NSW

• hard-ons
• australian
• crushed

Cradle of Filth to tour Australasia, baby

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

29 August 2019

Hits: 3860

Some of you know who Cradle of Filth is. Some don't. They're an extreme metal band from England. Well, they're a lot more than that, which is why I'm excited.

Think Slayer. Venom. The theatrical, symphonic show, the theatrics, the make-up. Like Venom, "they're big, but also mysterious". They started in the black metal area in 1991. And developed, taking on some of the different metal subgenres. 

• australia
• new zealand
• cradle of filth

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Foul mouthed yobs: Adelaide "punks" in pub ban fury

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

29 August 2019

Hits: 9063

_{Sarah telling Hermann from Fear and Loathing not to swear.} 

Fear and Loathing
The Filthy Gypsies
Lucy the band
Swamp Kitteh
The Federal Hotel, Semaphore, Adelaide
August 24, 2019
Photos: Wayne Ridley

What a pack of bastards. The folk in the bands, I mean. I wasn't going to review this gig, partly because the sound wasn't as good as it could have been, I missed most of the first act's set (and they were damn good and deserve a better review), one of the bands was using a stand-in bass and extra guitar player and... well, I hadn't gone with the intention of reviewing anyone, just a couple of brews and some friends. And the bastards have asked me to review the thing. 

If I could claim to have been too drunk, I would.

Oh, yeah, "full disclosure" as the Barman says on occasion, I know a lot of these folks. But you, I-94 Bar reader, may rest assured that I would never review a band unless I thought them worthy of your attention. All I will add is that I wore my latest and current favourite Chickenstones T-shirt.

• fear and loathing
• lucy desoto

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Triprapport - Uffe Lorenzen (Bad Afro)

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 August 2019

Hits: 3475

Odds are that this release and its maker are unfamiliar to all but a select or knowledgeable few and they live in Europe. If you don’t - or even if you do and you’re in the dark - here’s what you need to know:

Uffe Lorenzen is the frontman of Danish bands Baby Woodrose and Spids Nøgenhat. The onetime bedroom musician created a stir on the European festival circuit a decade or more ago, but now records under his own name.

Baby Woodrose was acid-flecked garage rock and Spids Nøgenhat trippy space rock. “Triprapport” is folk-ish psych rock with a glossy sheen that’s well-produced without discarding its earthiness.

Mushrooms were involved in the making of this record. Loads of them. Uffe locked himself away in a wintry country house for two weeks and wolfed down enough of those little buggers to melt most peoples’ minds as he sketched out these seven original songs and one cover. He later worked them up to their present form in a swish Copenhagen studio.

• bad afro
• lorenzo
• baby woodrose
• triprapport
• Uffe Lorenzen

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Fast Freight - Deniz Tek and The Godoys (Career Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

25 August 2019

Hits: 4899

He’s taken it to the vertical, he's gotten all mean and twisted and more recently he’s been lost for words. “Fast Freight” strips things right back to the bone. 

The cover doesn’t lie: It is indeed the good Doctor teamed with tattooists and former pro skateboarders Art (bass) and Steve Godoy (drums). It’s The Band Formerly Known as The Golden Breed. Nobody else. No frills, a few spills. Ten songs recorded over two days. 

There was a track called “2Chloride Pam” that surfaced on a Japanese compilation many years ago, taken from a Deniz Tek and Godoy twins show. It exploded like a grenade. For all its spontaneity, “Fast Freight” doesn’t have that same recklessness. Which isn’t to say there’s not plenty here to please the fans, plus some variety.

• career-records
• deniz tek
• fast freight
• the godoys
• art godoy
• steve godoy

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New Chris Masuak album is here

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By The Barman

The Barman

24 August 2019

Hits: 3252

We now have stock of "Address to the Nation", the new album from Chris Masuak and the Viveiro Wave Riders, after a slight delay in the manufacturing process. You can score a copy on CD here. If you prefer bricks and mortar shopping, try Redeye Records in Sydney and Off The Hip in Melbourne next week. 

• chris masuak
• address to the nation
• viviero wave riders