Bloodbath of Fuzz - 45 Spider (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

22 July 2018

Hits: 4593

Rockabilly guitarist Grady Martin is widely credited as the father of fuzz, taking Link Wray’s dirty tone a step further in the early ‘60s, thanks to a faulty pre-amp. "Red" Rhodes made the first distortion pedal for his friends in The Ventures. Add 100 watt amps to the picture and the rest is tinnitus. 

45 Spider - so named for the adapter used to make big-hole seven-inch singles work on a turntable spindle - should build a monument to Martin and Rhodes in their home town of Cleveland, Ohio. Their “Bloodbath of Fuzz” is 17 songs long and you won’t find a clean guitar note hiding anywhere.

A fuzzed-up cover of The Gentlemen’s “It’s a Cry’n Shame” opens the album and sets the scene: Meaty guitar and bouncy rhythms behind Ms Hadley K’s cute-sultry vocal. The template was designed long ago but it still works. 45 Spider plays a mix of semi-obscure covers and their own songs and if not familiar with the originals, it’s hard to tell the difference. That’s a compliment.

• cleveland
• '60s punk
• 45 spider
• bloodbath of fuzz
• acid punk

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Hey Sydney. Who's up for a Day At The Pub?

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 July 2018

Hits: 4711

The event name, “A Day at the Pub”, is exactly what it says - a Sunday date in Sydney with beer and some of Australia’s best rock n’ roll acts. 

Sydney’s Black Heart Breakers have searched through time and space to find a first class line up to bring to you at their home town’s legendary Lansdowne Hotel. Tickets for the gig are ridiculously cheap at $15 each and are available here.

The Day runs from 1pm to midnight on Sunday, August 19 and the line-up is a cracker. Here's a pen picture of each band with some Facebook and YouTube links:

• a day at the pub
• flickertail
• black heart breakers
• black aces
• the ozskas
• particles
• raised as wolves
• wolfwolfwolf
• japanese death machine
• stacy gacy

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Help yourself to some rock and roll history and help someone

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 July 2018

Hits: 4301

Righteous Brisbane record store Phase 4 is hosting a massive silent auction of historic and highly desirable posters from Australian rock and roll’s heyday for a good cause.

The store is raising funds for Ipswich retro clothes retailer (of Poison Arrow Retro Shoppepe) and rock and roll fan Angela Love who’s unable to work while fighting breast cancer. The posters come from the collection of her partner, Wayne Kemp.

Beasts of Bourbon, GoBetweens, Exploding White Mice, Hard-Ons, The Girlies and Riptides are among the Aussie artists represented, while Dark Carnival (signed by Ron Asheton and Niagara), Status Quo, Portishead and Screaming Jay Hawkins are some of the overseas crew. There’s a treasure trove of more than 100 posters online until July 24. Bidding is by email only and you’ll find the website here.

• phase 4
• auction
• online
• poison arrow

Pretty Things take final Australian bow

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 July 2018

Hits: 5497

Iconic first wave British R&B and psychedelic cult heroes, The Pretty Things, will perform some of their final live performances in Australia in October.

The band has announced it will cease playing electric shows with a final hurrah in London on December 13, with special guests Special Guests David Gilmour, Van Morrison and Bill Nighy. Securign the Pretties for a run through Australia is a coup for promoter David Roy Williams. 

Local legends – and massive Pretty Things fans - including Tumbleweed, The Sand Pebbles and The Living Eyes are onboard to help send them off.

The Pretty Things are waving goodbye. Be there to wave back....

Tickets are on sale from 10am (AEST) on Friday here.

Wednesday 3rd October - Sydney, FactoryTheatre
+ Tumbleweed + DJ Owen Penglis
Thursday 4th October - Brisbane, The Zoo
+ Golden Age of Ballooning
Saturday 6th October - Melbourne, Thornbury Theatre
+ Sand Pebbles + The Electric Guitars
Sunday 7th October - Melbourne, Caravan Club
+ The Breadmakers
Wednesday 10th October - Geelong, Barwon Club
+ The Living Eyes
Friday 12th October - Melbourne, The Tote
+ The Living Eyes + Banagun
Saturday 13th October - Adelaide, Fowlers Live
+ Somnium
Sunday 14th October - Perth, The Charles Hotel

• pretty things
• australian tour

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A Call to You b/w Won't Say it to My Face - The Art Gray Noizz Quintet (Robellion)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

17 July 2018

Hits: 4746

The last time I saw Stuart Gray was in Adelaide in 1990, at a grotty pub on Brighton Road which is now another craft-beer haven for the smug and pointless, and Bloodloss were playing what would be their last Adelaide gig, and the final with that line-up. They'd been hanging out with Stuart, and he'd been persuading Renestair EJ and Martin Bland to join his band Lubricated Goat.

It was quite an evening, somewhat bereft of punters, and The Goat promised, at the very least, overseas adventures. And, possibly, more punters. Frankly, it was a better opportunity for them than slugging out the gigs and LPs of great music to an uncaring town, so Ren and Martin left ...

I'd seen Stu in several bands by that stage; The Bad Poets and The Brats, notably. Each time Stu joined an existing band, he'd lifted them mightily. Eventually, he left for Melbourne and Sydney, as all ambitious Adelaide artists did. I expect you know the rest; he was with Tex Perkins' outfit Salamander Jim and there was a stint with the Beasts of Bourbon.

• beasts of bourbon
• new york city
• lubricated goat
• WOMAN
• stu spasm
• stu gray
• ryan skeletonboy

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We Hate Each Other But We Hate You More – Baby 8 (Kasumuen)

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By Ronald Brown

Ronald Brown

16 July 2018

Hits: 5560

Melbourne’s Baby 8 has delivered a smashing album full of songs about drinking, drugging and horrific nights out. It cuts straight to the bone. No love songs here, folks; just pure “boobs-to-the-wall” rock ‘n’ roll with some punk-pop thrown in.

“We Hate Each Other But We Hate You More” just kicks from the first track, “Nights Want to Kill“, which is the single. And what a cracker song it is.

Rachel Lendvay (vocals) shines throughout. Katie Dixon (Powder Line Sneakers) on guitar, Maureen Gearon (NQR) on bass with Matty Whittle (ex-GOD) on drums round out this powerful rock band.

• GOD
• powerline sneakers
• Kasumuen Records
• NQR
• baby 8
• we hate each other but we hate you more
• katie dixon
• rachel lendvay
• matty whittle
• maureen gearon

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Inside The Flesh Hotel - Beechwood (Alive Natural Sounds)

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By The Barman

The Barman

14 July 2018

Hits: 4655

Pull up a chair, crack a beer and let’s have a bet. Bukowski would. There are short odds on offer, my friend, that Beechwood is your new favourite band - even if you haven’t heard them yet. 

Bukowzki was from the other side of the USA,  as this trio from Brooklyn, NYC, the buzz on whom is substantial but not undeserved. It’s picked up momentum to move past a dull roar, even in these times of fragmented public communication. A recent European tour left the French, in particular, in raptures. See

You ever read Bukowski? Full of extremes, for sure, but also littered with patches of light and shade. Much like the sound of Beechwood. It isn’t easily categorised; there are so many stylistic threads coming together that you’ll die trying. A sometimes languid flow of vaguely ‘60s pop and psych elements runs right through it. Concise songs full of variety but somehow linked together. 

• new york city
• alive natural sounds
• beechwood
• songs from the land of nod
• inside the flesh hotel

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Radio Birdman - still hated by the elites after all these years

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 July 2018

Hits: 9506

Jonathan Sequeira’s raw and stunning documentary, "Descent Into The Maelstrom - The Radio Birdman Story", has been snubbed by Australia's national public broadcaster the ABC.

Released as a short-run feature in Australian cinemas and shown at film festivals and limited screenings in the USA, Japan, the UK and Europe, “Descent” will be released via DVD and streaming in September this year to coincide with a Radio Birdman tour of Australia and Europe.

The taxpayer-funded ABC was offered a deep discount to screen it on Australian free-to-air TV but has declined, after months of dithering and silence.

In an online statement published overnight, filmmaker Jonathan Sequeira said:

Regardless of my involvement, it is a tragedy that the ABC will not be broadcasting the largely unknown story of the most important band in Australia’s music history. I consider that to be letting down the Australian public, and a failure of the ABC to follow its charter.

Radio Birdman has also issued an online statement overnight:

Considering the highly relevant content of the film, from the perspective of Australian music history, ABC was the obvious choice of channel…The band is disappointed but not really surprised. We have been familiar with this sort of attitude from the establishment since the 1970's.

Curiously, ABC has screened documetaries about the Saints and the Go Betweens, as well as series of programs based on its own "Countdown" franchise. 

You can make your opinion known by contacting ABC-1 Channel Manager Natalie Edgar via abc.net.au/contact/complain.htm

• radio birdman
• descent into the maelstrom
• jonathan sequeira
• abc

Manning Bar swings to the sounds of Gay Paris

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 July 2018

Hits: 3884

It’s winter in Sydney but the city’s monthly Rock and Roll Market is cranking up the heat with its latest live music line-up.  

Gay Paris (pictured, right), Papa Pilko and the Binrats, West Texas Crude– flying in from Brisbane – and rockabilly act The Red Rollan Deuces team with DJs Limpin’ Jimmy & the Swingin’ Kitten, Rod Almighty, The Crimplenes and Solid Gold Hell for the July 29 event at Sydney University’s Manning Bar from 10.30am.

As always, punters will be dazzled by an array of unique stalls featuring fashion galore, rock ‘n’ roll, alternative, vintage, handmade and unique clothing for men, women and children, jewellery, accessories, cult DVDs, artwork, homewares, collectables, tikis, posters, handmade unique goods.

Organisers promise there will be more than 50,000 LPs, 45s and CDs on sale, covering rock, punk, metal, rockabilly, blues, jazz, country, reggae, club and hip hop. The Record Fair is presented by Revolve Records (Erskineville) and Egg Records (Newtown).

You’ll also find a café, bars, international food, giant kids’ games, classic and vintage vehicle display plus more.

• gay paris
• manning bar
• sydney rock and roll markets
• papa pilko and the bin rats
• west texas crude